After winning the Koshien opener against the Hiroshima Carp on April 9, the Tigers dropped two in a row to the red helmets. So it was only fair that we went into their barn and left their fans feeling ripped off. Monday’s game was rained out, but Tuesday saw the Tigers bats come to life…
After the rather embarrassing opening series in Tokyo against these same Giants (25 straight innings without a run), the Tigers’ pride was on the line for this, the first home set of 2024 against their longtime rivals. They continued to struggle with run production, but the pitching trio of Shoki Murakami, Masashi Itoh, and Yuki…
The good news is that the Hanshin Tigers won their 2024 Koshien debut (on a cold night, I might add). The bad news is that in three games, they managed just three runs (two of them coming in a blowout loss). They now have lost three of their first four sets of the year. Heating…
Last season, that magical season that saw the Tigers win the Japan Series, started with a three-game sweep at Kyocera Dome against these same Yokohama DeNA Baystars. That hot start propelled the team to the top of the standings, where they stayed for the better part of the season. This year things did not go…
On Tuesday night (November 28) in Tokyo, Nippon Professional Baseball held its annual awards ceremony to recognize excellent players and their contributions to the game. Here’s how it went down for our Hanshin Tigers. Matsutaro Shoriki Award: Akinobu Okada Central League MVP: Shoki Murakami Central League Rookie of the Year: Shoki Murakami Central League Best…
A loss is a loss, so there is no point in complaining about what seemed from these biased eyes to be an inconsistent strike zone. Normally steady Shoki Murakami walked two (on close calls) and Yuki Nishi walked one on a questionable call, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto got the benefit of several calls the other way…
It’s always a little alarming when people start talking about a perfect game before it’s half over, but Shoki Murakami was dealing. No one reached base against him through four innings, conjuring up images of his first start in 2023 against the Yomiuri Giants (April 12, 7 perfect innings). The perfect game vanished against the…
The Tigers had a long layoff from competitive baseball, having most recently played on October 4. That said, they clinched the CL pennant on September 14, so one could argue that it had been 5 weeks since their last important game. Despite just one hit in the game’s first three innings, they did put good…
From these scores, it should be clear to all that Meiji Jingu Stadium is a hitters’ park, and that Vantelin Dome Nagoya is a pitchers’ park. It is also true that the Dragons actually have a pretty good pitching staff, while the Swallows, at least on that day, did not. OK, it’s not just that…
The Hanshin Tigers had their homecoming over the long weekend. Clinching the pennant at the home ballpark on September 14 was special, but having to play on the road the day after meant that fans did not get a chance to see their champs live for a few days. Unfortunately, the bats were almost completely…