Baseball fans vented their anger and frustration on the Internet yesterday following Taiwan’s loss in the World Baseball Classic to China on Saturday.
The result, Taiwan’s second defeat by China in a year, means Taiwan are already eliminated from the competition.
“Losing to [South] Korea by nine points first and to China by three points next. My father kept cursing. Taiwan’s baseball is really hopeless!” a fan identified as “Gary” said.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
“Bill,” another fan, showed similar pessimism about the future of baseball in Taiwan.
“Who cares about the championship of the Chinese Professional Baseball League [CPBL] anymore? Who could possibly be concerned now how many Wang Chien-ming’s (王建民) we will have?” he said. “Taiwan got beat by China in two international games in a row. People will stop watching baseball games if this becomes a pattern, which will potentially turn into a major catastrophe.”
Both attributed the loss to the fact that the players drafted for the World Baseball Classic this year were mostly young and inexperienced. They also blamed CPBL teams for their unwillingness to release more experienced players and the government for not spending enough on professional baseball.
“You win or lose in a game, that’s just life” Bill said. “But baseball has been played in Taiwan for 100 years, and we lost to the Chinese baseball team that has only been around for less than 20 years! This is an embarrassment.”
Some fans, however, thought that the loss may serve as a wake-up call to the nation’s baseball industry.
“You can’t say China just had better luck anymore because we have lost twice to them now. Their players, their strategies and the government support — all these are things we should learn from,” said another fan “Fatty Ape.”
Government officials, team managers and sports commentators also believed the defeat exposed the problems facing baseball in Taiwan.
“Baseball in this country is dead!” said senior sports commentator Fu Da-jen (傅達仁) in a TV interview. “You have the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association and you have Chinese Professional Baseball League, and they don’t work together. And what’s the government doing?”
Sinon Bulls manager Hsu Sheng-meng (徐生明) said the teams were in a bind about sending players to play in an international game and protecting them from injuries.
Sports Affairs Council (SAC) Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) Minister said in an interview with the Central News Agency that the council was striving to develop second-tier teams in professional baseball, which could be supported by the revenue generated by the sports lottery.
Government Information Office Minister Su Jun-bin (蘇俊賓) said that the government took the loss seriously. He said Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) has asked the SAC to develop a long-term plan on baseball using resources across different government departments.
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