Lin Playing with the Big Boys....

MLB ST:
A's 9 - Dodgers 5: CL Hu 0-1, YC Chen 0-1

Braves 4 - Red Sox 3: CH Lin 1-4 / Recap



NPB ST:
Hanshin Tigers OF Wei-Chu Lin will begin the year with the nigun team after a dismal spring performance.



CPBL:
No games today. Tomorrow's starters:
Aaron Rakers (Bears) vs. Nicholas Ungs (Elephants)

3/29 Scores....

CPBL:
Elephants 7 - Lions 0:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Elephants	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	7	12	0
Lions	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1

Attendance: 5,065

WP: Yu-Cheng Liao (1-0, 5 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 4 K's, 1 BB) - game MVP
LP: Chris Gissell (0-1, 6 IP, 1 R - 0 ER, 3 H, 8 K's, 0 BB's)

Elephants AB:
SS Sheng-Wei Wang 2-5, 2 RBI, SB
2B Hung-Sen Chu 2-5, RBI
DH CYC 1-5
RF Chia Chia 2-4, SB - 14 successful SB's in a row
3B Jui-Chen Chen 0-4
1B Chih-Hsiang Huang 2-4, RBI
LF Yu-An Liu 1-4
C Yi-Feng Kuo 0-3, RBI
CF Chih-Peng Chen 2-4, 2B, RBI
(RF) Tsung-Fan Yang 0-0

Lions AB:
CF Sung-Hsien Yang 0-4
SS Rico Washington 0-4
RF Wu-Hsiung Pan 2-4
1B KC Kao 1-4
DH Lien-Hung Chen 0-3
2B Sen Yang 0-2
LF Tai-Chi Kuo 0-1
3B Chin-Tien Shih 1-2
C Chih-Kang Kao 0-3
(2B) Tzu-Sung Wang 0-1
(LF) Chun-Yu Kuo 0-0, BB
(LF) Ching-He Chuang 0-0
(3B) Yu-Chen Liu 1-1
(C) Chuang-Hsun Tu 0-0
(2B) Nai-Wen Cheng 0-1
(LF) Feng-Pin Hsu 0-1






Bears 12 - Bulls 8:

								1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Bulls 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 3 8 15 1 Bears 8 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 12 13 3

Attendance: 8,190

WP: Si-Yo Wu (1-0, 5 IP, 4 R - 3 ER, 9 H, 2 K's, 1 BB)
LP: Shoda Itsuki (0-1, 0.1 IP, 7 R, 4 H, 1 K, 3 BB's)

Bears AB:
CF Long-Yi Huang 1-3, HR (1), 2 RBI
2B Chih-Ping Lin 1-3, RBI, SB
SS Chih-Sheng Lin 1-4
DH CFC 2-5, HR (1), RBI
1B Nate Gold 1-5, 2 RBI
3B Chih-Wei Shih 1-4
LF Cheng-Yu Chung 2-4, 2B, RBI
C Feng-Min Chen 1-4, 2 RBI
RF Hao-Chu Tseng 2-2, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI - game MVP
(RF) Chien-Wei Tsai 0-1
(CF) Chih-Yao Chan 0-1
(2B) Chung-Wei Pan 1-1, RBI
(2B) Chih-Tsung Chiang 0-0

Bulls AB:
CF Hua-Wei Tseng 0-4, 2 RBI
LF Chien-Ming Chang 0-5
3B Wilton Veras 3-5
DH Tarzan 2-5
RF Chia-Hsien Hsieh 1-5, 2B, RBI
SS Chao-Hsing Cheng 3-4, RBI
1B Yi-Chuan Lin 3-4
2B Chih-Wei Chen 2-5, 2B
C Chun-Chang Yeh 1-4, 2 RBI
(C) Chung-Nan Lin 0-1
(CF) Kuan-Yung Huang 0-0
(CF) Da-Hung Cheng 0-1



MLB:
Padres 7 - Dodgers 2 (7): HC Kuo 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 K, 0 BB's

