Lin "Little Chick" En-yu needed some help carrying the hardware home by the end of the night after picking up five trophies and a hefty NT$410,000 check at the Chinese Professional Baseball League's awards ceremony on Saturday night.
The gala event, held at Taipei's Sanchong City Sports Complex to recognize the achievements of the league's top players, turned into a one-man show as Lin racked up five individual distinctions in the same season for the second straight year: most wins (17), most strikeouts (209), lowest earned run average (1.73), top-ranked player by position (pitcher) and most impressive of all, the coveted league's Most Valuable Player honor.
The 24-year-old Macoto Cobras ace -- who was signed by the Rakuten Eagles of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball League last week -- beat out Sinon Bulls slugger and this year's home-run champion (24) Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan and top RBI man Chen Chin-fong of the La New Bears by a close margin to become only the third player to win back-to-back MVP honors.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
"I guess having the lowest ERA is the most important to me, because it most directly helps the team in winning games," Lin said after the ceremony, underplaying his awesome achievement in shattering the previous single-season strikeout record of 203 with 209 for the year.
By winning the ERA title, the strikeout title and the title for most victories in the season. Lin also became only the second player to win the pitchers' "triple crown," something last accomplished by Song Jau-jee of the 2002 Chinatrust Whales.
Lin could easily have won at least three more games this year for a 20-win season had his team backed him up, as two of the eight losses he suffered were 1-0 shutouts and he allowed only one earned run over six-plus innings of play in two others.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
However, Lin had only praise for his teammates.
"I'd like to thank the coaches and my teammates for helping make all this possible," Lin said.
Also receiving some well deserved recognition was Lee Ming-jin of the Cobras, who registered 18 holds over a record-setting 62 game appearances to lead all relief pitchers in the league in this newly established category.
Rounding out the individual honors in the pitching category was Sinon closer Kuo Yong-chih, who with 17 saves beat out President Lions ace Tseng Yi-cheng who also recorded 17 saves, but in 43 games compared with Kuo's 39.
On the offensive side, the big winners on the night were Chang "The Prince" Tai-shan, whose 24 homers and 130 hits were second to none in an incredible year and Chen Chin-fong, whose 81 RBIs and 20 stolen bases represented a double threat to the opposing team to make the former major-leaguer one of the most feared hitters in the CPBL.
Chang was just short of being this year's batting champ as his .3485 batting average was .5 lower than Brother Elephants rookie Chen Guan-ren's .3490 mark. Chen also walked away with this year's Rookie of the Year honor.
Sinon speedster Yu Hsing-ming was the top base stealer of the year with 27 stolen bases, easily beating out second-place finisher Bears RBI man Chen Chin-fong's 20.
As expected, Whales starter Tseng Jau-hao snatched the Most Improved Player honor for his remarkable 12-win year, a dramatic turnaround from his combined 6-8 record in 2004 and last year.
Last but not least was the Manager of the Year honor, which went to the Bears' Hong Yi-chung for doing an amazing job in turning the bottom-dwelling team of 2004 into this year's Taiwan Series champs.
The top-ranked players by position were: Cobras pitcher Lin En-yu, Whales catcher Wang Hsin-min, Bears first baseman Pan Chung-wei, Lions second baseman Yang Seng (second straight year), Bulls third baseman Chang Tai-shan, Bears shortstop Lin Chih-sheng, Lions outfielders Liu Fu-hao and Kuo Dai-chi, Bulls outfielder Yu Hsien-ming, and Bears designated hitter Chen Chin-fong.
The Golden Glove winners by position for this year were: Lions pitcher Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen, Bears catcher Chen Fong-min (second straight time), Bears first baseman Pan Chung-wei, Elephants second baseman Fong Sheng-shien, Bears third baseman Shih Chih-wei, Whales shortstop Cheng Chang-ming (third year in a row), Lions outfielder Liu Fu-hao, Bears outfielder Tsai Jien-wei and Bulls outfielder Chang Jien-ming.
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
‘HELLA ENERGY’: Minnesota’s 42-point victory set a club record for points in a playoff game, but the team have to keep up their momentum to stay in the series, Edwards said Anthony Edwards on Saturday night scored 30 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves overwhelmed Oklahoma City 143-101 to tighten their NBA playoff series. Edwards added nine rebounds and six assists. while shooting 12-of-17 from the floor and 5-of-8 from three-point range as the hosts Timberwolves pulled a game back to be 2-1 behind in the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals. However, moments after the 42-point win, Minnesota were determined to forget all about it. Such is life in the NBA playoffs. “You’ve got to erase this one,” Edwards said. “This one is over. I know everyone is happy about this one, but we know OKC is
RSS