The “Post Manny Era” begins with the EDA Rhinos facing the Lamigo Monkeys in a two-game road series at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium that begins tonight.
While the departure of the former major league slugger will undoubtedly deal a blow to an already stuttering Rhinos offense, the real task at hand for coach Hsu Sheng-ming is how to get his team to forget their recent mishaps and distractions and focus their efforts on the game.
Nevertheless, the Rhinos have built a strong enough foundation to find themselves still in the hunt for the first-half title with the Uni-President Lions.
Should Ramirez’s replacement on the roster, Jesse English, become a dependable starter in the Rhinos rotation, Hsu will still have a very good chance of taking the first-half title with a formidable trio of pitchers in Lin Chen-hua (8-2 with a 3.45 ERA), Andy Sisco (6-3 with a 2.16 ERA) and English plus a lineup that features Lin Yi-chuan, Hu Chin-lung, Kao Guo-hui and Chang Chien-ming, whose combined .354 batting average tops any foursome in the league.
With the Lions having dropped two in a row earlier this week, the Rhinos will have an excellent opportunity to reclaim the top spot in the standings with a pair of wins over the Monkeys and the Brother Elephants to set up Sunday’s showdown against the Cats at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.
To boost their chances of winning the first-half title, the Lions have acquired the services of former major leaguer Nelson Figueroa, who led them to victory in the 2007 Taiwan Series before leaving for a five-year stint in the majors.
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Marc Marquez continued his winning streak as he cruised to victory in the Hungarian GP sprint by two seconds on Saturday night to pad his championship lead. It was a seventh straight Sprint victory for the Spaniard, who has also won the last six longer Sunday grand prix races on his factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio, an Italian with the VR46 Ducati satellite team was a distant second at Balaton Park, followed by his team-mate and compatriot Franco Morbidelli third. Marquez, a six-time world champion, started the race from pole position. “I felt someone really close on the first corner, from there I
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
RSS