Chen promoted to Dodgers; 51s fall again

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

Maybe Chin-Feng Chen won't break all those franchise records after all.

Chen, a Las Vegas 51s outfielder and power hitter for parts of the last two seasons, got the call after Monday's 6-4 loss to the Tacoma Rainiers that he had been called up to Los Angeles to fill in for reserve outfielder Jayson Werth.

"I don't think he believed me at first, because we screw around with him so much," joked 51s manager Terry Kennedy when asked about Chen's reaction to being promoted.

Chen was 1-for-3 with a solo home run Monday, his first of the 2004 season. His 53 home runs with the 51s are fifth best in the team's 21-year history, one back of fourth place Joe Lansford and 14 behind leader Phil Hiatt.

Chen's name appears on a few leaders lists -- his 521 total bases put him two behind third-place Jerald Clark and 70 back from leader Joe Lansford. 173 RBIs ties him with Jerry Davis for ninth in franchise history, 85 back from Lansford, the leader.

But perhaps most dubious is Chen's place on the franchise record for most strikeouts. Five games into the 2004 season, Chen has five strikeouts, giving him 271 in his two-plus years at Triple-A. Dusty Allen is third on the strikeouts list at 273, and leader Robert Nelson is within reach at 318.

Chen had 26 homers in each of his first two seasons here, but was able to cut down his strikeout numbers from 160 in 2002 to 106 in 2003.

Kennedy said he's been told of the change in Chen's plate performance.

"Frank Howard once said a player doesn't really learn how to hit until you're at 2,500 at bats," Kennedy said, glancing over Chen's career stats. Chen has 2,470 in five years in the minors. "George (Hendrick, the 51s' hitting coach) tells me he improves every year, and he has even a better approach this year."

The anomaly in Chen's stats is that he doesn't appear in the top ten games played, nor at-bats.

He is a hero in Taiwan, after helping to lead his team to the Little League World Series in 1990, then hit .444 with three home runs in the 1998 Asian Games, which included a win over Japan. Chen was the first Taiwanese player to appear in a major league game.