The wait is over. More than 20,000 eager fans are expected to fill the Kaohsiung County Baseball Stadium this afternoon to watch the 2006 Taiwan Series opener, where the regular season champs the La New Bears will take on the President Lions in a showdown between the top two teams in the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
Game 1 of this year's annual Fall Classic will feature a potent La New offense that stormed their way through the regular season with a 62-34-4 record, far superior to the second-place Lions (48-45-7), which swept the Sinon Bulls in three during last week's Playoff Series for the right to face La New.
Taking the mound for the home Bears in the all-important Game 1 will be lefty ace Wu Si-yo who will put his 17-3 record to the test against former high-school friend Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen of the Lions, whose team-best 14-9 mark may not compare well to Wu's, but can still outsmart the La New lefty with his newfound velocity (153kph fastball) and control, as well as a late-season surge that has earned him three straight victories since Sept. 30th.
While many may favor the Bears in this series for their outstanding offense -- that averaged over six runs per game during the regular season -- some would actually pick the Lions in the best-of-seven play for their superior postseason experience when compared to the Bears, who are making their first-ever Taiwan Series appearance.
The Lions also are on a roll, having swept the Bulls in convincing fashion with back-to-back shutout wins over the defending champs to enter the contest on an all-time high.
Regardless of the advantage that either club may realize prior to the first pitch, the outcome of the series will hinge on how effective the rest of the Lions pitching staff (other than Du Du and American lefty Jeriome Robertson) will be against a Bears lineup that acquired the services of former major leaguer Chen Chin-fong, whose league-best 81 RBIs, 20 homers and 20 stolen bases make him a triple threat to the visiting Lions.
Long ball hitters Lin Chih-sheng and Pan Chung-wei with 20 combined home runs and 110 RBIs will also be looking to swing their big bats often against the Lions pitching to make it a short series.
With Lions short of a legitimate number three and number four starter, mid-inning relief becomes a critical factor for manager Ohashi Yukata, which means that reliever extraordinaire Lin Yueh-ping will have to continue his recent mastery of the opposing hitters in the form of 10-1/3 shutout innings of relief over a five-game span for the Lions to be competitive.
As for the last line of defense, top Bears closer Ramon Morel of the Dominican Republic should hold a slight edge over his pitching counterpart Tseng Yi-cheng for Morel's big game experience, despite Tseng's 17 saves that tied him with the Bulls' Kuo Yong-chih for the top honor in total saves during the regular season.
Offensively for the Lions, red-hot rookie outfielder Pan Wu-hsiung, who batted over .500 during the Lions' Playoff Series against the Bulls, will not be available for the entire series as he sits out with a cracked rib he sustained during practice this week.? This will put an additional burden on the heart of the Lions' order as it looks to solve the blazing fastball and wicked slider from Wu that has made him one of the toughest pitchers to hit in the league.
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
Mathys Tel was hero and villain as Tottenham drew 1-1 at home to Leeds United on Monday — a result that leaves their English Premier League future hanging in the balance. The Frenchman broke the deadlock early in the second half to ease the tension at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but then gave away a penalty with a reckless attempted clearance. In the dying minutes, Spurs were grateful to Antonin Kinsky, who produced an astonishing save to deny the visitors a win. Tottenham are now two points clear of 18th-placed West Ham United with just two games left this season. The
‘DONE IT ALL’: LeBron James is now out of contract with the Lakers and would head into the off season as a free agent with uncertainty swirling around his future LeBron James on Monday said he would take time to consider his future after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the NBA playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder in what could turn out to be the final game of his career. James, 41, delivered a typically defiant performance with 24 points and 12 rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent the Lakers from falling 115-110 as the Thunder completed a 4-0 sweep in the Western Conference semi-finals series. The four-time NBA champion is now out of contract with the Lakers and would head into the off season
FRUSTRATION: Gauff smacked herself on the head with her racket before storming down the tunnel, emerging afterward to have a heated discussion with her coach Elina Svitolina on Saturday won the Italian Open after beating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 to claim her third Rome title, while Jannik Sinner set a date with Casper Ruud in the men’s final. Ukraine’s Svitolina had not claimed a WTA 1000 title since her last victory at the Foro Italico eight years ago, but prevailed over the ever-erratic Gauff to claim her 20th tournament triumph. Saturday’s win over Gauff was her third in a row against a player in the top four of the world rankings — including Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina — ahead of the French
RSS