Chin-Hui Tsao and Hong-Chih Kuo: Bitter, bitter, BITTER rivals
Or more accurately, dudes who get along, but go way, way, WAY back. The pair who made MLB history yesterday as the first Taiwanese pitchers to throw in the same game have actually been playing together since their little league games in their homeland (where, incidentally, two Taiwanese pitchers in the same game isn't close to as big a deal). Their travel teams often squared off and Tsao remembers Kuo as a (then) outfielder with a pretty mean stick and some good speed. He also recalls Kuo's teams winning at every level, especially high school. "His team was always the champion," shrugged Tsao.
And he would know, since Kuo's squad beat his to snag a title. Kuo was a pitcher by then and Tsao's final season saw the two pitted in a mound battle. Guess who won that skirmish. "He tried to hit a home run, too," laughed Tsao. "He swung at every pitch." And, according to Tsao, jumps at the opportunity to remind him who walked away with high school bling. Hey, it's all good fun, right? Kuo owned up to the ribbing and vividly remembers the childhood and teenage years spent battling Tsao, with only one discrepency in their stories. He actually recalls Tsao as the better hitter. But he did confirm Tsao's tale of him swinging at everything without me even bringing it up.
Hopefully, the memories of glory days and owning Chin-Hui Tsao can sustain Kuo this evening as he's on a flight to Vegas. In a move that took a few media types by surprise, Kuo was optioned to AAA-Vegas, with D.J. Houlton being called up to pitch. I'm also guessing Kuo was thrown for a loop because he talked before the game about last night's lousy start, but didn't give any indication that he'd be expecting such a decision. Grady Little also didn't let us in on the impending roster realignment, although he did drop some "looking back on it, those were kinda hints" statements.
For example...
Little admitted he didn't know exactly what he wanted to do with Kuo from here. Granted, the question was seemingly framed more with the idea of just taking him out of the rotation, but still, lines presented for "in between-style" reading. Little then described his remedy options as simply "whatever it takes to make him better." Asked if Kuo was still scheduled for his next start, he responded by asking what time it was before finally giving the purse-lipped affirmative. There was also the matter of Little saying he'd confidently throw a former starter back into the rotation and, if needed, they'd consider a minor leaguer for the rotation and Houlton himself was a possibility.
In retrospect, you didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure this one out. You just needed to be sharper than, say, me.
But despite the demotion, Little didn't seem down on Kuo at the moment, just realistic. "I think with this young man, I see more of an experience issue. When you look at his whole career, he hasn't had that many innings to pitch. He's kind of been thrown into the fire here, last year little bit. This year a little bit. but still very few innings pitched of professional baseball."
Tonight's Lineup
Padres
Giles The Elder - LF
Giles The Elder's bro - 2B
Adrian Gonzalez - 1B
Mike Cameron - CF
Josh Bard - C
Kevin Kouzmanoff - 3B
Jose Cruz Jr. - LF
Jake Peavy - P
Dodgers
Furcal - SS
Pierre - CF
Martin - C
Kent - 2B
Gonzo - LF
Nomar - 3B
Loney - 1B
Ethier - RF
Penny - P
-AK
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Maybe Nomar is waking up. That would really be a big lift. I think he looks good at 3rd. Tonights HR was sorely needed by him. Maybe the Dodgers can pull out this 1-1 tie.
Posted by: Package | June 30, 2007 at 09:05 PM
top of the lineup has go to come through...Thank God Peavey is finally out of this game...maybe we can score some runs now
Posted by: K T USN | June 30, 2007 at 09:24 PM
Game Over Tomko in the game.........unfortunately it has the exact opposite meaning compared to when Gagne had the nickname.
Posted by: wausroamer | June 30, 2007 at 10:34 PM
Tomko did it again...Pods now 2-1
Posted by: K T USN | June 30, 2007 at 10:37 PM
We need to get rid of tomko...3-1 pods
Posted by: K T USN | June 30, 2007 at 10:38 PM
Tomko has to be released. There's no room on a championship level team for a pitcher as poor as he is. Half a year of this is long enough.
Posted by: Scott | June 30, 2007 at 10:47 PM
i think betemit should have been released instead of anderson
TOMKO and hendrickson have no business being on the team
mark my words, look back at the end of the season, and we will not make the playoffs because of these three players
horrible decision-making by management
they should be held accountable at the end of the season when we dont make the playoffs
time for a new coach and gm
Posted by: dave m | June 30, 2007 at 11:01 PM
Geez, when Tomko gets in the game, it's almost a guarantee he's going to give up runs. Hey Colleti, how 'bout this for a great trade....send Tomko over to the Padres or D'Backs in exchange for ANYONE BREATHING (even the batboy will do, at least he'll be more productive than Tomko). That way, the Dodgers are guaranteed to score when Tomko comes in to pitch!!!
Posted by: TrueBlueDodger | June 30, 2007 at 11:14 PM
Another lost opportunity. Padres will sweep tomorrow and the Dodgers won't beat them in a game again this year. It's really getting old how the Padres utterly dominate the Dodgers every year, no matter how punchless a team they field.
The Padres have no business being in first place with the weak lineup they have but, again, thanks to the Dodgers, there they are.
Obviously, as soon as Tomko came in, I knew the game was over. It was. Why Grady didn't leave Tsao in for another inning is a mystery to me. Ditto for the 8th inning: why on earth was Pierre sacrificing Furcal with no outs? Hello? Why do we even have Furcal at the top of the order? If the inning was managed correctly, Furcal would have stolen second during Pierre's at bat. Then, Pierre could have bunted him to third while attempting to bunt for a base hit. Martin's ground ball to the right side would have scored Furcal with the go-ahead run, with Saito ready for the 9th.
In that situation, I think it can be fairly said that the decision to give up an out (which is almost never a good decision -- I'm with the AL, and Davey Johnson, on this one) lost the game.
Posted by: RC | June 30, 2007 at 11:19 PM
Dead on RC... why sacrifice an out, especially at the end of a game? Pitchers are pretty much the only ones who should be sacrificing anyone....
Posted by: Dodger Fan | July 01, 2007 at 01:11 AM