【Chinese Baseball League Week-5 Digest】

The 2007 Chinese Baseball League entered its 5th week, with the Sichuan Dragons playing the Beijing Tigers in their last homestand, Tianjin playing Wuxi, and Shanghai facing the number one team in their division, the Guangdong Leopards. The results this week met expectations, and there were no surprises.

The main matchup was the Shanghai Eagles visiting the Leopards in Guangdong. With the postseason and division championship on the line, each team opened up a battlestorm of offense and defense. In the Friday game, the Leopards jumped to distant 5 run lead in the first, but in the 8th, with the score at 6-3 in favor of Guangdong, the Shanghai team caught fire and turned the score around 8-3. Despite a homer by Ji Ze in the bottom of the ninth, Shanghai finished with a 10-7 victory. In the Saturday game, Guangdong’s Liu Kai, gave up 6 hits and tossed a 16 strikeout complete game – one of the most amazing pitching performances of the season. In the Sunday game, the Shanghai team rotated young pitchers in and out. The inexperienced arms gave way to 7 runs, and Shanghai finished the away series with one win and two losses.

The Beijing Tigers visited the Sichuan Dragons this past week, with games full of suspense. In a previous matchup with Tianjin at home, the Dragons used the home field to their advantage by claiming several victories. Unwilling to relent to the Dragons, the Tigers battled through as team veteran Sun Lingfeng proved reliable in turning the tides and making the Tigers victorious. In the May 11th game, each team’s starting pitcher threw well. In the top of the ninth, with the Dragons up one run, the Tigers’ bats came alive after a costly error put on base, as Sun Lingfeng capped off the night with a two-run homer, providing the tying and eventual winning runs, as Beijing was able to hold off the Dragons 7-6 in the bottom of the inning. In the Saturday game, Beijing provided too much offense for the Dragons, as the Sichuan pitchers seemed spent from the previous night. The final score of the game was 11-3, as Beijing power hitter Jia Yubing hit another homer. The third game featured a dramatic climax. Sichuan pitchers Zhu Wanyun and Chen Kun came out firing, however because of CBL pitch count limits, Chen Kun had to be pulled in the later innings, and the relief was unable to stop the Tigers bats once again. The Sichuan bullpen finished the game with 10 runs to their credit, as Sichuan lost 6-10.

In the third match-up of the weekend, Tianjin took on the Hopestars in Wuxi. With first place in the division still within striking distance, Tianjin fought hard to capture as many wins, and division points, this weekend. Hou Fenglian, Liu Jianzhong, Luo Yubin and Zhang Wanjun took center stage at the weekend slugfest, winning the first contest 13-3, and turning the second contest around in winning 9-6. The Hopestars had the early lead in the game at 5-0, but under a stellar relief effort from Lv Jiangang, who boasted 8 strikeouts in four innings, Tianjin had the support to come back. In the third game, the Lions easily completed the sweep in winning 9-3.

With the end of the fifth week of games, the May 20th All-Star game in Wuxi is right around the corner. In the standings, the Beijing Tigers and Tianjin Lions share the lead at 11-4, with Sichuan trailing six games back at 5-10. Sichuan’s last two match-ups in the season are against Shanghai and Guangdong, giving them little chance to make headway in their division. In the southeast division, Guangdong leads at 9-6, Shanghai trails at 6-9, and the Hopestars are behind them at 3-12. Guangdong has in essence locked up a post-season birth, and Shanghai is making a strong case to be their competitors, as the cards don’t seem to favor Wuxi. Who eventually will be in the final dance? The answer awaits us after the All-Star game.