2009 CPBL Opening Day...

CPBL:
Lions 5 - Elephants 1:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Elephants	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	2
Lions	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	1	0	5	12	0

Attendance: 10,000 (sold out)

WP: Wei-Lun Pan (1-0, 6 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 7 K's, 0 BB's)
LP: Kobayshi Ryokan (0-1, 6 IP, 4 R - 3 ER, 9 H, 2 K's, 1 BB)

Lions AB:
CF Sung-Hsien Yang 2-5, 2B
SS Rico Washington 1-3, 2B, RBI
RF Wu-Hsiung Pan 2-4, 2B, HR (1), 3 RBI - game MVP
1B KC Kao 0-3
DH Lien-Hung Chen 2-4
LF Tai-Chi Kuo 1-4
2B Sen Yang 3-4, RBI
3B Chin-Tien Shih 0-4
C Chih-Kang Kao 1-4, 2B

Elephants AB:
CF Chih-Peng Chen 0-4
2B Hung-Sen Chu 0-4
DH CYC 1-4
1B Chia Chia 1-4, HR (1), RBI - he hit the 6,000th HR in CPBL history
LF Kuan-Jen Chen 0-1 - left the game with an injury after colliding with teammate (see below)

3B Jui-Chen Chen 1-3, 2B
RF Chih-Hsiang Huang 0-3
C Yi-Feng Kuo 0-3
SS Sheng-Wei Wang 1-3
(LF) Yu-An Liu 0-2




*On slate for tomorrow:

Yu-Cheng Liao (Elephants) vs. Chris Gissell (Lions)

Shoda Itsuki (Bulls) vs. Si-Yo Wu (Bears)



MLB:
CMW in a minor league game: 5 IP, 4 R, 9 H, 1 BB, 3 K's

CL Hu 0-0, R
*Updated

Catching Up...

CPBL:
The regular season kicks off tomorrow on Saturday the 28th. The Lions and Elephants will face off in the inaugural game of the season. Wei-Lun Pan will start for the defending champs and will face Kobayashi Ryokan of the Elephants. Should be a fun season to follow with so many former players returning to their homeland.

More from the Taipei Times


Nice read on former La New Bears pitcher Andrew Lorraine and his time in Taiwan.



MLB ST:
3/27 - HC Kuo 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB's
3/26 - CL Hu 1-4
3/25 - CL Hu 0-1
3/24 - CL Hu 0-2, SB / HC Kuo 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 K, 0 BB's

3/23 News Briefs....

MLB:
Phillies 8 - Yankees 3: CMW 0-2, 5.0 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 2 K's, 2 BB's
Recap1/Recap 2/At the new park

Angels 10 - Dodgers 4: CL Hu 1-4, RBI
Scout's take on Kuo in Sunday's game vs. the Rangers



CPBL:
Placing bets on CPBL games to curtail illegal gambling (game-fixing scandals) ?

CH Tsao will wear #71 with the Elephants (the same # he wore with the Rockies)

HS Tourney Notes....

*NY INF Fu-Lin Kuo was a disappointment despite making the all-tourney team; he hit poorly in the game against Chia-Yi HS, a team with subpar talent. Kuo is represented by Octagon's Kelvin Lee, who signed the kid through Nan-Ying HS coach Chen's assistance.

*Kuo's teammate - NY 2B Ping-Chieh Chen had an impressive tourney, regaining some of the lost luster to his top prospect billing. His only problem is whether he can stay at 2B with his lack of agility & range defensively. The Phillies scout in Taiwan spoke with the Nan-Ying HS coach about Chen, who is represented by Bros Sports.

*SY side-armer Po-Cheng Chi strained his shoulder in the tourney but despite this, coach Huang used him in the semi-final game. Not surprisingly, Chi got roughed up against Nan-Ying. His velocity in the tourney was 84-85 mph.

