Calling Tigers Nation

I only saw the first two innings, but he seemed to hit the spots. Gave up a few walks, got out of the jams OK. The Dragons flailed at a couple of mean fastballs. I wasn't watching that closely.

But Kawakami should feel unlucky. Vogelsong's two-run homer came after the ump messed up a double play call which would have ended the inning, but instead left Yano on second.

Cheers Mijow. Didn't know about that umpiring error.

It would be nice to see a starter go a bit deeper into a game. JFK have earned a break and, looking at tonight's weather forecast, they'll probably get one tonight!

I watched the whole match. Vogelsang was surprisingly good in parts. If he had a problem is was that his control was not complete and he took too long to get batters out. Count-wise he reached over 100 in six innings, but Kawakami still had enough to go into the seventh even - though he wasn't wonderful.

Mijow is right, there was an umpire error, but Kawakami didn't pitch well to Vogelsang (rather like Sugiyama to Miura tonight).

Thanks Christopher. Yeah, that's how I remember his spring, high pitch counts early on.

- Rather like Sugiyama to Miura tonight.

That was just totally depressing.

- Rather like Sugiyama to Miura tonight.

Yeah, I was at Koshien last night and it was depressing. JFK (er, JKF) did need a rest, but it was costly last night. Sugiyama had been pitching a great game, but for some reason was kept in during a jam in the 7th. Then, instead of keeping it close with someone reliable, they went with Hashimoto to give up more runs (of course Fujimoto's mysterious error didn't help).

And what a bizarre ending. The Tigers kept fighting back and then in the middle of a dream match-up between Kroon and Kanemoto with Kanemoto being the tying-run, the game gets called with two outs in the 9th! Dang.

Fujimoto's error was similar to one made by Aoki last season at Koshien. Calling the game was bizarre after they had been playing under those conditions for so long.

I also thought Lin was unlucky in his last at bat - he hit the ball very well and only the weather stopped a home run.

- Calling the game was bizarre after they had been playing under those conditions for so long.

Huh? Were you watching the same game I was? It was raining throughout, sure. But the torrential downpour didn't start until the bottom of the 9th.

Kanemoto was laughing standing there at home plate before it was finally called. He knew the conditions weren't right to continue. The umpiring crew tried valiantly to give the Tigers the final out, but nobody could keep their eyes open with those buckets of rain coming down in the end. This [Sports Hochi - see photo] was not the condition for very long.

Hi Michael.

My impression was that the rain got really heavy around the 7th inning. I was surprised that it actually made it to the ninth, but as I said, that was only my impression.

Yes, bizarre wasn't the word that came to mind - more like shoganai. As you say, the umpires made a valiant effort to finish the game.

But did anyone see the new ad on Sun-TV featuring Vogelsong's wife? She translates the "O'Malley de oma" spiel telling people not to drive to Koshien - with a nice cutesy "ping pong" at the end. Now that's bizarre.

Maybe he was trying to hit an illegally parked car when he hit that home run the other night. Maybe Vogelsong should be in the lineup (and Yan, too).

By the way, when Yan pitches against Jiang of the Giants, will the commentators crack up when they say, "Next up, the 'Jan-Jan' matchup"?

- Then, instead of keeping it close with someone reliable, they went with Hashimoto.

I didn't think that was a bad decision per se (although obviously it turned out to be the wrong choice in the end).

In 2005 (his first year), Hashimoto pitched relief in 51 games for an ERA of 2.30, which is respectable when you consider he's generally part of Hanshin's "losing formula" (as opposed to JFK, who are the Tigers' "winning formula"). Last year, Hashimoto was injured and only made it onto the field for 1 1/3 innings and ended up with the astronomical ERA of 20.25! This season, Hashimoto had appeared in six games and given up only three earned runs up until last night.

In hindsight, Sajikihara may have been the better choice, but I didn't hear much in the way of "What on earth is Okada thinking?" when Hashimoto was announced.

Hi all Hanshin fans!

Does anyone know what the "official" starting rotation for Hanshin is this year? It seems the rotation this year is almost entirely made up of rookies/new players and only that old lefty is still being part of the it.

What happened to Fukuhara, Andoh, and Sugiyama? Weren't they part of starting 5 last year? Are they injured or something? (Sorry, haven't been able to catch up with Hanshin off-seaon moves and training camp.)

One last question. Is Hanshin using a 6-man rotation or 5?

Thanks.

Changing the topic a bit, but does anyone know why ticket sales might be lagging this year? The Alps section was as empty as I've ever seen it last night. Strange for the first weekend Koshien series of the year. Granted people might have been scared off by weather reports last night, but there are still plenty of tickets left even for the Giants series this month and next. Any thoughts?

[by Admin: If you've got something this off topic, it's best to start a new one.]

Well it was definitely a full house today. I dropped by Koshien to try and see the game, but couldn't get in. It was a nice day, so maybe the weather has had something to do with attendance levels.

(And by the time I got back home they were seven runs up in the bottom of the first!)

Tigers are still using a six man rotation. At the start of the season IIRC pitchers were Yan, Vogelsang, Nohmi, Egusa/Sugiyama (?), Shimoyanagi, and Kojima. Andoh and Fukuhara were both injured in Spring training and so didn't start. Egusa, I think, has only pitched in relief and Sugiyama pitched yesterday and was OK. Some of his stuff was very good - some not so good. Andoh hasn't made an appearance yet. Fukuhara started against the Dragons and was very poor. He has been sent back down to the farm team to improve.

If I said depressing last night, what can I say about today's game?

My first game at Koshien this year and it was awful. Nothing worse than seeing your team load the bases with no outs and leave them stranded. Especially when the meat of the order lets you down.

I really think Okada has improved over the last couple of seasons when it comes to pulling the pitcher, but why he hung Nohmi out to dry when he was clearly done I'll never know.

As for the rain last night, I thought it was unplayable in the 7th and was surprised the game wasn't called then. Anyway, them's the breaks, move on!

The Daily made it clear - "Batters Kill Nohmi" (a very rough translation).

Nohmi had reached 92 pitches after 7 innings - I suppose Okada thought he could make an eighth. Given how Sakajihara pitched maybe not an unreasonable supposition? Though today - whatever medicine Okada fed the Tigers seems to have worked.

ic ic, thanks for the info.

By the way, which starting pitcher do you think will be replaced when Andoh and Fukuhara are back to full fitness? Or will anyone be if the current rotation is performing OK?

Just curious, why has Hanshin now made Fujikawa as the closer instead of keeping Kubota for this role? Wasn't Kubota still the main closer for the team a year ago?

Kubota, despite being an excellent pitcher, did blow some saves. He didn't quite have the temperament to close all the time.

But anyway, last year he broke both hands trying to stop his baby daughter falling out of her pram. Whilst he was out Fujikawa took over the closing duties and performed excellently. He also seemed to relish the role. Given that he was so good it seemed logical to keep him in the role, though Kubota will close some matches (he did so in the 6-6 tie with the Dragons recently).

On your other question, Okada will replace whoever is not doing well. Maybe Shimoyanagi if he continues in his current vein.

- Why has Hanshin now made Fujikawa as the closer instead of keeping Kubota for this role? Wasn't Kubota still the main closer for the team a year ago?

And Jeff Williams before him, and Marc Valdes before him, and Toshihide Narimoto before him, and ...

My memory is foggy, but wasn't it something like: Kubota got injured, Fujikawa stepped in as a replacement and did such a good job they kept him on? It seems JFK works in whichever order.