※ 引述《yyhong68 (come every now and then)》之銘言： : 09/09/2006 12:11 AM ET : Kuo's first start a smash for Dodgers : Rookie lefty dominates NL-best Mets; Furcal, Nomar go deep : By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com : 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." 在記者群逐漸散去時，小小郭說：當我動了第二次手術，我只想要離開回家了。但是 玻璃人Darren Dreifort(以前道奇的prospect)告訴我要堅持下去。D.D.告訴我他也 歷經了兩次手術而且已經年過三十，仍然奮力不懈，所以我應該也要keep going! : 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. 小小郭也從道奇前終結者剛爺及家人那裡得到慰藉並且好友們(小曹？)時常在他down 的時候讓他再high起來(@@")。道奇高層在17歲的他身上投資了一百二十五萬美金， 終於在面對聯盟最嚴峻打線並得勝而得到回報，掃除5天內4敗的陰霾。 : "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." "先發的小小郭和後援的小小郭根本變了個樣。" Furcal說，Furcal打了兩支安打 並貢獻兩分打點。"當一個新秀(指小小郭)從牛棚出來時，他保送了一些人，然後就 被電下場了。若是擔任先發投手時，他就ㄍㄧㄥ住了"（原諒我用注音文..）""這就 是我們所期待的，有人從小聯盟上來拯救大家!" : 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. : ----------------------------------------------------------------------- : "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." : -- Russell Martin, on Hong-Chih Kuo : --------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject : to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. : http://0rz.net/511PK -- 吃個飯 等等在來.. --

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