Week 6 Power Rankings

4 plus 2 (not shown) fingers for how many times Nexen won this week.

Week 6 win/loss are in brackets. There were no cancelled games this week.

1. Nexen Heroes (6-0)

The story of the KBO. I don't readily recall a this long winning streak this side of the SK Wyverns in a while. It's the first 6 game winning streak this season for any team, and the Heroes top their 5 game winning streak they recorded last month. Their 19-14-1 after 34 is good for 2nd in the league after SK. This week, the Heroes beat very good teams too: Lotte and Samsung. And not only that, they absolutely pounded Lotte 26-3 total runs in that series and they outsmarted last year's KBO champions Samsung, especially in game 3 of that series when they scored first and last to win 5-3. 

2. LG Twins (5-1)

LG's fight for legitimacy was helped with a strong series win over first place SK and by sweeping their cross locker room rivals Doosan. Second year import Ben Jukich is 5-0 with a 2.13 and reliever Yoo Won-sang has a .94 ERA. LG's playoff hopes are far from secure however. As a team, their offence is pretty mediocre (.252 team BA - second last in the league, 289 hits - third last) and their pitching staff is a 2 or 3 man operation. Bong Jeung-geun has 6 saves however in his new life as a closer. LG will be managing their resources intelligently to get into the post season this season.

3. SK Wyverns (4-2)

SK started the week weak not being able to get past LG, but SK took advantage of a Hanhwa series to end the week with an expected sweep. SK has been strong all season so this dip in play still has them at the top of the standings with a 19-12-1 record. The pennant is not theirs as Nexen has an identical record plus 2 more losses and is breathing down SK's necks. You know, it would be great if this turns into an entertaining west of Seoul rivalry. Park Hui-su is 3-0, 1.08 as the best reliever on staff. 

4. Samsung Lions (2-4)

Started the week with a well played series win over rivals Kia. But Samsung was steamrolled by the Nexen train to damage their egos and quest for the post season. Lee Seung-yup is fitting in very well and he is an elite hitter on this team. Vet catcher Jin Gap-yong is hitting .361 with 30 hits. Overall, offense is lacking in Daegu and the Lions need to either start playing better small ball or start hitting more home runs. Samsung's next opponents are Lotte and SK.

5. Lotte Giants (3-3)

Steamrolled by Nexen and then took out their frustrations on a limp Kia team. Lotte is on the verge of an early season bounce back as they hang onto a playoff position after week six. Part time second baseman Park Joon-saw had a great week and he is on a 4 game hitting streak. His current average is .727 but don't expect the career .212 hitter to be Lotte's saviour. This week, Lotte was absolutely humiliated by Nexen (see above). That series served as an exclamation point for Lotte's recent woes but the Kia sweep will hopefully symbolize the league's showcase team's path back on the right course.

6.  Hanhwa Eagles (2-4)

This is relatively a decent week for the Eagles but they can't seem to replicate their former losing cousins Nexen's success in getting out of the standings basement. Ryu Hyun-jin is again carrying this team but he is throwing well over 100 pitches every start. Park Chan-ho has been a very welcome, if inconsistent, addition but not someone to build a team towards the future with. Its been reported that he is a very good veteran locker room presence and I hope this leads to some good seeds being planted within the Eagles organization. 

7.  Kia Tigers (1-5)

Last week we were discussing how manager Sun Dong-yul will guage this week's performance and determine the road Kia will take. It looks like a full scale re-build is in Kia's tarot cards. In their Sunday loss to the also struggling Lotte Giants, each pitcher with Kia gave up at least a run. And Ahn Chi-hong is Kia's best hitter with a .302 BA and 3 home runs. Keep in mind that Nexen SS Kang Jeong-ho leads the league with 13 home runs and Eagle Kim Tae-gyun leads averages with .451. Kia's best is that far back from the league's pace setters and this is the reason why the Tigers are losing.

8. Doosan Bears (1-5)

A nightmarish week has the Bears falling out of a playoff position. Lim Tae-hoon's fall from grace illustrates what's happening with the team as a whole. After being seemingly unhittable, Lim's game ERA's from his last 3 appearances read 10.38, 14.54,  and 6.75. Lim's on a 3 game losing streak and Doosan's ace in name Kim Sun-woo has been very weak with a 6.18 ERA right now. A Jamsil sweep by their stadium rivals LG had to have put a big dent in Doosan's collective ego. Second year import Dustin Nippert is the man on the staff with a 5-2, 2.67. Nippert is the arm to build this season around as Doosan tries to get into the post season after failing last season.

Headlines: May 17, 2012 ~ Thursday

Sorry for the less than frequent updates. I'd like to post every morning and every afternoon, but I seem to be caught up in professional and personal duties, which include watching the NBA and NHL playoffs every night. Either way, I hope to get into a position where I can be updating at least every other day.

Lotte Woes

Lotte Giants' 8-0 thrashing by their less celebrated opponents Nexen Heroes meant much more than just one bad game. It was Lotte's 9th loss this month and drops them to 4th place. They were, of course, the best team in the league at the beginning of the season.

