End of the Road....

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 Interview



MLB:
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. Box

A - 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.

A Rivalry Renewed....

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. Box

US 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. Box

A 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



Other:
I've added a few new player sites as well as a resources section in the right hand column.

Elusive Win # 14....

MLB:
CMW picked up win #14 today against the Detroit Tigers. Although he was inconsistent at times (see the 5th inning), it was a step in the right direction after his last two outings. Wang allowed 3 runs on 9 hits over 6 IP - he also had 6 K's, 2 walks, 2 WP's, and a balk. Box/Recap


Amateur:
*Taiwan defeated the Netherlands 11-1 on Sunday at the LLWS behind some solid hitting and pitching and a litany of errors committed by the other team. The two best pitchers on the team are also the two best batsmen on the team - Yi-Chuan Chen and Chao-Min Wang collected 5 of the team's 11 hits and drove in 4 of the runs collectively. Box Score/Game Recap/Post Game Interview
Taiwan will play Mexico at 5:00 PM Pacific tomorrow on ESPN2 - the winner of the game will advance to the International Semis - while the loser goes home. Because of LL rules, Chao-Min Wang will not be available tomorrow, so Yi-Chuan Chen is almost assured to start tomorrow's elimination game. JIAYO!


*Here's the Box Score, Game Log, and Game Recap from last night's game between the US and Taiwanese junior NT's. CC Chen continues to swing a hot bat this summer- he was the team's best hitter at the Palomino World Series. The ace of the PWS team Chih-Lung Huang made an appearance in last night's game. Although he wasn't dominant, keep in mind that he started and won against the Premier All-Stars on Thursday - where he allowed 1 run on 2 hits over 6 IP while K'ing 6. Rong-Hao Hsieh, the consensus top Taiwanese HS player in next year's graduating class, also appeared in yesterday's game and didn't fare that well - he reportedly topped out at 88 mph yesterday. However, Hsieh also threw on Thursday against the Canadian junior NT - where he allowed 1 run on 1 hit over 5 IP - while K'ing 5. The team played the Premier All-Star team today.


NPB:
The Tigers lost 3-0. WC Lin was 0-4. Box

The Fighters lost 2-0. Yang was 0-2 with 2 K's and an error. Box


US MINORS:
R - The Red Sox won 3-2 in a completion of a game started 8/14/07 - Box

A - Wisky lost 5-4 in game 1. Lo was 0-3. Box Wisky lost 3-1 in game 2. KH Lo had a walk as a PH. Box

A - Greenville lost 5-4. Chiang was 3-4 with a RBI at the plate. Box

AAA - Vegas won 6-3. Hu cracked HR #7 and was 2-5 with a RBI. Box

Tough Opening Loss in the LLWS....

MLB:

CMW will pitch on Sunday vs. Jeremy Bonderman and the Detroit Tigers. This will be his third crack at win #14.

HC Kuo has resumed throwing - that's encouraging to hear.


Amateur:
Taiwan lost a close game to Venezuela 2-1 in the opener at the LLWS. Both teams started their ace - hence the low scoring affair. Chao-Min Wang, the 5'10" flamethrower starter for Taiwan had a game-high 10 K's and was throwing 75-76 mph (equivalent to 98-99 mph in the MLB). Despite the loss, Taiwan just has to finish in the top 2 of its group to advance to the International Semifinals. Taiwan's next game is on Sunday at 1:00 PM Pacific against the Netherlands. Box/Post Game Interview/Recap-Pics
After watching today's game, this year's team has a much better shot than the last representative from Taiwan in 2004 - at least there is a clear-cut ace in Wang and the #2 pitcher Chi-Yuan Chen is supposed to be pretty good as well. Hopefully the bats will get untracked in the next few games. *updated


Here's a brief recap of yesterday's game between the Taiwanese junior NT and the Canadian junior NT. Taiwan won 6-1. Globe/Gary Jeffries Canada's Leslie Williams (right) avoids the tag of Chinese Taipei's Po-Ting Hslao during Thursday's USA Baseball International Invitational at Joe Becker Stadium.


