Despite winning the series finale against the Carp on Sunday, the Tigers were in no place to get complacent. In fact, they juggled their roster and order throughout this series in hopes of generating more offense and breaking out of their losing skid. They brought in Shunsuke, Keisuke Kanoh and Hayata Itoh as starting outfielders…
As the Tigers’ miserable start on home soil left fans drowning their sorrows, the heavens decided to give the team a break on Friday. Continuous rain all Friday caused the night game to be canceled (and rescheduled for September 11), and gave the Tigers another day to regroup and hopefully put an end to their…
If you decided to attend one of the first games at Koshien but were worried about showing up late, you needn’t have worried. The Tigers also failed to show up early. Often they failed to show up late, too. In all three games of their opening series on their home turf, the Tigers produced zero…
The Hanshin Tigers opened their season series with the Yomiuri Giants last night on a winning note, outlasting the home team 4-2 in front of a boisterous crowd at Tokyo Dome. The game featured a solid start from Randy Messenger (8IP, 2ER), a four-hit night from Tsuyoshi Nishioka and 3 RBIs from Ryutaro Umeno. These three…
After a promising opening series at Kyocera Dome, the Tigers looked to jump out to a perfect 6-0 start as they faced the Tokyo Yakult Swallows at Jingu Stadium. Unfortunately, the cooler weather brought about a cold spell at the plate as well. In three games, the pinstripes managed just seven runs, losing two of three…
Earlier in the spring I took time to look at the Tigers’ players in a four-part series. Click on one of the links here to see them: Infielders Outfielders Starting Pitchers Relief Pitchers Today we take one last look at the team as we head into the regular season. What are the team’s glaring weaknesses?…
Sanspo and other sources are reporting that the Tigers have officially signed a fifth foreigner to a contract. Mario Santiago of Puerto Rico has agreed to a one-year, 15-million yen contract with the team. Those who watched the 2013 World Baseball Classic closely remember that Santiago was the starting pitcher on the team that defeated…
Yano-Messenger Interview Yano-Oh Interview On April 15, 2014, Kataoka sat down to talk with Mauro Gomez. He was hitting 20-for-58 (.345) at the time and had reached base safely in 15 straight games from Opening Day. He pointed out that Gomez was hitting the ball to the opposite field quite well. When Kataoka…
News out of Okinawa is that 2014 round 4 pick Koki Moriya has joined the parent club for the remainder of their time down south. Also going along is Ryota Arai, who seems to have recovered from his injury late last season. Both put up great numbers in the ni-gun exhibition games, and deserve to…
Today I’d like to start a four-part series about the Tigers and their upcoming season. This section will look at the infield. The next will look at the outfield and general offense. The second half of the series will look at starting pitchers and the relief squad. Without further ado, let’s dive right in to…