KC:
Over in Japan, the President Lions were embarrassed by the KBO champs. The SK Wyverns tore into starting pitcher Pete Munro for 8 runs (7 earned) over 1+ innings. The Wyverns would go on to tack on 5 more runs in the next 2 innings for a 13-0 lead after 4 innings. The Lions would score their only run of the game on a solo shot by Sun-Hsuan Yang. Final score: Wyverns 13 - Lions 1 in a 7 inning laugher for the KBO champs. To make things worse for the Lions, slugger Tilson Brito DNP in today's game due to a foot injury.
The undefeated Wyverns will now play the Dragons (only loss to the Wyverns) for the Konami Cup Championship tomorrow.
The biggest disappointment in the Cup was the failure of the Lions' two big-name foreign pitchers (Figueroa - Taiwan Series MVP, Munro - CPBL ERA leader) to come through with quality innings. On the brighter side of things, SP Wei-Lun Pan and CPBL MVP Kuo-Ching Kao (7-11 with 3 RBI's in the K Cup) proved that they can compete with anyone in Asia. The Lions earned 3rd place in the 3rd annual Konami Cup.
Box/Recap
WC:
Taiwan defeated Spain 8-4 at the WC Saturday. CFC hit his 2nd HR of the tourney and led the way offensively with a 3-5 double/HR/3 RBI night. Tarzan also hit his 1st HR of the tourney. Starter Chih-Lung Huang was pulled after 1+ innings - he allowed 2 ER on 5 hits to go along with 1 K and 0 walks allowed. With the win, Taiwan is currently alone at the top of group A with a 3-0 record. Taiwan will play Mexico Sunday. Box/Recap/V.O.D.
7 comments:
last I checked Figueroa actually won his game,didn't he? Wait, wasn't he the only pitcher or the Lions to actually win a game in he Konami cup?
Maybe you fail to understand baseball entirely. These "big two" pitchers pitched more innings between the Taiwan championships and the Konami Cup 2 weeks than most pitchers will pitch in a month. Also, the Chinese team are not professionals and therefore they swing freely rather to make contact rather than wait for their specific pitch which is very different than pitching against professional players.
The Lions should be proud of the season they had - they are still the champions of Taiwan!
Reread the post - I was talking about quality innings - meaning a quality start - 6 innings + while allowing 3 ER or less.
Despite their showing in the Konami Cup, I'm still rooting for both of them to make a lotta $$$ in the KBO or NPB next season.
its weird how bad the lions played against the yverns. Pretty disappointing considering they played pretty well against the chunichi dragons(the score was 3-2 going into the 9th and final was 4-2). The dragons ended up beating the yverns 6-5 today to win the konami cup again for japan. This is 3 years in a row that Japan has won
The lack of offensive production against the Dragons and Wyverns was disappointing. This was the same team that scored 625 runs during the 100 game CPBL regular season. The Wyverns appeared to be the team to beat in the K Cup. Just goes to show anyone can win on a given day.
In response to the first poster, now that I have some free time, you do realize that in the CPBL because of the lack of pitching depth, the starting rotation in a playoff series is shortened to 3 guys. The coach wants to win and will go with his top 3 SP's which in this case are Figgy, Munro, & Pan.
You'll get no argument from me that Figgy was overpitched during the Taiwan Series - but Figgy didn't pitch out of rotation; he pitched in game 1 of a 3 game Playoff Series against the Cobras and then he took his regular start in the 3-man rotation against the Bears in game 1 of the 7 game Taiwan Series. After a 9 day layoff from his last start in the Taiwan Series, Figueroa started the opening game in the Konami Cup. Regarding the work load of the pitchers in the past few weeks, it's interesting that you fail to mention Pan, who logged more innings than Munro over the last month of October through the end of the Konami Cup.
Also, the excuse you gave (the Chinese team are a bunch of free-swingers) for why Figueroa didn't have his usual dominant outing (12 hits - 4 runs allowed) is BS. The same Chinese lineup managed just 8 hits and 1 run scored COMBINED against the Dragons and Wyverns.
The bottom line is that I stated that I was disappointed with Munro and Figueroa's ability to give a quality start in the Konami Cup. That's my opinion. With national pride on the line and a nice chunk of change as the reward, not to mention an opportunity to audition for a job in the KBO and NPB, what wasn't disappointing about their performances in the K Cup?
However, one game doesn't define a season and Figueroa and Munro should be lauded for their outstanding season in the CPBL. My post was strictly about their performance in the Konami Cup. If you've read my past posts, I have nothing but good things to say about both Munro and Figueroa, even though this is a site dedicated to Taiwanese baseball players.
Oh yeah, and regarding Figgy's win in the Konami Cup, you do realize that he was in line to take the loss (down 4-1 after 6). The 6-run 7th saved him and the CPBL plenty of embarrassment.
"The Wyverns and Dragons are considered a level above Taiwan's Uni-President Lions and China's China Stars, which means that the winner of today's opener would be a good bet to win it all."
I suppose manager Lu did not pin this crap on the team bulletin board to help get the team fired up prior to the game.
Obviously not....the team got their ears kicked in. Despite not winning the K Cup, the Wyverns were arguably the most impressive team in the tourney.
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