Typically, Nagoya Dome is not a friendly place for the Hanshin Tigers. In fact, in the team’s first two trips to face the Chunichi Dragons in their home park this season, the Tigers went 1-4 (with another loss coming in a countryside park). But the start of the “Road of Death” at the end of…
The long, hard road trip continues on with two crucial matchups. We put the series loss to the Yomiuri Giants in the rearview mirror, and try to remain positive in light of the bad news about Randy Messenger. On tap over the weekend was a crucial set against the hard-charging Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Getting swept…
Details were taken from this article and this one (both Japanese). Ace Hits DL Due to Injury for First Time; Season Over? The Yomiuri Giants‘ announcers kept prattling on and on about how Shinnosuke Abe needed just four more hits to reach 2,000 for his career. Could he get it done tonight? Could he finish…
Let’s not fool ourselves. The Yakult Swallows are sitting a distant last in the standings, but any given team can win any given game. These Swallows have been playing decent ball of late, having come back from a 10-run deficit last week against the Dragons, and then overcoming a 4-run Giants lead on Thursday night….
Could the annual “Road of Death” road trip start anywhere worse than Nagoya Dome? Our boys have NEVER fared well there, except perhaps the last time we won the pennant, back in 2005. Having been completely humiliated the last time we faced the Chunichi Dragons in their territory, Hanshin needed to take at least two…
It’s actually a scary thing to be facing a team that is riding a 13-game losing streak. Because you know that streak will eventually come to an end, and you don’t want to be the team that helps them snap it. The Yakult Swallows last won on June 30th against these very Hanshin Tigers. So…
It’s All-Star Break… no real baseball to watch and analyze, so let’s look at our crop of pitchers and give a few brief comments about each of them. What’s your take? Whom do you like in those final couple of rotation spots? In the bullpen? The above “depth chart” is just my own observations, and…
Despite starting the month with two wins against the Swallows and a split series against the BayStars, one couldn’t help but think that this Hanshin team had still not yet found its way out of the post-interleague funk it was in. This series confirmed fans’ worst fears but ended with some hope and joy on…
This isn’t funny anymore. The implosion against a powerful Rakuten Eagles team, I get. Same with the shutout the next day. Then losing two straight to Hiroshima is hard to stomach but also a plausible scenario, one we could stomach, to an extent. But the ONE RUN series against the Dragons? Sure, it was on…
While the Carp had a slightly better interleague record than the Tigers, the standings atop the Central were still close heading into this one. Last year at this time, Hanshin opened the post-interleague schedule in Hiroshima with an embarrassing 3-game sweep. Everyone knew that and had revenge in their minds. They did not have it…