Game 4, Tuesday 3/29: Riding a two-game winning streak and bringing their best pitcher from last season to the mound, the Tigers hoped to keep the defending Central League champion Yakult Swallows winless on the season on Tuesday. Shintaro Fujinami gave up a hit and walk in the bottom of the first, but held the…
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…
Randy Messenger looked invincible in the first inning. After that, the Chunichi bats and eyes made sure the bases were always occupied. After a strikeout-ground out-strikeout first inning, rookie Shun Takayama recorded his first career hit on a two-strike grounder to left field. Only Shintaro Yokota‘s quickness prevented his groundout to pitcher from becoming a double…
The first squad (ichi gun = 一軍) was announced the other day, and there are 27 players on it. There is a marked shortage of pitchers, because the team will call up its anticipated starters for the March 29-31 series @ Yakult at a later date. That means three of the players (presumably hitters) will be…
I had the pleasure of being in Okinawa from February 1-7. Six of these days were scheduled spring training camp days, with the 5th being a day off for players. As things turned out, the 4th was a day off for me. I got a little sick due to the poor weather and my lack…
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…
I stood outside the clubhouse waiting for pitchers to walk past me. Hoped to get a comment or two from the foreign pitchers. Randy Messenger snubbed me, I double-pressed “record” when Marcos Mateo walked past so I got 0.5 seconds of video of him. Rafael Dolis actually said “thank you” to me. That is all….
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….
Randy Messenger arrived at Kansai International Airport late Friday night. This will be his seventh season with the club, tying him with all-time greats Gene Bacque and Jeff Williams for longest tenure with the team by a foreigner. Should he remain on for an eighth season, he would hold the mark by himself. When he…
Original article can be seen here 元の記事はこちら Hanshin officially signed Dominican pitcher Marcos Mateo (31), formerly of the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball, as a candidate to be the team’s new closer next season, to a contract on the 14th. According to a team representative, the main terms of the contract have been agreed…