Tigers Season Review 2009

A bit rushed, but here are some of my immediate

Final Battle…Desparate Disappointment

Today was the day of the last Hanshin Tigers game of 2009 – we lost 3-1 to the Yakult Swallows, meaning that they clinch the third and final playoff place, and we are consigned to a fourth place finish.

阪神、５年ぶりＢクラス転落 declares Yahoo!Jp Pro Sports page- after five years in the “A-class” of Central League baseball, we’re fallen to the B-class. In this “最終決戦”, final,decisive battle, the Swallows prevailed. I’m not bitter about their victory- the Swallows are a worthy, likeable team compared to the financial might of the Dragons and the Giants (and, indeed, Hanshin themselves). I wish them all the best in the Climax Series- in fact I hope they win it. What is disappointing though is the whole season viewed now, after the events. Despite bright sparks- particularly Aniki’s fantastic start, an 11-10 victory over the Carp, and Brazell’s form since joining, there have been too many negatives to this first year of Mayumi rule. His incompetence at handling situations- the relief, pinch hitting, and tactics- seriously undermined our challenge. Even more so, perhaps, is the general lowering of pitching and batting standards- the coaches need to be changed, as this season- with the exception of Toritani perhaps- most of our front line has been desperately disappointing. Compared to last season we are most definately worse- this season’s ending doesn’t have the pain of last season’s- which was, of course, the biggest upset in Japanese baseball season- but it’s still disappointing, robbing the fans of the excitement of the Climax Series.

Well, thats it for another 5/6 months until the start of the 2010 season- fear not, I’ll be back! Just like Hanshin.

This Is It

Hanshin Tigers vs Yakult Swallows (Koshien)

3rd October 2009

Its crunch time. Hanshin have five games left. Yakult have eight. Hanshin have a one game lead over Yakult- the team that finishes with the better record gets into the playoffs. Pretty simple really.

Tigers Countdown

The next few days will prove crucial to the Tigers season. After 136 games, the Tigers stood half a game behind the Yakult Swallows and a place in the post-season Climax Series. Then today- they lost 7-1 in Tokyo, meaning they are one and a half games behind. Only a few games remain, and the next two days they are against the Swallows. As I’m starting my new course it’ll be hard to blog them up- but I’ll be there in spirit!

Remaining Games This Season:

Vs Yakult Swallows (Away), 2 games
Vs Yakult Swallows (Home), 1 game
Vs Chunichi Dragons (Home), 1 game
Vs Hiroshima Crap (Away), 1 game
Vs Yakult Swallows (Away), 2 games

Tight For The Tigers

There’s been a hiatus from blogging about the Tigers in the last few days, partly because the games have been kicking off earlier than 6pm in Nippon (meaning a special, early morning commitment would be required to watch them here in the UK). The short of it is that things don’t look good. We lost the Hiroshima series 2-1, and are now losing in the Yokohama- yes the Yokohama Baystars series- 2-0. This leaves the table looking like this:

1. Evil Yomiuri M3
2. Chunichi Dragons 9
3. Hanshin Tigers 14.5
4. Hiroshima Carp 0.5
5. Yakult Swallows 1
6. Yokohama Baystars 12

Brief explanation- the M3 for Yomiuri means that they have a Magic Number of 3- if they win 3 more games, the title is theres. Chunichi’s 9 means they are 9 games behind Yomiuri- if Chunichi won there next 5 and Yomiuri lost all of theres, Chunichi would go into first. Hanshin are 14.5 behind Chunichi, but the real panic is that battle for third spot (the top three teams go into the playoffs). As you can see, the Carp are 0.5 games behind Hanshin, and the Swallows are 1.0 games behind the Carp, or 1.5 games behind Hanshin. Its very, very tight- I thought after the Yomiuri sen that we’d have it in the bag, but doubt has crept in due to repeated failures against the Carp and the Baystars. Worse still is that our next series is away to Chunichi.

Next Four Games…

Wed 23- Yokohama (A) – 6am BST

Fri 25 – Chunichi (A) – at the bloggable time of 10am (BST)
Sat 26 – Chunichi (A) – 7am BST
Sun 27 – Chunichi (A) – 6am BST

Can We Sweep The Giants?

Yomiuri Giants vs Hanshin Tigers Game 3 (Tokyo Dome)

17th September 2009

That’s the question on everyone’s lips going into this third and final confrontation with the Evil Tokyo Giants. After two heroic, outstanding performances and victories- yesterday’s being quite possibly the best offensive and relief performances of the season- our hopes are high. Today’s starter is Kubo, who is 7-7 with an EPA of 3.56. I hope to see Asai again, after his brilliant play yesterday. Kanoh is clearly our number one catcher now too, though I expect Yanoh will return. The Hanshin flag flies high in this picture- but can we do the unthinkable and win a three game series in Tokyo, replacing all the doubts., confusion and insecurity of the past season with confidence going into the post-season? Let’s find out…

Heroic Eleventh Innings Victory for the Tigers!

Evil Yomiuri vs Hanshin, Game 1 (Tokyo Dome)

15th September 2009

Kyojin are the only Japanese team I hate, and my feelings for them were only confirmed by reading Whitings’ You Gotta Have Wa, exposing them as it did in all their establishment, conservative, machine-like “glory”. Anyway, today we take them on at Tokyo Dome, having been moved up to 3rd place in the league as much (if not more) by successive Swallows’ failures than by our own successes (although we did manage to beat Yokohama 2-1 on sunday).

Chance To Third- Missed

Hanshin Tigers 2 Yokohama Baystars 4 (Koshien)

12th September 2009

So- if we win today, we go up to third! Yakult lost to Chunichi in the early bat-off 4-2, meaning a win or a draw against the Baystars would get us up into the playoff places. On a side note, I’ve just finished reading Robert Whiting’s You Gotta Have Wa. Its an interesting read, fully exposing the craziness of Japanese ways (thats not a complete review, I know). I’m moving straight onto The Meaning of Ichiro, and I hope to have some more eloquent thoughts down on paper (or screen) in the near future.

Zoom Zoom Zoom!

Hiroshima Carp 0 Hanshin Tigers 2 (Hiroshima Mazda Stadium)

4th September 2009

I missed yesterdays defeat- a bad result, as we’d really needed to sweep the series. Still, today we play the Carp in the Mazda Zoom! Stadium, while the Swallows take on the Giants at Tokyo Dome- can we reduce the defecit to third place?

Every Little Thing Every Precious Thing

Hanshin Tigers 6 Yakult Swallows 1 (Koshien)

1st September 2009

Hanshin match reports are back! Read on to find out about our opening game in September 2009…