*SH RHP Yao-Lin Wang showed better command in his outing, flashing an average slider, and demonstrated good athleticism on the mound. His velocity was around 87-89 mph, topping out at 90 mph. It appears several teams might be interested in him including the Cubs, Mariners, and D-Rays.





***Congrats to both South Korea and Japan for making it to the championship game of the WBC. I guess it was "destiny" as Ichiro deemed it that the two Asian baseball powers would be the last two standing.

Elephants Finally Get Their Man...

CPBL:
Former ML player Chin-Hui Tsao and the Brother Elephants have finally come to terms. The deal for Tsao, the #2 overall pick in the 2008 new player draft, includes a 350 K NT/month ($10,300 USD/month) salary with performance incentives that could make the deal as rich as 5 million NT/year ($148 K USD/year).

Nan-Ying On Top Again...

Taiwan Cup (HS):

Keng-Hao Chang

Nan-Ying 3 - Ku-Pao 2: It took 11 innings, but Nan-Ying defeated Ku-Pao for the 2009 Taiwan Cup Championship. It was the school's third win in four tourney championship games against Ku-Pao since 2006. (1 2)
Nan-Ying ace Keng-Hao Chang picked up the key win (throwing 9 shutout innings), his third of the tourney. He earned the top pitcher award in the tourney.

Other tourney award winners:
Top Hitter: Huang-Yi Wang (Gao-Nong) .533 BA
HR King: Chien-Ting Feng (Nan-Ying) 1
All-Tourney Team:
P - Kuan-Yu Chen (Ku-Pao)
C - Cheng-Ming Chen (Nan-Ying)
IF - Wei-Da Su (Gao-Nong)
IF - Ping-Chieh Chen (Nan-Ying)
IF - Wei-Chen Wang (Ku-Pao)
IF - Fu-Lin Kuo (Nan-Ying)
OF - Yi-Kun Huang (Gao-Nong)
OF - Yung-Hsuan Chuang (Nan-Ying)
OF - Yen-Ju Chen (Ku-Pao)

Gao-Nong 7 - Shi-Yuan 6: Gao-Nong earned third place in the tourney and 150 K NT ($4,400 USD) for the school.
Nan-Ying pocketed 500 K NT ($14,800 USD) while tourney runner-up Ku-Pao earned 250 K NT ($7,400 USD).



MLB:
Fu-Te Ni was assigned to minor league camp and will likely start the year at AAA with the Toledo Mud Hens.

Dodgers 11 - Rangers 4: CL Hu 1-1, R

Another Nan-Ying, Ku-Pao Showdown....

HS Tourney:

Ku-Pao 6 - Gao-Nong 5:

Ku-Pao IF Wei-Chen Wang (4-5, RBI) missed hitting for the cycle by a HR. Taking the loss for Gao-Nong was Wei-Da Su (pitched a shutout for 4 innings - through the 8th, allowing only 2 hits. In the 9th, with the bases loaded, Su walked in the GW run.)

Nan-Ying 10 - Shi-Yuan 3:

NY's Chien-Ting Feng hit the tourney's only HR (and first HR to actually leave the field of play in nearly a year). His teammate, IF Ping-Chieh Chen, like Ku-Pao's WW Chen, also missed hitting for the cycle by a HR. He drove in 4 runs and was 3-3 with a BB. In the tourney (Taiwan Cup), Chen is hitting 7 for 11 (a .636 BA) with 2 triples and 7 RBI. According to the Liberty Times, he has been contacted by the Phillies, Cubs, Tigers, Mariners, Twins. He is considered to be the fastest HS player in Taiwan (per Liberty Times - he's been clocked at 3.53 seconds from home to first??!! - a better time than former Nan-Ying speedster Che-Hsuan Lin).

