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.

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