Yung-Chi Chen....

Baseball America recently released it's 2007 top 10 prospects for the Mariners. Chen was named the # 9 prospect in the system - and tools-wise was selected as the guy with the potential to best hit for average.
After a solid year in the minors, Chen didn't get much time to rest as he joined the NT and participated in the Intercontinental Cup and the Asian Games. On a roster-full of CPBL stars and young prospects at the I-Cup, Chen led the team in BA (.472) and RBI's (9). He also hit a key grand slam against South Korea that began a surprising power-surge that continued through the Asian Games. Chen was the only selected All-Star representative from Taiwan at the I-Cup. At the Asian Games, Chen's hot hitting continued as he was second on the team (# 7 overall) in BA - .450, #2 overall in slugging - 1.050, tops overall in HR's - 3, # 5 overall in RBI's - 7. Here are vids of Chen's 3 HR's at the Asian Games: 1)vs. South Korea 2)vs. South Korea 3) vs. the Philippines
One thing Chen has improved upon throughout this year is his ability to produce runs and hit for power. This was evident as he hit 3rd in the lineup for parts of the last month in AA ball and at the I-Cup and Asian Games. This marked a stark contrast from the WBC where Chen was utilized as a leadoff hitter or during the early part of the minor league season (in A-ball/AA) where he was the #2 hitter in the lineup.
The 23 year old will be one to watch out for next year as he will probably be the next Taiwanese Major Leaguer. Although most project him as a utility IF at the ML's, that is a pretty good return on a guy who signed for only $210,000.

MISC.
-Bo Sox farm hand Chih-Hsiang Huang bounced back from a rough first season in the US with a nice showing the Fall Instructional League. Huang hit .370, flashing some of that raw potential that the Red Sox were enamored with when they signed him.

-For their gold medal efforts in Doha, each member of the 2006 NT received $92,800 for their winning efforts. Sweetness!

2006 Asian Games: Taiwan V.S. Japan

Video of Lin's game winning hit and the ensuing celebration against Japan!

Come-From-Behind Win!

Mr. Clutch - Lin Driving in the GWRBI

The Best Fans in the World!

Gold Around Their Necks!

As Tsong mentioned in the comments section, the Taiwanese NT had their hands full with the Japanese NT. It took a 2 run rally in the bottom of the 9th inning to eek out a 8-7 win. Hong-Chih Kuo did not pitch for Taiwan. Starting in place of Kuo was Yomiuri Giants rookie Chien-Ming Chiang. Chiang was erratic in his 1.1 innings, giving up 3 runs on 3 hits. He also had 3 costly walks to go along with 1 WP and 2 K's.
So down 3-0 after 2 innings, Taiwan would score 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning: after C.H. Hsieh doubled, C.L. Hu would drive him in with a single. Hu would advance on an error and score the final run of the inning on a single by Yung-Chi Chen. Japan would tack on 2 more runs in the top of the 6th and 7th innings off of relievers Po-Hsuan Keng and Wei-Lun Pan to make the score 5-2. That set up the big inning in the bottom of the 7th for Taiwan. 3 consecutive singles loaded the bases for Chien-Ming Chang. A WP would allow the lead runner to score and the 2 other base runners to advance 90 feet. C.M. Chang would then drive in both base runners with a single to tie up the game at 5 all. After Yung-Chi Chen singled to advance Chang to 3rd base, C.F. Chen would hit a sac-fly to score Taiwan's 4th run of the inning to put Taiwan up 6-5.
In the top of the 8th, Sung-Wei Tseng came in to relieve Wei-Lun Pan. After inheriting a runner on base, Tseng would then later allow a HR to plate both runners and put Japan up 7-6. Taiwan would fail to score in the bottom of the 8th.
In the top of the 9th, Japan would threaten to score again off Tseng. With runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, Yung-Chi Chen would throw out a runner at the plate for a fielder's choice getting the 2nd out of the inning. Tseng would then allow his 2nd walk of the inning to load the bases before getting the final out of the inning on a lineout.
The bottom of the 9th would set up Chih-Sheng Lin's game-winning heroics. After C.M. Chang walked, Chin-Feng Chen finally got his first hit of the game as he doubled, advancing Chang to 3rd base. Next up, Lin would single driving in both Chang and Chen, giving Taiwan it's 3rd gold medal of the Asian Games!
Again, although it wasn't pretty, Taiwan's offense was clutch when it mattered. The pitching performance was disappointing, but I take my hat off to the Japanese team for a great showing and performance.

Recap
Box Score
PlayByPlay

A Closer Look at Team Japan....

