The Chinatrust Whales' pitching gives them an edge over the Brother Elephants in the 2002 CPBL Championship Series, which starts on Saturday, according to baseball insiders.
"Both the Elephants and the Whales have stable starting pitching," Lee Lai-fa (
"[But] it is the Whales that clearly have the advantage in the bullpen, especially with Kuo-lee Chien-fu (郭李建夫) on the mound," he said.
Kuo-lee, also a pitching coach for the Whales, collected 20 saves to top the CPBL in this season.
Of the four experts at the press conference, three were predicting a Whales victory. The dissenter, Tseng Wen-cheng (
"With two starters from both teams stable, the number three pitcher will be the key to success in this series," he said.
Tzeng said Wang Chin-lee (王勁力, 11-6) of the Elephants and Kao Chien-san (高建三, 4-3) of the Whales would be the ones to watch.
The managers of the other two CPBL teams agreed with Tzeng's forecast, saying the defending champions' experience of winning would lead them to victory.
"Eagerness to win and the experience from the last championship series give the Elephants an incomparable edge over the Whales," said Chen Wei-chung (陳威成), manager of the Sinon Bulls. "Sung Chao-chee (宋肇基) of the Whales is the only pitcher who can maintain his consistency throughout the season, therefore he is the only pitcher who can give the Whales a win."
Chen is predicting that the Whales will only get one win in the series.
Hsieh Chang-hung (謝長亨), recently appointed manager of the President Lions, said the first game was "very important" to the Elephants.
Since the Elephants clinched the first-half and second-half season titles, the "yellow army" gets a one-game head start in the series.
"With this one-game lead, the Elephants will do whatever it takes to win the first game and make it 2-0," Hsieh said.
The CPBL Championship Series starts on Saturday at Tienmu Stadium, with the Elephants hosting the Whales. Game two will be in Hsinchuang Stadium and game three in Chiayi Stadium.
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