This is a placeholder post, as the third game of this series will be played at the end of the interleague schedule because it was rained out on Tuesday. The Tigers played quite uninspired ball on Wednesday and Thursday, though. Despite 16 base runners in the first game, only two crossed home. And despite five…
The team giving us the biggest fits this year is the team that has struggled the most with run production. That said, the Hiroshima Carp have an outstanding pitching staff, to the point that they entered this series just 1.5 games out of first place. They figured out Shoki Murakami early and often in the…
It would not have been too hard to predict the Tigers taking two of three against the Dragons, even if they are not typically good at Vantelin Dome. They played Tuesday at a countryside ballpark, where the Tigers normally do well. And they were doing alright there, on schedule to win, until a fatal error…
For the second straight Monday, a game between the Tiger and Carp was called due to inclement weather. For myself, personally, this was a big-time bummer because I was at Koshien Stadium with a crew from CNN (yes, THE CNN) and we were to film footage of fans and so on from the actual game…
A rare mid-week day off and a home series against the last-place Yakult Swallows seemed like a perfect recipe for extending the winning streak from seven to ten. However, four errors cost the team five runs on Friday, ending the hot stretch. Fortunately, the team got back on its horses on Saturday and Sunday, collecting…
Heading into this series, the Hanshin Tigers had gone ten straight games scoring 2 or fewer runs (but going 4-4-2 in that stretch), setting a new club record. The Chunichi Dragons were flying high, scoring runs seemingly at will and sitting blissfully in first place. But that’s the thing about April baseball. One bad series…
The truth is, the Hanshin Tigers aren’t that good at Vantelin Dome. But an even greater truth is that in Akinobu Okada‘s six years as Tigers manager (2004-08, 23) they have a winning record in Nagoya four times. Whether that means he simply knows how to win in such environs, or it is just coincidence,…
The Tigers’ bats really have not performed the way the fans expect. What better way to snap out of it than to face the Yakult Swallows at hitter-friendly Jingu Stadium? This series saw the bats on both teams come to life on Friday, then cool off a little on Saturday, and were it not for…
The title defense began on March 29 at Tokyo Dome. You would think the defending champs, and the only CL team to finish in the top 3 for 5 straight years, would get to start their season at home! However, the Tigers traded that privilege for the right to host the Yomiuri Giants at Koshien…
Despite the dramatic win in Game 4, the Tigers still needed to win this one in order to head back to Kyocera Dome with some momentum and the pressure squarely on the Buffaloes. Their two best pitchers await, so forcing them into two must-win games was the only option. In spite of this, the Tigers’…