Team Taiwan's road to 2020 Tokyo Olympics (baseball)

(Edited)

In the 2019 season, Chang Chih-Hao had an OPS+ of 115 and Lin Che-hsuan had an OPS+ of 110.2.

5 percentiles higher. Not a big enough difference.

Lin got substituted in fairly early on. Taiwan shut Venuzuela down to a 3:0 victory.

I saw that. It was originally a platoon. Glad he scored from first on that double with no one on the left side of the infield.

Proud moment for Taiwan. We beat two historical baseball powers. And we’re among the top 6 teams in the world at such a high level.

If only our bats weren’t so lethargic, we’d be competitive for the championship.

Kudos to PJ for playing hurt. I’d sit him out against Japan.

1 Like

I’d rather he not play through his injury though. It’s not like he is in playing condition anyway. This is likely to piss of the Hamfighters management. He should focus on getting well.

1 Like

And if he plays, he should DH. He shouldn’t play RF. When he slid back into first, he was nursing his right shoulder. I don’t know DAHEQ is going on in the coach’s mind.

Another head scratcher: I heard that 廖一忠 is starting against Samuari Japan tomorrow. ??? You’ve got someone with major league experience, who just started in the Mexican Winter League and dominated, coming to join the team just in time, and now you’re gonna start someone I’ve never heard of?

I’m just grateful someone like PJ made a sacrifice. Not enough Taiwanese people do that. Don’t know if you heard, the PA announcer said this was 台灣最團結的時刻. Tomorrow’s game against Japan was sold out in 30 minutes after tickets were released.

Go rioting in the streets, turn cars over, and shatter window glass, Taiwan. You deserve it.

Liao once shutout the Venuzuela team at the 2016 Baseball Worldcup.

I am guessing they plan to throw the entire bullpen at the Japanese, this being the last game and all. Both teams have already advanced to the next round, so they are probably going to pay more attention to figure out the condition of their players.

1 Like


Arepa pabellĂłn.

Really good.

1 Like

I have 0 knowledge of the sport known as baseball. I started reading this thread and it looked like Taiwan was doomed. The matches started and Taiwan proceeded to btfo every opponent.
I’m feeling very confused. Yay, anyway!

Video of the go ahead run from last night. Let me lay down some background.

Taiwan and Venezuela were tied 0:0. It was the 7th inning, and Venezuela has their best bullpen pitcher Miguel Socolovich on the mound, who played in the major leagues with the Orioles, Cubs, Cardinals and Braves as late as 2018.

With 2 outs, Lin Che-hsuan (林哲瑄) drew a walk and got on first base. Manager Hong I-Chung came out and substituted the 9th hole batter with Chu Yu-hsien (朱育賢).

Chu is the CPBL MVP of the year, and led the league in home runs with 30. He is 188cm tall, hit left handed, you could tell he hits hard just as he walks towards the batter’s box.

Chu swan hard at the first two outside pitchers, looking like a pure slugger, and missed both of them. At this point, Venezuela obviously did their homework and knew Chu is able to pull the ball hard to the right, decided to dramatically shifted their entire defense to the right. Leaving much room alone the third base line and left field.

After fighting off a couple pitches, Chu shot a line drive to third, landing right next to the foul line and into the left field, driving in Lin Che-hsuan all the way from first for the crucial run.

The entire at bat is like a chess game. Chu was able to convince the opposite team that he only pulls pitches, and he couldn’t touch the outside pitch. When the shift is on, he then skillfully pushed the ball to left field.

The fun is in the details with this game.

2 Likes

It’s not apparent from the video, but I think Venezuela shifted if not from the beginning of the PA, at least before Chu took the cuts. This is the earliest I could get where they showed the entire field.

I think I understood the overall scheme of things. Cool stuff.

The important part is that Taiwan btfo the other teams so far, and as far as I understand Japan-Taiwan is basically pointless?

1 Like

Yes and no.

Taiwan already advanced to the next round. Winning the game will improve our ranking in this tournament. Our our final ranking had to be higher than Korea’s, and Korea is in a much easier pool.

Also, this game is sold out, unlike the other ones, so he fans care much more.

2 Likes

Aside from pride, the outcome of that match doesn’t matter that much in the scheme of things.

2 Likes

I didn’t know this game will count in the Super Round (record vs each other).

Wow this game is frustrating so far.

Fatty got his 2-run shot robbed by the wind, but the runner wasn’t running. Should’ve scored if he was doing things right.

9 LOB. Due to inane batting order. 王勝偉(.250 hitter in the CPBL) batting after PJ. He’s got a look on his face saying, “I don’t wanna be here.” 王威晨would’ve gotten the sac fly had he batted after PJ.

Putting a Taipower pitcher in there like it’s some kind of joke. And who the hell throws two straight changeups over the place.

Well, at least bats have come alive!

Coach looks like coach doesn’t care about winning.

Yeah, but the game was lost due to horrendous base running.

We shouldn’t have lost the first 2 runs, and the last two runs. The Taipower pitcher looked dazed the moment he stepped out of the bullpen, couldn’t get strikes in, and lost tracked of the runner. Still, after Chen Yu-hsun relieved him, if the double play wasn’t botched, we wouldn’t gave up those two extra runs.

So this should have been a 4:1 game, if base running in the first inning was ok, it should have been a 4:2 game.

The point is beating Korea in the Super Round though.

Agree with everything you say.

Tainan Josh’s Mexico preview.
https://youtu.be/twyIrnaqcw8

1 Like

So, Taiwan against Mexico at noon today. It’s now must-win-every-game for Team Taiwan. They are most likely going to start Chiang Shao-ching.

Freaking bats.