Got these shots from a SoSG stringer in Taiwan who prefers to remain anonymous. Not exactly shots from the Dodgers' press conference or games, but still shots from Taiwan (Taiwan television, to be precise) which illustrate the Dodgers' widespread television coverage this past week:
Thanks again, anonymous SoSG stringer!
From Dodgers.com:
The Dodgers return to Camelback Ranch on Sunday to take on the Rangers, with Hiroki Kuroda set for his second start in a game in which Garret Anderson is expected to make his Dodgers debut, possibly at his new position of first base. Anderson could also have a reunion with Texas DH Vladimir Guerrero, his teammate with the Angels from 2004-08.
1: Jon SooHoo/Dodgers; 2: Ed Andrieski/AP
Game 2: Dodgers rained out in Taiwan (Ken Gurnick, Dodgers.com)
photo: Wally Santana/AP
To paraphrase SoSG regular Josh S. during the Game Thread for the rained-out, canceled Dodgers game in Taiwan:
WHAT A FANTASTIC IDEA THIS WAS.So, let's recap this trip:
And about that sore elbow of Hong-Chih Kuo:
Torre had to scratch Kuo from the start of his life Saturday night at 10 p.m. PT, a chance to pitch one inning in front of his mother against an All-Star team from his native Taiwan.
"It's nothing major -- he wants to pitch," Torre said of Kuo, whose elbow, operated on four times already, has no margin for error. "But if something happened in front of his home crowd ... We think it's normal Spring Training stuff, but can't take a chance."
Josh Towers, whose Friday start was washed out, will start in place of Kuo on Saturday.
Kuo's injury was revealed only moments after Friday's exhibition game was rained out, back-to-back blows to a goodwill series that had started so upbeat.
But Kuo's news, unlike the rainout, could impact the roster and the season, especially with the continued absence of fellow setup man Ronald Belisario, indefinitely stuck in Venezuela with visa problems.
The Dodgers' bullpen, considered last year to be a team strength, is uncertain halfway through Spring Training. Jonathan Broxton is healthy, but George Sherrill has had some nagging injuries. Now Kuo is down. TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Hong-Chih Kuo said he "almost cried" when he told the Dodgers training staff that his elbow was sore again, and the news didn't do manager Joe Torre any good, either.
Also recall that Lucas May was hit in the ankle in Game 1 (a loss), which does not sound serious but could leave us pretty thin at catcher, with Russell Martin also ailing. And Manny Ramirez may be $170K richer for going, but he's still hitless.
Seems an awful long way to go for three lousy hits. Especially if this turns out to be a reprise of the Red Sox / Daisuke Matsuzaka / the World Baseball Classic last year, except this time affecting an entire team.
The Dodgers' schedule doesn't make it very easy to decode, but if I'm reading this correctly, we should be seeing a first pitch at sometime around 10pm PT.
Let's see if the Dodgers can put up more than three hits this time. Oh, and keep away from any injuries at the catcher position (are you listening, Lucas May?).
photo: Cheng-Kun Lin, Taipei Times
Just this Son's opinion:
I was disappointed to read that Manny Ramirez enjoyed some shark's fin soup while in Taiwan. While shark's fin soup is a traditional Chinese dish and, yes, it is tasty, it's not difficult to give up once you see how it's made. Basically they cut the fins off and throw the rest of the shark back in the ocean. From Stop Shark Finning:
Every year tens of millions of sharks die a slow death because of finning. Finning is the inhumane practice of hacking off the shark's fins and throwing its still living body back into the sea. The sharks either starve to death, are eaten alive by other fish, or drown (if they are not in constant movement their gills cannot extract oxygen from the water). Shark fins are being "harvested" in ever greater numbers to feed the growing demand for shark fin soup, an Asian "delicacy".Not only is the finning of sharks barbaric, but their indiscriminate slaughter at an unsustainable rate is pushing many species to the brink of extinction. Since the 1970s the populations of several species have been decimated by over 95%.
Even Yao Ming is on board:
If anyone can come up with a sustainable and humane method of harvesting these fins, I'd at least be interested in hearing it. But it's not like you can just farm sharks like tuna or salmon.
And while we're at it, let's stop eating whales too.
From @DodgertownUSA:
Dodgers lineup in Taiwan: Robinson RF, Paul CF, Manny DH, Loney 1B, Belliard 2B, Mitchell 3B, May C, Hu, SS, Barton RF, Stults PFirst inning, three up, three down in Taiwan. Manny popped to second in first at-bat.
Bottom of the first: CPBL goes scoreless with former #Dodgers outfielder Chin-Feng Chen drawing a walk
Stults has thrown two scoreless and hitless innings for the #Dodgers with four strikeouts and a walk.
From @ramonashelburne:
The Dodgers and the Chinese Professional Baseball League all-stars are scoreless through three and a half... for those of you wondering...Dodgers fall behind 2-0 here in the bottom of the fifth...
Manny Ramirez just flied out to deep centerfield again. Second time he's done that tonight. Now 0-for-3
From @kengurnick:
Catcher Lucas May came out of the game in Taiwan after being hit by a pitch on the left ankle.
Great, another catcher down. Quick, put A.J. Ellis in bubble wrap!
Oh, and we're getting one-hit. From @DodgertownUSA:
Dodgers lone hit at this point belongs to Trayvon Robinson.
From @DodgertownUSA:
Chin-lung Hu's two-run single makes it 5-2, CPBL...nice homecoming for the Taiwan native.
photos by Jon SooHoo/Dodgers
The Dodgers have landed! The Dodgers have landed!
From the hundreds of autograph seekers that greeted the team at Taloyuan International Airport to the police escort through rush-hour traffic, to the hundreds who lined the sidewalk in front of The Sherwood Taipei Hotel. From the standing-room-only press conference to the rollicking cocktail reception -- where several players were coaxed into sinagalongs with the band -- there's already a heightened excitement before any of the three games have been played against an All-Star team from the Chinese Professional Baseball League. [...]