The Japanese NT has been impressive in the Asian Games considering the amateur status of their players. The 2 big guns for Japan on offense are Hisayoshi Chono and Yasuyuki Saigo who lead the team in RBI's. Chono and Saigo were also on the Japanese NT that played recently in the Intercontinental Cup in Taiwan. In the 2 games against Taiwan, Chono did not make much of an impression as he DNP in the preliminary matchup and was 0- 2 in the bronze medal game. Saigo on the other hand cracked a HR off of En-Yu Lin in the preliminary game going 2-4 while he was 1-4 in the 3rd place game. As good as these 2 guys have been for Japan, Yung-Chi Chen and Chin-Feng Chen have been even more impressive. Advantage: Taiwan

As for the pitching staff, the 2 biggest names are Satoshi Komatsu and Kentaro Takasaki, both of whom were the prepicks (top picks) of NPB teams (for Orix and Yokohama respectively) in the recent college/industrial league draft. Komatsu and Takasaki both pitched against South Korea on December 2nd and will probably be used against Taiwan. However when you match up these 2 against Hong-Chih Kuo and Chien-Ming Chiang, the pitching advantage has to go to Taiwan.

While star power has a lot to do with who wins the game, it's the little things (fielding, baserunning, etc.) that also help to determine the final outcome. Based on all of these factors, I think Taiwan's chances of winning a gold medal are very good.

15-0 Win vs. RP

As expected, the Taiwanese NT easily defeated the RP NT in a mercy-shortened 5 inning affair. The Taiwanese offense got untracked, cranking out 15 runs on 17 hits. Yung-Chi Chen slugged his tourney-leading 3rd HR of the Games while Chih-Sheng Lin added a roundtripper as well. Essentially all of the big guns for Taiwan had multiple hits as Hu, YC Chen, CF Chen, CS Lin, and WC Lin combined to go 11-18 with 9 RBI's driven in. Taiwan started amateur Ko-Chien Lin, who earned the win by throwing 4 shutout innings.
Box Score
PlayByPlay
Recap
In the other game of the day, Japan defeated Thailand 6-0 to set up the showdown on Thursday with Taiwan. On paper, Taiwan holds the advantage over Japan in several statistical categories as it leads the tourney in team slugging, batting, pitching, and fielding. Hopefully, the NT will be able to live up to it's advanced billing and win a rare gold medal for Taiwan.

Narrow Win Versus Cross-Straits Rival....

Tseng - Winning Pitcher

Taiwan pulled out a tight 4-2 win over China on Monday. China, who was crushed a day earlier by Japan 16-0, managed to keep things fairly even with the Taiwanese team. Taiwan would score first in the 2nd inning on a solo HR by Tai-Shan Chang. China would strike back and tie things up on a sac-fly in the top of the 3rd. Taiwan would then retake the lead in the bottom of the inning by adding 2 more runs thanks to a Yung-Chi Chen triple and a WP/error committed by the Chinese squad. Sung-Wei Tseng, who pitched a great game - throwing 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits to go along with 8 K's and 2 walks, gave up a solo HR in the 7th inning to make things interesting. Leading by only one, C.F. Chen would blast a clutch leadoff solo blast in the 8th inning to give us a lil more breathing room and give us our final score 4-2.

The 2-run win continues a disturbing recent trend where the Chinese NT continues to give the Taiwanese NT a much closer game than anticipated. I will assume that we shake off this game and handily beat the RP NT tomorrow. That sets up the showdown with Japan for the gold medal on Thursday. The Japanese team, despite their amateur/industrial league status, is talented as evidenced by several members of the team being selected fairly high in the recent NPB draft. Matchup wise, if Kuo is available to pitch on Thursday, then the game should be a low scoring affair for the most part. The wild card will be the Japanese pitching staff - if they can hold down our hitters, then the winner of this game is anyone's guess.

Box Score
PlayByPlay

Two Down...Three to Go....

Tarzan 4-4

CFC

Taiwan beat an outclassed Thai NT 16-0 on Saturday. In a 5 inning mercy-shortened game, the Taiwanese NT cranked out 21 hits while it's pitching staff combined on a no-hitter. Y.P. Lin earned the win while Chin-Feng Chen, F.M. Chen, and C.M. Chang all cranked out HR's. Leading the way for Taiwan's offense was CPBL veteran slugger Tai-Shan Chang, who was 4-4 with 3 RBI's.
Recap
Box Score
PlayByPlay
Taiwan's next game is versus China on Monday. The biggest news of the day was South Korea's 10-7 loss to the Japanese NT. If the favorites continue to win, then the battle for gold will take place on December 7th between Taiwan and Japan.

On the Road to Gold? (Pics from Yesterday's SK Game)

Well, as most of you know by now, Taiwan defeated South Korea 4-2 (see last post for scoring recap) yesterday to help position itself towards the top seed in the preliminary phase. The biggest contributors to the NT were it's overseas stars: Kuo, Chen, and to a lesser extent Chiang.

Star of the Game - Y.C. Chen with 2 HR's

Winning Pitcher - Kuo

Reliever - Chiang

Circling the Bases after a HR - Hsieh

CF Chen Being Congratulated by Teammates after Scoring Run

Game Recap
Box Score
PlaybyPlay

NT vs SK Update....

