For some reason, the Hanshin Tigers have played relatively well at Kyocera Dome Osaka in recent years. It is definitely not as electric an atmosphere as Koshien Stadium, but for this series, which coincided with the Japanese obon holiday season, the house was packed and home field advantage could be felt. Still, when facing a…
The weekend series against the Yakult Swallows left a bad taste in the mouths of Hanshin fans. But things were about to get a whole lot harder for the traveling Tigers. Having started the season even (4 wins 4 losses) against the Fish, an ugly, humiliating 9-game losing streak meant this series would probably be the hardest…
Three straight series wins and an exciting come-from-behind victory on Thursday gave Tigers fans plenty to talk about. But this team of mostly youngsters was still sitting 9 games under .500 and 4 games out of a playoff spot heading into this one. Could they take a chunk out of both of those numbers against…
Going on a good run at home against teams with similar records was one thing. Taking that act on the road and beating the higher-ranked teams would be another. Could Hanshin continue its mini-run in Yokohama to start its annual long road trip? Game 100 – Tuesday 8/2: The bats started out extremely silent against…
After last week’s sweep at the hands of the Giants, the club was on a 7-game home losing streak, with its last Koshien win coming June 28 against the BayStars. A six-pack at home against the other lower teams in the Central would be a chance for the Tigers to show their mettle. Summer break was…
It would be hard to blame Hanshin fans for taking the entire week off after last weekend’s drubbing at Koshien, during which the team scored just 3 runs (and just one run batted in) versus 24 against. But this matchup, unlike the last one, was against a comparable opponent. Formidable at the plate, mind you,…
The way the team has been playing lately has not inspired a lot of confidence in fans. In fact, this fan (who tries to stay positive and objective as much as possible) has made the decision to write less until the team starts to perform better. For the record, since June 3 the team has…
How can a team forget a humiliating (and frustrating) sweep at the hand of the league leaders over the weekend? Beat up on an opponent that has been kind to them so far this year! That’s right, the Tigers found a lot of strange ways to lose to the Carp in Hiroshima to open the…
The Tigers combined to win two of nine (one vs. Lions, none @ Marines and one @ Fighters) against quality Pacific League opponents. Their two wins against the then-last place Eagles was barely acceptable, and the same result against the now-last place Buffaloes would also be the bare minimum, though a sweep would definitely be preferred,…
The good news is that the Tigers have finished playing in Pacific League parks for another year. The bad news is that they had their worst week of the season and looked terrible in doing so. This series was no different. Other than being able to squeeze out a victory in the middle game. Read…