Pro ballgames set to begin following break for Olympics

Regular season play resumes in the Chinese Professional Baseball League today after a month-long break to allow for those selected to represent Taiwan to participate in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.

The Brother Elephants begin the week as they face the Macoto Cobras in Kaohsiung tonight as they kick off a four-game series.

Newly acquired pitchers Bienvenido Rivera of the Dominican Republic and Rafael Roque will be put to test early as they take on an Elephants rotation consisting of veterans Jonathan Hurst, Nakagomi Sin, and Yokota Hisanori.

Also new in a Cobras uniform will be rookie catcher Chen Keh-fang (陳克帆) who joined the team last week after fulfilling his military service.

Bulls versus Lions

The Sinon Bulls will host the President Lions in Taichung in a three-game series beginning tomorrow as they welcome home five Olympic ballplayers -- Captain Huang Chung-yi (黃忠義), Yeh Jung-chang (葉君璋), Cheng Jau-han (鄭兆行), Yang Jien-fu (陽建福), and Chang Tai-shan (張泰山) -- the most Olympians of any team in the league.

American lefty Jeff Andra's health will remain a concern for skipper Chen Wei-cheng. Still not fully recovered from an unusual hand injury, Andra will serve in the set-up role or as a closer.

Bears versus Whales

The La New Bears will pay a visit to the Chinatrust Whales in Chiayi for three games to start what manager Hsu Sheng-ming (徐生明) called a "brand new season" later this week. Hsu has brought in three fresh arms from abroad in an effort to address the team's season-long pitching problem.

Not much is known about the new hired guns for the Whales. They will, however, have their work cut out for them as the Bears look to display their new-found offense against an untested Whales rotation.