The truth is, the Hanshin Tigers *do* (kind of) have an alibi and reason for being U-G-L-Y for the second straight game. The starter today was supposed to be Joe Gunkel, but he had a migraine and sore throat this morning, and was sent to the hospital for a PCR test. It came back negative…
The forecast heading into today called for rain all day, and it looked like Koyo Aoyagi was going to fall victim to his 12th career rain-out, including four straight at Koshien Stadium this year alone! But somehow, the rains stopped mid-afternoon and did not come back hard enough to allow us to see Aoyagi pitch…
Games like these leave an indelible mark on fans and could be talked about at season’s end if all continues to go well for these Hanshin Tigers. Teruaki Sato hit his first home run in what felt like ages, and for a follow-up act, he hit two more, including a ninth-inning, go-ahead, rip-the-heart-out-of-the-Lions three-run monster…
My theory about Pacific League players coming to the sacred grounds of Koshien for the first time in two years (or ever) and having the game of their lives… well, it did not quite play out this time. Roki “The Reiwa Beast” Sasaki never made it to the national high school tournament, so this was…
The scorecard below tells you almost all that you need to know. But what you do not fully see in this, is this: Yuki Nishi = 5 walks + 1 hit batter in 5 innings Taiki Ono = 4 walks + 1 wild pitch in 1 inning Koki Moriya = 1 hit batter in 2…
Despite seeing the Giants set up runners on the corners in multiple innings on this night, Masashi Itoh got himself out of many jams. However, he definitely did not have his best stuff. Luckily, super-rookie Teruaki Sato looked ready to carry his teammate, even the entire team, on his broad shoulders. His first two at-bats…
I’m pretty sure most Tigers fans were thinking the same thing as I was heading into this weekend series. Even in the worst-case scenario, we will return to Kansai in first place. Given the team’s recent history at Tokyo Dome, it is hard to blame fans for fearing the worst but hoping for the best….
Masashi Itoh played high school baseball at Yokohama Stadium, so his first pro mound in the ballpark probably was not as intimidating as it would be for some freshmen. He was celebrating his 25th birthday as well, though he says he did not really think about that very much as he went about his business….
This was a long, hard game to watch. Particularly the bottom halves of innings 4, 6, 7, 8. I’ll let the scorecard do the talking. Let’s just say our pitchers got devoured and our bats did reasonably well, but could have also put up double-digit runs had they capitalized on more chances. For what it’s…
The Tigers put men on base in the first three innings, only to snuff out chances with double plays each time. It was beginning to look like the Swallows would win their first day game of the season, while the Tigers lost theirs, as starter Yuki Nishi sputtered in the middle innings. However, a clutch…