Power Pros Forum

May 19, 2012

We're playing the Rakuten Eagles today; they're in last in the PBL.

Hanshin Tigers (18-23-1) - 3
Tokohu Rakuten Golden Eagles (14-29-0) - 6

Tigers:

Lineup:
1. Kiyoshi Abe – C (0-5)
2. Fumihiko Saito - 2B (3-4)
3. Takashi Toritani – SS (0-4, 2 DP)
4. Kazuteru Tani – RF (0-4)
5. Takahiro Arai - 3B (2-4, double, 1 RBI)
6. Riki Kawamoto – CF (1-3, HBP)
7. Tomoaki Kanemoto - 1B (1-4, double, 2 RBI)
8. Matt Murton – LF (1-4, SO)
9. PITCHER (0-1, sac bunt)
- Kodai Sakurai – PH (0-1)
- Kenji Johjima – PH (0-1)

Pitcher(s):
Atsushi Nohmi (8 innings, 1 run, 1 earned)
Tomoharu Yoshimi (1 1/3 innings, 2 runs, 2 earned)
Shinji Matsuka (1/3 inning, 2 runs, 2 earned)
Shota Kimura (1/3 inning, 1 run, 1 earned)

Eagles:

Lineup:
1. Naoto Watanabe – SS (3-5, reached on error)
2. Kensuke Uchimura - 2B (0-3, 2 sac bunts)
3. Motohiro Shima – C (2-5)
4. Teppei Tsuchiya – CF (0-4, sac fly)
5. Masato Nakamura – LF (3-5, 3 doubles, 1 RBI)
6. Todd Linden – RF (3-5, 2 doubles, 1 RBI)
7. Takeshi Yamasaki - 1B (1-5, SO, HR [3], 2 RBI)
8. Daisuke Kusano - 3B (1-5, SO)
9. PITCHER (0-2)
- Norihiro Nakamura – PH (0-1)
- Ryuji Miyade – PH (0-1)

Pitcher(s):
Hisashi Iwakuma (7 innings, 1 run, 1 earned)
Shinichiro Koyama (1 inning, 0 runs)
Wataru Karashima (1+ inning, 2 runs, 2 earned
Juan Morillo (1 inning, 0 runs)

MVP:
Teppei Tsuchiya – Gave his team the lead in the 10th with a sac fly

WP: Wataru Karashima (1-0)
LP: Tomoharu Yoshimi (2-1)
S: Juan Morillo (9)

Nishinomiya Sports
May 20, 2012
Tigers take a hard loss
- Teppei Tsuchiya

Koshien Stadium, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo – The Tigers lost yesterday’s game. And let me tell you, it was horrible. It’s starting to look like this year won’t be “The Year.” With a struggling offence, and with the pitching being as it is, this team looks somewhat pathetic. We’re bouncing in and out of last place, with no hope to be found. Well, at least in yesterday’s game Arai made a fantastic diving catch in the 1st, and Abe made two excellent catches behind the plate, diving to rob two players of a sac bunt opportunity.

Also, Yoahimi (who was handed the loss) did a great job pitching, it was actually Matsuka who let the runners score, even though they were counted towards Yoshimi, making Yoshimi’s ERA go from 0.67 to 1.88.

- Takaharu Sonada

May 25, 2012

We're playing the Buffaloes today; I'm not going to say anything, since when I do we lose.

Orix Buffaloes (20-26-2) - 0
Hanshin Tigers (20-24-2) - 6

Buffaloes:

Lineup:
1. Shogo Akada – LF (0-4)
2. Naoyuki Ōhmura – RF (1-4)
3. Tomotaka Sakaguchi – CF (1-4)
4. Alex Cabrera - 1B (0-4, SO)
5. Kōji Yamasaki - 2B (1-4, SO)
6. Keiji Ōhbiki – SS (1-4)
7. Takahiro Okada – DH (2-3, double, SO)
8. Takeshi Hidaka – C (0-3, SO)
9. Greg LaRocca - 3B (0-3)

Pitcher(s):
Shinya Nakayama (2+ innings, 3 runs, 3 earned)
Sako (4 inning, 1 run, 1 earned)
Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara (2 innings, 2 runs, 2 earned)
Takashi Kamoshida (1 inning, 0 runs)

Tigers:

Lineup:
1. Kiyoshi Abe - C (3-5, double, HR [8], 3 RBI)
2. Fumihiko Saito - 2B (0-4, DP)
3. Kenji Johjima – DH (2-4, HR [3], 1 RBI)
4. Kazuteru Tani – RF (1-4, HR [10], 1 RBI)
5. Takahirio Arai - 3B (1-4)
6. Tomoaki Kanemoto - 1B (0-4, SO, DP)
7. Riki Kawamoto – CF (0-4)
8. Matt Murton – LF (1-4, HR [4], 1 RBI)
9. Katsuhiko Saka – SS (4-4)

