TAINAN, Taiwan – Today's game has been rained out. I have noticed that it rains almost every six hours here. It's crazy the amount of rain. I have been told that it is normal, so I have been going with the flow. Since I got here, I have watched two games, two off days and three rain outs.

Like I said, A LOT of rain.

During the rain-outs the team stays and gets their work in. In America I remember the second it was officially rained out we took off! Of course some guys stayed and did some work, but the difference here is the whole team stayed and made sure everyone ran lifted and got their work in.

With my days and nights still a little messed up, I find myself waking up at all hours in the night. My body just has not settled in yet but I am getting to bed early and waking up early.

With the off day here are some interesting facts about the league:

There are only four teams in Taiwan in the C.P.B.L. (Chinese Professional Baseball League)

• Uni-lions (My team)
• Brother Elephants
• Lamigo Monkeys
• Eda Rhinos

Two teams in the south and two in the north, but no team is more than 4 1/2 hours away by bus and two hours away by high-speed rail.

The season is 120 games, broken up into halves.

If you win the first half, you're automatically in the playoffs. If you win both first and second half you advance to the championship series with a 1-0 lead in the best of seven format.

If a different team wins each half, the best overall record goes to the championship. The second and third place records will play a best of five series for the right to play in the championship.

The All Star break is 14 days long. The reason for the long break is that there are so many rain-outs (like today) that the league gives a buffer for those make-up games to be played. I like this system as opposed to having double headers all the time. Think of snow days in the public school system.

Mondays are all off days and sometimes Tuesday is off, as well.

Starters will pitch once every six…

TAINAN, Taiwan – My first day in Taiwan was a long one. My 7 p.m. flight from Tampa to L.A.( five-hour flight with a three-hour layover) to Taipei, Taiwan (14 hours) to Kaohsiung, Taiwan (1 hour) then the 50-minute drive to Tainan ... this seemed to take forever.

Add this to me basically losing two days: one in the flight and the other by crossing the International Date Line. Even with this long trip my excitement was evident the whole time. Over 15 seasons is the United States, Mexico and now Asia, my career has taken a long road but its given me so much. Today starts another chapter!

Even after the long flight/trip I am still excited and energetic about being here in Taiwan. Before we do anything I head to the ballpark and do a meet and greet with the front office and stadium workers. I then fill out the paperwork required by the league. This process takes a couple hours. After this is complete, my interpreter Henry and the team secretary Alex take me to get some basic needs and get me settled in to the apartment. All told I am finished with this process by 1 p.m. Taiwan time, 1 a.m. my time.

The bus to the ballpark leaves at 2:10 p.m. As we ride the bus to the park, I notice a large amount of scooters on the road. It seems to be the way to travel here. I notice the character letters on all the signs and I can't help to think they look really cool but I know I have no chance at discerning what they mean.

At the park, baseball is baseball. I am just worn out and my physical activities have not started yet. I throw a bull pen and get some light work in just enough to start the process of converting me to a starter.

Game time rolls around and the crowd is loud! Lots of drums and someone leading chants for each team. We're in first place and we’re playing the second place team. You can feel the excitement in the air. Playing baseball for winning teams is just awesome. "Winning, you know, it's like way better than losing." Great way to put it, Nuke.

After the…

Hello again, OnMilwaukee.com readers! Well, I am back posting a little insight to my personal baseball journey. It's been a very long one, from being drafted by the Devil Rays (yes they were the Devil Rays back then) in 1999 to stops in Milwaukee, Miami, Texas back to Milwaukee and even a stop in the Cubs organization.

This year I have been traveling abroad in search of baseball with a paycheck. My first stop was in Mexico.

Mexico was a very different baseball experience, to say the least. Even though it was different, I pitched well! I saved five out of six games compiling a 1.65 ERA. Things were going well on the baseball field but the situation wasn't perfect. I have much appreciation for the Monterrey Sultanes but in the end it was time for me to move on.

After coming home from Mexico, I considered getting a real job. I do baseball lessons but it doesn't bring in enough money to provide for my family. Other options were all sales oriented ... cars, real estate and even an option to push mortgages. I was seriously considering one of these options when I got a call from a friend of mine saying he had a job for me. I was excited to hear the job would provide for my family and was still in baseball.

This job came with a couple catches: I had to change my agent, and the pitching job was in Asia.

Changing my agent was hard. I had developed a solid relationship with him and he was part of a new, growing company. It's a tough conversation but end of the day it was a business decision.

Going to Asia, (Taiwan to be exact) was exciting and scary all at the same time. Twelve hours difference in time, 17 hours of travel, and a new continent to see and take in. All amazing things that playing baseball has provided me with.

So, here I am. I am going to be a starting pitcher for the Uni-Lions number 73. I had good years in that number. I hope I have a few more in me.

I look forward to showing you a little insight to my baseball travels. Please tell me what you think in …

It was a great run this season. However, in the post-season, the pitching just did not show up. All year, winning all those games came down to a lack of big games from the Brewers' starting pitchers. You can not blame it on the hitting; the defense was not great, but it came down to pitching.

Shaun Marcum not lasting more than one inning set the tone for the whole game, and it turned into a home run derby. The poor pitching performance was somewhat predictable as Marcum had done nothing this post season to validate the faith his manager had in him. Narveson who came in afterward did not fair much better.

All said and done, the Brewers had no one. Well, you could argue that they could have pitched Gallardo on short rest. Brewers Manager Ron Roenicke was quoted as saying that Gallardo would be unavailable – I would have to think that was his call. I know Gallardo; he is a bulldog. I get the move but I hate to leave a fight that I lost with a bullet still in the chamber.

Edwin Jackson also did his fare share of batting practice, letting the Brewers back in the game and not stepping on the Brewers' throats when they were down. I feel Jackson would be a great sign for the Brewers as he is a free agent at the end of the season.

Still having problems communicating

As I stated in my last blog when Marcum pitched, he and Lucroy had issues with getting on the same page. This game Lucroy has his fingernails painted white (a normal thing catchers do), something he didn't do last time. This is to help the pitcher see the signs better. This time out Marcum still had to shake to get to the pitch he wanted and most of the time he was shaking to an off-speed pitch. As stated before, when you're making a pitch even or behind in the count you want to not have to shake to an off-speed pitch. Doing so gives the hitter a heads up on what might be coming.

Pujols calling time out to let Prince have a few more seconds of cheering was very classy. This is what St. Louis portrays its…