One week into the second half of the season and the surprise around the league are the 4-1 Brother Elephants, who had won three straight as of yesterday with a pair of close victories over the previously red-hot Lamigo Monkeys to ascend to the top of the standings.
Leading the way is a young starting rotation featuring third-year righty Tseng Soong-wei, second-year righty Lin Yu-ching and 28-year-old southpaw Cheng Chi-hung, who have picked a win apiece to contribute to their team’s early success.
Even though there are still plenty of games remaining in the second half, the timely surge of the Elephant pitching trio, coupled with the expected improvement of Puerto Rican hired gun Miguel Mejia, should give coach Hsieh Chang-hen and the men in yellow something to cheer about after their last-place finish in the first half.
“The level of play has evened out as teams get more familiar with each other,” Hsieh said earlier this week.
His team have experienced a roller-coaster first half, with several five-plus game losing skids and two impressive win streaks that topped out at eight wins in a row.
Now that the pitching staff has finally settled in and the hitting is beginning to take form with Chou Si-chi, Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min and Kuo Chien-yu hitting their marks, the Elephants are ready to give any club in the league a run for their money.
UPCOMING GAMES
The Elephants will have a chance to show what they are really made of with a three-game weekend series against the EDA Rhinos on the road scheduled for this weekend.
Tseng was due to lead the way by squaring off against the Rhinos lineup last night, before Mejia and Lin follow suit.
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Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
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