Pitcher(s):
Minoru Iwata (9 innings, 0 runs)

MVP(s):
Kazuteru Tani – Gave the Tigers the lead in the 1st
Minoru Iwata – 6 hit shoutout

WP: Minoru Iwata (3-2)
LP: Shinya Nakayama (0-5)
S: --

Nishinomiya Sports
May 26, 2012
Iwata goes the distance, Tigers “back to normal”


Kyocera Dome Osaka, Osaka – The Tigers played like their old selves yesterday! It’s great to see the pitching actually do well! And luckily, we have Minoru Iwata at our disposal; Iwata went the distance, giving up only 6 hits, in a Tigers victory 6-0. Also in yesterday’s game Johjima, Tani, and Murton all hit homeruns, Johjima’s 3rd, Tani’s 10th, and Murton’s 4th.

- Takaharu Sonada

Welcome back, Tigers of old!

I was happy as well!

And, I'll make an update soon, I have a dentist appointment tomorrow, and track everyday, so I don't know when...

Hope you guy's still like this!

May 27, 2012
When I woke up, I head to the cafe that is down the street from my house. I decided to buy a newspaper, as I did every morning. And I was both shocked, and aggravated with what I read.

Nishinomiya Sports
May 27, 2012
What?!

Koshien Stadium, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo - We have just received some horrible news. Some shocking news. News that some of you Tigers fans out there will find disgusting. It has been reported that both Tomoaki Kanemoto and Takahiro Arai will be either released or assigned to bench duty with the upcoming season. This move will make room for the heavily scouted corner-infield phenom brothers, Ryo Katsuki and Tetsuji Katsuki. Ryo commented "I had no idea. Well, now I guess me and [Tetsuji] will have to do real good to get the fans consent, that is if we're drafted by them. Next year will sure be interesting." Tetsuji refused an interview.

This news is shocking, especially coming out now, when Kanemoto and Arai are turning the corner this season, leaving their slump's behind.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

- Takaharu Sonada

When I was done reading this article, I immediately called the owner.
"Moshi moshi?" He said
"Sir! I have just read an article in Nishinomiya Sports."
"Yeah, what about it?"
"It says that we're going to get rid of Kanemoto and Arai."
"What?! Who dared to leak this?! Jack, my office now. There will be a meeting."
Yes si-"
He hung up just then.

I (both annoyed and nervous of the owners temper) headed over to his office. Once I went inside, I found everyone from the front office in there, along with some other employees.

The door slammed, and we all turned our heads, to see the owner steaming. This story was not supposed to be leaked, since we hadn't even been sure of it happening.

"All right you idiots, who leaked this?!" He screamed.
All there was was silence in the room.
"Alright, not talking, huh? Well then. I guess I'll just have to fire someone."
"Sir, I hardly think that's necessary." I said, nervously.
"Jack, be quiet, or you'll get fired."
I just stared at him blankly
"Okay?"
"Y-Yes sir."
"Alright, now to continue on this. Who. The. Hell. Leaked this?"
One of the employees I didn't know apprehensively raised his hand.
"YOU! OUTSIDE! NOW!"
He walked out, and we all watched as the owner yelled, and yelled, and yelled, and yelled, and yelled.
I turned to Preston and Todd.
"Guys, that guy's never gonna be working in the baseball business again."
"Oh absolutely. The owner can be brutal sometimes." Todd said.
"You've got that right Todd, when I forgot to tell you guys about Yoshimi I got a scolding of my own." Preston stated.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to hope Kanemoto and Arai take it alright." I said.
"To put it in the words of Sonada, 'We'll just have to wait and see what happens'" said Preston.

The owner walked back in.
"Alright guys, meeting adjourned."
"That was better than expected" Todd whispered.
With that everyone rushed out, in fear of another episode.

I went home, and awaited the results of this article hitting the public.
It'll be interesting.

Sorry for the week (and a half-ish) long break, but here we go

May 27, 2012

After that episode with the newspaper, we'll just have to see what happens today. We're playing the Marines, they have the best record in all of the NPB, this will be a tough one.

