[新聞] 外電 Kuo's first start a smash for Dodgers已刪文

看板HCKuo作者ottokang (貓貓的大玩偶)時間18年前 (2006/09/09 12:41)推噓8(8推 0噓 3→)

留言11則, 9人參與討論串1/1

NEW YORK -- Hong-Chih Kuo is from Taiwan, but the Dodgers have been treating him like fine china. They've feared that a left elbow twice reconstructed by Tommy John surgery couldn't withstand the demands of a starting pitcher, so they had the 25-year-old relieve all year. For at least one huge emergency start against the Mets Friday night, he proved his caretakers happily wrong. As Dodgers rookies have done all season, Kuo stepped up in a crucial game and delivered like a veteran. Pitching exclusively from the stretch in his first career start, he threw six scoreless innings in a 5-0 shutout win that kept the Dodgers in first place and will keep Kuo in the rotation for at least another start. Kuo, who won his first career game, received home runs from Rafael Furcal and Nomar Garciaparra, but needed nothing more than the two gift runs that scored in the first inning on David Wright's throwing error. And somewhere out there in retirement land, another star-crossed former Dodgers pitcher should take some satisfaction in knowing that Kuo might not have done this without his help. "When I had to have the second operation, I thought about quitting and going home, but Darren Dreifort told me to keep going," Kuo said, after the waves of Taiwanese reporters subsided. "He said he was 30 years old and he had two surgeries, and he was still pitching, and I should keep going, too." Kuo also credited guidance from Eric Gagne and support from family and friends for picking him up when he repeatedly felt down. Previous Dodgers administrations, having invested a $1.25 million signing bonus in Kuo as a 17-year-old, stuck with him, and the reward came against the toughest lineup in the league with the Dodgers reeling from four losses in five days. "He looked 100 percent different as a starter from a reliever," said Furcal, whose torrid second half continued with two hits and two runs. "When a rookie comes out of the bullpen and walks a couple guys, they take him out of the game. As a starter, he stays in. This is what we were looking for now, somebody coming up from the Minor Leagues and helping you out." Kuo battled butterflies in the first inning when he issued two of his three walks, but got a major assist when catcher Russell Martin threw out Jose Reyes trying to steal third base. He sailed after that, not allowing his first hits until the fifth inning, finishing with three hits allowed and seven strikeouts in six innings. Kuo used 90 pitches, some reaching 96 mph, and said he could have gone longer on what was, fittingly, Taiwanese Heritage Night at Shea Stadium. "His fastball is really sneaky, which is why he gets a lot of swings and misses," said Martin. "His slider was tight tonight. The difference in him starting and relieving is that he has the time to establish his fastball, and when the hitters cheat, he can use his off-speed [pitches] more. He has the stuff to face a lineup two or three times." Kuo agrees with all of that, and added that as a starting pitcher, he has sufficient time to loosen up that bionic arm, compared with the sometimes-hurried warmups required from a reliever. "I feel better warming up as a starter," he said. "I'm more comfortable, but I do whatever they tell me to." Manager Grady Little said he will tell Kuo he's starting Thursday in Chicago against the Cubs. He started Friday as a fill-in for the injured Chad Billingsley, who is expected to return to the rotation next weekend. Kuo could then emerge as the replacement for Mark Hendrickson, who has been sent to the bullpen. "[Kuo] deserves to have another chance," said Little. "At least one or two more, and maybe 10 years worth." Little was honest explaining why it took the Dodgers five months to figure out that Kuo should be a starter. "Maybe he's showed where his strongest desires were, but the situation in Spring Training, after all of the arm problems of the past, we were a little bit scared to use him for a length of time," Little said. "But he showed he was healthy at Triple-A starting." Kuo was demoted to Triple-A twice after unsuccessful bullpen stints with the Dodgers this year, and was told to start at Las Vegas because added innings would provide additional opportunity to refine his command. As recently as two weeks ago, management still considered him a reliever. But the unraveling of the back end of the Dodgers rotation and Kuo's success starting at Las Vegas led to Friday night's assignment. And persistence kept him in the sport after he suffered his elbow injury in spectacularly tragic fashion. In his professional debut on April 10, 2000, he struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced, blew out his elbow ligament, made two more pitches to end the inning, then underwent a first Tommy John surgery. He resumed pitching 14 months later, but problems persisted and he required the procedure again, forcing him to miss the entire 2003 season. He also underwent another operation to clear scar tissue from the transplanted ligament, a common side effect. He pitched in only three games in 2004 and entered the 2005 season with a total of 40 1/3 innings pitched in five years. Finally healthy, Kuo made up for lost time with a meteoric rise last year that began at Class A Vero Beach and ended with a September callup to the Major Leagues from Double-A. This is his third stint with the big-league club this year. 推"His fastball is really sneaky" -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 222.157.114.155