Titans Baseball Club - Philippines :: e-TITANS NEWS vol 31

Alabang, Muntinlupa City – Balls were flying all over the field on Opening Day as the highly anticipated 2004 Titans-Globe Platinum 2004 Baseball League swept the nation’s sporting scene last Sunday at the lush and pristine Alabang Country Club Baseball Field.

Thanks to a selfless organization, the sons of Philippine baseball turned their backs on the political turmoil and spoils surrounding the game and built a field of dreams that promises to take sport to the next level.

Korean Business Association of the Philippines president Bang Woo Lee serenaded the festivities with the day’s ceremonial first pitch and epitomized Titans Baseball’s attraction for foreign markets. Mr. Lee represented the expansion team Korea Titans, who were clad in white behind their trademark red letters. The Korea Titans however were derailed 33-4 by the Loyola Heights Blue Eagles.

Herbert Salvador rung up a couple of strikeouts as his Makati Titans looked sharp early on against expansion team Cebuana Lhullier. The Lhullier team then played the role of league favorite when rallying for a 23-5 pasting of Makati the Titans behind the seasoned bats of Kiko Ramos, Marlon Caspillo, and Larry Icban.

The Marikina Golden Bears’ Sky Rosales clubbed the league’s first homerun by turning on a first inning fastball by Emmerson Atilano as the Maristians trounced the Alabang Titans 18-3. Last season’s MVP Joseph Orillana, acquired from defending champion Antipolo City, picked up where he left off, closing the last inning in his Marikina debut despite giving up a homerun to Alabang 1st baseman Jaba Natividad.

The defending champion Antipolo City ACG and the expansion team Alabang Athletics enter the fray next weekend.

Philippine Tot Baseball Association president Boy Tingzon served his traditional notice of the league as a model for streamlining the nation’s grassroots programs by being among the honored guests.

The action on the field trickled behind the white lines as well. The Alabang Titans’ Rommel Roque, an early bird scouting the Makati-Cebuana game, was caught wandering onto arch-rival Makati’s dugout, setting the stage for some white hostilities even as the teams first meeting this season is still five weeks away.

That said, the summer of 2004 once again heralds the greatest baseball show in the nation. And as the voice behind the field utters: ‘Play Ball! You’re in the game!’