One of the benefits Taiwan baseball hopes to gain from the series is a jumpstart on the cleansing process after the CPBL's fifth gambling scandal in the past 20 years, which league commissioner Shou-Po Chan alluded to in his remarks.
"Right now, baseball in Taiwan is in a very critical stage," Chan said. "We hope these games will help rekindle our people who love and support and have patience for this sport."
[Dodgers director of international relations Joseph] Reaves said the Dodgers are hopeful as well.
"We are aware of the gambling history, you cannot ignore it and it's terrible," he said. "But Major League Baseball has managed to have a sport with rabid fans and, with rare exception, avoid those scandals. It can be done. We hope to be an example to the CPBL. Crack down, clean the game and everybody wins, instead of a few gangsters." TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Camera flashbulbs lit up the concourse as the Dodgers deplaned their EVA 777 charter Thursday.
Three games in three days? Anyone want to place any bets on how this split squad (consisting of Manny Ramirez, James Loney, Jamey Carroll, Hong-Chih Kuo, Ronnie Belliard, Chin-Lung Hu, and Eric Stults, among others) will do?
photo swiped from the blog The Thirsty Pig
From @DodgertownUSA:
UPDATE: From @Dodgers:
After much deliberation, Manny Ramirez will be joining the team trip to Taiwan this March:
The Dodgers will bring 33 players to Taiwan, the club announced Tuesday.
The games are scheduled for March 12, 13 and 14 with a Dodgers split-squad remaining back in Arizona to continue play in the Cactus League.
Ramirez's participation in the goodwill event took on a soap-opera quality over the past week as he flip-flopped from going to not going.
Manager Joe Torre will lead the group that also includes first baseman James Loney, Ronnie Belliard, Taiwan natives Hong-Chih Kuo and Chin-lung Hu, Japan native Robert Boothe and South Korea native Hyang-Nam Choi. The rest of the roster will consist mostly of young players and non-roster invitees. The roster is subject to change before the March 10 departure. Ramirez will make the trip to Taiwan with the Dodgers for a three-game goodwill series against an All-Star team from the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
Nothing like jetlag on a trip to Asia in order to work out the offensive kinks on your most important hitter, who happens to be coming off a year where his output and power stroke declined! Yay!
The Dodgers plan to add one more game to their Taiwan exhibition schedule this spring, bringing the total number of games played in Taiwan to three:
The Dodgers will now play three exhibition games in Taiwan, Bros Sports Marketing Inc said.
"So many people have called us asking if it was possible to add another game after the tickets were sold out last month," an official at the company told AFP.
The 20,000 tickets for the first two exhibition games, priced from 500 to 5,000 Taiwan dollars (about 15 to 150 US), were snapped up in just six hours after they went on sale in January.The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to add one game during their tour of Taiwan next month in response to strong demand from local baseball fans, organisers said Tuesday.
Might this additional game be to pay for Jamie's increased tab for monthly expenses?
According to the Agence France Presse (no link), the remainder of the tickets for the Dodgers' two games in Taiwan this spring training sold out in six hours:
Fans swamped the Internet for 20,000 tickets priced from 500 to 5,000 Taiwan dollars (15 to 156 US) which went on sale Thursday, causing the ticketing system to go down temporarily, said organiser Bros Sports Marketing Inc.
Taiwan is counting on the star power of the Major League outfit to lift fans' spirits after the island's favourite sport was hit by a string of match-fixing scandals. [...]
Taiwanese authorities last year launched an investigation into the latest match-fixing allegations, resulting in the arrest of six bookies and former players.
Prosecutors have declined to say how many players are suspected of involvement in the alleged scam but so far more than 20 have been questioned in the ongoing probe.Tickets for two exhibition games featuring the Los Angeles Dodgers in Taiwan in March sold out in just six hours, an organiser said Friday.
According to the Central News Agency (no link), there was high demand for the first allotment of tickets to the Dodgers' two games to be played in Taipei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan this March:
The Dodgers will be suiting up in Taiwan to play two exhibition games against a team from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taipei, northern Taiwan and in Kaohsiung in the south on March 13 and 14, respectively,
The two-game set will not be part of the Dodgers 2010 Spring Training schedule, and their CPBL opponent has not yet been identified.
Baseball fans queued up for long hours at the ticket window of the Tienmu Baseball Stadium in Taipei for tickets, which cost up to NT$ 5,000 (US$162). The tickets were sold out shortly after sales began at 2 p.m. [...]
Chang Che-chin, who is in charge of the Tienmu ticket window for the event, said that only 1,000 tickets were available on the spot in Taipei and each buyer was allowed only two tickets. Many fans who showed up late failed to obtain tickets.
In Kaohsiung, the situation was similar, as the 3,000 available on-the-spot tickets have been sold out.
Chang said online booking of seats, which total 7,000 for the Taipei game and 15,000 for the one in Kaohsiung, will be available from next week.Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) On-the-spot tickets for the much anticipated games between the U.S. Major League Baseball team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a local team sold like hot cakes in Taipei and Kaohsiung Sunday.
Of the six Taiwanese players to play in the majors, four (Hong-Chih Kuo, Chin-Feng Chen, Chin-Lung Hu and Chin-hui Tsao) have played for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers traveled to China last spring training during spring training in 2008, and this year they're going to Taiwan:
Dodgers to play pair of exhibitions in Taiwan (Dodgers.com)
Looks like Jeff Fuller has been getting things done. Good job, Jeff!
Previously at SoSG: Dodgers, Padres Take Edict to "Establish Baseball Ties in China" a Bit Too Literally