Hanshin Tigers (22-24-2) - 6
Chiba Lotte Marines (32-16-1) - 4

Tigers:

Lineup:
1. Kiyoshi Abe - C (0-3, BB)
2. Fumihiko Saito - 2B (2-4, triple, 1 RBI)
3. Takashi Toritani – SS (0-3, BB, 1 RBI)
4. Kazuteru Tani – RF (2-4, 1 RBI)
5. Takahiro Arai - 3B (1-4, DP, double)
6. Riki Kawamoto – CF (3-4, double, triple)
7. Tomoaki Kanemoto - 1B (2-4, double, FC, HR [3], 3 RBI)
8. Matt Murton – LF (2-4, DP)
9. PITCHER (0-2, sac bunt)

Pitcher(s):
Masaru Takeda (6 1/3 innings, 4 runs, 4 earned)
Tomoharu Yoshimi (1 2/3 innings, 0 runs)
Kyuji Fujikawa (1 inning, 0 runs)

Marines:

Lineup:
1. Saburo Ohmura - RF (3-5, 2 doubles, 2 RBI)
2. Takashi Ogino – CF (1-5, DP)
3. Shoitsu Ohmatsu – LF (1-4, SO, double, 1 RBI)
4. Tsuyoshi Nishioka – SS (0-4, 2 SO)
5. Tadahito Iguchi - 2B (1-4)
6. Kim Tae-Kyun - 1B (1-4, reached on error)
7. Toshiaki Imae - 3B (0-4, SO)
8. Masahiko Tanaka – C (3-4, double, 1 RBI)
9. PITCHER (0-2)
- Ryusuke Minami – PH (1-1)
- Hisao Heiuchi – PH (0-1)

Pitcher(s):
Yoshihisa Naruse (6 innings, 1 run, 1 earned)
Yoshihiro Itoh (2/3 inning, 5 runs, 5 earned)
Yasuhiko Yabuta (0 innings, 0 runs)
Hiroki Ueno (1 1/3 innings, 0 runs)

MVP(s):
Tomoharu Yoshimi – Getting the win, and holding the Marines
Tomoaki Kanemoto – Tying the game with a 3-run homerun in the 7th

WP: Tomoharu Yoshimi (3-1)
LP: Yoshihiro Itoh (1-2)
S: Kyuji Fujikawa (9)

Nishinomiya Sports
May 28, 2012
Tigers win, thanks to the bat of Kanemoto
- Tomoaki Kanemoto

Koshien Stadium, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo – The Tigers squeak by the powerful Marines, mostly in part of Kanemoto, but also thanks to some major pitching errors made by the Marines. For instance Itoh walked Toritani in the bottom of the 7th, to give the Tigers their first lead of the game 5-4. In the 7th, the Tigers scored 5 runs, and almost a sixth, but alas, the runner at third was thrown out before the runner going home could score. Kanemoto and Arai (who are both in question for next year) held a press conference after the game, along with Jack Allen, the GM. Kanemoto, when asked what he thought about the possible move next season said “I don’t know, next year is next year. What happens happens, and I’m getting old for this anyway, if I don’t stay here, I’ll be looking for a pinch-hitter or DH job.” When Arai was asked the same question, he responded “It seems that I am not necessarily needed here, so I’ll be looking at my options for next year.”

Keep in mind folks, that if these two leave, we will get two brothers, who have been playing together their whole lives, and can read each other well, which will be good on the field.

- Takaharu Sonada

Nishinomiya Sports
June 1, 2012
Tigers Make Addition - American Outfielder, Alan Spaikes

Koshien Stadium, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo - The Tigers made the call to pick up American, MLB outfielder (Spaikes). With his hitting abilities in mind, they made the right call. In the Majors Spaikes had an average of 20 homeruns a season, along with plenty of outfield assists. He should help immensely. He held a press conference, and stated that he was "excited to play in Japan, it should be a new and exciting experience, I'm looking forward to helping the team in any way that I can."

Alan Spaikes
AGE, YEARS PRO, POSITION, 2ND POSITION, B/T, TRJ, CON, POW, RUN, ARM, FLD, E RES
25, 5 (MLB) 0 (NPB), OF, N/A, L/R, 3, D, B, E, C, E, E

- Takaharu Sonada

June 2, 2012

We're playing the Fighters today. Darvish is pitching, this one will be tough. I mean, he’s got a 1.72 ERA!

