The long, hard road trip continues on with two crucial matchups. We put the series loss to the Yomiuri Giants in the rearview mirror, and try to remain positive in light of the bad news about Randy Messenger. On tap over the weekend was a crucial set against the hard-charging Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Getting swept…
Details were taken from this article and this one (both Japanese). Ace Hits DL Due to Injury for First Time; Season Over? The Yomiuri Giants‘ announcers kept prattling on and on about how Shinnosuke Abe needed just four more hits to reach 2,000 for his career. Could he get it done tonight? Could he finish…
It doesn’t seem to matter how either of these teams are faring in the standings. These “Legendary Games” (伝統の一戦) have a special atmosphere, and neither team wants to lose. This is an important time of year for both teams – Hanshin needs to play well on the road and patiently wait for the high schoolers…
To save you from having to read a depressing series recap, this report comes to you a little early with a bit of a startling move by Tomoaki Kanemoto and the Hanshin Tigers. Pitcher Yuta Iwasada, who once again struggled mightily (with perhaps his worst start of the year), was sent home to the Osaka…
Let’s not fool ourselves. The Yakult Swallows are sitting a distant last in the standings, but any given team can win any given game. These Swallows have been playing decent ball of late, having come back from a 10-run deficit last week against the Dragons, and then overcoming a 4-run Giants lead on Thursday night….
It’s never easy going up against the defending champs. And the Hiroshima Carp have been having their way with opponents of late, having won six straight series, and blowing out three different teams by double digits in the past two weeks. (This includes one against our Tigers at Koshien.) A sweep for us could give…
When I was looking for a good book to read around this time last year, I happened to also hear about (and soon thereafter, befriend) former Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles GM Marty Kuehnert. I checked his site, saw that he had written a bunch of books, and found a couple of titles that caught my…