The Agony of Defeat & The Joy of Victory...

ASIA
In Japan, the LA New Bears lost to the Fighters 1-0 in the championship game of the 2nd annual Konami Cup. Facing off against young phenom Yu Darvish, the Bears had no answers for the ace of the Fighter's pitching staff. Yu combined with 2 relievers to 2-hit the Bears offense. Chen and Lin were 0-6 with 4 K's between the 2 of them. Wen-Hsiung Hsu, typically a reliever for the Bears got the start and was very impressive in his starting role. Hsu, a WBC NT member, threw 6 scoreless innings, giving up only 3 hits. Although Bears reliever Anthony Fiore was tagged with the loss, the run he gave up in the 7th inning was unearned. Box Score
Despite the loss, the Bears showed that they are one of the elite professional teams in Asia. I'm sure that several members of the Bears team received positive scouting exposure during this tourney. Combined with the fact that the CPBL is having financial woes, I wouldn't be surprised if and when a few NPB teams come knocking on the doors of the Bear's front office/ management. In fact, Japanbaseballdaily.com reports that LA New Bears pitcher Yu-Wei Hsu, who did not make an appearance in the Konami Cup, has drawn interest from the Hanshin Tigers and Yakult Swallows.

NT

HR # 1

HR # 2

Mr. Grand Salami!

GW HR!

Ok, now for some good news. The Taiwanese NT defeated the South Korean representatives 9-7 in a 12 inning marathon at the Intercontinental Cup. With the victory Taiwan moves into a tie for 3rd place with the Netherlands at 2-2. Despite facing a young Korean team, it took 4 HR's and an impressive performance by reliever Wei-Lun Pan to pull out the victory. Ace En-Yu Lin started the game for Taiwan, pitching 4 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits. Lin uncharacteristically walked 4 batters while K'ing only 1. He left the game in a 2 all deadlock - thanks to a first inning 2-run HR by Chia-Hsien Hsieh. Relievers C.L. Lo and C.C. Lee would then struggle and give up 4 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning alone, to put Taiwan in a hole at 6-2. Taiwan would then rally to take the lead by putting up 5 runs in the top of the 7th inning on the strength of 2 HR's - one by Chuang-Chin Wang and the second - a biggie - a grand slam by Yung-Chi Chen. Wei-Lun Pan pitched 7.1 innings of relief and despite giving up the tying run in the bottom of the 9th, earned the victory when Chien-Ming Chang cracked a 2-run HR in the top of the 12th for the difference in the ball game. Pan gave up only 3 hits to go along with 6 K's and 3 walks. Box Score
Taiwan gets the day off on Monday before resuming play on Tuesday against the Netherlands, Wed. against the Philippines, and Thursday against currently undefeated Cuba. Only the top 4 finishers will compete in the semifinals.
*Edited*