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Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
He struck out 3 in the game, and setup another milestone, 202 Ks on the season, passing the 200 K record by ex-Junguo-Bear William Flynt by two. Lin went to the mound in the 7th inning and struck out Zheng Chang-Ming to tie William's old record. Then he struck out Tong Zhonghui to break the record, and then Guo Dai-Yong for his 202nd strike out in the 8th. There are three season games remaining. It's possible for him to pitch more innings in the games remaining as he has turned into a reliever, under the direction of Mr. Kaku, who is an ex-Seibu pitcher and now Cobra's Kantoku.
I think it's relatively hard to break his own record in the years to come for anyone other than him. There are two reasons. First, because even possible candidates like Taiwanese pitcher Yang Jian-Fu, Japanese pitcher Yokota Hosanori, and Dominican Pitcher Osvaldo Martinez, have only 154-155 strike outs till now, almost 50 Ks behind. The second reason may be his SO/9 rate which is higher than 9, which is very rare for native Taiwanese pitchers, who may continue playing for the CPBL long after overseas Taiwanese players have proven to be not so good.