The Elephants marched into Taichung on Tuesday for their crucial four-game series against the Bulls with all the momentum in the world, having won four straight over the then-leading President Lions last week to claim the top spot in the standings.
PHOTO: CPBL
That was before they got a good look at Osvaldo Martinez's new-found fastball which consistently hit the high 140kph mark in Tuesday's series opener. Except for surrendering a first-inning solo home run to the Elephants' Lin Ming-shien, the Sinon righty from the Dominican Republic was in full control over the six frames he pitched in the 12-1 blowout victory.
Elephant starter Wu Jung-yi (吳俊億), who had earned his nickname as the "Bull Slaughterer" with a perfect 4-0 record against the Bulls last year, was no match against the Sinon lineup that rang up seven runs against the side-armer over 5-2/3 innings in a losing effort.
Led by first baseman Chueh Shu-mu's fourth grand slam and outfielder Chang Jia-hao's (
Game 2 on Wednesday was an extension from the night before as the Bulls pounded the Elephant pitching staff again for six more runs in the 6-1 sequel.
Bulls' ace starter Yang Jien-fu (
Offensively for the home Bulls, shortstop Cheng Jau-hang and designated hitter Chen Tsung-fu each knocked home a pair of runs to treat the sold-out crowd of over 10,000 with some sorely missed offense. Prior to this week, the Bulls had averaged just two runs per contest in their 10 previous games.
With their 17-game winner Jonathan Hurst out nursing a fractured tip of his right thumb, the Elephants must look to Japanese veterans Yokota Hisanori and Nakagomi Sin to come up big in the remaining two games of the series.
"We should be fine for the next two [games] because they [Bulls] already used both of their top starters and we have not," Elephant manager Lin Yi-tseng pointed out the fact that the Bulls will be short on starting pitching when they face Yokota and Sin in Games 3 and 4 this weekend.
Lin will also need big games on offense from his two big guns: Chen "the Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan and Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-ming (
Elsewhere in the league, the Lions will be on the road in Kaohsiung for a three-game visit to the La New Bears as the first-half champs look to rebound from their four-game sweep at the hands of the Elephants last week. It will not be a walk in the park for the Lions because the new-and-improved Bears had just taken three out of four from the Macoto Cobras and are playing as well as any team in the league since early September.
For the Lions, a strong showing against the Bears would not only provide the big cats with a huge mental boost, it could possibly give them the second-half title outright, which would mean an automatic one-game lead in the upcoming best-of-seven championship series. As for the Bears, running the table in their six remaining games with some help from the Cobras next week could still put them in the postseason.
The same situation applies to the Whales as well. Win out the season with some help from other clubs and they are in the postseason.
What does this all mean?? We are heading towards the wildest finish ever in the history of the league.
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