I gotta hit the sack, but follow the rest of the game here. Jiayo!!

*Top of the 8th: Yung-Chi Chen cracks his 2nd HR of the game to put Taiwan up 4-2!!!!!!!!

*C.M. Chiang replaces Kuo in the bottom of the 6th. Solid job by Kuo - 5 innings - 1 run allowed on 6 hits to go along with 6 K's and 1 walk. Chiang allows a double and a single to plate another run for SK.
After 6 innings: Taiwan 3 - SK 2.

*Taiwan adds another run in the top of the 5th with a leadoff solo HR by Chia-Hsien Hsieh, knocking SK starter Son out of the game.
Heading into the bottom of the 5th: Taiwan 3 - SK 1.

*SK gets a run back in the bottom of the 4th after Kuo gives up a leadoff triple to the cleanup hitter. The next batter drives in the baserunner to make the score 2-1. Kuo gets out of the inning with a DP and a K.
Taiwan 2 - SK 1 heading into the top of the 5th.

*Taiwan's hitters have finally figured out SK starter M.H. Son in the top of the 4th inning. After 1 out, Yung-Chi Chen cracks a solo HR to put Taiwan up 1-0. Chin-Feng Chen follows that up with a double and a SB. Chih-Sheng Lin avenges an earlier K and drives in Chen with a RBI single. After getting out of a little jam in the 2nd inning, Kuo has 3 K's and 0 walks through 3 innings.
Taiwan 2 - SK 0 going into the bottom of the 4th.

Possible Starting Lineup for Tomorrow....

Taiwan's starting lineup for tomorrow might look something like this per reports out of Taiwan:

1)Ching-Lung Hu - SS
2)Chien-Ming Chang - RF
3)Yung-Chi Chen - 2B
4)Chin-Feng Chen - DH
5)Chih-Sheng Lin - 1B
6)Wei-Chu Lin - LF
7)Feng-Min Chen - C
8)Chia-Hsien Hsieh - CF
9)Chih-Wei Shih - 3B - with Tai-Shan Chang coming off the bench

The expected starting pitcher for Taiwan will be Hong-Chih Kuo, with Chien-Ming Chiang and Sung-Wei Tseng available as relievers.

The Korea Times is reporting that South Korea will be using a similar philosophy with it's pitchers - utilizing it's top pitchers in the KBO against the Taiwanese lineup. I got 2 problems with the story written by the K-Times: 1)Rin In-Che or Ying-Chieh Lin as we know him is NOT on the NT 2)The writer, who stated that Kuo was not impressive this past year, probably based his assumption on stats only and must not have watched Kuo's gems against the NY Mets and Arizona DiamondBacks in September.

T-Minus 2 Days and Counting!

Although the Asian Games Baseball Championships actually kicks off tomorrow, Taiwan's first game versus rival South Korea will take place on Thursday the 30th of November. Taiwan will then face:
2)Thailand on 12/2
3)China on 12/4
4)the Philippines on 12/5
5)Japan on 12/7
before completing the preliminary round robin phase.
-For a complete schedule click here.
-Taiwan's complete roster with pics can be found here.
-Rosters for opposing teams can be found here.
-Interesting take on Taiwan's team from a Korean perspective - although I would disagree with the claim that Taiwan is bringing it's best roster possible - Missing: C.M. Peng, C.M. Wang, E.Y. Lin, and S.Y. Wu. Taiwan's offensive lineup is almost as good as it gets minus C.M. Peng, but the starters could have used a lil' more depth with Lin and Wu.
-More on team Japan here.

Preparing for the Asian Games....

Lin - #3 or #5 in the Lineup?

Mr. Cleanup - CFC

After some confusion, it appears that Chin-Feng Chen will participate in the Asian Games. The team representing Taiwan will be much stronger (at least on paper it looks that way) than the team that just competed in the Intercontinental Cup. C.F. Chen will be surrounded by US minor leaguers Y.C. Chen who tore the cover off the ball during the I-Cup and C.L. Hu. Throw in NPB pinch hitter extaordinaire W.C. Lin and you have a better hitting lineup than the team that represented Taiwan during the WBC. With Si-Yo Wu pulling out of the Asian Games due to injury, amateur pitcher Chen-Chang Lee will take his roster spot.

As for Taiwan's opponents, South Korea will pose the biggest threat as it will send some of it's top KBO players to Qatar. Japan is expected to field an amateur team at the Asian Games - but will be dangerous nonetheless.

With that said, Taiwan will look to either H.C. Kuo or C.M. Chiang to pitch against South Korea in the opening game for Taiwan.

#2 Starter - Chiang

Ace - Kuo

Other News

Ching-Lung Lo won his 4th game yesterday in the HWB. Lo pitched 6 innings, giving up 1 run (via a solo HR) on 4 hits. Although he K'd 6 hitters, he also put 4 men on base via the freepass. Box Score