The Brother Elephants finally got their hands on the 2003 Taiwan Series last night after a nailbiting 4-3 win over the Sinon Bulls.
The extra-innings victory handed the Elephants a 4-2 margin in the seven-game series.
With two men on base and two struck out, the Elephants' fifth batter, Tsai Fong-an (蔡豐安), drove the game-winning hit, a grounder up the middle, at the bottom of the tenth inning. The packed stadium celebrated the victory with champagne and cheers.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI
Although the Sinon Bulls led 3-0 in the fourth inning, the Elephants managed to narrow the gap to 3-2 by the fifth. The Elephants tied the score 3-3 in the ninth inning, forcing the game into extra innings. Tsai's neatly placed grounder sparked chaotic scenes in Taipei's Tienmu Stadium as the Elephants bench poured onto the field.
The Elephants had lead the series 3-1. This is their third consecutive series win.
Acute interest in the game resulted in a shortage of tickets, and fans stuck outside the ground became violent with ticket scalpers.
Thousands of Bulls and Elephants fans had camped outside Tienmu Stadium on Thursday night so that they could be assured of getting a ticket when the box office opened at 10am yesterday.
However, tickets for the 14,000-capacity stadium quickly sold out, leaving several thousand spectators fuming outside the stadium.
Some held up signs saying "Shame on Elephants' Fan Club," a reference to the fact that both teams had been allowed to reserve seats for their dignitaries far in advance, leaving only 10,500 tickets, according to a Chinese-language newspaper.
Others took their anger out on ticket scalpers, who were charging up to NT$2,000 for tickets that originally cost no more than NT$400.
Infuriated fans threw eggs at and beat up scalpers who cut lines and then sold the tickets at several times their face value.
Two scalpers were carried out of the area in front of the stadium by fans.
This year's postseason games have attracted an average attendance of 14,449, compared with the average 13,025 in the past 13 years.
Between 5,000 and 6,000 fans had to settle for watching the game on a TV wall outside the stadium installed by the Taipei City Government.
The excitement brought on by the game last night resulted in public disturbance fines of more than NT$72,000.
Last night, the Taipei City Bureau of Environmental Protection issued four tickets, fining the stadium for exceeding the 65 decibel noise limit.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique