Hungry Lions leap past Elephants in standings

Two upset victories by the last-place La New Bears against the Brother Elephants, the Chinese Professional Baseball League's (CPBL) defending champions, knocked the Elephants out of first place, moving the President Lions into the top spot by a half game.

The Elephants' slide prompted team owner Hung Rei-heh (洪瑞河) to make a personal visit to Kaohsiung earlier this week in search of some answers.

The Elephants have history on their side in that the first team to win 20 games has won all but two of the first-half regular season title in the 12 seasons that the current two-half system was put in place.

Game 1 of the four-game homestand for the Bears in Kaohsiung on Tuesday began with the Bears taking an early 1-0 lead after one on first baseman Pan Wei-luen's (潘忠韋) sharp bouncer through the middle off Elephants starter Yokota Hisanori.

The Bears would double that lead in the fifth inning with third baseman Chiou Chang-ting's (邱昌庭) solo shot off Yokota to deep left, his first of the season.

Picking up where they left off, the Bears doubled up their lead once again in the sixth, this time on Pan's sacrifice fly and a wild pitch by Yokota that scored the runners from third.

Bears starter Lee Fong-hua (李風華) took a 4-0 shutout into the seventh inning before relievers surrendered a pair of runs.

The 4-2 victory was Lee's third win of the season.

Things did not go well for the Elephants in Game 2 either, despite pep talk by the team owner.

Bears right fielder Hsu Yao-yuan's (許堯淵) solo blast off Japanese veteran Nakagomi Sin gave the Bears a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, an advantage they would hold until the top of the eighth when Elephants center fielder Chen "the Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan (陳致遠) brought in the game-tying run with a sacrifice fly to right-center.

Just when Elephants fans thought their team had regained some momentum, Bears second baseman Shih Chih-wei (石志偉) got an RBI with a single in the bottom of the same inning.

Bears reliever Claudio Galva then retired the side in the ninth for his second save of the season.

American righty Phillip Bailey pitched eight solid innings, allowing one run on five hits en route to his fifth win of the season.

Nakagomi, an All-Star player formerly with the Hanshin Tigers in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, took the tough complete-game loss.

Upcoming Games

Games 3 and 4 between the two clubs are scheduled for Kaohsiung tonight and tomorrow afternoon as the Bears look to sweep their opponent for the first time this year.

They will be facing American righty Jonathan Hurst, who leads the league in total victories with seven, coupled with a 1.57 ERA. And it may be time for the potent Elephants lineup, which leads the league in total runs per game (5.4) to cut loose on the Bears pitchers.

The three-game series between the red-hot Chinatrust Whales and the league-leading Lions will test the Whales' seven-game winning streak as the big cats fight to remain on the top of the standings.

The matchup between the struggling Macoto Cobras and the Sinon Bulls in their three-game series may further jar the standings if the Bulls can jump-start their offense. But Cobras' lefty ace Lin Ying-jeh (林英傑) will be out to redeem himself following a tough loss in his last outing.