The Hanshin Tigers looked to continue their dominance against Chunichi under the dome in Osaka as the 2016 season raised its veil. Could they extend the 11-game win streak at Kyocera against the rebuilding Dragons? Game 1, Friday 3/25: As reported earlier this weekend (click here for recap), the series started on a rough note…
For the first time in my life (in any sport, perhaps) I took in a pre-season game. It was actually sprung on me when a Twitter friend told me that one of his friends had two spare tickets to the game. Since that friend-of-a-friend happened to be reliever Rafael Dolis, I was curious and could…
It was great to see many of the players up closely during the first week of spring training down in Okinawa last week. After terrible bouts with illness, I am finally ready to start processing what I saw and share it with you all. Part 1 was about the fielders (catchers excluded), this one will…
Here’s a brief look at some of the bullpen pitching I watched over the first couple of days at spring training. Apparently Kyuji Fujikawa was the first man in the pen on Day 1, and then on Day 2 it was Akifumi Takahashi. But once again, Atsushi Nohmi blows everyone away with his work ethic….
Former Hanshin Tigers manager (2004-2008) Akinobu Okada must have seen something in the Yutaka Wada regime that he couldn’t find in his successor, Akinobu Mayumi. Apparently the Tigers went from being a winner (2003 and 2005 Central League champs) to somewhat of a loser until 2013. Having become a sports analyst, he decided to write…
The original title of the book is 未熟者 (Mijuku Mono). Written in the 2008 offseason and released prior to the second World Baseball Classic in 2009 (which the author played well in), Kyuji Fujikawa wrote a book that is not quite an autobiography but is somewhat difficult to classify. He mostly talked about how he got…
After finally reaching the .500 mark for the first time since early April, the Tigers proceeded to fall right back into mediocrity with two straight blowout losses to the Saitama Seibu Lions, ending May with a 12-13 record, and only staying in third thanks to even worse play (or luck?) from the Dragons, Swallows and…