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (22-31-2) - 0
Hanshin Tigers (25-25-2) - 3

Figthers:

Lineup:
1. Atsunori Inaba – RF (2-4, double)
2. Hichori Morimoto – LF (0-4, SO)
3. Kensuke Tanaka - 2B (0-4, SO)
4. Yoshio Itoi – CF (1-4, double, 2 SO)
5. Makoto Kaneko - SS (1-4, SO)
6. Tomohiro Nioka - 3B (2-4)
7. Shinji Takahashi – DH (1-4)
8. Shinya Tsuruoka – C (1-4)
9. Eiichi Koyano - 1B (0-3, SO)

Pitcher(s):
Yu Darvish (8 innings, 3 runs, 3 earned)
Brian Wolfe (1 inning, 0 runs)

Tigers:

Lineup:
1. Kiyoshi Abe – C (1-5, DP)
2. Fumihiko Saito - 2B (3-5, double, SB, 2 DP)
3. Takashi Toritani – SS (0-4, DP)
4. Kazuteru Tani – RF (1-4)
5. Kenji Johjima – DH (2-4, double, 1 RBI)
6. Takahiro Arai - 3B (2-4)
7. Tomoakai Kanemoto - 1B (2-4, double, 1 RBI)
8. Riki Kawamoto – CF (0-4)
9. Alan Spaikes – LF (4-4, double, 1 RBI)

Pitcher(s):
Atsushi Nohmi (CG, 0 runs)

MVP(s):
Atsushi Nohmi – Complete game, 8 hit, shutout
Tomoaki Kanemoto – Gave The Tigers the lead in the 2nd with an RBI double

WP: Atsushi Nohmi (5-4)
LP: Yu Darvish (5-3)
S: --

Nishinomiya Sports
June 3, 2012
.500 And 1.000 (And a Complete Game)!
– Atsushi Nohmi
– Tomoaki Kanemoto

Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Hokkaidō – The Tigers reigned supreme in yesterday’s game. Nohmi went the distance! He held a no-hitter through 3 innings, not bad. But he finished with an 8-hit shutout, which is excellent! But Nohmi’s shutout went into jeopardy, for in the bottom of the 9th, the bases were loaded, and Shinya Tsuruoka stepped up to the plate. Luckily, he grounded out to end the game, and save Nohmi’s shutout. In other news, The Tigers newest edition, Alan Spaikes, proved himself, going 4-4 with a double, and an RBI. Jack Allen (The GM) stated that “[Spaikes] will have a serious chance for the staring bid if he continues to play like this.”

Also, The Tigers are back to a .500 record! Huzzah!

- Takaharu Sonada

LOL, why would a successful 25-year-old in the MLB suddenly decide to switch to Japan?

Who knows, maybe he wasn't happy (or maybe it was for the money).

Contract issues, maybe?

Another possibility! I wish the game went into this, but that would probably take up resources, and is kind of pointless. Eh, whatever.

June 6, 2012

Today we're playing the Eagles.

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (19-37-0) - 3
Hanshin Tigers (27-26-2) - 5

Eagles:

Lineup:
1. Naoto Watanabe – SS (2-4, sac fly, double, SB, 1 RBI)
2. Kensuke Uchimura - 2B (1-5)
3. Ryuji Miyade – RF (1-5, DP)
4. Teppei Tsuchiya – CF (1-5, 1 RBI)
5. Toshiya Nakashima – DH (0-5)
6. Motohiro Shima – C (1-5)
7. Takeshi Yamasaki - 1B (1-5, HR [7], 1 RBI)
8. Andy Phillips - 3B (1-5)
9. Todd Linden – LF (1-4, double, SO)

Pitcher(s):
Masahiro Tanaka (8+ innings, 2 runs, 2 earned)
Juan Morillo (2 innings, 0 runs)
Shinichiro Koyama (2 innings, 3 runs, 3 earned)

Tigers:

Lineup:
1. Riki Kawamoto – CF (1-6, double)
2. Fumihiko Saito - 2B (2-6, double)
3. Takashi Toritani – SS (2-6, HR [6], 3 RBI)
4. Kazuteru Tani – RF (0-6, SO)
5. Kanji Johjima – C (2-6)
6. Alan Spaikes – LF (0-3)
- Keiichi Hirano – INJURY REPLACEMENT (1-2, triple)
7. Tomoaki Kanemoto - 1B (4-5, 1 RBI)
8. Matt Murton – DH (1-5)
9. Ivan Adamsky - 3B (0-3)
- Kodai Skurai – PH [3B] (1-2, 1 RBI)

Pitcher(s):
Tsuyoshi Moriyama (8 innings, 2 runs, 2 earned)
Tomoharu Yoshimi (2+ innings, 1 run, 1 earned)
Kyuji Fujikawa (2 innings, 0 runs)

