Baseball season began.

Yesterday, my Tigers miss the season-opening game. Starting pitcher was Shimoyanagi because Igawa has gone to New York without my permission. Shimoyanagi did good job but he didn't get much support from the offense. I suppose Tigers miss the game even if Igawa was the starting pitcher. It was lucky that Hiroshima Carp's starting pitcher Kuroda unusually had trouble with location for Carp. Batters of Tigers couldn't spank the ball because they couldn't take a beat on it.



Tigers got the pennant in 2003 and 2005. Last year Tigers took second place. To get the pennant, they should do "Kaimaku-Dash". I think it is can be translated to season-opening-Dash. It is very important to gain an advantage over other teams from the beginning of the season.



Last night lineup was;



1, Toritani

2, Akahoshi

3, Sheetz

4, Kanemoto

5, Imaoka

6, Hamanaka

7, Yano

8, Sekimoto

9, Shimoyanagi



Toritani would become a leading hitter someday. He is genius.

Akahoshi is representative stolen base champion in Japan.

Sheetz is from America. He is good batter.

Kanemoto is representative 4th batter in Japan. He would be best 4th batter.

Imaoka is genius. He would be best talented batter in Japan.

Hamanaka would be 4th batter in near future. He is breaking-ball hitter.

Yano is one of representative catcher in Japan. He is clever at varying pitches.

Sekimoto is artful batter. He is slow runner but he is good at base running.

Shimoyanagi is a junk baller. He was winningest pitcher in 2005.



If things go right, Tigers and Dragons(Last year champion) would be in line for the championship again. Tigers is the most traditional and glorious team in Japan. Someone may say Tokyo Giants is it but Giants is absolutely evil, so those who say so are also evil. :-) It is not just a joke. I am serious!! In fact, Giants lacks popular support because they are evil.

Tokyo-Evil-Dome which is home field of Evil-Giants recorded a loss. Its ROE(return on equity) is -94.71% now!! I hope Giants dies painfully.



But there is a problem. If Giants vanished, it means importance of existence of Tigers as a figurehead of justice also vanish. So, I hope Giants don't die and continue to agonize for all eternity.



Now Tigers fan's number is superior to Giants fan's number. 17.7% of Japanese are Tigers fan and 17.4% of Japanese are Giants fan as of 2005. In the case of an examination except over 50s, 30% of Japanese are Tigers fan.



In comparison with the "inferior Giants", Dragons is a really good team, is a really good balanced team. Home filed of Dragons is Nagoya which is also home filed of TOYOTA. As to home field of Tigers, I suppose at least MATSUSHITA, SHARP, DAIKIN, SUMITOMO MATERIAL, KOBELCO, KYOCERA, MURATA MANUFACTURING,GUNZE, ITOCYU, SHIMADZU and NINTENDO would be international and famous. I've heard students were often asked "Are you a Tigers fan?" in examination for employment. I'm not sure about these years.



In Japan, Baseball teams have local roots in big economic bloc are strong these years. Teams in Fukuoka and in Hokkaido are also too. As to Tokyo, Giants doesn't have it now, rather, Tigers fan's number has been increasing in Tokyo area.



Well, I want to write about Base ball in Japan more but Today's game is going to start.



Have a nice weekend!



I took the photo at Tokorozawa city.