Amateur:
Taiwan beat Mexico 4-2 today in the LLWS. Despite being 2-hit and K'ing 11 times against the SP from Mexico, the kids from Taiwan would collect some timely hits - scoring 3 runs on 2 HR's (the first two of the tourney). Chi-Yuan Chen, Taiwan's #2 SP, pitched well. Box/Game Recap/Post Game Interview. Mexico would go on to lose to Venezuela later in the day, thus sending Taiwan into the International Semifinals as the #2 seed from their pool. Taiwan will now face perennial regional rival Japan tomorrow at 2:00 PM Pacific on ESPN2. Since its last championship in 1996, Taiwan has advanced to Williamsport twice in the past 11 years. Japan has supplanted Taiwan as the top dog in Asia with its 3 LLWS Championships since 1999. In the past two years, Taiwan has managed to go 1-1 against Japan in the Asian Regionals (prior to this year's reclassification of Japan to its own region) Should be a great game! JIAYO!NPB:
The Tigers won 12-2. WC Lin was 2-5 with a double. BoxUS MINORS:
R - TK Chiu had another outstanding outing but earned a ND as the Reds lost 5-2. Chiu pitched 5 innings, allowing 1 run - which was unearned on 3 hits. BoxA ss - Williamsport lost 13-7 in a doubleheader today. YF Lin pitched 1.2 innings in relief and allowed 3 runs. Box
A - Greenville lost 6-2. Chiang was 1-3 with a walk. Box
A - Wisky is down 8-0 in the 8th. KH Lo is currently 1-2 with a walk. Box
AAA - Vegas is up 8-0 in the 2nd inning. Hu is 1-1 with a walk and a RBI. Box
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19 comments:
Hard to say that Japan really supplanted Taiwan when Taiwan was forced out for several years. That said, in regards to Little League, should be an interesting game tomorrow. Venezuala looks strong, though, on the other side.
Well that's the way the rest of the world sees it - out of sight, out of mind. For those of us who follow this stuff year in, year out, we know otherwise.
Well, after 96, Taiwan dropped out of Little League up until around 03 so its not exactly like our boys werent playing well these past 11 years. We returned in 03, advanced in 04 and did pretty well in both 05 and 06(especially in 05 when we beat Japan 4-1 in regionals though they advanced to the LLWS) and advanced in 07. So, you could say since we returned in 03, we have advanced twice to williamsport including this year. Anyway, good luck to our boys tomorrow! Jiayo!
oh, some nice news though its not about our boys in the LLWS.... Hu cranked another HR today
I agree with everything you said and am well aware of what happened over the past 11 years.
With that said, the team that came over in '04 was one of the weakest teams (no ace in the hole and a lack of power in the lineup) to come out of Taiwan in recent memory. The '05 team, although it beat Japan - lost to South Korea. The '06 team was dominated by Japan and their star pitcher Go.
Before '96 we use to own Asia and pretty much the rest of the world in Williamsport. I guess what I'm saying is that the talent hasn't been as good in the past. I will say that this year is the first year (since we've returned to LL baseball) that I've seen a flashback (with CM Wang) to the glory days of yesteryears.
so, you got high expectations for our boys this year eh? I cant really recall our boys in the LLWS when they dominated because I was too young then. I guess the reason our talent hasnt been as good is all the scandals going on in Taiwanese baseball. A loss of interest and support. But IMO, as baseball is really something that many Taiwanese hold very close- as well as being a inseparable part of Taiwan's history, baseball couldnt lose all support even with all the scandals. What do you think is the reason for the downgrade in talent? Well, I can say our team this year has got talent and drive. Lets hope CM Wang can win a big one tomorrow!
Taiwan's LL team was so good back in the days they used to win the championship game with mercy rules before 6 innings.
We can do it! If our defense is as advertised and we pitch Wang, it's anyone's game. The coach just needs to inspire the kids and make them play their "A" game.
Go Taiwan! I'll be glued to the TV at 5!
-Dodger fan in NY
I HEARD TAIWAN'S WININNG 3-2!!! GIMME MORE NEWS, I DON'T HAVE TV HERE
well, something had to give and our boys fought hard. Despite not being able to hold on the lead and lost to Japan at the bottom of 10th with a walk off HR, you have tip your hats off to them. Imagine the type of pressure these 12-13 year olds have to shoulder. Best wishes to team Japan. Make Asians proud!
in regards to Taiwan not able to dominate in the recent years, I think it also has something to do with the fact that the organizer is being way more strict now with the zoning of the players. The team representing Taiwan was known to recruit outstanding players from other school teams in the past and although I wouldn't say that send an all-star team (since the core of the original team stays intact), it does gave them more or less a bit of advantage.
With zoning restriction being strictly enforced, it actually puts Taiwan in a disadvantage as it "shrinks" the talent pool for a place as small as Taiwan. Still amazing with the type of show that they put up tonight, it's one of those game that makes you truly appreciate the sport of baseball regardless the outcome. WHAT A GAME! :)
Man, that was a tough loss for our boys. But, I'm very proud of them. They hung tough for many innings. I'm still amazed at their poise and I tip my hat to them for a great run.
