Kuo, Nearly a Millionaire......Cardinals Coming To Taiwan......

*The Dodgers and Hong-Chih Kuo agreed to a one year deal worth $975,000 for this upcoming season (Another site has the amount worth $937 K + additional money in performance incentives)

*The St. Louis Cardinals are sending a scout (Matt Slater?) to Taiwan, marking the team's initial presence on the island. Supposedly the scout is interested in CCU RHP Hao-Chun Chiu, Kao-Yuan HS left handed hitter Chi-Hung Hsu, and two kids from Nan-Ying HS.

Speaking of the Cards, the team has some interest in CMW.

*Former US minor leaguer and Chinese NT member Ray Chang will be coming to Taiwan in February to seek employment opportunities in the CPBL. He will also be visiting Japan to drum up some interest from NPB clubs.

CH Lin Gets the Best of CH Cheng....

CPBL:
June MVP's
Pitching - Wei-Lun Pan (Lions)
Hitting - Chih-Sheng Lin (Bears)




MILB:
A ss - CH Chen 0-3, BB, E #1

A+ - KH Lo 2-3, CS

A+ - CH Lin 2-5, HR (4), RBI, SB (16) / CH Cheng L 6-3, 5 IP, 5 R - 4 ER, 9 H, 1 K, 0 BB's - 1 HR allowed

A+ - CL Lo 2.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 K's, 0 BB's

AA - CJ Lo L 0-1, 0.1 IP, 4 R - 2 ER, 1 H, 0 K's, 3 BB's

AAA - CL Hu 1-3






MLB:
Ni's ML debut - A's 7 - Tigers 1: FT Ni 1.2 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 3 K's, 0 BB's - 1 HR allowed
Recap
*Updated






Sadaharu Oh Cup:
Elimination Game: Taipei County (Banqiao) 3 - Taichung City 0 (7 innings)
W - Kuan-Yu Chen
L - Pai-Cheng Chi

Championship Game: Taoyuan County 3 - Taipei County (Banqiao) 2 (8 innings)
WP - Hao-Chun Chiu
LP - Lee-Chieh Sung

Final Rankings:
1)Taoyuan County
2)Taipei County (Banqiao)
3)Taichung City
4)Tainan City
5)Kaohsiung City
6)Chiayi City
7)Taipei City
8)Changhua County

Tourney Awards:
Top BA: Chia-Liang Hong (Hung) (Tainan City) .500
Top RBI: Hsien-Ting Peng (Taoyuan County) 4 RBI
Top Pitcher: Kuan-Yu Chen (Taipei County - Banqiao) 4 W's! / 0.46 ERA / 19.2 IP
MVP: Hao-Chun Chiu (Taoyuan County)

Tuesday Updates...*Updated

*HS Wood Bat Tourney:

Scouting MC Lin

-Chung-Dao HS won 9-2 over Da-Tung HS in 8 innings. RHP Ming-Chie Lin started and earned the win for CDHS. Lin allowed 1 ER on 2 hits over 5.1 IP to go along with 9 K's and 0 BB's. Teammate Yu-Te He played in RF and was 2-4 with a RBI at the plate. MC Lin was clocked at 90 mph and had very good movement on his fastball.*Updated

-Qiang-Shu HS defeated Cheng-Kung HS 9-1. Ching-Hung Lee earned the W for QSHS, giving up 1 run on 4 hits over 5 IP (9 K's, 1 BB). Teammate 2B-CF Tian-Wei Wang was 4-5 with a triple and 2 RBI.

-Hsin-He HS won a 5 inning contest 10-0.

-Hualien PE HS won 3-2 over Taitung JC. RHP Chung-Cheng Chiang threw a CG, picking up his first win of the tourney. Chiang allowed 2 runs (1 ER) on 8 hits to go along with 14 K's and 3 BB's.

-Ping-Tung HS won 3-1 over Dong-Shi HS.

-Tainan Marine Vocational HS won 7-6 over Taitung Specialized HS.

-Mei-Ho HS defeated Chiayi HS 6-5. Wen-Hao Cheng pitched in relief of the MHHS starter and picked up the W. Cheng allowed 2 unearned runs on 3 hits over 4.1 IP (4 K's, 1 BB). He was 0-4 at the plate.

-Taoyuan Agricultural HS won 2-1 over Yang-Ming HS.

-From 12/1 game action: RHP Po-Chen Chi topped out at 90 mph, while Ping-Zhen HS RHP Hao-Chun Chiu topped out at 90 mph. Righty Cheng-Hao Wang topped out at 92 mph. Although he has yet to pitch, San-Hsin ace Chia-Ming Huang is also receiving a lot of attention.

*CPBL
-The league is trying to get Chin-Hui Tsao into the special draft.
-The Chinese Baseball Association still won't allow former CPBL players to play in the league.

*NPB
-RHP En-Yu Lin of the Rakuten Eagles also received a pay cut. He'll make 15 million yen ($161 K USD) next year (20 million in 2008).
-The Chiba Lotte Marines released Si-Yo Wu.

Redemption for Taipei County (Ban-Chiao)....

