MLB:
Barton Silverman/NY TimesChien-Ming Wang had another outstanding outing, limiting the Arizona Diamondbacks to 1 run on 6 hits over 7 innings. The one run came on a rare HR allowed by Wang in the 4th inning that was left up over the plate. Brandon Webb, last season's NL Cy Young Winner, pitched well but got in a hole early when he too allowed a 3-run HR. Wang improves to 6-4 and lowers his ERA to 3.49. Wang (3 consecutive wins now) and the Yankees (winners of 7 straight) are on a roll after tonight's 4-1 win. Box/Recap
HR Trot - AP Photo
AP PhotoKuo helped his cause by unloading a solo 412 foot shot in the 2nd inning - the last of back-back-back homeruns for the Dodgers - all 3 HR's came on 3 consecutive pitches from Mets SP John Maine. Kuo caused a little controversy with what is now being called the "Kuo throw" when he flipped his bat after homering. In the post game interview, Mets Manager Willie Randolph didn't seem very pleased with Kuo's actions. From my point of view, it was Kuo's first - and maybe last ML HR - so it's not like he knows what to do in a situation like this - bottom line: it wasn't his intention to spite Maine and the Mets. Kuo picks up career win # 2 and his ERA is now at 3.60. Final score: Dodgers 4 - Mets 1. Box
Here's a vid that I uploaded of Kuo's HR: Link
NPB:
The Seibu Lions deactivated Ming-Chieh Hsu.
US MINORS:
A - Greenville lost in extra innings 9-8. Chiang as a PH, walked in his only PA. Box
A - Wisky won 4-2. Lo was 1-3 with a triple and 2 RBI's. Box
CPBL:
Bulls 4 - Whales 1: The Bulls got a great outing from Chien-Fu Yang, who allowed 1 unearned run on 4 hits over 7 innings. Unfortunately for Yang, he would earn a ND, but he did manage 7 K's to go along with 2 walks. Game MVP went to "Tarzan" as he cracked his 6th HR of the season, a 3-run shot in the 8th inning that would prove to be the difference in the game. Tarzan was 2-4 with 3 RBI's.
Alaska:
Chu-Kuan Lee earned the victory for the Bucs on Monday night. The Bucs won 9-3. Lee pitched 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits - he also had 8 K's and 2 walks. Box/PlaybyPlay
9 comments:
I think Randolph is more upset at the fact that Kuo hit a homer off his pitcher. I didn't see anything disrespectful out of Kuo through the whole thing.
forgot to mention, Kuo's homer is the first ever delivered by a player from Taiwan in MLB history. Congratulations!
yea Randolph's just mad that his team can't beat Kuo.
I'll be saving some newspapers tomorrow morning, GOD WHAT A GOOD DAY!
and do you know lin che hsuan's schedule? is he going to be playing soon? or just training with the team?
Whether he meant it or not, it is disrespectful to do so. I remember Shinjo from the Mets used to do that when he came to the Mets and got drilled pretty quickly and got the message. I think Kuo was just excited that he hit one deep. Plus, I do see a lot of Taiwanese players do that in the pro league over there in Taiwan.
By the way, I watched it here in NY and the announcers spent the next couple of innings on why they (the Mets) had to send a message by brushing back or drill Kuo for his bat flipping.
Regardless, I thought it'd be years until a Taiwanese player hit a homer since there aren't any position players in the big show yet but I'm glad I was wrong :)
-Dodger fan in NY
check out the bottom of this article, it mentions the possibility of Hu getting a callup. http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070612&content_id=2021586&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la
As stoked as I am for Kuo, I can't help but think about the missed opportunities for CFC. Hopefully we'll have an every-day positional player in the Major Leagues in the next few years.
Lin will be playing in the GCL this summer - that's one of the reasons why he signed with the Sox.
I wasn't living in LA when CFC was with the Dodgers. Did he not get his fair share (of playing time) or was he just not that good (too many k's and lack of defense)? Who made the decision to not play him? Tracy or Depodesta? Curious.
-Dodger fan in NY
Regarding CFC,
There was a pretty well written article last year in the Las Vegas Weekly that followed the saga of CFC. Essentially over 4 seasons (from 2002 - 2005) he got 22 AB's in 19 game appearances. Granted when you look at the sum as a whole, he only had 2 hits and 10 K's in those 22 AB's. However, if you space out his opportunities, it looks like this:
In 2002 he got the call up to LA on September 10th- he got 5 AB's over 2 games - Brian Jordan was the incumbent in LF that year and the Dodgers were in contention for the NL West title, but ended up in 3rd place - 6 games back.
In 2003 he had 1 AB all year - LA finished a distant second in the NL West - Brian Jordan and Jeremy Burnitz split time in LF.
In 2004, he got 8 AB's - but he was called up to LA and then sent down 3 times to Vegas. Those 8 AB's were spread over 6 games - he only had one game where he saw full time duty - in the other 5 games, he had 1 pinch-hit AB. Of course that year, the Dodgers won the NL West - so I can understand why he didn't get much PT - however the incumbent in LF was Jayson Werth - he shared time with Jason Grabowski - who was God-awful - he hit .220 with 50 K's in 173 AB's.
Finally in 2005, Chen got 8 more AB's - this time spaced out over 5 games. Again Chen only had one game the entire year to show what he could do in full time duty. The other 4 games, he pinch hit. Chen did have 2 hits in 2005 along with 2 RBI's, but Jayson Werth and Crapowski pretty much occupied LF for the Dodgers. Crapowski hit .161 in 112 AB's in 2005. The Dodgers would finish 4th that year in their division.
Bottom line, it's pretty damned hard to perform well when all you do is pinch hit. Also, I don't understand why Crapowski got a lot of PT in LF - he had 43 starts in LF in 2004 and 2005 combined. Granted he could also play other defensive positions - but he rarely played there. If memory serves me correct the Dodgers needed to add some power to the lineup in 2004 and 2005 - that is Chen's one plus tool. As streaky a hitter as Chen was/is, I believe that he needed a lot more PT - but the Dodgers grew impatient with his lack of production in his limited number of appearances and never gave him a fair shot.
Chen was designated for assignment I think at the end of 2005. By then the Dodgers had some young prospects to play the LF position - Andre Ethier was on his way to a fabulous first season in 2006.
Regarding his poor OF play - if you look at his numbers in AAA - he committed single digit errors as an OF in the last couple of years in Vegas. Also his AAA manager Jerry Royster and broadcaster Russ Langer praised his defensive abilities - he had made improvements over the course of his minor league career.I don't think his quiet demeanor in the LA clubhouse helped him that much either.
Thank you for your input on CFC. It's really too bad that he didn't get enough abs in a row to prove himself. I followed him throughout his minor league career and dreamt of him hitting serious hrs as a Los Angeles Dodger. Oh well, at least he's making a decent living in Taiwan!
-Dodger fan in NY
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