T-Ray shares the latest team news, recaps the 5 games over the past week (2 vs. BayStars, 3 vs. Dragons), chooses a player of the week, a hitter and pitcher of the month. A new theme song introduces Wacky Tomoaki, and then for the hot topic, T-Ray looks at some of the big (good and bad)…
Vs. Chunichi Dragons @ Koshien Stadium Hanshin faced lefties Valdes (Tuesday), Jordan (Wednesday) and Ohno (Thursday) the last time these teams met earlier this month. With starters usually pitching the same day of the week (6 man rotation and Mondays off), one would have expected to face completely different guys this time around, But… Game…
I was fortunate enough to have pretty good seats at Thursday night’s Hanshin vs. Yokohama tilt. I was also lucky to have my camera on the new import Eric Campbell for his entire at bat that ended in his first career RBI. Check it out:
The steady diet of opponents’ lefty pitchers continued at Koshien for the Tigers on Tuesday. One can’t help but wonder if other teams feel their greatest chance of success at stifling the attack is to put a southpaw on the mound to start the game. The Chunichi Dragons sent 3 our way (Valdes, Jordan, Ohno),…
Wayne Graczyk’s Japan Pro Ball Media Guide Those of you out there who follow Japanese baseball in English have probably heard the name Wayne Graczyk. And if you’ve heard his name, you’ve probably also heard about his tragic passing last Tuesday night / Wednesday morning. Here are a few interesting articles written as reactions to his…
T-Ray recaps the 6 games over the past week (3 @ Dragons, 3 @ Giants), chooses a player of the week, shares the latest team news, and then talks about what Hanshin needs to do in order to be in contention for the pennant at the end of 2017. How many wins do you think…
The good news: facing Yomiuri on the weekend has meant being able to avoid ace Sugano 2 series in a row. The bad news: it would mean facing other pitchers that the Tigers generally fare poorly against: Mikolas and Taguchi. The question is, would we be able to figure out one of our hardest pitchers…
Having read only one Katsuya Nomura book prior to this one (and not liking it much), I picked this one up only because of the man’s reputation as a great thinking player and manager. His obnoxious octogenarian rants, I can do without. Well, this book contains a mix of wisdom, history, and crusty criticisms, but…
Last season, Hanshin won just 5 of 13 matches in Nagoya against the dismal Chunichi Dragons. But the hard times at the dome go back further than one season. In the 20 years of the Dome’s existence, Hanshin has put up a pitiful 82-153-5 record there. So there’s no doubt that expecting a sweep, no matter how…
On Tuesday night, Hanshin Tigers third baseman Takashi Toritani tied his manager Tomoaki Kanemoto for the second longest consecutive games streak in NPB history with 1766. (The top spot is held by Hiroshima Carp legend Sachio Kinugasa, with 2215 games.) To celebrate the feat, Toritani went 0-for-4, striking out with a runner in scoring position…