From T-Ray’s Daily Sports Column (Japanese) デイリースポーツ のコラムはこちら Summer has really hit hard the last few days here in Kansai. It’s hot, but more importantly, the Tigers have gotten hot, too! Those June Tigers (2-8 record on the month) appear to have vanished, and it’s a ton of fun watching them win a lot of…
Tonight, the Tigers added yet another player to the already-long list of guys who are in need of medical attention. At some point early in the Wednesday night game against the Hiroshima Carp (which ended in a 3-3 tie), captain Kento Itohara broke the hamate bone in his right hand and will likely need at…
As someone who lived in Japan more than 15 years before going to his first professional baseball game, you would think a few extra months away from the park because of COVID-19 would be bearable. Not the case. More than nine months of no Koshien is practically like starving a man, especially one who lives…
Host T-Ray is joined by Sanjay as they discuss Games 10-18 of the season. Also, they talk in detail about three veterans (Kosuke Fukudome, Atsushi Nohmi, Kyuji Fujikawa) who are off to incredibly slow starts. Will they heat up this year, or is it time for them to start chilling out on their front porches…
Tora (虎) = Tiger Kichi (キチ) = short for kichigai (気違い) = lunatic We are… Episode 004: Are You Feelin’ the 2020 Tigers? This is our first chat like this since the season started, am I right, my good man? Your CTBC Brothers are on the verge of a first-half pennant, and both Kansai teams…
I have a few general rules about baseball books I read, especially when it pertains to players: If possible, nothing from while they are still playing. (I have read Tomoaki Kanemoto‘s books and also Tsuyoshi Nishioka‘s book, but I purposely ignored Takashi Toritani‘s.) I want to read the first one they put out after their…
The Hanshin Tigers have announced, along with the rest of NPB, that it will allow a maximum of 5,000 fans to attend games between July 10 and 31. Depending on how well COVID-19 is contained at that point, stadiums could be allowed to operate at half-capacity from August 1 onward. The Tigers end their long…
WARNING! Sound quality unintentionally reflects Hanshin’s record. It is very poor. If you stop listening part-way through, or just pass on this one altogether, we completely understand. Our apologies in advance. Host T-Ray is joined Sanjay as they discuss all of the ugly play from the season’s first 9 games. They choose player(s) of the…
This is not the way any Hanshin fans expected the season to begin. After a strong showing in March (7-3-2) and June practice games (5-3-3), it looked like enough players were firing on all cylinders to give this team a shot at another 2003 or 2005 type of season. Everyone seemed to be hitting the…
Former Hanshin star Matt Murton (2010-15) has been doing a lot of online talks with current NPB imports during the pandemic. He did a few with Spencer Patton (Yokohama DeNA BayStars) and Steven Moya (Orix Buffaloes), but this time he hooked up with two new Tigers: outfielder Jerry Sands and reliever Jon Edwards! Have a…