Could the annual “Road of Death” road trip start anywhere worse than Nagoya Dome? Our boys have NEVER fared well there, except perhaps the last time we won the pennant, back in 2005. Having been completely humiliated the last time we faced the Chunichi Dragons in their territory, Hanshin needed to take at least two…
This past Thursday night, a whole bunch of us friends at H-TEN (and Crossroad Church Nishinomiya) occupied one of two Ponta Deck sections on the first base side of the best stadium in all of Japan: Hanshin Koshien Stadium. Situated in the far corner of the first base Alps, there are two sections that have…
This would be the final series that Hanshin plays at Koshien Stadium before the team vacated the premises so the 99th annual National High School baseball tournament could be held here during the first three weeks of August. With a slender 1-game lead on the hard-charging DeNA Yokohama BayStars, the Tigers would need all their…
It’s actually a scary thing to be facing a team that is riding a 13-game losing streak. Because you know that streak will eventually come to an end, and you don’t want to be the team that helps them snap it. The Yakult Swallows last won on June 30th against these very Hanshin Tigers. So…
In a way, the book title says it all – this is a complete summary of the Hanshin Tigers’ 1965 through 1978 seasons. But actually, it starts the tale in the fall of 1958, when the team signed the best pitcher in its history – Minoru Murayama. After brief recaps of the first seasons in…
It was bad enough that the team lost two of three against the Hiroshima Carp earlier this week. The first game was a low-scoring affair, one that our starter dominated for six innings and our relievers held their boots on the jugulars of the CL leaders. But then came two humiliating defeats – falling behind…
This Hiroshima Carp team is strong. Really strong. Though the Tigers entered this series with a slight 6-5 edge in 11 head-to-head games this season, the last two were lopsided enough to make it feel like it’s 2016 all over again. But things would be different in this series, right? I mean, the games are…
In this final podcast episode, T-Ray is joined by Zorny to discuss the two-game set against the Chunichi Dragons and then give the team a mid-season report card. We look back on various games and players that have made the 2017 a memorable one thus far. T-Ray would like to thank all listeners, supporters…
It’s All-Star Break… no real baseball to watch and analyze, so let’s look at our crop of pitchers and give a few brief comments about each of them. What’s your take? Whom do you like in those final couple of rotation spots? In the bullpen? The above “depth chart” is just my own observations, and…
It’s All-Star Break… no real baseball to watch and analyze, so let’s look at our crop of hitters and give a few brief comments about each of them. What’s your take? Whom do you like at the 8 fielding positions? The above “depth chart” is just my own observations, and isn’t necessarily the way the…