See Recaps of Game 1 here, and Game 2 here. The Kansai area got way too much rain for baseball to have been played on Sunday or Monday. But due to poor scheduling plans, one of those days had a historically muddy game. After Monday night off, the teams played a winner-takes-all matchup on Tuesday….
It sure has been a dry stretch in the NPB baseball season. Having played just one game in the past week, the Tigers must be feeling quite antsy to get the playoff schedule started! We fans feel the same way, too, no doubt. As we wait for the playoffs to start this coming weekend, here’s…
The Yomiuri Giants aren’t a fourth place team on paper. With three of the best starters in the Central, and a lineup of proven veteran hitters and free agents, they should be contending for the pennant. And when they play the Hanshin Tigers, they look like a pennant team. The reality in this series was…
Original Articles Can Be Found Here and Here The Hanshin Tigers announced on September 10th that Masayuki Kakefu is resigning as farm manager at season’s end. Kakefu was asked to be the team’s development coordinator in the fall of 2013, and became manager of the farm team at roughly the same time as Tomoaki Kanemoto…
Somehow in the past month, the Tigers have managed to take away the Hiroshima Carp‘s magic number. Twice. And in the month of August, they managed to cut an 11-game gap between the teams in half. And yet during that time, the team only went 2-3-1 in their head-to-head matches. This three-game set in Hiroshima…
No matter how weak the Yomiuri Giants appear (1 game under .500 entering this series), they always seem to bring their best against the Hanshin Tigers. As the Tigers’ long 27-game stretch away from Koshien Stadium drew to a close with this series, the team hoped to end on a high note. Unfortunately, the note…
Obon is the time of year that people all across Japan return to their hometowns and pay their respects to their dead relatives/ancestors. Roughly 100,000 fans paid respect to the not-so-alive Hanshin Tigers at Kyocera Dome over the course of these past three days. Game 104 – Tuesday 8/15. O NO! MEN, DEZ NOT GOOD!…
Details were taken from this article and this one (both Japanese). Ace Hits DL Due to Injury for First Time; Season Over? The Yomiuri Giants‘ announcers kept prattling on and on about how Shinnosuke Abe needed just four more hits to reach 2,000 for his career. Could he get it done tonight? Could he finish…
To save you from having to read a depressing series recap, this report comes to you a little early with a bit of a startling move by Tomoaki Kanemoto and the Hanshin Tigers. Pitcher Yuta Iwasada, who once again struggled mightily (with perhaps his worst start of the year), was sent home to the Osaka…
It’s All-Star Break… no real baseball to watch and analyze, so let’s look at our crop of pitchers and give a few brief comments about each of them. What’s your take? Whom do you like in those final couple of rotation spots? In the bullpen? The above “depth chart” is just my own observations, and…