A one-run loss to the Lamigo Monkeys last weekend followed by Wednesday night’s defeat by the EDA Rhinos mean the top-ranked Brother Elephants are now on a three-game losing skid.
What had been a four-game lead over the second-placed Monkeys as recently as a week ago has dwindled to a slim one-game cushion for the men in yellow after they dropped three straight “winnable” matches because of a lack of timely hitting.
In two of the three defeats, the Elephants’ offense actually outhit their opponents by a 22-18 margin, but only had five combined runs on the scoreboard to show for it.
“[The Elephants] are getting the hits on offense, just not scoring too many runs with those hits,” renowned baseball commentator Yang Ching-lung said earlier this week.
The Elephants’ tendency to strand runners could mean trouble for them if the race to the second-half title heats up, which seems likely.
While shuffling the batting order may be one way to help improve his team’s scoring efficiency, the real issue for skipper Hsieh Chang-hen lies in the Elephants’ timidness at the plate. His hitters have been showing a distinct lack of confidence during clutch situations in recent games.
OLD HANDS
This is the perfect time for old hands such as Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min to demonstrate their leadership, as Hsieh is in only his first full season with the club and may not have had the chance to bond with the players as much as he would have liked.
Chia Chia is the ideal individual for this task, not only because of his tremendous accomplishments on the field over the years, but also thanks to his impeccable history off the field as an exemplary role model.
The Elephants could also use some assistance in the bullpen in the late innings, with setup man Guan Da-yuan and closer Brad Thomas eating up more innings than they would like due to a lack of depth in the squad.
WEEKEND PREVIEW
The Elephants hit the road this weekend with potentially tough encounters against the Uni-President Lions at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium before the weekend finale at the Douliou County Baseball Stadium on Sunday.
INTERNAL TURMOIL
It will be a golden opportunity for the Elephants to try to open a gap on the Lamigo Monkey in the standings as they take on a Lions squad that has suffered some internal turmoil with interim manager Chen Lien-hung at the helm for less than a week after replacing the demoted Terushi Nakashima.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS