En Fuego!

NPB:
Lin cracked HR #8 on the season and was 2-3 with a walk to help lead his team to a 6-3 win over the Seibu Lions. Box
As of 5/31, Lin has appeared in 47 games, and is now hitting .350 in 140 AB's with 7 doubles, 8 HR's, and 24 RBI's. Other seasonal stats: SLG .571/ OBP .399/ 21 K's/ 12 BB's/ 0 SB's. Lin is trailing only Norichika Aoki of the Swallows in the CL BA race. Aoki is hitting a phenomenal .369 on the year. To qualify for the BA race, Lin needs to meet the minimum number of AB's calculated by the following formula: Games played x 3.1

US MINORS:
A - CH Chiang was a double short of the cycle today. He cracked HR #2 and helped power his team to a 10-7 win today. Chiang was 3-4 with a triple, a HR, 5 RBI's, and a walk. Box

A - Lo was 1-4 with a double and a walk as his club lost 5-4. Box

AA - Jacksonville lost 5-3. Hu was 1-5 with a double. Box

MLB:
Kuo News - Mind Games: Will he or won't he be called up Sat.

CPBL:
Lions 5 - Whales 1: The Lions won behind the stellar efforts of two ex-MLB players. Tilson Brito hit HR #10 on the year and drove in all 5 runs for the Lions. For his efforts he was game MVP. Lions SP Pete Munro was outstanding, picking up win #4 after throwing 7 innings and allowing only 1 run on 7 hits. He also had 5 K's and a walk.

Wed. News...

NPB:

Wei-Chu Lin is finally getting the recognition that he deserves for his outstanding play this year. Jim Allen, who writes for The Daily Yomiuri, has a nice writeup on Lin. There was a pretty heated discussion about Lin (back in mid-April, early May) on the JapaneseBaseball.com forums regarding his lack of PT. At that time, Jim Allen addressed the issue on Lin's lack of PT - attributing antiquated selectivity on the part of Hanshin's coaching staff. Personally, prior to Lin breaking in full time with the Tigers, I was beginning to think that Lin was going to get the short end of the stick, just like CFC did with the Dodgers.
Lin, who needs a few more plate appearances to qualify for the CL batting crown, raised his BA to .343 today. He was 3-4 with a run scored to help lead his team to a 3-1 win over the Seibu Lions. Box

US MINORS:
AA - Hu was 1-4 as Jacksonville lost 3-2. Box

A - Greenville won 5-3. Chiang was 1-4 with a double. Box

A - Wisconsin lost 10-9, but Lo did all he could to give his team a chance to win - cracking his 2nd HR of the year and also throwing out a runner at the plate. Lo was 3-5 with a HR, a 2B, a RBI, and 4 runs scored. Box

Olympic News:

The Korean preliminary NT has been announced. As expected, the Korean NT will be made up of the best players from their domestic league and overseas. Read more here and here.

As for the Japanese NT, it looks like the cream of the crop won't be participating in the Asian Olympic Qualifier.

CPBL:
Cobras 9 - Elephants 2: Cobras OF RC Yang was 3-4 to earn game MVP honors. Cobras starter Jose Rodriguez picked up his first win, throwing 6 innings and allowing 1 run on 6 hits. For the Elephants, Chia-Chia was 0-3, while teammate Huai-Shan Chen was 3-4.

Bears 6 - Bulls 5: In search of his 4th win, Bears SP Wen-Hsiung Hsu tired in the 7th, after blanking the Bulls for the first 6 innings. Hsu would earn a ND after allowing 3 runs on 4 hits in 6.1 innings. Opposing starter Chung-Nan Tsai got off to an ominous start after allowing 2 HR's (one to Chih-Sheng Lin, his 4th roundtripper of the season) in the first inning to fall behind 3-0 after 1. However, despite the poor start and allowing 5 walks, he would manage to blank the Bears for the next 5 innings. Game MVP honors went to Bears 2B Chih-Tsung Chiang who drove in 2 key runs in the 8th inning to help give the Bears a lead they would not relinquish.

Tuesday Scoreboard....

US MINORS:
AA - Jacksonville won 5-3. Hu was 1-4. Box

A+ - Kinston lost to Wilmington 4-1. Unfortunately for Tseng he faced Rowdy Hardy, who leads the Carolina League with a 1.21 ERA. Tseng remains winless this season as he fell to 0-5. Box

A - Lansing won 6-2. Keng pitched 3 scoreless innings in relief, allowing 3 hits. Box

A - Greenville lost 13-3. Chiang was 2-4 with a double and a RBI. Box

MLB:
Kuo's status for Saturday is uncertain after his shaky performance Monday. Read more here.

It looks like Wang will be matched up against Tim Wakefield again on Friday in Boston. You have to like Wang's chances, given Wakefield's history versus the Yankees' bats.

CPBL:

Bears 3 - Bulls 1: Bears SP Chih-Hua Hsu threw 6.2 shutout innings, allowing only 5 hits to go along with 7 K's and 2 walks. He earned his first win of the season and picked up game MVP honors. Bulls SP Chien-Fu Yang was the hard-luck loser, falling to 2-4 on the season. Yang pitched 8 innings, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 10 hits, K'ing 11.

Elephants 3 - Cobras 1: Elephants starter Yong-Chieh Yeh (game MVP) won his 3rd game of the season, allowing only 1 earned run over 6.2 innings. He also allowed only 3 hits, while K'ing 10. Chia-Chia was 1-3, while Cobras slugger Chia-Hsien Hsieh slugged his 10th HR of the season.

After the debacle of a game on Saturday, it's good to see these domestic pitchers hold it down.

2007 NT Preliminary Roster....

37 amateur players (including one ex-NPBer trying to make a comeback) were selected to train in hopes of being selected to the final NT roster for this year's Olympic qualifiers (will take place Nov. 30th to Dec. 2nd in Taipei). This preliminary NT roster will participate in the World Port Tournament in Holland, August 2nd - 12th as well as an international tourney in Italy on the 24th of August. It will also represent Taiwan at the World Cup in November (5th to the 18th) - to be held in Taiwan as well.

TRAINING LIST:

Pitchers (18)
1)Wei-Hua Lee
2)Yu-Chi Hsiao
3)Ming-Jian Hsu
4)Kun-Hung Chen
5)Cheng-Yang Chen
6)Ching-Ming Wang
7)Chia-Ming Huang
8)Cheng-Lung Lo
9)Chia-Chun Tang
10)Ko-Chien Lin
11)Kai-Wen Cheng
12)Chia-Jui Mai
13)Chen-Chang Lee
14)Chu-Kuan Lee
15)Chia-Jen Lo
16)Chih-Yong Deng
17)Wan-Lin Tsai
18)Chih-Chia Chang - ex Seibu Lion

Catchers (4)
1)Kun-Sheng Lin
2)Fu-Yuan Lee
3)Chun-Tai Wang
4)Jui-Mu Chen

Infielders (8)
1)Yi-Chuan Lin
2)Han Lin
3)Ming-Chueh Tsai
4)De-Lung Yu
5)Chien-Ming Su
6)Ming-Chung Hsieh
7)Kuo-Ming Lin
8)Yu-Kai Huang

Outfielders (7)
1)Yuan-Chin Chu
2)Chien-Yu Kuo
3)Chih-Yao Chan
4)Chih-Hao Chang
5)Kai-Lun Lin
6)Ying-Chieh Liao
7)Chao-Ting Tang

Monday Happenings.....

US MINORS:
AAA - Kuo took the loss for Vegas tonight. Kuo pitched 4.2 innings, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits. He also had 5 K's and 2 walks. After cruising through the first 3 innings, Kuo looked like he was ready for his shot in LA. But after a hiccup in the 4th inning, Kuo ran into trouble in the 5th inning. We'll see if the Dodgers still call up Kuo after today's performance. Box

AA - Jacksonville won 10-3. Hu was 1-4 with a double. Box

A - Greenville lost 4-0. Chiang was 0-4 as his team got 1-hit by the W.V. Power pitching staff. Box

A - Wisky dropped both games in a doubleheader 7-0 and 4-1. Lo was 2-3 in game 1 and 0-3 with a walk in game 2.

NPB:
Lin was 1-4 with a double as his team lost 10-0 to the Marines. Box

The Giants won 8-2. Chiang pitched a scoreless 8th inning, allowing 1 hit to go along with 1 K. Box

Other:
*UPDATED* The Anchorage Bucs in the ABL announced their 2007 lineup. Two more Taiwanese pitchers, Chu-Kuan Lee and Chen-Chang Lee hope to follow in the footsteps of former Bucs alumni - Sung-Wei Tseng and Po-Yu Lin who went on to sign with ML ballclubs. Obviously, CC Lee is the kid with all the hype heading into ABL play.

As you can tell by my new header, I'm a newbie when it comes to Photoshop - I have a ways to go before I can put together something like this:

Thanks to D-Man for sending the above banner!

Sunday Action....

US MINORS:
AA - Hu was 0-5 as Jacksonville lost 9-5. Box

A - In game 1 of a doubleheader, Wisky lost 4-1. Lo was 1-3 with a walk. Box In game 2, Lo was 1-4 with 2 RBI's and his 12th SB of the season. Wisky won 3-1. Box
After a horrendous start to the season (he hit .128 in April), Lo has turned things around lately, hitting .318 in the month of May to help raise his BA to .258.

NPB:
The Tigers lost to the Marines 14-3. Lin was 1-4, hitting his 7th HR of the season. Box

CPBL:
Bulls 11 - Bears 5: LF Da-Hong Cheng of the Bulls earned game MVP honors after hitting his first HR of the season - a 2 run shot in the 8th inning. He was 3-5 with 3 RBI's. Teammate Tarzan was 2-5 with 2 RBI's and hit his 4th homer of the season. The Bears continue to struggle without CFC, although Chih-Sheng Lin was 2-4 with 3 RBI's.

Elephants 7 - Cobras 6: Game MVP Guan-Ren Chen, last year's CPBL ROY and BA champ, hit his 4th HR of the season and was 3-4 with 3 RBI's to help lead his team to a victory. Chia-Chia was 0-4.

Wang Falls to 3-4 on the Season...

MLB:
After struggling through the first 3 innings, Wang managed to settle down and blank the Angels for the next 5 innings. The Angels would score 3 in the top of the first and that was all opposing pitcher Kelvim Escobar needed as the Angels beat the Yankees 3-1 on Sat. Wang was consistently throwing his 2-seam(sinker) and 4-seam fastball at 91 and 94 mph respectively. He was clocked at a high of 95 a few times. Despite picking up his 4th loss on the season, Wang earned praise for his effort from manager Joe Torre,
"For the first three innings, [Wang] had trouble locating, and then after that he just dug in. He's special. There's no question. He's not going to back off; he's going to keep fighting you, and he certainly put himself in a position to stop the damage and try to win a ballgame."
Wang's final line for the night: 8 innings - 6 hits - 3 runs allowed to go along with 6 K's and 4 walks(both season highs). Box/Recap

US MINORS:
AA - Hu was 2-5 with a double and 2 runs scored. Box

NPB:
The Tigers got blanked 7-0. Lin was 1-3 with a double and a walk. Box

CPBL:
Cobras 23 - Elephants 16: Yea, you read that right; the two teams not only put up 39 runs but they also collected 47 hits collectively. Chia-Chia led the way for the Elephants by cracking 2 HR's - his 14th and 15th of the season and was 5-6 with 6 RBI's. Too bad he couldn't pitch too, because he did all he could to keep his team in the game. Cobras slugger, C.H. Hsieh was 3-6 and hit his 9th HR of the season while driving in 6 runs as well. Hsieh earned game MVP honors.

Bulls 6 - Bears 4: Game MVP honors went to DH Chih-Wei Chen of the Bulls - he was 3-5 with 2 RBI's. The Bears wasted a fine performance from SP Gary Rath who allowed only 2 runs on 6 hits in 7 innings. Rath, who earned a ND, also had 6 K's and a walk.

A Couple Of Firsts....

Friday Recapped:
US MINORS
AA - Ching-Lung Hu hit his 1st HR of the season; he was 1-5 with 2 RBI's. Jacksonville won 8-4. Box

A - Kuo-Hui Lo cracked his 1st HR of the season to help lead his team to a 3-2 win. Lo was 1-4 with 2 RBI's. Box

A - Chiang was 2-3 in his team's 7-5 win. Box

MLB
Chien-Ming Wang will face Kelvim Escobar of the Angels today at 1:05 Eastern. Wang is seeking win #4

NPB
Lin was 0-3 with a walk as the Tigers lost to the Buffaloes 2-1. Box

The Fighters won 3-2 as Yang was 0-2. Box

CPBL
The Lions beat the Bears 3-o on the strength of game MVP Wei-Lun Pan's 6th win of the season. Pan threw 5 perfect innings, striking out 6.

Cobras 9 - Whales 8: Game MVP Shih-Yang Deng hit his 4th HR of the season - a 3 run shot in the 8th inning to help tie things up. The Cobras would go on to tack on another run in extra innings to seal the victory. Deng was 2-4 with 4 RBI's.

2007 Youth NT Roster...

With the 13th World Youth Baseball Championships (to be held in San Cristobal, Venezuela) approaching in August, the youth NT has been set:

PITCHERS (7):
1)Meng-Chen Fan

• Was selected top pitcher of the 2007 Hsieh Kuo-Cheng Cup - (16-under national tourney)
  

2)Chao-Hsiang Chen

• led the recently completed Hsieh Kuo-Cheng Cup (2007 HKC Cup) with 9 RBI's
• MVP of the 2007 HKC Cup
  

3)Chen-Hsiang Kao
4)Yu-Chou Wei
5)Ting-Hao Lin
6)Yao-Tsung Ou
7) Hung-Wei Shih

CATCHERS (2):
1)Shih-Hao Liu

• member of the 2005 Pony League World Series Champs

2)Wei-Chih Cheng

INFIELDERS (5):
1)Shang-Ying Tsai
2)Liao Nien-Che Chang

• member of the 2005 Pony League World Series Champs

3)Dan-Cheng Lin
4)Yu-Yu Hsu

• member of the 2004 Taiwanese Bronco World Series (11-12 year olds) team
  

5)Wei-Chen Wang

• son of current CPBL Whales head coach and ex-slugger Kuang-Hui Wang
  
• Led the recently completed HKC Cup (16-under national tourney) with a .580 BA
  

Wei-Chen Wang (L) with dad (R)

OUTFIELDERS (4):
1)Pin-Hung Ji
2)Yu-Chien Lin
3)Tai-Yan Kuo

4)Tung-Jung Wu

• star two-way player on the 2004 Bronco World Series reps from Taipei
  

Tung-Jung Wu

*Players in bold demarcate those to keep an eye on.

In its last two appearances, Taiwan finished 5th in 2005 and won a silver in 2003, led by Chih-Hsien Chiang.

Thursday Scoreboard.....

MLB:
If Kuo pitches well in his next start in Vegas (on Monday), then he will take over Brett Tomko's place in the starting rotation and possibly face the Pirates on June 2nd.

US Minors:
AA - Hu was 3-4 with 3 runs scored, and his 8th SB of the season. Jacksonville won 8-2. Box

A+ - In game 1 of a doubleheader, Tseng earned yet another ND despite an outstanding performance. Tseng allowed only 1 run (on a solo HR to the leadoff hitter in the 1st inning) on 3 hits in 6 innings. He also had 7 K's and 2 walks. Tseng did exhibit some wildness hitting a batter and throwing 2 wild pitches. Kinston lost 2-1 in 8 innings. Box

A - Greenville lost 10-7. Chiang was 0-5. Box

A - Keng is in line to take a loss as he allowed a 2 run HR in the bottom of the 8th inning. Lansing is now down 5-4 in the top of the 9th. Box

A - Wisconsin's game is currently delayed in the 8th inning - Wisky is losing 7-4.

CPBL:

Lions 10 - Bears 2: The star of the game was Lions SP Pete Munro who pitched a complete game, allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits over 9 innings. He also had 2 K's and 3 walks. Offensively, Tilson Brito led the way for the Lions - he was 3-5 with 2 HR's and 4 RBI's.

Whales 7 - Cobras 2: Whales 2B Yi-Min Wang was game MVP with his 3-5, 2 RBI night. Teammate Chun-Lin Ji also collected 3 hits.

And Then There Was One...

MLB:
It was only a lil' over a week ago that we had 3 active players on Major League rosters. With Kuo getting sent down to Vegas yesterday, and news today that Tsao was placed on the 15 day DL with a strained shoulder, we're back to following only Chien-Ming Wang (and even he's lost a few mph off of his fastball). We gotta hope and pray that the strain doesn't turn into something worse later on down the line.

In other news, Chien-Ming Wang will be featured in a 10 part series on ESPN's Baseball Tonight. The series is scheduled to air in early June in the US. Set your DVR's!

NPB:
CS Yang was 1-2 with a double as his club beat the Giants 4-2 on Wed. Box

The Tigers won 3-1 as WC Lin was 2-4 with a RBI. Box

US Minors:
AAA - Back in Vegas, Kuo started for the AAA squad and pitched 4 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits to go along with 4 K's and 1 walk. Las Vegas is up 5-0 in the 8th inning. Box

AA - Hu was 0-2 before coming out of the game in the 5th inning. Jacksonville lost the slugfest 16-11. Box

AA - Tulsa lost 10-3. CL Lo earned his 4th loss of the season after faltering in the 6th inning. Lo actually took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the 6th inning. After allowing only one hit in the previous 5 innings, Lo gave up 5 straight hits in the 6th, producing 3 runs for the opposing side. Lo was replaced and his reliever would allow 2 more inherited runners to score to give Lo his finally tally of 5 runs allowed in 5+ innings. Lo managed 4 K's with no walks. Box

A - Greenville got blanked 12-0. Chiang was 0-1 before coming out of the game in the 2nd inning. Box

A - Wisconsin won 4-2. KH Lo's bat is finally coming around - after seeing his 12 game hitting streak end on Sunday, Lo was perfect at the plate tonight, going 4-4 with 2 doubles, a RBI and his 11th SB of the season. Box

CPBL:

Whales 5 - Elephants 2: Whales LF Chang-Long Yeh was voted game MVP after having a 1-4, double/RBI night. Chia-Chia was 0-5 for the Elephants.

Kuo Headed to Vegas....

MLB:
Hong-Chih Kuo was sent down to Vegas to make room for IF Tony Abreu. Kuo will start tomorrow for Vegas - as the Dodgers figure to return Kuo to his starting role. Based on last year's results, Kuo was much more effective as a starter (versus being a reliever) later in the season.

US Minors:
A - Greenville won 8-3. Chiang was 2-5 with a double. Box

A - Wisconsin won 6-5. Lo was 0-3 with a run scored. Box

NPB:
Chiang and Yang both made brief appearances as the Giants fell to the Fighters 3-1. Coming off the bench, Yang collected no stats. Chiang pitched a perfect 8th inning, striking out 2. Box

The Tigers lost to the Hawks 2-1. Lin had his 12 game hitting streak come to an end as he was 0-4 with 2 K's. Box

CPBL:
Elephants 8 - Whales 7: Game MVP Chun-Nan Liu picked up his 5th win of the season for the Elephants. Liu pitched 5.2 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits. Chia-Chia was 1-4 with a RBI.

The game between the Lions and Bulls was rained out.

Big Win vs. Archrival....

MLB:

AP Photo

The NY Yankees behind a potent offense and Chien-Ming Wang's stellar performance, picked up a game on the Division leading Boston Red Sox. Although Wang didn't have his best stuff tonight, he flashed an improving slider in his repertoire to complement his sinker and changeup. Wang had a season-high 5 K's in his 6.1 innings, and gave up 2 runs on 7 hits. Wang managed to work his way out of trouble in a few of the innings and was consistently in the low 90's with his fastball all game - 91 to 92 in the 7th inning. With the win, Wang earned his third career victory against the Sox (versus 4 career defeats) and evened his record at 3-3 on the season. The Yanks took game 1 of the series 6-2. Recap/Box

US Minors:
AA - Hu came on as a pinch-runner in the 8th inning and scored the go-ahead run to help Jacksonville to a 4-3 win tonight. Box

A - Greenville lost 5-2. Chiang was 0-4. Box

A - Lansing won 5-3. Keng picked up his first save of the season, as he K'd 2 and allowed 1 hit in the 11th inning. Box

A - Wisconsin won 1-0. Lo was 0-2 with a walk. Box

Lin On Fire!

NPB:
Wei-Chu Lin was 2-4 and drove in the game's only run in the 4th inning against the Bay Stars. He was elected co-MVP along with SP Nakamura for his efforts. Box
Lin has a 12 game hitting streak going on right now.

CPBL:
Rain washed away today's scheduled games.

US Minors:
A - Greenville won 6-3. Chiang was 2-4 with a double and a RBI. Box

A - Lansing beat Wisconsin 2-1. Keng pitched 1 scoreless/hitless inning - K'ing 2 and walking 1 for Lansing. Lo was 0-2 coming off the bench for Wisky. Box

Chiang Hits 1st HR of the Season...

US Minors:
A - Chiang played a big role in helping his team to a 5-4 win tonight. Chiang was 2-4, driving in 3 runs in the 6th inning on his 1st HR of the season. Chiang would later lace a lead-off double in the 9th inning and go on to score the game-winning run on Luis Exposito's single. Box

A - Wisconsin lost 7-4. Lo was 1-3 with a walk and swiped his 10th base of the season. Box

A+ - Kinston won 10-8 in 13 innings. Unfortunately for Tseng, he earned another ND (despite leaving the game up 6-2) and is still seeking his first win of the season. Tseng pitched 6.2 innings, allowing 3 runs (2 of which came on a 2 run bomb) on 4 hits. Tseng had 7 K's and 1 walk. Box

AA - Jacksonville won 5-3. Hu was 0-3 with a walk. He committed his 7th error of the season. Box

MLB:
The Dodgers lost game 2 to the Angels: 6-2. Tsao pitched 1/3 of an inning in relief, allowing only a walk. Box

The Yankees will rest Wang tomorrow and allow him to tentatively start on Tuesday against the Red Sox. Wang will look to avenge an early season loss to the Red Sox.

NPB:
Chiang earned another loss for the Giants as he started against the Dragons and lasted only 2.1 innings. Chiang allowed 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks. He did manage 2 K's. Final score: Dragons 4 - Giants 3. Box

Lin was 1-4 with a run scored as his Tigers blanked the Bay Stars 6-0. Box

CPBL:
Bears 3 - Elephants 1: Bears SP Gary Rath was spot on, allowing only 1 run over 7.1 innings to go along with 8 K's and 2 walks. Rath earned game MVP honors. Chia-Chia was 0-4 in the game.

Cobras 5 - Whales 3: Game MVP Chia-Huang Chen picked up his 3rd win of the season in relief of starter Kleber Ojima. Ivanon Coffie clubbed his 7th HR of the season - a 3 run shot in the 5th inning to help power his team to the win.

Friday Rundown...

MLB:
The Dodgers lost to their crosstown rivals - the Angels in the first game of their "freeway" series 9-1. Kuo pitched the last 2 innings for the Dodgers. Kuo gave up 2 hits - a double and a single to plate one run in the 7th inning - he was clocked at 90-92 mph on his fastball. In the 8th, Kuo settled down and held the Angels hitless & scoreless, clocking 93-96 mph on the gun. Box

US Minors:
A - Wisconsin got one-hit by Lansing's pitching staff. Final score: Lansing 11 - Wisky 0. Guess who broke up the no-hitter? You guessed it, Mr. Lo. Lo was 1-4 with his 9th SB of the season. Box

A - Greenville won 12-5. Chiang was 1-4 with 2 runs scored. He did commit his 2nd error of the season as well. Box

AA - Jacksonville won 6-3. Hu was 0-3 with 2 walks, his 7th SB of the season, and a run scored. Hu committed his 6th error of the season. Box

NPB:
The Tigers won 4-1. Lin was 2-4 with his 6th HR of the season. Box

The Fighters lost 5-2 to the Hawks. Yang was 1-2 with a walk and a RBI. Box

CPBL:
Both games were postponed because of heavy downpour on the island. The games will be rescheduled in June.

Thursday Scoreboard...

A friend has asked me to see if anyone knows if the print above is available for purchase as a reprint/photo/or poster. I believe the photo was taken at the LA New Bears home stadium - Chengching Lake Baseball Field - in Kaohsiung. Please email me if you have a response. Thanks in advance.


On to today's scores:
NPB:
The Tigers lost 3-2 to the Carp. The Tigers managed only 5 hits as a team; Lin collected one of the hits in 4 AB's. Box

Yang made a brief appearance as a pinch-runner in his team's 11-6 loss to the Eagles. Yang had no stats. Box

US Minors:
AA - Jacksonville won 3-1. Hu's team collected only 5 hits, with Hu going 2-4 with a double and 2 runs scored. Box
Here's a good read on Hu with an explanation as to why Hu struggled last year.

AA - Lo lasted 6 innings for Tulsa and earned a ND. Except for the 2nd inning, Lo pitched fairly well the rest of the game. Box

A - Wisconsin beat Lansing 4-3. K.H. Lo faced off against P.H. Keng in the 8th inning, but grounded out. Lo was 1-4 with a RBI, a run scored, & his 8th SB of the season. Keng pitched the last 1.1 innings for Lansing, allowing only 1 hit and o runs to go along with 1 K. Box

A - Greenville won 8-7 in extra innings. Chiang was 1-6 with a RBI and a run scored. Box

CPBL:
Elephants 10 - Bulls 3: Elephants 3B Huai-Shan Chen was elected game MVP with a 2-4 2 RBI performance on the night. Chia-Chia was 1-4 with a double/RBI while opposing star - Tarzan was 1-4. Bulls starter Chien-Fu Yang earned his 3rd loss of the season, giving up 7 runs - 5 earned in 7 innings. He also had 6 walks and 4 K's.
Lions 3 - Whales 2: Lions RF Fu-Hao Liu hit the game-winning HR in extra innings to earn game MVP honors. Liu was 1-4 with the solo shot. Teammate Kuo-Ching Kao was 2-4 with 2 RBI's. For the Whales, Han-Chou Tseng was 4-4 with a RBI. Both foreign starting pitchers performed well, with the Lions' Pete Munro allowing 2 runs in 8 innings. He also had 6 K's and no walks. For the Whales, Lorenzo Barcelo pitched 8.2 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits. He had 8 K's and 1 walk.

Wang Wins #2.....

Majors:
Wang was outstanding in his start against the White Sox tonight. Limiting the Sox to 1 run on 6 hits over 7 innings, Wang earned his 2nd victory of the season. Recap/Box
There is talk that Wang may start on Sunday against cross-town rival -the NY Mets on three days of rest. Given Wang's history of arm problems, that idea does not sit well with me.

Chin-Hui Tsao relieved Randy Wolf and allowed 1 run on 3 hits over 1.2 innings. He did have 3 K's though. The Dodgers beat the Cards 5-4. Box
*Updated*

More on Hong-Chih Kuo's whirlwind of a day yesterday.

