Taichung to welcome in new season

Over 10,000 screaming fans are expected to pack the Taichung City Stadium this afternoon to witness the home Sinon Bulls take on the President Lions, as the 2005 Chinese Professional Baseball League season gets underway with the rematch of last season's championship series.

Both clubs are coming off an excellent spring training with high expectations for the season and would gain a huge emotional lift with a victory over their nemesis.

Heading to the mound for the defending champs will be third-year ace Yang Jien-fu, the Bulls' Most Valuable Player winner in last season's championship series, as he faces the Lions' newcomer, 40-year-old righty, Doug Linton of the US.

With the addition of former Major Leaguer Hector Ramirez to the pitching staff, Bulls' skipper Liu Rong-hua hopes to bring stability to the bullpen.

"Ramirez allows us to move Osvaldo Martinez back into the starting rotation on a more permanent basis -- something we weren't able to do last year after Jeff Andra and Tsai Chung-nan were out with injuries," Liu said.

Defensively for the Bulls, former second baseman Huang "Brother Tung" Chung-yi will trade in his fielding glove for a new role as the team's fulltime designated hitter to give up-and-coming converted outfielder Chang Jia-hao a chance to patrol the right side of the Bulls' infield.

As for the Bulls' offense, the league's top run-producing lineup from a year ago should maintain its potency with minimal changes taking place during the offseason.

Huang's move from batting third in the order to fifth, behind cleanup man Chang Tai-shan, should protect the league's number one RBI man (Chang) and possibly make the Bulls even more dangerous than ever.

Unlike the Bulls' relatively quiet offseason in terms of personnel changes, the Lions underwent several major roster moves following the release of long-time team icon Luo Ming-ching, former starting catcher Wu Jau-hui and veteran slugger Ko Jien-fong, as they opted for a younger lineup that features nearly half-a-dozen second-year players.

Starting off with the Lions' pitching staff, the league's stingiest group of hurlers that includes Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen and ace closer Michael Garcia welcomes Taiwan's Olympic hero of 2004 in Lin Yueh-pin, whose NT$3.5 million signing bonus could turn out to be a bargain for the big cats if he continues to progress as he has throughout spring training.

The strength of the Lions' defense this season will be in the infield as third baseman Wu Jia-rong lead the pack of second-year greats in Kao Guo-ching (first base), Yang Seng (second base), and Yang Tung-yi (shortstop).

As for the outfield, sluggers Lin hung-yuan, Wang Chuan-jia, along with newcomer Israel Alcantara of the Dominican Republic, will be doing most of the talking.

Manager Hsieh Chang-hern will be counting on his big guns from the outfield to do most of the damage on offense as the Lions look to improve on their weakest aspect of their game last year -- their inability to produce runs.