Chinese Baseball League Week-3 Digest

The 2007 Chinese Baseball League has entered its 3rd successful week, with the Tianjin Lions battling the Sichuan Dragons in Chengdu, the Guangdong Leopards taking on the Hopestars at Wuxi, and the Eagles taking on the Tigers in Shanghai. Similar to last week, the games this week were disturbed by rainy weather, as southern China entered its rainy season.

The Tianjin Lions were on the road for the first time this season, traveling to Chengdu where the Dragons enjoyed their first homestand. The Dragons have had a quite impressive season so far, and were not to be overlooked as they took on the first place Lions in an important league series matchup. However, last minute breakdowns by the Dragons rendered them unable to pull the trigger on scoring opportunities, and they lost the first two games 4-11 and 1-11. In the Sunday game, the Lions gave their starters a rest and used backup players. Not to be shown up, the Dragons sent Chinese national team starting pitcher Chen Kun to the mound, who tossed a nine-inning, one-run performance, winning his first game this season, 6-1.

The Guangdong Leopards faced off against the Hopestars in a three-game set in Wuxi, and gave them little hope on their way to sweeping all three games, continuing their win-streak from last week’s series. The sweep handed the Hopestars their first threegame losing streak of the season. The scores of the games were 7-4, 7-0, and 12-1. In the Saturday game, Guangdong pitcher Wang Pei gave a 10 strikeout, complete game shutout performance, sacrificing only 3 hits. In the Sunday game, the Guangdong team scored six runs in the seventh inning, with Lin Xiaofan hitting a three-run shot to cap off the rally.

The Shanghai Eagles faced off against rival Beijing Tigers, trying to end a three-game skid despite historically poor series success against the Tigers. The Tigers relied on strong hitting and pitching to silence the Eagles, winning all three games, and sending the Eagles even further into the bottom of the standings with a six-game losing streak. Scores from the three games were: 6-2, 8-5, and 8-1. In the Friday game, Beijing cleanup hitter Jia Yubing hit a two-run homerun, the first for the Tigers this season. With their six-game skid, the Eagles sit alone at the bottom of the Southern standings.

In the Northern standings, Tianjin has a one-game lead over the Beijing Tigers with 7 wins to Beijing’s wins,with the Sichuan Dragons trailing behind. In the Southern standings, the Guangdong Leopards shot to the top of the standings with six straight wins, with the Hopestars behind them, followed by the Eagles.

Next week’s games will take place during the May Golden Holiday in China, with more amazing performances for fans. Beijing will face off against the Leopards in Guangdong’s Huangcun field, the Dragons will be trying to shake off their losing streak in Tianjin against the Lions at Dodgers Stadium, and the Eagles will hope to use homefield advantage in their games against the Hopestars.

With almost half the regular season games finished, each team will be battling tough to win a spot in the 2007 playoffs.

RANK		CG	W	L	PCT	Tianjin	Beijing	Sichuan	Shang hai	Guang dong	Jiangsu	HOME	ROAD
①	Tianjin 　Lions	9	7	2	777		2-1	2-1	0-0	3-0	0-0	5-1	2-1
②	Beijing 　Tigers	9	6	3	666	1-2		2-1	3-0	0-0	0-0	2-1	4-2
③	Sichuan 　Dragons	9	3	6	333	1-2	1-2		0-0	0-0	1-2	1-2	2-4

RANK		CG	W	L	PCT	Tianjin	Beijing	Sichuan	Shang hai	Guang dong	Jiangsu	HOME	ROAD
①	Guangdong 　Leopards	9	6	3	666	0-0	0-0	0-0	3-0		3-0	0-0	6-3
②	Jiang- su Hope- stars	9	3	3	333	0-0	0-0	2-1	1-2	0-3		3-6	0-0
③	Shanghai G 　Eagles	9	2	4	222	0-0	0-3	0-0		0-3	2-1	0-6	2-1

2007/4/27
18:00 JiangsuWuxiBaseball Stadium

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Guangdong	2	0	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	7	10	0
Jiangsu　Hopestars	0	0	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	4	7	1

18:00 JiangsuWuxiBaseball Stadium

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tianijin Lians	3	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	5	11	19	1
Sichuan Dragons	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	4	12	5

April 20 14:30 Shanghai Baseball Stadium

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Beijing Tigers	1	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	6	15	4
Shanghai G　Eagles	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	4	3

2007/4/28
18:00 JiangsuWuxiBaseball Stadium

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Guangdong	2	0	1	0	2	0	0	1	1	7	9	1
Jiangsu　Hopestars	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2

April 27 14:30 Chengdu Baseball Stadium

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tianijin Lians	0	0	0	3	0	3	0	5		11	9	0
Sichuan Dragons	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	5	7

April 27 14:30 Shanghai Baseball Stadium

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Beijing Tigers	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	0	1	8	10	2
Shanghai G　Eagles	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	x	5	7	4

2007/4/29
April 29 9:30 JiangsuWuxiBaseball Stadium

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Guangdong	1	1	0	0	2	0	6	2		12	17	1
Jiangsu　Hopestars	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	4	2

April 29 9:30 Chengdu Baseball Stadium

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tianijin Lians	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	5	2
Sichuan Dragons	0	0	1	1	0	3	1	0	x	6	9	1

April 29 9:30 Shanghai Baseball Stadium

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Beijing Tigers	0	0	0	1	1	1	4	1	0	8	13	0
Shanghai G　Eagles	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	2

【Most Valuable Player’s information 】 April 27～29
Shanghai Eagles vs Beijing Tigers	Sichuan Dragons vs Tianjin Lions
BeijingTigers Jia Yu Bing/ Outfielder	Tianjin Lions Liu Zhi Cheng/ Outfielder
（Shanghai area leading hitter・1home run）	（Chengdu area leading hitter）
Jiangsu Hopestars vs Guangdong Leopards
Guangdong Leopards Wang Pei/ Pitcher
（Pitch a shutout on April 28)

【Commendation ceremony（April 27）】