Saturday, October 16, 2010

Elephants take opening game in Taiwan Series

Taipei, Oct. 16 (CNA) The Brother Elephants barely survived a game-fixing scandal at the end of the 2009 season but are now just three games away from completing a truly improbable ascent to the top of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).

The Elephants defeated the Sinon Bulls 3-2 in the opening game of the best-of-seven 2010 Taiwan Series in Taichung Saturday, led by strong performances from leadoff hitter Chang Cheng-wei and starting pitcher Jim Magrane.

Chang was 3 for 4 and made spectacular catches in the seventh and eighth innings to hold off the Bulls' furious rally and lift the Elephants, making their third consecutive appearance in the Taiwan Series, to the win at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.

Magrane, a former American minor leaguer, scattered eight hits over 7 2/3 solid innings.

The Elephants, who lost the Taiwan Series in 2008 and 2009, are scheduled to meet the Bulls in Game 2 in Douliou, Yunlin County on Sunday.

That they are in this position at all is nothing short of amazing. The team lost almost half of its players before the start of the regular season to a major game-fixing scandal that came to light in October last year, which involved more than 40 retired and active players and coaches.

The team's owner even hinted that he might disband the franchise, but he instead decided to proceed with a roster largely composed of inexperienced players.

After a poor first half of the season, the Elephants rallied to win the second half race with a 36-24 record to earn a berth in the championship series.

In Saturday's game, a two-run seventh inning, paced by RBI doubles from pinch-hitter Wang Ching-yung and Chang, helped the Elephants open up a 3-0 lead.

The Bulls, who outhit the Elephants 11-7 in the game, fought back with three hits each in the eighth and ninth innings to pull within 3-2, but could not find the key hit to pull them even.

Sinon's Japanese left-handed starter Itsuki Shoda, who was 11-5 in his second season with the team in 2010, gave up six hits in 6 2/3 innings.

The Bulls, who reached the Taiwan Series by winning the first half race with a 36-23-1 record, had the best overall regular season record in the league at 65-53-2. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls