Amateur:
Wow, that was one helluva game that transpired today between Taiwan and Japan at the LLWS. Unfortunately for the kids from Taiwan, they came up on the short end of the stick as they lost to Japan 4-3 on a "sayonara" walk-off HR in the bottom of the 10th inning. In a game that saw tremendous pitching from both sides, defensive lapses would allow Japan to tie things up after falling behind 2-0 after 3 innings, and 3-2 heading into the bottom of the 6th. The starting pitching was as advertised for Taiwan as SP Chao-Min Wang hit 77 mph (100 mph ML equivalent) on the gun and will be one to watch out for in the future. His reliever Kai-Ying Chen was very impressive as well, exhibiting tremendous composure and some serious stones after working himself out of a few jams. Unfortunately, the team's offensive woes throughout the tourney came back to bite them in the rear as they managed only 3 hits over 10 innings. Despite the loss, the kids from Taiwan have nothing to be ashamed of - the outcome could have easily been reversed. Congrats to Japan on a well played game - that is a very well balanced team with good pitching depth and hitting. Good luck the rest of the way. Box/Post Game InterviewMLB:
Wang will face Jeremy Bonderman and the Detroit Tigers again on Saturday.
US MINORS:
R - Hong-Wen Chen made his seasonal debut with the AZL Cubs. He pitched 1 scoreless inning, faced 3 batters and K'd 1 (that was Giants uber-prospect Angel Villalona). The Cubs are losing 6-0 in the 3rd. BoxA - Greenville won 5-3. Chiang was 1-1 with 3 walks. Box
A - Wisky won 9-4. KH Lo hit HR #4 and was 2-4 with a RBI and his 27th SB on the season. Box
AAA - Vegas is down 4-3 in the 3rd. Hu is currently 1-1. Box
NPB:
The Tigers lost 8-1. WC Lin was 0-4. Box
CPBL:
Lions 13 - Bears 7: The Lions were led by a strong performance from game MVP - SP Brian Reith (7 IP, 2 ER allowed, 4 hits, 3 K's, 2 BB's) - he is now 7-0 in the league. Reith received plenty of run support from his big guns - Tilson Brito hit HR #28 and was 1-5 with 2 RBI's/1B KC Kao hit HR #16/and C CK Kao was 2-5 with a double and 3 RBI's. For the Bears, Gary Rath failed to pick up win #13 as he was knocked out after 2 innings. CFC did hit HR #20 and was 3-4 with 2 RBI's.
Other:
Interesting story on Ray Chang, a SS in the SD Padres organization. Ray is the only Chinese-American in pro baseball.
4 comments:
Reality to Chinese Taipei Baseball Association:
PROTECT CHAO-MING WANG'S ARM
punish any team/school that abuses him.
2.5, amen to that! Hopefully this will become something that every youth baseball coaches in Taiwan will take note of. We need to protect the health of all the youth players so their real potentials can be realized when they hit adulthood. They've got to see the bigger pictures.
Why is Chang trying out with the China Olympic Team?? He is American. Don't perpetuate the Perpetual Foreigner stereotype!
Edgar Lin's been promoting a pitch count limitation among youth pitchers in Taiwan for some time now. He's got some good articles on his site, playballx.com. Ultimately, it's going to take a collective effort to change the minds of a lot of these old school coaches whose priority is winning first and foremost.
Steve - although I can understand your POV, guys like Mike Piazza and Nick Markakis played for the Italian and Greek NT's in the past. I don't think anyone thought any less of them for playing for their country of ancestry.
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