It’s hard coming home after a bad day at work. Or maybe it’s comforting? The Hanshin Tigers got swept and humiliated in three games in Nagoya against the Chunichi Dragons. Could they right the ship at Koshien against the defending CL champion Yakult Swallows? Game 21 – Tuesday, 4/19: Surely young ace Shintaro Fujinami would…
After a disappointing opening series at Koshien against the Carp, the Tigers were determined to continue their push to the top against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars at home this week. With the Giants and Carp playing so well early in the season, they would need every win they could get against the young team led by…
At long last, the Hanshin Tigers would make their 2016 Koshien Stadium debut. The season was off to a decent start, all without having played on their true home turf yet. Could they take the momentum from their successful road trip – and dominant win against the Giants Thursday – back to their “Sacred Ground”? Game…
Fukudome, Egoshi hit HRs, Tigers Romp 10-1 Last season, the Tigers won just 2 games at Tokyo Dome in 13 tries. They needed just 3 games to match the total under new manager Tomoaki Kanemoto. Game 12 – Thursday, 4/7: Despite the clean-up hitters striking out consecutively to Giants rookie pitcher Kentaro Taira, they were…
Though the high school baseball tournament has been over for a few days already, the Tigers continue to play ball away from Koshien to start the season. They split their series at Jingu against the Swallows evenly (1-1-1) despite giving up 14 runs in the last two games. They would continue the road trip in Yokohama…
Game 4, Tuesday 3/29: Riding a two-game winning streak and bringing their best pitcher from last season to the mound, the Tigers hoped to keep the defending Central League champion Yakult Swallows winless on the season on Tuesday. Shintaro Fujinami gave up a hit and walk in the bottom of the first, but held the…
The Hanshin Tigers looked to continue their dominance against Chunichi under the dome in Osaka as the 2016 season raised its veil. Could they extend the 11-game win streak at Kyocera against the rebuilding Dragons? Game 1, Friday 3/25: As reported earlier this weekend (click here for recap), the series started on a rough note…
Randy Messenger looked invincible in the first inning. After that, the Chunichi bats and eyes made sure the bases were always occupied. After a strikeout-ground out-strikeout first inning, rookie Shun Takayama recorded his first career hit on a two-strike grounder to left field. Only Shintaro Yokota‘s quickness prevented his groundout to pitcher from becoming a double…
The first squad (ichi gun = 一軍) was announced the other day, and there are 27 players on it. There is a marked shortage of pitchers, because the team will call up its anticipated starters for the March 29-31 series @ Yakult at a later date. That means three of the players (presumably hitters) will be…
For the first time in my life (in any sport, perhaps) I took in a pre-season game. It was actually sprung on me when a Twitter friend told me that one of his friends had two spare tickets to the game. Since that friend-of-a-friend happened to be reliever Rafael Dolis, I was curious and could…