I have to admit, it’s a special atmosphere at these games against the Yomiuri Giants. But in the seven that I have seen at Koshien, the home team has won just one (against five losses and a tie). And this one twice looked like it would end in a loss or tie. But it didn’t. Starting…
You can never like the Hanshin Tigers’ odds against Yomiuri Giants ace Sugano. Until his last start, he had a 29 2/3 scoreless innings streak, and he’s looking every bit the Sawamura Award winner he was last season, and not at all like the guy who gave us our first win back on March 30. But then,…
It’s got to be a little bit intimidating to make your professional debut against the winningest, oldest, most popular team in baseball. Especially in their barn. And especially when they happen to be the hottest hitting team in the Central. Our pitchers did a valiant job of keeping the damage to a minimum. But if…
With a huge win on Tuesday and our best pitcher due up on the mound today, it looked like the Tigers might be well on their way to avenging a sweep at Koshien by these same Yomiuri Giants just a few weeks back. But a couple of judgment lapses by the sophomoric third baseman might…
The origin of his nickname is not known to yours truly, but our starting pitcher today uses Akkyaman as part of his Twitter handle – アッキャマン has the letters for アキヤマ (Akiyama) in it, with a few extras so it sounds a little more “hero-like.” Well on this particular day, the name was 100% befitting…
The games over the weekend led to some furious fingers tapping away on my phone screen come Sunday night. If you know Hanshin fans, you know they take every single win and loss to heart, celebrating every victory and every loss as though it’s the World Series. So there I was, venting all sorts of…
The Tigers had their share of chances in this one, but one particular hitter struggled to capitalize on his chances with runners in scoring position, and for the second straight game, the Giants came out on top. Starting Pitchers: Takumi Akiyama (1-2, 2.84 ERA) vs. Kazuto Taguchi (0-1, 8.36 ERA) Surely you don’t need to…
I said it in the Game 2 recap, and I’ll say it again: our young “ace” needs a short leash. And at this point, he just needs to be put in the doghouse and kept there for awhile. His six walks in five innings led to the team’s demise in the first “Classic Series” game…
One thing’s for sure: balls leave the park a lot more frequently at Tokyo Dome than they do at Koshien Stadium. Coming into this one, Hanshin already had three. After this one was done, they added a couple more to the total. Starting Pitchers: Takumi Akiyama (12-6, 3.01 ERA) vs. Ryoma Nogami (11-10, 3.63 ERA)…
The big win on Opening Day was a great sign that our guys could still hit the ball, hit it hard, hit it often, even against top notch pitching. That fun continued in Game 2, but when the tides turned in the sixth, they carried us out of the driver’s seat and into loserland. Starting…