US Minors:
AA - Hu was 1-2 with a walk, a triple, and 2 runs scored. Jacksonville lost 9-2. Box

A+ - Kinston won 16-4. Wu was 0-1 as a pinch-hitter. Box

NPB:
Wei-Chu Lin hit his 5th HR of the season to account for his team's lone run. Hanshin lost 6-1. Box In limited duty this year, Lin is hitting .347 in 95 AB's to lead the team, while his 5 HR's and 19 RBI's place him second behind teammate Tomoaki Kanemoto, an aging veteran star. It's good to see Lin doing well in a full-time role after the past few seasons of riding the pine and seeing only limited action as a pinch-hitter.

CPBL:
Bears 7 - Bulls 4: A day after hitting a big grand slam for the Bears, game MVP Sheng-Kai Lin would add a 3-run HR in the bottom of the 10th inning to win the game for the Bears. Teammate Chih-Sheng Lin added his 3rd HR of the season and was 3-4 with 4 RBI's. Kevin Huang picked up his 4th victory of the season on the strength of 1.2 shutout/hitless innings - he had 4 K's and 1 walk.
Lions 19 - Cobras 6: In a game that saw 5 HR's and 37 hits between the two teams, the Lions would prevail behind game MVP CF Sung-Hsien Yang who was 2-4 with a HR and 6 RBI's. Leading the way for the Cobras was SS Ming-Jen Kuo who was 5-5 with 2 doubles and a RBI.

Highly Recommended Book....

Author Junwei Yu's Playing In Isolation (written in English) is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Taiwan baseball. The recently published book gives a comprehensive and honest look into the game's past and present history on the island.
For other English-language sources on Taiwan's baseball history, read Andrew Morris's write-up on Taiwan baseball and this older SI issue - Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5/Part 6.

Tuesday Scores...

NPB:
Wei-Chu Lin was 2-5 although his team lost 7-2 to the Carp. Box

The Fighters lost 3-2 in extra innings Tuesday. Yang was 0-4 with 2 K's. Box

MLB:
Kuo was called up to LA last night and made an immediate appearance in last night's game against the Cardinals. Kuo was ineffective in 1/3 of an inning, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits. Fortunately for the Dodgers, they had a 5 run lead before Kuo's meltdown. Box
With Kuo's callup, that gives us 3 active Taiwanese players in the ML's at the same time. *UPDATED*

Wang is scheduled to start Game 2 of a doubleheader tomorrow against the White Sox. He will face former Yankee Jose Conteras.

US Minors:
A - Chiang was 1-5 with a run scored and his first SB of the season. He did have 2 K's in the game though. Greenville won 9-3. Box

A - Wisconsin lost 3-1. Lo was 1-4 with his 7th SB of the season. Box

AA - Jacksonville lost 13-0. Hu was 0-4. Box


CPBL:
Bulls 10 - Bears 8: With CFC out with an injury, the Bears moved Chih-Sheng Lin into the cleanup spot. Lin responded with a 1-4, 1 RBI night. His teammate Sheng-Kai Lin would hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the 6th inning to help the Bears knot up the game at 5 runs a piece. Still it wasn't enough as the Bulls would rally behind a big grand slam HR from pinch-hitting catcher Chung-Yi Huang in the 8th inning. For his heroics, Huang was voted game MVP. Bulls 2B Chao-Hsing Cheng hit his 3rd HR of the season and was 3-5 with 2 RBI's. *EDITED*
Lions 11 - Cobras 7: Game MVP Kuo-Ching Kao hit his 9th HR of the season and was 2-5 with 3 RBI's. Teammate Fu-Hao Liu was 4-5 with his 3rd HR of the season and 4 RBI's. Lions catcher Chih-Kang Kao hit his 2nd HR of the season and drove in 2 runs.

Impressive Stats....

US Minors:
A - Chih-Hsien Chiang was 2-5 with 2 doubles, a RBI, and a run scored. Greenville won 5-4. Box In 9 games with Greenville this season, Chiang has had only 1 walk in 37 AB's. However, he's also hit .324 while only striking out ONCE this season - talk about Ichiro-like hand-eye coordination.

A - Wisconsin lost 3-0. Lo was 1-4. Box

AA - Jacksonville lost 10-2. Hu was 1-4. Box
His .366 BA is still one of the best in the Southern League.

Majors:
The Dodgers lost 8-3 to the Cardinals. Tsao pitched 2 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits, to go along with 2 K's. Box

Mother's Day Rundown....

US Minors:
AAA - Hong-Chih Kuo pitched a scoreless 9th inning for Vegas, K'ing 2. However Vegas lost 10-3. Box

AA - Jacksonville lost 8-6 in a continuation of last night's postponed game. Hu was 1-4 with a walk and a RBI. Box
In game 2, Hu came on as a PH and was 0-1. Box

A+ - Tseng took a tough loss in a 7 inning game. Kinston lost 3-1. Tseng earned his 4th loss of the season after giving up 2 runs - none earned on 2 hits. Tseng also had 5 K's and 3 walks. His Taiwanese teammate Wu was 2-3 in the game. Box

A - Lo was 2-3 with 2 RBI's to break the .200 BA mark. Wisconsin lost game 1 of a doubleheader 8-5. Box
In game 2, Lo was 1-2 with a walk. Wisconsin won the nightcap 5-3. Box

A - Greenville won 6-2. Chiang was 2-5. Box

A - Keng pitched 3 scoreless relief innings for Lansing. He allowed 3 hits to go along with 4 K's. Lansing lost 7-1. Box

NPB:
Yang scored the go-ahead run for the Fighters as a pinch-runner in the 7th inning. The Fighters beat the Lions 3-2. Box

Lin was 1-4 as the Tigers won 8-6. Box

In his return to the parent ball club, C.M. Chiang pitched an inning of relief for the Giants. He allowed 1 hit - a solo HR in the 9th. The Giants lost 6-3. Box

CPBL:
Lions 6 - Elephants 5: Tilson Brito hit a game winning HR in the 8th inning to help solidify his selection as Game MVP. It was his only hit of the game. Fellow Lion Kuo-Ching Kao hit his 8th HR of the season. Despite the homeruns, the Lions were outhit by the Elephants offense who cranked out 18 hits: Chia Chia was 3-4 to raise his average to .465 on the year. Teammates Huai-Shan Chen and Kuan-Jen Chen had 4 hits apiece.
Cobras 16 - Bulls 11: This was another slugfest, with 33 hits between the two teams - Game MVP honors went to Cobras RF Chih-Peng Chen who was 1-2 with 3 RBI's. Teammate Chia-Hsien Hsieh hit his 8th HR of the season and was 2-4 with 3 RBI's. For the Bulls, Tarzan was 0-5.

Sat. Scoreboard....

MLB:
Chin-Hui Tsao pitched 1.1 scoreless innings in relief of starter Brad Penny. He allowed only 1 walk and 0 hits to go along with 2 K's. The Dodgers beat the Reds 7-3. Box

US Minors:
A - Wisconsin won 11-1. Lo was 1-4 with 2 RBI's. Box

A - Greenville lost 8-4. Chiang was 0-5. Box

NPB:
The Tigers won 3-2. WC Lin was 1-4 with a walk. Box
Here's a few vids of Lin from Youtube:







The Fighters won 3-2. Yang was 0-3 and committed an error at 3B. Box
Here's a few vids of Yang on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha9-F8gwwL4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCtLl3B3ydc

After yesterday's performance, E.Y. Lin has been demoted to the Rakuten Eagles nigun team.

CPBL:
Elephants 13 - Lions 6: Chia Chia hit his 13th HR of the season and was 3-5 with a double and 2 RBI's. His teammate Antonio Alvarez was elected Game MVP for his 4-5 2 double/3 RBI night.
Cobras 8 - Bulls 3: Ivanon Coffie hit his 6th HR of the season and drove in 3 runs to help lead his team to a victory. His teammate Shih-Yang Deng was 4-5 with a RBI.

Friday Update...

US Minors:
AAA - Vegas is down 19-5 in the 8th inning. Kuo pitched 2 scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit to go along with 2 K's and 1 walk. Box

AA - Jacksonville lost 2-1. Hu was 2-3 with a walk and a run scored. Box

AA - Lo earned a ND in game 2 of a doubleheader for Tulsa. Lo was wild in his 4 innings of work: walking 5 and hitting 2 batters. He only allowed 3 hits, while giving up 4 runs - of which 2 were earned. Box

A - Greenville lost 6-0. Chiang collected half of his team's hits and was 2-4. Box

A- Wisconsin lost 6-5. Lo was 1-4 with a run scored. Box

NPB:
Lin was 1-4 with a HR and 2 RBI's to help lead his team to a 5-3 win over the Swallows. Box

The Eagles won 7-5, but E.Y. Lin earned a ND. He started the game but was pulled after 2 innings. He allowed 1 run on a HR and 4 hits. Box

CPBL
Whales 5 - Bulls 2: Whales SP Chao-Hao Tseng earned his 4th win of the season and Game MVP honors. He lasted 7 innings, giving up 2 runs - 0 earned on 5 hits. He had 3 K's and 2 walks.
Lions 7 - Bears 2: Lions RF Fu-Hao Liu was Game MVP with a 2-4 - HR - 4 RBI night. CFC was 1-4 with 2 RBI's.

Wang Falls to 1-3...

MLB:
Chien-Ming Wang got tagged for 7 earned runs on 11 hits in 6.1 innings against the Texas Rangers. Most of the damage was done against Wang in the 5th and 7th innings. It was a complete 180 degree turnaround from his last standout start against the Mariners. The Yankees lost 14-2. Recap/Box

US Minors:
AA - Jacksonville won 12-11. Hu was 0-4 with a sac-fly RBI.

A - Greenville lost 8-4. Chiang was 1-4 with a run scored.

A - Wisconsin won 4-2. Lo was 1-3.

NPB:
The Tigers beat the Giants 4-2. W.C. Lin was 1-3 with a run scored. Box

The Fighters lost to the Hawks 8-2. Yang was 1-1 with a double in a pinch hitting role. Box

CPBL:
Lions 5 - Bears 1: Game MVP Wei-Lun Pan demonstrated why he is one of the best domestic pitchers in the league. Allowing only 1 run on 5 hits over 7 innings, he also had 6 K's and 2 walks. The lone run Pan allowed was to CFC who hit his 9th bomb of the season. CFC was 2-3.
Lions 1B Kuo-Ching Kao hit his 7th HR of the season and was 2-3 with 2 RBI's.
Bulls 11 - Whales 6: Despite 25 hits between the two teams, Game MVP honors went to Bulls SP Alfredo Gonzales who pitched 8 innings, allowing 4 runs - 2 earned on 8 hits. He had 3 K's and a walk.

Amateur:
The country's youth champions were crowned on Tuesday and Wednesday. Taipei County will represent Taiwan in the youth division, while Taoyuan County will represent Taiwan in the senior youth division. With the regional playoffs set in Japan, I'm assuming that these teams will compete in the Little League organization versus Pony Baseball.