Ping-Chieh Chen

CPBL ST:

Lions 15 - Bulls 5:

Sung-Hsien Yang (L) 2-3, 2 2B's

Enrico (Rico) Washington (L) 1-6, RBI

Wu-Hsiung Pan (L) 0-1, 3 BB's

KC Kao (L) 3-3, 2B, 3 RBI

Chun-Yu Kuo (L) 1-5, RBI

Nai-Wen Cheng (L) 2-3, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI

Chuang-Hsun Tu (L) 1-4, 2 RBI

Feng-Ping Hsu (L) 0-3, 2 RBI
Tung-Yi Yang (L) 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI

Tarzan (B) 1-3

Chia-Hsien Hsieh (B) 0-2

Yi-Chuan Lin (B) 3-3, 2B

Hua-Wei Tseng (B) 1-1, 3B, RBI

Da-Hung Cheng (B) 1-2, 3B, 2 RBI

Chih-Wei Chen (B) 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI

Bears 11 - Elephants 3:

Chih-Sheng Lin (B) 1-4

CFC (B) 2-3, HR #3, RBI

Chih-Wei Shih (B) 2-2, RBI

Feng-Min Chen (B) 0-1, 2 RBI

Chin-De Yu (B) 1-3, RBI

Long-Yi Huang (B) 1-1, 2B, RBI

Hsiao-Wei Huang (B) 1-2, RBI

Chih-Tsung Chiang (B) 1-2, 2 RBI

Chung-Wei Pan (B) 1-2, RBI

Tsung-Yu Tsai (B) 1-2, RBI
Hung-Sen Chu (E) 1-3, RBI

Kuan-Jen Chen (E) 2-4, 2B

Chih-Hsiang Huang (E) 1-4, RBI

Keng-Hsin Liu (E) 2-4

Yi-Feng Kuo (E) 1-1, 2B, RBI

Po-Hsuan Keng (B) 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 K's, 1 BB

TJ Yeh (E) 1.1 IP, 4 R, 2 H, 3 K's, 5 BB's


MLB ST:
Dodgers 6 - Indians 4: CL Hu 1-2, 2B, RBI (positive comments from Torre)

Former NPB'ers Face Off......YC Lin Slams Two......

CPBL:
Lions 3 - Elephants 3:
Wu-Hsiung Pan (L) 1-3, RBI
KC Kao (L) 1-5
Chun-Hui Chen (L) 1-2, RBI
Chia Chia (E) 1-3
Jui-Chen Chen (E) 3-4, RBI
Yu-En Liu (E) 2-4, 2 RBI

Wei-Lun Pan (L): SP, ND, 5 IP, 3 R, 9 H, 4 K's, 1 BB
Yu-Cheng Liao (E): SP, ND, 6 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 4 K's, 6 BB's


Bears 5 - Bulls 5:
Tarzan (Bu) 0-4
Chia-Hsien Hsieh (Bu) 0-4
Yi-Chuan Lin (Bu) 3-4, 2B, 2 HR's, 4 RBI
Chih-Sheng Lin (Be) 1-3
CFC (Be) 1-3, 2B, RBI
Chih-Wei Shih (Be) 1-2, 2 RBI
Cheng-Yu Chung (Be) 2-4, RBI

Ying-Chieh Lin (Bu): SP, ND, 4 IP, 5 R, 5 H, 3 K's, 2 BB's
Si-Yo Wu (Be): SP, ND, 5 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 5 K's, 1 BB (clocked at a high of 86 mph)
Po-Hsuan Keng (Be): 0.2 IP, 3 R - 2 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 1 BB



MLB:
Tigers 5 - Nationals 2: FT Ni 0.2 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 0 K's, 1 BB



Taiwan Cup - HS:
Nan-Ying 1 - Ping-Zhen HS 0 (Keng-Hao Chang CG shutout on 98 pitches)

Shi-Yuan 5 - Chung-Dao 3

Ku-Pao 4 - Qiang-Shu 3

Gao-Nong 17 - Mei-Ho 2 (7 innings)


Tomorrow, Shi-Yuan will play Nan-Ying in one semifinal while Ku-Pao will face Gao-Nong in the other semi.

3/19 ST Scores...