After a surprising showing in the WPT, the senior NT will play in the Italian Baseball Week Tournament. Here is the schedule as follows:
1)Aug. 26th vs. the Italian NT
2)Aug. 28th vs. the Cuban NT - the "A" squad this time around
3)Aug. 29th vs. Team Miami, USA
4)Aug. 30th vs. the Italian NT
5)Aug. 31st vs. Team Miami, USA
6)Sept. 1st vs. the Cuban NT

NPB:

The Tigers won 3-1 on Friday. WC Lin was 0-3 with a RBI. Box

US MINORS:

R - TK Chiu had his best outing of the season as he threw a 6 inning shutout against the Pirates. He allowed only 3 hits to go along with 8 K's with 0 walks. The Reds won game 1 of a doubleheader 11-0. Box

* YF Lin, who plays for the Williamsport Crosscutters, will be back in PA for a short home stand from the 18th - 20th. Makes you wonder if he'll have a chance to meet up with the LL team when he's in town.

A - Wisky won 3-2. KH Lo was 1-5. Box

A - Greenville lost 4-3. Chiang was 1-1 as a PH. Box

AAA - Vegas is losing 8-2 in the 6th. Hu is currently 0-3. Box

Heading to the Keystone State.....Wang Wins #10

LLWS:
As reported by Tsong, Taiwan advanced to the LLWS in PA by beating CNMI in the championship game 12-0. The star of the game was SP Chi-Yuan Chen, who threw a complete game (5 innings) 3 hitter to go along with 10 K's. Chen was also the #3 hitter in the lineup - he had 2 hits today.

As for the LLWS, Taiwan is in Pool D - alongside Latin America, Mexico, and EMEA. The good news is that all of Taiwan's games will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2 - check here for Taiwan's schedule. To advance to the next round, Taiwan must finish in the top 2 of its pool.


MLB:
CM Wang picked up win #10 with his performance against the D-Rays today. Wang threw 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits - all three runs came in the first inning when the D-Rays were aggressive at the plate, swinging at Wang's first offering to them. Wang K'd 6 and walked none. Wang is on a roll. Box/Recap

CH Tsao got rocked in a relief appearance against the Giants today. Tsao came on in the 8th inning with the Dodgers up 7-2. Tsao allowed a single to the first batter he faced before getting 2 quick outs. He then promptly hit a batter and walked the next hitter to load the bases. The next batter, Randy Winn, would hit a grand slam off of Tsao to finish off his night. Final line for Tsao: 0.2 IP, 2 hits, 4 ER, 0 K's, 1 BB - Tsao's ERA on the year is now 4.38. The Dodgers would manage to win the game in extra innings 8-7. Box/Recap


US MINORS:
R - The GCL Red Sox beat the Reds 5-1. CH Lin DNP. TK Chiu started for the Reds and pitched well, despite earning a ND. Chiu allowed 1 run on 2 hits over 5 innings, picking up 6 K's to go along with 1 walk. Box

R - In AZL action, the Cubs beat the Giants 6-5. CH Wen was 0-4 with 3 more K's. Box

R - PY Lin had his worst outing of the season, as he gave up 5 runs on 7 hits (including 3 HR's!) over 4.2 innings. He did have 9 K's and 3 walks. Bristol lost 10-4 as Lin picked up his first loss of the season. Box

A - Chiang was 0-3 with a walk as Greenville lost 5-4 in extra innings. Box

AAA - Vegas is playing Salt Lake. Follow Hu's AB's here. Box


CPBL:
Lions 3 - Elephants 0: Game MVP honors went to Lions SP Brian Reith, who threw 8 shutout innings, allowing only 6 hits to go along with 9 K's. The hard luck loser was Chun-Nan Liu, who allowed only 1 earned run (3 runs) over 8.1 innings. The teams' two big guns: Chia-Chia and Tilson Brito were both 0-4.

Bulls 3 - Bears 0: Iba Tomokazu (game MVP) picked up his 8th win of the season, as he threw 5 shutout innings, allowing only 1 hit. Kevin Huang started for the Bears and earned the loss - allowing 2 runs - 1 earned over 5.1 innings. Tarzan was 1-4 with a double, while CFC was 0-4.