Taiwan's chances of advancing to the Little League World Series this year improved significantly when the Little League International Board of Directors decided that the Japanese LL champion will receive an automatic berth into the LLWS. Taiwan will compete with the rest of Asia and the Pacific for another berth. Read more here.

All About the Twins and the Lins.....

Amateur News:
The Minnesota Twins have entered the Che-Hsuan Lin sweepstakes as a serious player for the kid's services alongside the Red Sox, Mariners, and Cubs. The Twins who already have 18 year old OF Wang-Wei Lin (First up at the plate in the vid below) in their system, sent their international scouting director, their scout in Asia, and their Taiwanese scout to see C.H. Lin.
The Twins are also rumored to have signed Chen-Hua Lin, a 6'1" sidearm throwing RHP. The teenager has been clocked as high as 89 mph.

Chen-Hua Lin

US Minors:
AA - Jacksonville won 4-1. Hu got back on track as he was 3-5 to raise his BA to .380 . He also had his 6th SB of the season. Box

A - Greenville lost 6-1, but Chiang was 2-4 with 2 doubles. Box

A - Wisconsin won 6-4. K.H. Lo was 2-4 with a walk and a run scored. Box

NPB:
The Fighters lost to the Hawks 4-2. C.S. Yang was 0-3 hitting out of the 9 hole. Box*Updated* Wei-Chu Lin was 4-5 with a HR, a double, and 2 RBI's. Despite his sterling performance at the plate, the Tigers lost 6-5 to the Giants. Box

CPBL:
Cobras 7 - Whales 3: Cobras 2B Shih-Yang Deng was Game MVP as he cracked his 3rd HR of the season and was 2-4 with 3 RBI's. Whales RF/3B Chun-Chiang Kao was 3-4 with 2 RBI's and hit the game's other HR, his 2nd of the season.
Elephants 3 - Bears 0: The Elephants won behind the strength of starting pitcher Yu-Cheng Liao's gem of a game. Liao shut down the vaunted Bears offense with 7 shutout innings and allowed only 3 hits. He also had 5 K's and 2 walks. Liao picked up his first win of the season and for his efforts, earned Game MVP honors. Slugger C.M Peng hit his league-leading 12th HR of the season as he was 1-2 with a RBI and 2 walks. Opposing slugger CFC was 1-3 with a walk.

5/8 Recaps...

US Majors:

Tsao pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless relief (although he did allow 1 of the 2 inherited runners from Mark Hendrickson to score) as the Dodgers fell to the Marlins 6-5. Box

NPB:

W.C. Lin's Tigers lost 7-1 to the Giants. Lin was 1-4 with his team's only RBI.

The Nippon Ham Fighters lost 7-0 to the Hawks. C.S. Yang, who's been called up to the parent club was 0-3 with 2 K's as the starting 3B. He was hitting out of the 8 hole in the lineup.

Chien-Ming Chiang who was sent down to the nigun team, pitched 7 scorless innings against the Swallows minor league club. Chiang had 5 K's and 1 walk. He picked up his first nigun victory as the Giants won 2-0.

US Minors:

AA - Hu was 0-4 as his team won 4-1. Box

A+ - Tseng took his third loss of the season as Kinston lost 6-2. Tseng lasted 4 innings, giving up 5 runs - of which 2 were earned - on 7 hits. He also walked 4 batters while striking out 2. Box

A - Wisconsin lost 5-3 as K.H. Lo was 2-4 with a triple, a RBI, and an OF assist. Box

A - Greenville lost 5-4. Chiang, who was promoted on 5/6 from XST, was 2-4 with walk and a run scored. Box

Chiang was crushing the ball in XST, flashing an added dimension of power to his game.

CPBL:
Bears 2 - Elephants 0: The league's 2 most prolific sluggers (Chen and Peng) were a combined 0-7 as the game was controlled by the pitching staffs of both teams. LA New Bears starting pitcher Wen-Hsiung Hsu was elected game MVP for his winning effort - throwing 6.1 scoreless innings, striking out 4 and walking 1 while giving up only 3 hits. Kevin Huang earned his 7th save of the season for the Bears. Bears 3B Chih-Wei Shih was the offensive star of the game with a 3-3 night and drove in both runs for the Bears.
Whales 5 - Cobras 4: Game MVP Chin-Shou Shih had a pinch-hit RBI in the 10th inning that would prove the difference in the game. For the Whales, 1B Chen-Chien Wei was 3-5 with a double and a RBI. In a losing effort, Chuan-Chia Wang and Ivanon Coffie both blasted solo HR's for the Cobras.

Good to Be Home...

I just got back from Taiwan. All in all it was a very memorable trip - highlighted by meeting David Wu who is my brother-in-law's good friend. David and my brother-in-law also work together at Talkdatalk.com which aims at teaching English (and it's slang) to the Chinese masses. David was a very down-to-earth guy and was gracious enough to pose with my little boy.
I also had the chance to meet Edgar Lin who runs one of the best Taiwanese baseball websites (in Chinese though) around - PLAYBALL BASEBALL - the Soul of Baseball. If you can read Chinese, I'm sure you've probably visited his site already.

Although I didn't have much time to do any baseball related sightseeing, I did notice that Chien-Ming Wang's image is plastered all over the island - ranging from McDonald's to local banks, and other advertising outlets.
He's also on the news 24-7. In addition, there are no less than 2 books already out on Wang:

Once I get over this jet lag, I'll get back to the daily recaps and news.