Cobras open series with victory

Two monstrous home runs by Hsieh "the Ugly" Jia-shien helped the Macoto Cobras to a much-needed win over the La New Bears in their series opener at Kaohsiung on Tuesday as the first-half champs snapped a two-game losing streak by beating their former Taiwan Major League (TML) brethrens in an impressive and heartstopping 15-7 final.

The pair of homers by Hsieh, his 22nd and 23rd of the year, virtually guaranteed the 29-year-old slugger the home-run title for the season with La New's Lin Chih-sheng trailing him by eight (15) with three games left to play in the regular season.

Hsieh is five shy of the league mark for total homers in a single season by a local player (28), set by Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan of the incredible 2003 Sinon Bulls.

All but one starter in the Macoto lineup came away with at least one base hit on the night, led by Hsieh's 4-for-5 effort with five RBIs.?

Third baseman Hsu "Bitter Melon" Sheng-jeh also turned in a 3-for-5 performance in the absence of Dominican veteran Wilton Veras.

Six uncharacteristic errors by the Bears defense made ten of the eleven runs allowed by starter Chris Wright unearned as the American righty suffered from a complete defensive breakdown en route to his eighth defeat of the year.

As for Macoto's rookie starter Tien Jia-an, his second start as a professional did not quite go as well as he had hoped in allowing six runs (none earned) on nine hits over five innings. However, he still managed to pick up his first career win with some help from his offense in a 13-hit, 15-run slugfest.

Cobras 4, Bears 7

Liang Rue-hao tossed six scoreless innings of three-hit ball for the home Bears before calling it a night in Game 2 of the series on Wednesday for a 7-4 win over the serpents to even the series at one game apiece.

The Bears broke a 1-0 advantage wide open in the bottom of the sixth when they sent 10 bat-ters to the plate to face game-loser Yang Chi-jia in a five-run outburst.

Shih Chih-wei's standup double with the bases loaded sent all three runners home to cap off the game-turning sixth, sending Yang to his fourth setback of the year despite pitching a complete game for the Cobras.

Even though the Cobras mustered a four-run rally in the eighth on the strength of three doubles in a row to make it 7-4, it was too little too late as the Bears sent in second-year lefty Wu Si-yo to preserve the win with 1-1/3 frames of scoreless relief.

Other action from around the League:

Bulls 6, Elephants 5

Tuesday's makeup contest between the Bulls and the Brother Elephants in Hsinchuang could be the top comeback victory of the season with the Bulls plating four unanswered runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Elephants by a 6-5 final.

Chang "Red Monkey" Jia-hao's half-swing single to shallow-left brought home the game-winner for the Bulls after Chang Tai-shan's solo blast got the Bulls rolling in the right direction to start off the bottom of the ninth.

The game that featured four lead changes between the two most popular clubs in the league had the Elephants striking first in the top of the fourth on shortstop Chen Rei-cheng's RBI single to the opposite field.

Designated hitter Chen Tsung-fu evened things up at 1-all with a sacrifice fly to right in the fifth before fellow catcher Yeh Jung-chang made it 2-1 in favor of the Bulls on a two-out, run-scoring single up the middle.

The Elephants would regain the lead the following inning with a three-run sixth on scoring drives by Hsu Ming-lan and Chen Rei-cheng before building a seemingly comfortable 5-2 cushion with another run in the ninth, setting the stage for Chang's eventual late-game magic.

Reliever Yu Wen-pin retired the last two Elephants for the Bulls to earn the win while his counterpart Wu Bao-shien suffered the disheartening defeat in yet another total late-game collapse by the shaky Elephants bullpen.

Upcoming Contests

With the Bulls holding onto a slim one-game lead over the Cobras and a 1-1/2 game lead over the Bears (as of Thursday) with fewer than five games left to play, the remaining two contests between the serpents and the Bears in Kaohsiung tonight and tomorrow afternoon will undoubtedly play a huge role in how the postseason will shape up.

Lions tied

As for the President Lions, tied with the Bears for the third-place spot in the standings, their three-game set versus the Bulls in Taichung yesterday, tomorrow, and Sunday are all must-wins if they wish to remain in the hunt for the postseason.

last place

Last but not least will be the three-game must-win series between the Elephants and the Chinatrust Whales, currently tied for last-place at 2-1/2 games behind the Bulls (as of Thursday) as they play Games 1 and 2 in Kaohsiung last night and tonight, before moving up north for what promises to be a nerve-wrecking series finale at Tienmu on Sunday.