The Dome. It does not matter how many times the Tigers head to Nagoya… it still baffles the mind that they struggle so much to score (and win) there. Tonight was no exception. Two golden chances ended with nothing, and the defense did a lot worse than the one error that goes on record. But…
After a rough last outing (2 innings, 5 runs), Takumi Akiyama had something to prove. And prove it, he did. His lone base runner through six was a hit batsman, and until the solo home run he gave up in the seventh, he faced the minimum number of batters. He could have easily gone out…
Honestly, after five innings, this one looked over. Just like the other games in this series. But the Tigers bats once again woke up late and put a scare into the Giants’ bullpen and bench. Takumi Akiyama only lasted two innings after surrendering yet another first-inning home run, and Shintaro Fujinami served one up to…
There really is no such thing as a good time of year to slump, but the Hanshin Tigers really have looked lame since the All-Star break. Despite getting to play 15 games against the bottom half of the Central League, they have come up with just a 7-8 record, and have looked quite a bit…
Despite the Tigers being 1.5 games ahead of the Giants all weekend, any combination of a Tigers loss and Giants win would have put the orangemen in a rare situation: 0.5 games behind the Tigers but in first place. That’s right. All those ties mean their winning percentage would have been higher than ours. Fortunately,…
You can say what you want about the nature of this game ending in the top of the seventh with the Giants threatening to make it a close game. The fact of the matter is that the grounds crew know the field better than anyone, and they do not play favorites. When they can fix…
We were watching our child learning to ride a bicycle today. Fall off, scrape a knee, pick him back up, dust him off, encourage him to keep trying – he’ll get it right next time. Repeat the process enough, and the kid will eventually figure it out, right? Well, today, the opportunities could have been…
Takumi Akiyama put his best foot forward, but one bad pitch cost him in the sixth. Teruaki Sato continues to wow the nation, getting multiple hits, including another home run (tying him for second-highest rookie total in team history with Akinobu Okada). The rest of the team? Well, they created a few good scoring chances,…
Takumi Akiyama did not look like himself again. He now has as many walks in his last two outings (5) as he had in his first seven. Still, he kept the damage to a minimum, thanks in large part to UZR king Koji Chikamoto’s superior range in center. Meanwhile, the bats found all the gaps,…
Mel Rojas Jr was sent down to the farm to get more at-bats, which he was not seeing on the top squad, and Fumiya Hojoh got called up to the top squad. After uninspired play from yesterday’s second baseman (who shall remain nameless), Hojoh was given the start, and the move paid dividends immediately. His…