MLB:
Dodgers 3 - Rockies 2: CL Hu 0-1

Kuo pitched a scoreless inning in an intrasquad minor league game.



CPBL:
Bulls 9 - Elephants 7:

Chia Chia (E) 2-2, HR, 2 RBI
Kuan-Jen Chen (E) 1-4, HR, 2 RBI
Yi-Chuan Lin (B) 1-4, HR, RBI

Chih-Hsiang Huang (E) 0-4
Chien-Ming Chang (B) 4-5
Tarzan (B) 0-4, RBI
Wilton Veras (B) 2-5, 3 RBI
Chia-Hsien Hsieh (B) 2-4, RBI

Ko-Chien Lin (B) SP: ND, 5.1 IP, 4 R - 3 ER, 6 H, 1 K, 2 BB's



HS: (Scores from past 2 days)
Chung-Dao HS 2 - San-Min HS 1
Shi-Yuan HS 9 - Kao-Yuan HS 3
Qiang-Shu 5 - Hualien PE 2
Ku-Pao 9 - Cheng-Kung HS 2

Cheng-Hao Wang (3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 6 K's) led Gao-Nong to a 7-0 win over Tong-Shi HS.
Nan-Ying defeated Chiayi HS 7-0 in 8 innings.
Ping-Zhen HS won 6-2 over Da-Li HS.
Mei-Ho beat San-Hsin HS 3-2 (SHHS pitchers Yao-Lin Wang and Hua-Wei Lo combined for 14 K's and 4 hits allowed in the losing effort).

Bold demarcates the 8 teams in the quarterfinals.

3/18 ST Scores...

MLB:
NYY 4 - Astros 1: CMW 5 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 K's, 0 BB's



CPBL:
Lions 12 - Bears 9:

CFC (B) 2-4, HR #2, 2 RBI
Hao-Chu Tseng (B) 1-2, HR #2, RBI
Nate Gold (B) 2-3, HR, 3 RBI
Chun-Yu Kuo (L) 3-4, HR #2, 4 RBI

News Briefs....

*The Taiwan HS Cup tourney started today (18th in Taiwan).

*The KC Royals have a new scout in Taiwan. He is Apple Daily News Sports Journalist-Luis Yu. Luis has helped the Indians and Rockies in the past. Former Royals scout Adam Hislop is now working for the A's.

*Nan-Ying HS INF FL Kuo & PC Chen's asking prices have dropped considerably due to poor and inconsistent performances. Both Octagon and Bros are actively shopping these players to teams.

*RHP Kai-Wen Cheng pitched a scoreless inning yesterday for the Hanshin Tigers.

*Angels International Scouting Director Clay Daniel recently visited Taiwan.

3/17 ST Scores....

CPBL:
Bears 8 - Lions 1:

WP - Chih-Chia Chang 5 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 6 K's, 3 BB's

LP - Wei-Ming Chu 4 IP, 3 R - 1 ER, 4 H, 4 K's, 2 BB's

Chih-Sheng Lin (B) 0-3, RBI

Feng-Min Chen (B) 0-2, RBI

Hao-Chu Tseng (B) 1-2, RBI

Chung-Yu Tsai (B) 1-2, RBI

Chia-Hao Liu (B) 1-1, RBI

Yen-Wei Shih (B) 0-1, RBI

Wu-Hsiung Pan (L) 1-3

KC Kao (L) 1-2

Chun-Yu Kuo (L) 2-2, 2B, 2 BB's, RBI

MLB:
Tigers 1 - Astros 1 (11): FT Ni 1 IP, 0 R, o H, 2 K's, 0 BB's

Cubs 12 - Dodgers 3: CL Hu 0-1

Other:

The SAC may be subsidizing not only pro teams but also collegiate/HS teams with a $10 million USD budget over the next 4 years. Story

3/16 ST Scores...

