Years in which these final games matter to the standings are few and far between, and this year is no exception. What can be said is that this season, we are the champs and it does not matter if we drop more games than we win! That said, it would be nice to see the…
It has been far from an ideal season for Yuki Nishi. Once the staff ace, he is now the “old man” (despite being two months shy of 33, only one player on the team is longer in the tooth, and only by 6 months). He got farmed for the first time as a Tiger (in…
If you have read any of my series recaps over the past 8 years, you know what I’m going to say. I’m a broken record when it comes to this because it’s such a solid fact: the Hanshin Tigers do not score many runs or win many games in Nagoya at the Dome. Well after…
After one of the most successful August road trips ever (at least I presume that 18-5 is good), the Tigers were welcomed home at Koshien Stadium by excited fans, by kids who were hoping to witness a win before returning to school, by a new cheer song for Shota Morishita. But they got beaten fair…
Note: I did not watch these games and am doing this recap (along with the rest of the August scorecards) retrospectively for the purpose of having them on record. Enjoy the scorecards for what they are worth, but I do not have anything insightful to say about this series. SWEEEEEEEEP!
The Dragons had been struggling, and the Tigers were coming off a good Ultra Summer week at Koshien. But none of that matters when the venue is Vantelin Dome in Nagoya. The Tigers almost never perform well in this town, but needed to take two of three in this series to keep their good stretch…
There’s nothing more satisfying than beating down the Yomiuri Giants at Koshien Stadium. Tuesday was a memorial game for the late Shintaro Yokota, and the team came through with a big win, thanks to clutch hitting from Yusuke Ohyama and Teruaki Sato. Wednesday saw the team storm back from a 5-3 deficit in a thriller….
Playing the Dragons at home was supposed to be a chance to build some momentum heading into the all-star break. However, a late-inning collapse (what else is new – three straight games attended by yours truly have all turned out the same) cost us the first game, a complete lack of hitting was the culprit…
A mysterious decision to call Friday’s game because of rain that never came meant this series was just a two-gamer. The first one was a tight game, and the Tigers kind of blew a big chance in the bottom of the sixth inning. Having already tied the game on a Yusuke Ohyama RBI double, there…
Trips to Hiroshima have been hard for this team in the past decade, and this trip was no exception. One of our players made the trip but then left without even setting foot on the field. (No, not Yangervis Solarte – that was 4 years ago already!) Koji Chikamoto took a fastball to the ribs…