Yu-Shan Cup:

The Champs


Tourney MVP Kuan-Yu Chen


All-Star P Hao-Chun Chiu


Rong-Hao Hsieh



All-Star CF Hsiao-Yi Kao


All-Star DH Jui-Hua Yang

Taipei County (Ban-Chiao) defeated Taoyuan County 3-1 in the championship game, thus avenging last year's 2-1 loss. Despite tossing 3 shutout innings in the semifinals yesterday (gave up 1 hit and hit a high of 90 mph), Rong-Hao Hsieh started the game and lasted 3.2 innings (giving up 1 run on 5 hits), before he was replaced by tourney MVP - Kuan-Yu Chen. Chen completed the game, throwing 5.1 scoreless innings (allowing 1 hit and K'ing 5). Prior to the championship game, Hsieh had thrown 16 cumulative innings in the tourney, giving up 3 runs (only 1 was earned).

Hao-Chun Chiu (clocked consistently in the high 80's - topping out at 89 mph) started for Taoyuan County and managed to tame Taipei County's offense for the most part (7.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R) - unfortunately the defense behind Chiu committed 4 costly errors - leading to Taipei County's 3 runs.

Taipei County (BC) was undefeated - going 9-0 in the tourney and blitzed through the field - scoring 80 total runs in the YS Cup.

Taitung County defeated Tainan County 3-1 to take 3rd place in the tourney.

Hence, the NT's backbone will be made up of players from Ku-Pao High School. The junior NT roster should be made available tomorrow.

Tourney Awards: (Team/DOB/HT/WT/Throws/Bats)

Highest BA: Tung-Hsiao Yi (Chiayi County - 2/1/90 - 5'9"/154 - R/L) .588

Most Wins: Rong-Hao Hsieh (Taipei County - BC - 7/9/90 - 6'1"/178 - R/R) 2

Most HR's: Ho Lin (Taipei County - BC - 1/31/90 - 5'8"/147 - R/L) 1

Top RBI man & Tourney MVP: Kuan-Yu Chen (Taipei County - BC - 10/19/90 - 5' 8.5"/154 - L/L) 14 RBI's

*Edited

All-Star Team: (Team/DOB/HT/WT/Throws/Bats)

P: Hao-Chun Chiu (Taoyuan County - 12/29/90 - 5'11"/154 - R/R)
C: Ming-Yen Kan (Taipei County - BC - 1/15/1990 - 5'8"/167 - R/R)
1B: Chia-Liang Hong (Tainan City - 12/20/90 - 5'11"/172 - R/R)
2B: Ho Lin (Taipei County - BC) (see above)
3B: Fu-Lin Kuo (Tainan City- 1/7/91 - 6'0"/176 - R/R)
SS: Hong-Hsiang Pan (Yilan County - 1/10/90 - ?/132 - R/S)
RF: Yen-Ru Chen (Taipei County - BC - 11/2/90 - 5'10"/161 - R/R)
CF: Hsiao-Yi Kao (Taipei County - BC - 5/29/90 - 5'9"/156 - R/R)
LF: Hsing-Kuan Chen (Taitung County - 1/15/90 - 5'11"/187 - R/R)
DH: Jui-Hua Yang (Taoyuan County - 3/10/90 - 5'6"/163 - L/L)

Sunday Rundown...

Amateur:
*The Taiwanese junior NT defeated Thailand 15-0 in 6 innings. 4 pitchers combined on a one-hitter and K'd 11 collectively. Wen-Hao Cheng and Hao-Chun Chiu both threw 2 innings and were succeeded by Shih-Chieh Hsu and Chia-Liang Hong, who both threw 1 inning each. Taiwan is scheduled to play Hong Kong tomorrow.
*OF Kuo-Lung Lo is on the current junior NT roster.

*Over in Italy, Taiwan won the 2007 5th Annual Kenko International Youth Gala - in the Cadet aged divsion.
Taiwan finished 8-0, defeating a team from Southern Italy 6-1 in the championship game. Check here for all of the box scores and results.

*The Taiwanese senior NT is playing Italy today in the Italian Baseball Week Tourney. Check here for the shedule and live results/box scores.




US MINORS:
R - The Red Sox completed its season in the GCL with a 5-0 loss. CH Lin was 0-1 as he came in late in the game. CH Huang was 1-4. Box Next up for Lin: Lowell Spinners?

R - HW Chen and CH Wen were both in the game tonight for the AZL Cubs. The Cubs are currently up 5-0 in the 3rd. Box

A ss - Tri-City is winning 3-0 in the 7th. SA Kuo is doing well. Box


A ss - Auburn won 6-3. Cheng pitched very well and earned his first win of the season. Box

A - Greenville lost 6-5 in game 1 of a DH. Chiang hit HR #5 and was 1-3 with 2 RBI's. Box

A - Wisky won 7-0. KH Lo was 1-5 with a double. Box

AAA - Vegas lost 10-4. Hu was 0-4 with a walk. Box




NPB:
WC Lin was 0-4 with 3 K's as the Tigers lost 6-3. Box

The Fighters lost 3-2. CS Yang was 0-2. Box



CPBL:
Bears 4 - Elephants 1: Kevin Huang looked very good as a starting pitcher - Huang threw 6 shutout innings, allowing only 3 hits to go along with 6 K's and 1 walk. Huang picked up victory #5 and was game MVP. Huang received run support from Long-Yi Huang who was 1-2 with HR #8 and 2 walks. CFC was 0-3 with a walk. Chia-Chia was 1-3 for the Elephants.

Whales 6 - Cobras 1: Game MVP honors went to Whales SP Yu-Chieh Shen, who picked up victory #5. Shen pitched a near CG, throwing 8.2 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits - he had 4 K's and 2 walks. He received plenty of offensive firepower from 1B Chun-Chiang Kao, who was 3-4 with a triple and 4 RBI's & CF Jen-Chieh Hsu who was 3-4 with 3 doubles.