Hanshin Tigers: Individual rankings.

It's irritating when we lose against the Baystars. I guess they have to win from time to time, but I prefer when it's against other teams. Well, the good thing about this game is that one of our young players, Ken'ichi Tagami (age 23) got his first hit as a professional. Congratulations, and let's hope he will hit a lot next season.

Anyway, we can be proud of our Tigers since they have very good statistics. Let's check the individual rankings. Even if the season is not over yet, I don't think there will be big changes in the rankings.

Arai:

- Ranking first in RBI (90).

- Second in number of Sac. Fly (6, along with Brazell)

And just because we like to mock him:

- Ranking first in Double Plays (19, with Murata from the Baystars)

- Second in number of errors (17, behind Sakamoto from the Giants)

Murton:

- Ranking first in number of hits (174)

- Second in AVG (.311, behind Chono from the Giants)

Tori:

- Ranking first in triple hits (7)

- Second in double hits (27)

- Third in scored runs (68)

- First in on base percentage (.393)

- Second in number of BB (75)

* And he is likely to receive the Golden Glove as short stop. At least that's what we want to believe.

Hirano:

- Ranking third in number of bunts (34)

- Ranking third in number of triple hits (5)

Brazell:

- Ranking second in number of  Sac. Fly (6, like Arai)

Now the pitchers:

Nohmi:

- Ranking first in number of K (181)

* The second is Kenta Maeda from the Carp with 173

Messenger:

- Ranking 4th in number of wins (12)

* Yoshimi from the Dragons is ranking 1st with 18, and Utsumi from the Giants is ranking 2nd with 17

Iwata:

- Ranking 5th in ERA (2.29)

* Ranking 1st, Yoshimi with 1.65, followed by Utsumi with 1.74

Fujikawa:

- Best closer with 39 saves (ERA 1.29)

* Iwase from the Dragons, is ranking second with 37 saves

Enokida (our rookie proved to be a great set-up):

- Ranking second in number of holds (32, behind Asao from the Dragons)

And that's it.

Last thing, we learned on the news that three other coaches are retiring from the Hanshin staff: chief coach Kido, fielders chief Oka and pitching coach Kubo.