It is hard to win games in which you serve up three home runs, especially if you only hit one yourselves. The team had chances, pulled even a couple of times, but simply could not get the job done. They got out-homered in the series 6-1 and the three-game party at Tokyo Dome over the…
The Tigers got hold to just 4 hits on this day, but it was not all that important, given that they were handed 8 free passes in the first five innings. Two of their hits produced the runs they needed, and three of the walks scored those runs. The Giants made it close at the…
It may be a mystery, but it is no hidden secret that the Hanshin Tigers struggle to score and win at Vantelin Dome Nagoya. After getting on the board in the top of the first and watching starter Masashi Itoh cruise through the first five innings of the game, it looked as though this would…
The Dome. It does not matter how many times the Tigers head to Nagoya… it still baffles the mind that they struggle so much to score (and win) there. Tonight was no exception. Two golden chances ended with nothing, and the defense did a lot worse than the one error that goes on record. But…
After a day off Thursday and a rainout on Friday, it was about time we had some baseball to watch, was it not? The adversary looked good, though, as the Chunichi Dragons have been on a roll lately. Let’s also not forget that their ace, last year’s Sawamura Award winner Yudai Ohno, had a career…
After a rough last outing (2 innings, 5 runs), Takumi Akiyama had something to prove. And prove it, he did. His lone base runner through six was a hit batsman, and until the solo home run he gave up in the seventh, he faced the minimum number of batters. He could have easily gone out…
Coming from behind to win games feels good, but falling behind early game in and game out, well, does not feel so good. Once again, the Tigers’ starter – in this case, Masashi Itoh – surrendered three runs in the game’s first three innings… and our bats only really came to life in the fifth…
Honestly, after five innings, this one looked over. Just like the other games in this series. But the Tigers bats once again woke up late and put a scare into the Giants’ bullpen and bench. Takumi Akiyama only lasted two innings after surrendering yet another first-inning home run, and Shintaro Fujinami served one up to…
Through the top of the sixth, this one looked really lopsided, as though the Tigers were going to simply bow down to the Giants yet again… but somebody turned off the orange light and flipped on the yellow switch. Yuki Nishi missed his spot a few times in the middle innings, putting the team down…
Despite the Tigers being 1.5 games ahead of the Giants all weekend, any combination of a Tigers loss and Giants win would have put the orangemen in a rare situation: 0.5 games behind the Tigers but in first place. That’s right. All those ties mean their winning percentage would have been higher than ours. Fortunately,…