The Hanshin Tigers game I saw last night was one of total dominance for the home team. Starter Randy Messenger pitched 6 innings of 4-hit, 10-strikeout shutout ball while the hitters put up two runs in the 4th inning. The relievers (Kaneda, Takamiya, Shimamoto, Matsuda and Ishizaki) cobbled together two more innings of shutout ball…
Despite winning the series finale against the Carp on Sunday, the Tigers were in no place to get complacent. In fact, they juggled their roster and order throughout this series in hopes of generating more offense and breaking out of their losing skid. They brought in Shunsuke, Keisuke Kanoh and Hayata Itoh as starting outfielders…
If you decided to attend one of the first games at Koshien but were worried about showing up late, you needn’t have worried. The Tigers also failed to show up early. Often they failed to show up late, too. In all three games of their opening series on their home turf, the Tigers produced zero…
For the second straight series, the Hanshin Tigers lost two of three to an opponent that should have been easier to beat. This time, the losses were at the hands of long-time rivals Yomiuri (Kyojin) Giants. The series opened up on Friday with a Tigers win as starter Randy Messenger tossed 8 innings of 2-run…
The Hanshin Tigers opened their season series with the Yomiuri Giants last night on a winning note, outlasting the home team 4-2 in front of a boisterous crowd at Tokyo Dome. The game featured a solid start from Randy Messenger (8IP, 2ER), a four-hit night from Tsuyoshi Nishioka and 3 RBIs from Ryutaro Umeno. These three…
Earlier in the spring I took time to look at the Tigers’ players in a four-part series. Click on one of the links here to see them: Infielders Outfielders Starting Pitchers Relief Pitchers Today we take one last look at the team as we head into the regular season. What are the team’s glaring weaknesses?…
Today I’d like to start a four-part series about the Tigers and their upcoming season. This section will look at the infield. The next will look at the outfield and general offense. The second half of the series will look at starting pitchers and the relief squad. Without further ado, let’s dive right in to…
The first edition of the 2015 magazine is now in the hands of fan club members. Over 90% of its content is devoted to ticket purchase information (who knew it was this complicated!) but the first few pages feature a nice interview with young catcher Ryutaro Umeno and young pitcher Ryoma Matsuda. Here is my…
They wanted a sweep. They needed a sweep. They didn’t get it. The basement-dwelling Yakult Swallows pulled off a come-from-behind win in the second game, 5-3. Starter Minoru Iwata looked to have this one under control, but with a one-run lead in the sixth, he gave up a hit to leadoff hitter Kawabata, then served…