Kuo scratched from final game
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The language here is foreign, the time difference is jarring, but the realities of baseball are exactly the same as back home. No matter how much everyone involved wanted to get the second game of a three-game friendly series between the Dodgers and the Taiwanese Chinese Professional Baseball League All-Stars on Saturday afternoon, Mother Nature had the deciding vote.
After a two-hour rain delay, major league baseball officials and the local sponsor of the event grudgingly had to call the game. All fans who bought tickets for the sold-out event at Tien Mou Stadium will receive refunds, as the game will not be made up. The two teams will take high-speed trains to the southern city of Kaohsiung for Sunday's series' finale.
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"We did everything we could. We feel bad for the fans. I know the Dodgers feel bad for the fans," said Jim Small, Major League Baseball's vice president for Asia. "The Dodgers waited just as long as they could as well, it's just at this point there's not much that can be done."
As officials monitored the weather forecasts, stadium workers took the tarp off the field twice. But each time they did another cell moved in and the field had to be re-covered. At one point, both teams took the field and began throwing and running in the outfield, but the break in the weather didn't last long enough to even start the game.
When it became clear the game would be rained out, many of the Dodgers players grabbed baseballs and hats and threw them into the crowd. Many fans had been patiently waiting in their seats between three and four hours.
"The field was actually in pretty good shape the whole time. But that last storm really hit it pretty hard," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "The players were actually fine, surprisingly. You'd expect them to be in the dugout complaining and such, but they were having a good old time.
"We all wanted the game to be played, it wasn't anything other than Mother Nature changing her mind."
Dodgers pitcher and Taiwanese native Hong-Chih Kuo had been scheduled to start Sunday's game, but has been scratched after experiencing some soreness in his left pitching elbow. Kuo and Torre both said they don't believe the injury is anything major, but because of Kuo's history of arm troubles --he's had four operations on his elbow, including two Tommy John surgeries -- they believed it was prudent to avoid risking another injury.
Kuo said he was nearly in tears as he addressed the Taiwanese media and informed them he would not be able to pitch on Sunday in front of his home fans.
"It's tough, I'm very sad," Kuo said. "I feel OK to pitch but we don't want it to get worse, so I told Joe and Joe told me, 'Let's just shut it down and get ready for the season.' "
Ramona Shelburne is a columnist for ESPNLosAngeles.com