MVP:
Takashi Toritani – Gave the Tigers the lead with a 2-run homer in the 12th

WP: Kyuji Fujikawa (1-4)
LP: Shinichiro Koyama (1-1)
S: --

Nishinomiya Sports
June 7, 2012
Tigers win in 12!
– Takashi Toritani

Miyagi Baseball Stadium, Sendai – It may have taken 12 innings, but the Tigers prevail as the winners in yesterday’s intense game. In the 9th inning, Sakurai pinch-hit for the struggling Adamsky, and got an infield single, with 2 outs, to tie the game at 2 a piece. He would stay in the game, playing third! How strange! In the 11th, Kanemoto singled in the go-ahead run. But in the bottom of the 11th, Eagles center fielder, Teppei Tsuchiya hit one right back up the middle to tie it up once more. It went back and forth throughout the entire game, but thanks to Toritani’s late inning heroics (by hitting a 2-run homer) the Tigers won! Both team’s pitching staffs did very well, so good job fellows. Moriyama especially, since yesterday he has been having trouble hitting the strike zone, and when he did (previously) he would let up hit after hit. We spoke to him, he commented “I think that I did fairly well, some pitches didn’t go where I wanted them too, but ultimately, I am proud of my performance.”

In other news, Spaikes is fine. After diving head-first into a wall to catch a foul, Spaikes states that he “is alright, it was just a bump.” He was taken out of the game for an MRI, it, in fact, was just a bump.

- Takaharu Sonada

June 8, 2012

We're playing the Lions today. Lions and Tigers (and bears) oh my!

Hanshin Tigers (28-26-2) - 10
Saitama Seibu Lions (25-31-2) – 5

Tigers:

Lineup:
1. Kiyoshi Abe – C (0-5, 1 RBI)
2. Fumihiko Saito - 2B (0-5)
3. Takashi Toritani – SS (3-3, 2 doubles, BB)
4. Kazuteru Tani – RF (3-4, 2 HR [14, 15], 4 RBI)
5. Takahirio Arai - 3B (1-4, double, DP)
6. Riki Kawamoto – CF (3-4, 2 doubles, triple, 1 RBI)
7. Tomoaki Kanemoto - 1B (3-4, double, HR [4], 4 RBI, out trying to reach 2nd)
8. Matt Murton – LF (1-3, BB)
9. PITCHER (0-3, sac bunt)

Pitcher(s):
Minoru Iwata (8 2/3 innings, 5 runs, 0 earned)
Tomoharu Yoshimi (1/3 inning, 0 runs)

Lions:

Lineup:
1. Yasuyuki Kataoka - 2B (1-4)
2. Tatsuyuki Uemoto – C (0-4, reached on error)
3. Takeya Nakamura - 1B (2-4, 1 RBI)
4. Hiroyuki Nakajima – SS (1-4)
5. Takumi Kuriyama – CF (1-4, 2 RBI)
6. Yutaro Ohsaki – LF (1-4, double, 2 RBI)
7. G. G. Sato – RF (0-3, 2 SO)
8. Takuya Hara - 3B (0-3)
9. PITCHER (0-1, SO)
- Yoshihito Ishii – PH (0-1)
- Masahiro Abe – PH (0-1)

Pitcher(s):
Ryoma Nogami (4 2/3 innings, 7 runs, 7 earned)
Yoshihiro Doi (1/3 inning, 1 run, 1 earned)
Hsu Ming-Chieh (2 innings, 2 runs, 2 earned)
Taiyo Fujita (1 inning, 0 runs)

MVP(s):
Tomoharu Yoshimi – Coming into the game with 2 outs in the 9th, and a runner on second and getting the out
Kazuteru Tani – Giving the Tigers the lead in the 4th with a 2-run homerun

WP: Minoru Iwata (5-2)
LP: Ryoma Nogami (3-4)
S: --

Nishinomiya Sports
June 9, 2012
Almost for Iwata

Seibu Dome, Tokorozawa, Saitama – Let’s get this out of the way; Minoru Iwata went 8 2/3 innings. The Lions got 5 runs. No earned runs for Iwata and no earned runs for Yoshimi. All 5 of the Lions runs were the result of a throwing error, by Iwata, which allowed Uemoto to reach first. Luckily, for Iwata, since none of the runs were earned, his ERA stayed at 1.99. Horray! But if it weren’t for the excellent offensive performance of yesterday, the Tigers would have most likely lost due to the Minoru meltdown. It seems that the Tigers are turning around this season, and are going to fight for first in the second half of the season!

On a happier note, Kanemoto got his 500th career double in yesterday’s game! Congratulations Kanemoto!

- Takaharu Sonada

It's been awhile since you've included Moriyama in an update!

But regardless, he is happy with his performance, as he stated.

As he should be!