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 Jason Coskrey

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Jason Coskrey
Jason Coskrey is a sports writer for The Japan Times. His primary focus is Japanese baseball, but he has also covered soccer, American football, boxing and basketball. He previously worked for the Marietta Daily Journal in Marietta, Ga. A native of Detroit, he is a graduate of the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Sep 19, 2016
Race for PL flag going down to wire
Barring some major hiccups going into the home stretch, the NPB playoff picture appears to be more or less set, with one big exception.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 15, 2016
From the latest titles to VR and cosplay, the Tokyo Game Show has been in Japan's corner for 20 years
Twenty years ago, two new video game trade shows launched in Tokyo with the hopes of capturing the attention — and yen — of gamers in Japan. The first Tokyo Game Show (TGS) took place from Aug. 22 to 24, 1996, and was followed that November by E3 Tokyo, a Japanese offshoot of the U.S.-based Electronic...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 11, 2016
Returning Carp hero Kuroda gets fitting reward
It took the Hiroshima Carp winning their first Central League pennant in 25 years to get veteran pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to drop his steely public facade. Kuroda, so business-like and methodical on the mound, couldn't hold back the tears on Saturday night after the Carp defeated the Yomiuri Giants to clinch...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 10, 2016
Hiroshima Carp capture first pennant since 1991
For two days, the Hiroshima Carp and their fans watched as Yomiuri Giants victories over other teams kept them from clinching a long-awaited Central League title.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Sep 5, 2016
Fighters set up ace Otani as trump card in PL pennant race
For the past several weeks, Pacific League hitters have lived a blissful Shohei Otani-free existence. Forget the strikeouts, the 160 kph-plus fastballs and the array of knee-buckling breaking pitches. Since early July, Otani has been one of them, focused on hitting pitches instead of throwing them.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Sep 4, 2016
Laird closing in on 40-homer year
Brandon Laird has become a favorite among Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters fans for his home run celebration, not to mention the homers themselves, which sees him mimic a chef making sushi.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 1, 2016
Nakata fuels Fighters with two-homer performance
Sho Nakata's home run streak ended against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Wednesday. So the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters slugger went out and laid the foundation for a new one on Thursday.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Aug 29, 2016
Silver-winning 4x100 relay team looks to future with confidence
Wearing the official Japanese Olympic team uniform, a pinstriped sports coat and gray pants, and with silver medals hanging from their necks, the Japanese 4x100-meter relay team gave an impromptu demonstration of their baton-passing skills for a curious crowd of onlookers. They swung their arms as if...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Aug 29, 2016
Finally, Carp looking like real deal
The Hiroshima Carp, it seems, have arrived. After a long stretch of bad years and recent seasons of being a few pieces short of a whole, the Carp are finally in the thick of a pennant race again.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 25, 2016
Kikuchi, Maru ignite pennant-chasing Carp in comeback victory over Giants
If there was any thought the Hiroshima Carp might take their foot off the gas a little after gaining a magic number, the Central League leaders squashed it the first chance they got.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 24, 2016
Agent: Messenger hoping to return to Tigers in 2017
Pitcher Randy Messenger is interested in working out a deal to remain with the Hanshin Tigers in 2017, his agent Matt Sosnick told The Japan Times on Wednesday.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 9, 2016
Giants' Cruz makes instant impact in return from ankle injury
It didn't take Luis Cruz very long to show Yomiuri Giants fans what they'd been missing for the past two months.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 8, 2016
True meaning of Ichiro even greater than 3,000-hit milestone
There were a lot of people in Japan who awoke early April 3, 2001 (the night of April 2 in the U.S.), with a mix of anticipation and wonder as they watched new Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki's first game in the major leagues. Ichiro was hitless after three at-bats. Then, in the seventh, he...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 4, 2016
Swallows' Sato cools off potent Carp offense
Yoshinori Sato held back NPB's top offense for as long as he could. It turned out to be just long enough for one of Japan's top offensive players to put the game away.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 4, 2016
Swallows slugger Balentien maintains desire to play in 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Wladimir Balentien suited up for the Netherlands at the Olympics in Athens in 2004, a point in his career before he'd made his MLB debut or even given the first thought to playing in Japan. Balentien might be in the process of winding things down four years from now, but the Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 2, 2016
Cromartie brings bid for Montreal MLB team to Japan
Warren Cromartie said being back in Japan made him feel like he was home. He said there were fans who recognized him while he was out and about in Tokyo and that he'd already made plans to have dinner with a few of his former Yomiuri Giants teammates later in the week. If there's time, he said, he'd...
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Aug 2, 2016
Tokyo will host two rounds of 2017 WBC
Samurai Japan's quest to reclaim the World Baseball Classic title will begin in the nation's capital.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 29, 2016
Veteran mainstays guide Giants past Swallows
For one night, it almost felt like old times for the Yomiuri Giants. Shinnosuke Abe and Hayato Sakamoto were hitting home runs and Tetsuya Utsumi was making sure the other team didn't.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Jul 25, 2016
BayStars' Zagurski relishing each moment of baseball journey
Mike Zagurski was rehabbing an injury several years ago, while with the Philadelphia Phillies' organization, when he decided he wanted a dog. He soon told his girlfriend (now wife) of his intention and also informed housemates Scott Mathieson and Kyle Drabek.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jul 23, 2016
BitSummit reveals the reach of indie games
BitSummit, the independent game festival annually held in Kyoto, has grown rapidly in the four years since it went from being an idea in founder James Mielke's head to a respected event that developers and fans from around the globe look forward to each summer.

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