Onto the game itself. I felt that our mental errors in defense let us down. We knew the bats weren't there and we had to rely on pitching and defense. The inning in which Japan scored 2 shouldn't have gotten that far. The ball between the IF and the OF should have been called by the OF. Tough play.
ESPN's coverage was not that good. First of all, the game was not shown in its entirety because there was tennis before, just like our last game vs. Mexico. I called ESPN, asked them why they couldn't move either venue to ESPN Classic and got your generic "well, it's live and there's nothing we could do". I told them that they do it every weekend for NASCAR! They also have a lot of special coverage for many of the Japanese individual players but none for our players.
Toward the end of the game, I was pretty worn out by our team being called "Chinese Taipei". At one point, Orestes Destrede said that Taiwan was governed by China. WTF?
Anyway, that's the end of my rant. Once again, I'm so proud of our boys' display of class throughout the tournament. I hope they get a chance to swing by NY on the way home and perhaps meet Chien-Ming Wang at a Yankees game.
-Dodger fan in NY
I didnt appreciate the governed by China comment either but you can easily tell by the way he talks that Destrede is biased towards Japan. Also agree about the special coverage of Japan. Seriously, you would see a Japanese fan every 20 seconds while they only showed Taiwans side maybe once or twice. We really should've won in the 6th when our fielder had the fly ball. Just dropped out of his glove a little and they tied it up. Those defensive errors really hurt though. If it werent for those untimely errors, Japan probably shouldnt have tied the game 2-2. Anyway, our boys played a hell of a game and im so proud of them. But, I just feel so sad for them though...they were so close. It'd be nice if they could get to meet Chien Ming Wang before they leave back to Taiwan. Im sure they'd go home feeling alot better.
I think now would be a good time to go here and send the team encouraging notes and let them know just how much we appreciated their effort. The game is over and we can't change a thing about the out come, I hope all of these players will eventually develop into professional quality ball players. They have a bright future ahead of them.
I agree with Dodger Fan that Destrede should be quiet about his 2 cents. Regardless of your opinion on "independency", Taiwan is definitely not governed by China. I was also bothered by the fact that he didn't make any effort to get his facts straight. When he was "analyzing" on why Taiwan does not produce as much MLB quality ball players as Japan by saying that little league is pretty much the end of baseball development in Taiwan.... uhhh, obviously he's not aware of the high school and college tournaments and I doubt he know what CPBL stands for. The reason Taiwan wasn't able produce as many ball player as Japan simply because:
1. Japan has bigger land mass and hence bigger talent pool.
2. Many talents in Taiwan felt content to play in NPB league.
3. Coaches and managers in the past did a poor job on protecting young players by way over working them, but I don't know if this still holds true these days.
To the poster above. Did you catch the time-out when our coach went out and talked to our players in that 2-run inning by Japan? He did a great job in calming them down and in the end he told the pitcher: "You see? It's not easy being Chien-Ming Wang!". In my opinion, he wanted our pitcher to collect himself, step it up, and kick butt!
He also mentioned to the infielders about some telephone call that either had happend already or has yet to happen with Chien-Ming Wang. It'd be nice if ESPN had done something about it. But of course not :)
-Dodger fan in NY
Dodger Fan, I saw that time-out as well and I was very impressed with his attitude. Not only did he talked about calming down and just focus on the game, he told his players not to worry about the Japanese signals. What happened after that? He stuck out 3 batters in the row with bases loaded.
Tsong...I have to disagree with you why Japan have bigger talent pool because of their land mass, if that's the case, then China would've dominate baseball in Asia. And the Dominican Republic would have less than 10 MLB players.
The Japanese players simply are more disciplined and works much harder comparing to Koreans, Taiwanese and rest of Asian countries, not saying the kids from Korea or Taiwan don't work hard, but you can see why talent in Japan are so much superior by looking at the WBC score, and success not only pitchers but hitters from Japan in the MLB.
Destrede is sincerely biased toward Japan, the guy played there when he couldn't make it in the MLB, if enough of Taiwanese complain about his govern by China comment, I am sure he will be removed from commentating in future ESPN baseball coverages. He needs to go review history and know that Taiwan was under KMT rule when they fled from China to Taiwan, and that ended in 1996 when the DPP won the election.
To the above poster, thanks for pointing out my ambiguity, and I will try to clarify on what I meant to say about land mass.
I meant to say Japan has a bigger talent pool that gives a damn about baseball. And Dominican Republican is actually bigger than Taiwan in land mass (48,442 sq.Km. vs 35,801 sq.Km.) and they definitely give a who about baseball more than average Taiwanese. All politics aside, you can't deny the fact that if China is serious about being able compete with the current 3 baseball power houses in Asia-Pacific, it would only be a matter of time, because of what? The talent pool thanks to their land mass.
Not looking for an argument here, but just want to clarify.
ESPN's phone number is:
860-766-2000
I already called this afternoon when they wouldn't go from Tennis to LLWS on ESPN 2. I'm going to call again tomorrow about the China comment tomorrow.
-Dodger fan in NY
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