CPBL:
Bulls 10 - Elephants 8:
WP - Yung-Chih Kuo 1.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 K, 1 BB
LP - Yu-Chan Liu 1.0 IP, 7 R, 4 H, 1 K, 3 BB's


Da-Hung Cheng (B) 2-3, HR, 3 RBI
Chih-Wei Chen (B) 1-2, HR, RBI
Tarzan (B) 3-5, RBI
Chia-Hsien Hsieh (B) 1-1, 4 BB's, RBI
Yi-Chuan Lin (B) 0-5
Chien-Ming Chang (B) 3-3, 2B, 2 RBI
CYC (E) 2-4, RBI
Kuan-Jen Chen (E) 1-4, RBI
Chih-Hsiang Huang (E) 2-5, RBI
Sheng-Wei Wang (E) 0-4
Chiang-Ho Chen (E) 2-2, RBI



MLB:
A's 10 - Dodgers (ss) 8: CL Hu 0-1, BB, run scored

3/15 ST Scores...

MLB:
HC Kuo threw 2/3 of an inning, allowing 2 walks to go along with 1 K. He left the game with 2 men on base and was charged with 2 runs. The Dodgers lost to the Rockies 9-5. Box


*Deleted/Edited



CPBL:
Bears 18 - Bulls 2:
WP - Wen-Hsiung Hsu 5 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 3 K's, 1 BB
LP - Fu-(J)Ren Shen 1 IP, 9 R, 10 H, 0 K's, 1 BB

Hao-Chu Tseng (Be) 2-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI
Chih-Sheng Lin (Be) 3-3, HR, 2 RBI
Chao-Hsing Cheng (Bu) 2-3, HR, 2 RBI
Tarzan (Bu) 0-3
Chia-Hsien Hsieh (Bu) 1-3
CFC (Be) 1-2, 2B
Chih-Yao Chan (Be) 3-3, 3B, RBI
Nate Gold (Be) 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI


Lions 11 - Elephants 1:
WP - Michael Callaway 3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 4 K's, 0 BB's
LP - Chia-Min Tseng 3.1 IP, 7 R - 6 ER, 4 H, 2 K's, 4 BB's

Nai-Wen Cheng (L) 1-3, HR, 2 RBI
Chun-Yu Kuo (L) 2-3, 2B, HR, 5 RBI
Lien-Hung Chen (L) 0-2
KC Kao (L) 0-1
CYC (E) 0-3

3/14 Scores....

CPBL ST:
Bears 6 - Elephants 0:
WP - Ying-Feng Tsai 5 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 3 K's, 0 BB's
LP - Kobayshi Ryokan 6 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 K, 1 BB

CFC 1-2, HR, RBI


Bulls 8 - Lions 5:
WP - Ko-Chien Lin 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 K, 0 BB's
LP - Shih-Chin Tsai 1 IP, 4 R - 2 ER, 2 H, 0 K's, 2 BB's

ND - Wei-Lun Pan 4 IP, 2 R - 1 ER, 3 H, 1 K, 1 BB
Tarzan 1-4, HR, RBI
Lien-Hung Chen 2-2, HR, 3 RBI




MLB ST:
Dodgers 7 - Brewers 3: CL Hu 1-1, RBI

CMW Hit Hard By Red Sox...

ST:
CMW allowed 7 runs (1 ER) on 6 hits (including 2 HR's) in 1.2 inning against the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees lost 8-4.
Box/Recap

Hu and Kuo Face off against South Korea....

ST:
The Dodgers beat the South Korean NT 4-2 behind CL Hu's 2 run single in the 8th. HC Kuo also pitched 2/3 of a scoreless inning.
Box




CPBL:

Chiang (L) #28 - Lin (R) #9

The Sinon Bulls finally got their man. Yi-Chuan Lin, the Bulls top pick in '07, finally agreed to terms with the Bulls and will receive the second highest signing bonus in CPBL history, netting a 5 million NT signing bonus ($145 K USD). His bonus equals the amount that P Chang-Wei Tu (with the former Whales in '05), OF Chih-Yuan Chen (Elephants '01), and P Yi-Cheng Tseng (Lions '99) received when they signed with their respective team. Who received the highest signing bonus ever handed out to a CPBL player? That would be P Chung-Nan Tsai with the Bulls in '02 - Tsai received a 6 million NT signing bonus ($174 K USD).
Lin will earn 110 K NT ($3,200 USD)/month.

