2007 KONAMI CUP Asia Series China Stars’ Efforts not Enough, Pitching Needs Improvement

This year marks the 3rd year of the Konami Cup Asia Series. The champions of the professional leagues in Japan, Korea, and Chinese Taipei as well as the CBL All-star team battle head to head to determine the champions of Asia. In this international tournament, which is gradually coming to be a fall time tradition for sports in Asia, the CBL All-stars as the “China Stars” once again were on a quest in getting their first victory in the series.

Despite having a lead by 3 points until the 6th inning, the China Stars were unable to sustain their lead, as the decision to change pitchers seemed to backfire. They miss their opportunity to get their first victory.

Nov,8 12:00 Series　Game-1

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
UNI-PRESIDENT LIONS	1	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	2	9	14	0
CHINA STARS	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	5	16	0

[UNI-PRESIDENT LIONS] NELSON FIGUEROA JR. , TSAI SHIH-CHIN , TSENG YI-CHENG - KAO CHIH-KANG
[CHINA STARS] BU TAO , CHEN KUN , XU ZHENG , WANG PEI , YU LEI , GUO YOUHUA - ZHANG ZHENWANG

Game Summary :
The China Stars gave up a run in the top first, but were able to answer back with two runs in the bottom of the first with four consecutive hits, starting with batter Hou Feng Lian (Tianjin) and ending with batter Zhang Yu Feng (Shanghai). Although starting pitcher Bo Tao and relief pitcher Chen Kun (Sichuan) surrendered some base runners, they pitched tenaciously. The China Stars tacked on runs in the second and fifth innings and had a 4-1 lead at the end of sixth. Just when it was beginning to look like the China Stars were on their way to a historical victory, second relief pitcher Xu Jing (Beijing) came in the game in the seventh inning only to surrender a total of six runs including a come-from-behind grand slam to Chen Lien Hung of the Uni-President Lions. T h e p i t c h i n g c h a n g e w a s r e g r e t t a b l e e s p e c i a l l y since the China Stars had more hits than the Uni-President Lions (16) and did not commit any errors in the field.

Nov,9 12:30 Series　Game-3

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
CHINA STARS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			0	4	3
SK WYVERNS	0	1	4	1	3	4	X	0	0	13	10	0

[CHINA STARS] CHEN JUNYI , ZHANG YUNFENG , LIU KAI , ZHANG LI - ZHANG ZHENWANG , JIN LIMIN
[SK WYVERNS] MICHAEL DESPORT ROMANO , KIM KYUNG-TAE , KIM WON-HYONG - PARK KYUNG-OAN , CHUNG SANG-HO

Game Summary:
The China Stars created some opportunities of one-out on 2B and 3B in the first inning with consecutive hits from Sun Ling Feng (Beijing) and Hou Feng Lian (Tianjin) but number four batter Jia Yu Bing (Beijing) and number five batter Zhang Yufeng (Shanghai) were retired by SK starting pitcher Romano and were unable to score. China Stars starting pitcher Chen Junyi (Guang Dong) looked uncomfortable on the mound and was very wild, allowing five walks in three innings, and surrendering a total of five runs, as several errors were committed at crucial points in the game. The relief pitchers were hit hard as well and the game was called after 7 innings due to the 10 run mercy rule. The offense for the China Stars was silent with only four base hits. With his base hit in the first, Hou Feng Lian was successful hitting safely in five consecutive at bats and reaching base in six consecutive plate appearances including the previous game.

Nov,10 12:00 Series　Game-5

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
CHINA STARS	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	3
CHUNICHI DRAGONS	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	0	X	9	10	0

[CHINA STARS] LU JIANGANG , CHEN KUN , WANG PEI , ZHANG LI - ZHANG ZHENWANG
[CHUNICHI DRAGONS] OGASAWARA TAKASHI , SUZUKI YOSHIHIRO , TAKAHASHI AKIFUMI - ODA KOUHEI , SHIMIZU MASAUMI

Game Summary:
Lu Jian Gang (Tianjin), the starting pitcher for the China Stars, joined the Chunichi Dragons for a total of 5 years from 1998, after 1 year trainee terms, registered as a player of the professional baseball during the period of 1999-2002. Against his former teammates, Lu pitched no-hit ball through the first out in the fifth innings, and kept the Dragons’ dugout and fans nervous. Lu pitched until midway through the 7th inning and surrendered five runs. He mainly pitched breaking balls and was quite impressive. The pitchers relieving Lu were hit hard and the China Stars were beaten by the Dragons’ underlying strength. The combination of Sun Ling Feng (Beijing) and Hou Feng Lian (Tianjin) at the top of the order for the China Stars reached base in the first inning and scored the first run(s) of the game. They showed the baseball fans in Asia and the media that they are the catalyst of the Chinese team.

【Comments ｍade by Players after the 2007 KONAMI CUP Asia Series】

☆“This was probably the most frustrating series for us. If we had won the first game, it would have been historical. We definitely let one get away. But we’re not giving up yet. After we get back to China, we’ll work on improving our pitching, which is our problem area, and we’ll continue improving our hitting which has improved a great deal already.”
～ Zhang Yu Feng (China Stars Captain: Shanghai)
*Zhang Yu Feng helped out his pitchers time after time with his stellar defense.

☆“Thanks to our visits to Japan and the Unites States, our offense has improved a great deal. But I don’t think we’ll be able to beat good teams u n l e s s w e i m p r o v e o u r p i t c h i n g a n d d e f e n s e . As a pitcher, the problem area I saw in all three games was the lack of good relief pitching. I think we have pitchers that can start the game off on the right track for us, but we don’t have middle relievers or closers that can sustain leads. This is something that needs to change. As a personal goal, my aim is to strengthen my stamina. I hope to strengthen my body so that I can pitch beyond the 6th inning.”
～ Lu Jiangang （Tianjin）
*Lu Jiangang pitched well up until the middle innings against the Chunichi Dragons.

China Stars Cheering Squad showed the greatest support yet】

Every year, the KONAMI CUP Asia Series is filled with elegant dancing by cheer leaders and unique cheering styles from various countries which adds a great deal of flavor to the event. This year was no different, and Tokyo dome was filled with an air of excitement with cheers in different languages, but the China Stars cheering squad was impressive as well. Die hard Chinese baseball fans in Japan brought China Stars cheering flags and cheering sticks to the game and chanted “Jia you! Zhongguo!” (Let's go China!) throughout the game. The China Stars were able to go out and play hard thanks to the great support and cheering of such fans. Surely, they will back after the Beijing Olympics next year to show even greater support and will be routing for their team with passion.