The 2022 season started with a ton of uncertainty for Hanshin Tigers fans. Can we trust Shintaro Fujinami to start the year well? Is he worthy of the Opening Day starter role? Is Teruaki Sato ready to hit cleanup after a disastrous second half last season? Why is Kento Itohara batting 5th? Can 40-year-old Yoshio…
If you are a new fan and are not particularly familiar with the team, let this be your introduction! We are going to break down the entire roster for you very briefly so you can get a feel for who is whom, what they have done, and what they might do in 2022 and beyond….
Two first-inning errors. Walked the bases loaded in the sixth. Gave five free passes in the seventh. Not our night. At least the Giants did not win, either. But they added to their impressive tie total…
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…
Shintaro Fujinami has been trying for much of this season to prove that he is worthy of a spot in the rotation. He did little to win over the coaching staff on this night, giving up two runs in the first, loading the bases in the second, and giving the lead right back to the…
What did Hanshin do as a follow-up act to yesterday’s dramatic, come-from-behind, escape from the jaws of death landmark of a game? They sure didn’t build on the momentum, as the Baystars scored three early runs against Raul Alcantara and tacked on another in the third inning before he was chased. Meanwhile, the batters looked…
It’s not like the Tigers did not get on base enough tonight. They just could not stay on the bases long enough to reach home, for the most part. Two runners got thrown out trying to advance a base too many, and two more got gunned down trying to steal second. The result is that…
What can you say about these Hanshin TIgers? I can say that the bullpen took a real beating these past 18 games. I can also say that the bats came through a ton against some really good pitchers. Today made that evident beyond any other game in interleague play. Ace rookie Takahisa Hayakawa lasted just…
The forecast heading into today called for rain all day, and it looked like Koyo Aoyagi was going to fall victim to his 12th career rain-out, including four straight at Koshien Stadium this year alone! But somehow, the rains stopped mid-afternoon and did not come back hard enough to allow us to see Aoyagi pitch…
There’s nothing more dangerous than playing a team that is riding an extra-long winless streak. You just don’t want to be the team that ends it for them. And yet these Tigers played their worst game of the year, and what honestly should have been a 1-1 tie at worst ended up a blowout loss,…