After a Tuesday rainout, the Tigers prepared themselves to continue to defy the odds. Dating back to the 2020 season, they have now won 11 straight games that immediately follow rainouts. (The Carp have also lost six straight in such situations.) Well, it looked like a series sweep until a few lucky hits and a…
After downing the Swallows 8-0 on Friday night, then sitting around for two days (plus the day off Monday) because of a Covid explosion in the Yakult camp, the Tigers were raring to go on Tuesday. Donning arguably the ugliest uniforms they have worn in ages, they laid a (goose) egg, completely unable to push…
Tuesday’s tilt was called on account of the threat of typhoon-influenced weather. It never materialized. Well, the very next day, Yuki Nishi took the mound and performed like a boss. And the Tigers willed their way to 3 runs against a guy who had owned us all season until this one! Unfortunately, the game I…
Everyone who has followed the Tigers for the past 10 (or fewer) years knows that Yokohama Stadium is the team’s favorite ballpark to play at, even more than Koshien. Their record there is outstanding, year in and year out. This season appears to be different, though, and this series in particular showed us that wins…
Oh, the ways we choose to lose. On Sunday, it was disappointing to not sweep the Baystars, but the team was just getting started with letdowns. Tuesday saw them create a huge chance (down two in the ninth, runners on first and second with no outs) but not make it. Wednesday saw them fight back…
Coming off the successful interleague session (12-6), the Tigers were looking to continue their push back to respectability. All that stood in their way were two pitchers who have extremely good track records at Koshien Stadium: Shota Imanaga and Haruhiro Hamaguchi. They were no match for our guys, particularly Yusuke Ohyama who went yard on…
Weeknights simply have not brought out the best in our bats. For the 15th time this season (11 in night games), the Tigers have ended a game with no runs to show for their 27 outs (or more in the case of 2 games) at the plate. On this night, the team struggled to get…
The Battle of the Cats always seems to be a good series, and I do not think I have yet seen one that was a sweep for either team. This one was no exception, as the Tigers started out slowly against an unknown (but effective) young pitcher. They turned the series around in a hurry,…
From Daily Sports Column (Japanese) / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから The Tigers’ woes continue in large part due to their lack of run support for the excellent pitching staff they have fielded this year. After their twenty-one-game streak of allowing 3 runs or fewer came to an end on May 20, they have had two games of giving…
The first half of the week featured one of the most memorable performances of the season, on any team. Junya Nishi did not throw a perfect game like Roki Sasaki did last month, and he did not hit multiple home runs, but he did pitch his first-ever complete game and also went yard as the…