RANK		CG	W	L	PCT	Tianjin	Beijing	Sichuan	Shang hai	Guang dong	Jiangsu	HOME	ROAD
①	Tianjin 　Lions	12	8	4	666		2-1	3-3	0-0	3-0	0-0	6-3	2-1
②	Beijing 　Tigers	12	8	4	666	1-2		2-1	3-0	2-1	0-0	2-1	6-3
③	Sichuan 　Dragons	12	5	7	416	3-3	1-2		0-0	0-0	1-2	1-2	4-5

RANK		CG	W	L	PCT	Tianjin	Beijing	Sichuan	Shang hai	Guang dong	Jiangsu	HOME	ROAD
①	Guangdong 　Leopards	12	7	5	583	0-3	1-2	0-0	3-0		3-0	1-2	6-3
②	Shanghai G 　 Eagles	12	5	7	416	0-0	0-3	0-0		0-3	5-1	3-6	2-1
③	Jiang- su Hope- stars	12	3	9	25	0-0	0-0	2-1	1-5	0-3		3-6	0-3

May 11
May,11 18:00 Guangzhou Baseball Field

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Shanghai G　Eagles	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	5	2	10	11	3
Guangdong　Leopards	1	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	7	11	2

May,11 18:00 Jiangsu　WuxiBaseball Field

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tianjin　Lions	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	5		13	14	3
Jiangsu　Hopestars	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0		3	4	4

May,11 14:30 Chengdu Baseball Field

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Beijing Tigers	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	7	10	2
Sichuan　Dragons	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	6	10	1

May 12
May,12 18:00 Guangzhou Baseball Field

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Shanghai G　Eagles	0	0	0	0	1	1	0			2	6	0
Guangdong　Leopards	0	0	0	2	1	2	x			5	7	0

May,12 18:00 Jiangsu　WuxiBaseball Field

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Jiangsu　Hopestars	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	6	7	4
Tianjin　Lions	0	0	0	2	4	3	0	2	x	11	15	2

May,12 14:30 Chengdu Baseball Field

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Beijing Tigers	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	6	1
Sichuan　Dragons	0	0	0	2	2	6	0	0	x	10	10	4

2007/5/13
May 13 09:30 Guangzhou Baseball Field

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Shanghai G　Eagles	0	0	0	0	1	1	0			2	6	0
Guangdong　Leopards	0	0	0	2	1	2	x			5	7	0

May 13 09:30 Chengdu Baseball Field

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tianjin　Lions	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			0	6	2
Jiangsu　Hopestars	0	2	0	0	0	1	x			11	10	0

May 13 09:30 Jiangsu　WuxiBaseball Field

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Beijing Tigers	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	6	1
Sichuan　Dragons	0	0	0	2	2	6	0	0	x	10	10	4

【MVP Information】 May 11～13
Sichuan Dragons vs	Guangdong Leopards vs
Beijing Tigers	Shanghai Eagles
Beijing Jia Yu Bing / Outfielder	Guangdong Liu Kai / Pitcher
Jiangsu Hopestars vs Tianjin Lions
Tianjin Lions Wang Chao/Outfielder

【MVP Commendation ceremony Week-4（May１１）】

Criteria for selection
１） The fans voting results via the internet. （The first fans’ voting in the CBL history）
２） Personal record till Week-4 in 2007
３） Weekly MVP till Week-4 in 2007

Southwest area （16）	Position	Northwest area （16)
Wang Pei（Guangdong）	Pitcher	Lv Jian Gang（Tianjin）
Liu Kai（Guangdong）		Zhang Yun Feng（Tianjin）
Zhang Li（Shanghai）		Yu Lei（Beijing）
Zhang Jun（Shanghai）		Chen Kun（Sichuan）
Huang Quan（Jiangsu）		Zhu Wan Yun（Sichuan）
Lok（Guangdong）	Catcher	Yao Jun Lei（Tianjin）
Dong Chun Hua（Shanghai）		Li You Lin（Sichuan）
Kelvin（Guangdong）	First baseman	Meng Zhao Peng（Tianjin）
Tang Wei、Bill（Guangdong）	Second baseman	Liu Jian Zhong（Tianjin）
Chen Biao（Jiangsu）	Third baseman	Xie Peng（Sichuan ） Sun Wei（Beijing）
Zhang Yu Feng（Shanghai）	Shortstop	Mei Ke（Beijing）
Li Xin Xiong（Guangdong）	Out fielder	Wang Chao（Tianjin）
Qi Ze（Guangdong）		Liu Zhi Cheng（Tianjin）
Wei Zong Hai（Shanghai）		Jia Yu Bing（Beijing）
Chen Hao（Jiangsu）		Feng Fei（Sichuan）