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Games 87-89 vs. Dragons: Closer and Closer to .500

Games 87-89 vs. Dragons: Closer and Closer to .500

After a big series win against the Giants early in the week, the Tigers needed to come up big against the Dragons and their outstanding pitchers. Though scoring was at a premium, they did enough to take this series. It was one of those series that highlighted how outstanding our pitching staff is, with Koyo…

Games 81-82 vs. Carp: The Rain that Never Came

Games 81-82 vs. Carp: The Rain that Never Came

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…

Games 72-74 @ Baystars: “Home” Field Disadvantage

Games 72-74 @ Baystars: “Home” Field Disadvantage

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…

Games 66-68 vs. Baystars: Series Win = 3rd Place!

Games 66-68 vs. Baystars: Series Win = 3rd Place!

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…

Games 63-65 @ Buffaloes: Sweep and a Climb into 4th!

Games 63-65 @ Buffaloes: Sweep and a Climb into 4th!

After two straight shutout losses in Fukuoka, it wasn’t hard to imagine this team having troubles scoring against the defending Sawamura Award (Yamamoto) and Rookie of the Year (Miyagi) winners over the weekend. However, they were up to the task, taking the opener comfortably while riding Yusuke Ohyama and his hot bat. They scrapped for…

Games 51-53 @ Marines: Didn’t Let Roki Win!

Games 51-53 @ Marines: Didn’t Let Roki Win!

OK, there was so much more to the series than just keeping young phenom Roki Sasaki out of the win column. The ace did, after all, shut out our team for six innings. The good news is that he “only” struck out 7 and we did get guys into scoring position against him. Also, Aaron…