Thursday night, the Hanshin Tigers clinched their first Central League pennant since 2005, and just the sixth in club history. From what I observed on TV and in the newspapers, they were up quite late into the night (as they deserved to fully celebrate their accomplishment). They then had to travel to Hiroshima very fatigued…
History was made at Hanshin Koshien Stadium last night, September 14. The Tigers had a magic number of 1, and were riding a 10-game winning streak. Their perfect September was on the line, and an 11-game streak had not been achieved in 41 seasons. Nevertheless, the team put aside some early-inning jitters (see recap below)…
Note: I did not watch these games and am doing this recap (along with the rest of the August scorecards) retrospectively for the purpose of having them on record. Enjoy the scorecards for what they are worth, but I do not have anything insightful to say about this series. However, with the two wins in…
Note: I did not watch these games and am doing this recap (along with the rest of the August scorecards) retrospectively for the purpose of having them on record. Enjoy the scorecards for what they are worth, but I do not have anything insightful to say about this series. These two wins at Kyocera Dome give…
Note: I did not watch these games and am doing this recap (along with the rest of the August scorecards) retrospectively for the purpose of having them on record. Enjoy the scorecards for what they are worth, but I do not have anything insightful to say about this series. It is great, though, to see our…
The Dragons had been struggling, and the Tigers were coming off a good Ultra Summer week at Koshien. But none of that matters when the venue is Vantelin Dome in Nagoya. The Tigers almost never perform well in this town, but needed to take two of three in this series to keep their good stretch…
There’s nothing more satisfying than beating down the Yomiuri Giants at Koshien Stadium. Tuesday was a memorial game for the late Shintaro Yokota, and the team came through with a big win, thanks to clutch hitting from Yusuke Ohyama and Teruaki Sato. Wednesday saw the team storm back from a 5-3 deficit in a thriller….
A mysterious decision to call Friday’s game because of rain that never came meant this series was just a two-gamer. The first one was a tight game, and the Tigers kind of blew a big chance in the bottom of the sixth inning. Having already tied the game on a Yusuke Ohyama RBI double, there…
To say the Tigers were in a slump was an understatement. Ever since that Monday make-up game against the Chiba Lotte Marines on June 5, the team found itself unable to put together a three-game series win: they dropped 2 of 3 to the Eagles, Fighters, Buffaloes and Hawks, before getting swept by the Baystars…
In some ways, this series was doomed from the start. Under normal circumstances, the previous series against the Marines would have ended on Sunday late afternoon and the team would have had nearly 48 hours between the end of that series and the start of this one. Instead, because of a Friday night rainout, there…