Yi-Chuan Lin's website

The Bulls also finalized their deal with P Chien-Ming Chiang. Chiang will make 100 K NT/month ($2,900 USD).


NPB:
Pics from Kai-Wen Cheng's official press announcement:




Other:
As reported by BC, Taipei City will create its own baseball team in an effort to reinvigorate the sport.

3/10 ST.....

*Cardinals 5 - Tigers 2: FT Ni 1 IP, 1 unearned run, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 K's

*Dodgers 6 - DBacks 3: CL Hu 0-0



*HC Kuo's take on the NT & the WBC

*Goverment intervention to revive the sport we love? More

ST Scores...

3/8:
White Sox 9 - Dodgers 4: CL Hu 0-2, RBI, error



Giants 10 - A's 1: YC Chen 0-1




3/9:
HC Kuo threw 1 scoreless inning against the White Sox



Dodgers 13 - Rangers 7: CL Hu 2-3, 2 R




*FT Ni to pitch tomorrow against the Cardinals



*Talking the Talk - Will they walk the walk?

.......

ST:
Braves 3 - Yankees 1: CMW 3 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 K's, 1 HR allowed (CMW's take on the WBC)

Mariners 8 - Dodgers 7: CL Hu 0-2, error

A's 15 - Padres 6: YC Chen 1-3, 2B, RBI (Chen to AAA)

Fighters 4 - Dragons 3: WY Chen 5 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 6 K's/CS Yang 1-1



WBC wrap up

Two And Done...

Well, the NT's appearances in this year's WBC were brief. What many feared could happen, happened. The NT got creamed by a superior South Korean NT and then got outplayed by the Chinese, led by Chinese-American Ray Chang.

I'm personally disappointed with the results (1 run in 2 games?!), although after following the NT's disasterous warm-up stretch run from Australia through Taiwan/Japan, I guess I should have known better. Although I still hold high hopes for a few of the youngsters on the WBC NT roster, it's obvious that the NT is not the same without the upper echelon talent unavailable/made unavailable for the tourney.

The Time Has Come.....

*30 more minutes until the NT plays South Korea.....I'm pretty pumped to catch at least a few innings live. Jiayo!



*ST:
CL Hu was 1-1 with a double as the Dodgers beat the White Sox 5-4. Box

Kuo update

3/4 ST....

ST:
*YC Chen was 1-1 with a triple and 2 RBI. The A's won 7-2. Box

*The Dodgers lost 10-8 to the Giants. CL Hu was 2-4 with a BB and a run scored. Box




WBC:
For his hot bat, Yi-Chuan Lin has drawn some interest from NPB teams - particularly the Giants. The only concern has been his defensive lapses at 3B.

Kai-Wen Cheng Officially Joins the Tigers.....

The Hanshin Tigers have signed RHP Kai-Wen Cheng, confirming what has been reported earlier on this site. According to Apple Daily, his signing bonus is around 20 million yen (~$200 K USD). He'll make 10 million yen annually (~$100 K USD).*Updated

Official announcement (in Japanese)

Cheng will join fellow Taiwanese teammates Wei-Chu Lin and Yi-Jie (Chieh) Hsiao. He will wear #64.

Archived files on Cheng

Pics from his reps: 1 2

NT Vid Highlights...

*Yi-Chuan Lin's HR blast from 3/2 game vs. Yomiuri Giants:



*Fu-Te Ni's 3 K's versus the Yomiuri Giants on 3/2 (2 K's versus slugger Seung-Yeop Lee #25):



*Chih-Hsien Chiang's 2-run shot vs. Seibu Lions 3/3:



*Che-Hsuan Lin's 3 hits versus the Lions 3/3:
#1 vs. Kaz Ishii


#2


#3

Seibu Crushes the NT.......

With the opening round of WBC play only a few days away, the NT endured a crushing loss to the Seibu Lions, 13-2 in its last warmup match.

Bright spots for the NT? Chih-Hsien Chiang hit a 2-run HR in the 5th inning to account for all of the NT's runs. Che-Hsuan Lin and Yi-Chuan Lin both managed 3 hits each. As a whole, the team actually outhit the Lions 14-13.

Defensively, the team committed 2 errors in the field.

As for the pitching, the staff got roughed up for 13 runs on 13 hits:
Starter Yueh-Ping Lin gave up 5 runs in 3 innings (including a solo HR in the 3rd).
Kai-Wen Cheng threw 2 scoreless innings.
Yu-Cheng Liao was charged with 4 runs in 0.1 innings.
Po-Hsuan Keng threw 1.2 scoreless innings
Hong-Wen Chen gave up 4 runs in 1.1 innings (including a 2-run HR in the 9th).
Po-Yu Lin pitched the last 2/3 of the 9th inning, allowing no runs.


For the Lions, Ming-Chieh Hsu threw 3 shutout innings (7th, 8th, and 9th) to close out the game for his team.

Line Score/Play-By-Play (in Japanese)
Recap 1
Recap 2
*Updated

The NT opens pool A play against South Korea on Friday. The game will be carried by ESPN2 at 1:30 AM Pacific. To miraculously advance to round 2 in San Diego, the NT will need to win 2 games in the first round - a tall order considering how the team fared in all of its warm up matches.


*ST:
CL Hu was 0-1 with a run scored as the Dodgers beat the Padres 5-4. Box

YC Chen was 1-2 with a double and a run scored as the A's lost to the Cubs 6-4. Box
*Updated

The Return of Wang & Two More Heading the the US?

A news article covering the Philippines national baseball team has revealed that two Shi-Yuan HS players will be jumping to the US with ML organizations. According to the article, the two pitchers are Po-Cheng Chi and Sheng-Chin Hong (Hung).


Po-Cheng Chi has received coverage before (6'0" ~ 160 pounds - DOB: 10/31/90) and is linked to the Reds.

His teammate Hong, (5'10" ~ 155 pounds - DOB: 11/15/90) has been linked to the Twins.

*Updated: This info has been refuted by a few sources.

*WBC:
The NT lost to the Yomiuri Giants 7-6. 3B Yi-Chuan Lin led the way offensively with 3 XBH (two doubles and another HR).
Chen-Chang Lee started for the NT and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits over 2.2 IP (2 K's, 1 BB).*Edited
Lee was limited to 40 pitches and was clocked at 90 mph.
Fu-Te Ni relieved Lee and threw 2.1 innings, giving up 1 run on 2 hits and K'ing 3.*Edited

The NT will complete pre-WBC play with the Seibu Lions tomorrow. Yueh-Ping Lin is expected to start against the defending NPB champs.



*ST:
CMW threw 2 shutout innings as the Yankees and Astros ended in a 5-5 tie. Box
Recap*Updated



*Amateur:
More detail on the recently completed collegiate tourney.

Weekend Roundup...

ST:
The Dodgers lost on Sunday 3-2 to the White Sox. CL Hu was 0-1. Box


CMW is scheduled to start Monday against the Astros.



WBC:
Nice read on the NT

Chen-Chang Lee is expected to start Monday's game against the Yomiuri Giants.

The anticipated starting lineup:
1)CF CH Lin
2)2B CH Chiang
3)3B YC Lin
4)1B CM Peng
5)RF WC Lin
6)DH KC Kao
7)LF WH Pan
8)C CK Kao
9)SS SW Wang



Amateur:
TSU-Taoyuan defeated TSU-Taichung 7-6 to take the championship of the recently completed collegiate tourney. TSU-Taichung was the defending champion in the event.