Last night, Lotte's Shane Youman pitched by far his worst outing so far. He went 6 innings giving up 7 but he did strike out 4 and only walked 3. His 3-2, 3.35 ranks him as one of the leaders on Lotte's rotation after 7 starts.

Back to Lotte's woes, Lotte started May with a 2-1 series win against Nexen, but managed to win just once in their last 9 games. The team has scored an average of 2.7 runs a game during this span. And they have let in an average of 6.1 runs. The team has been shut out 2 times this month and have only scored more than 6 runs in a game 3 times.

Kia: A Fork in the Road


Kia Tigers find themselves at a fork in the road. Are they a team with playoff aspirations, or will they go full steam towards a re-build.

Sitting at second last place 2 years removed from their 2009 Korean Series win, manager Sun Dong-yul is said to be deciding whether to push his players to the brink or move towards shedding and re-building. Sun is said to be a quick decider and fast mover, and Kia's results from the next few series' will determine his moves.

The Tigers are currently 12-14-2 on the season and have been sputtering along in the month of May with a 4-4 record in their last 8 games. Their .244 team batting average represents the worst of the league and their 4.55 team ERA is the second from the bottom in that category.

Kia's Yoon Suk-min goes against Samsung's best non-import pitcher Jang Won-sam at 6:20pm tonight.

Suprise! It's a Party!

Hanhwa Eagles pitching top brass Park Chan-ho, Ryu Hyun-jin, Son Shin-young, and other team members surprised youngster Yoo Chang-shik with a surprise birthday party May 15.

Mr. Yoo had other reasons to celebrate his 20th as he was the starter on this day against league leaders Doosan Bears. For a last place team, his 5 innings and 5 hits and 4 earned runs in a no decision may actually have been a good accomplishment. Hanhwa didn't fall in the standings after this loss after all (they're already last).

Hanhwa's Ahn Seung-min reportedly notified Yoo that the "seniors are calling for him" and Mr. Yoo hopped to it like a good junior. When he entered the room, the above and other team members surprised him with a cake and a lot of congratulations. Chan-ho reportedly told Yoo "happy birthday, pitch well today and let's do well in the future."

This story was making waves because it was Chan-ho that bought the cake. And this team is coming together despite it being last place.

Headlines: Thursday, May 10, 2012

It's mid week that means we're in the middle of a lot of KBO fun.

Kia and Hanhwa have split their two games so far. The very even Tuesday game where the Eagles beat the Tigers 3-2 was followed up by an 8-1 Kia blowout the next day.

Kim Tae-gyun had 3 hits in each of his previous games but was held off the boxscore by the Original Monster Kim Jin-woo.

Kia and Nexen have also split their series. Press has been all over Nexen's improved pitching. But home runs by Nexen's Oh Yoon and Kim Min-woo back to back have Nexen leading the league in team home runs with 23.

The Lotte and Samsung Battle of Kyeongsang have the Lions up 2-0 in the series with 2 tightly played games. Lotte's explosive Lee Dae-ho less batting line up has gone on a power outage during this 3 game slide which saw Lotte fall from first place. Either Samsung is coming alive or Lotte is in a slump, Lotte had 10 hits but none were brought home to score.

And SK is on a roll beating Doosan twice to take first from Lotte as if they are the rightful heirs. SK beat 2 of Doosan's best pitchers: Dustin Nippert and Lim Tae-hoon. They face Doosan's third: Kim Sun-woo on Thursday for the series finale.

NCSoft Dinos to the KBO


The big news early this week was to allow the Dinos to join the league in 2013. Only Lotte opposed as the team is in the Giants' operating space.

People were opposed to this in the league as it may dilute the talent pool and downgrade the play level of the league.

Dinos manager Kim Kyeong-moon (above) responded by asking rhetorically why the other teams won't give them some good players if they're worried about NCSoft being losers.

The team is currently leading the southern Future's League with a 14-7 record. They are talking a lot about how they are indeed a big league team and that they will display their baseball prowess next season.

Personally, I think they'll lose the vast majority of their games and be ignored by their city of Masan because they are all Giants fans there.

Ladies Day (For 3 Days!) at Jamsil

It's Ladies Day at Jamsil for the Samsung Lions and LG Twins 3 game set. The singing star above will throw the first pitch of Friday's game to kick off this great event. There will be contests for women on Friday and Saturday and the weekend will be topped off with a signing session with LG's two heart throbs Park Yong-taek and Yoo Won-sang.

Headlines: May 4, 2012 (Friday)

Kim Sang-hoon Takes Medicine for Foot, Gets in Big Trouble

34 year old Kia catcher Kim Sang-hoon has been "severely warned" over the discovery he was taking medication over a disease called plantar fasciitis. This disease inflames the bottom of the victim's feet and Mr. Kim had been discovered to be taking a drug called Predinsolone for it. 

KBO was not pleased when its anti-doping body discovered this naughty substance in Sang-hoon's bod and proceeded to issue this severe warning to the man.

Kim Sang-hoon had taken this medicine along with a needle on March 30. Nothing is going to happen with this info because he didn't do anything wrong.

This is Kim's 12 season in the KBO spent entirely with the Tigers organization. He peaked in 2003 with 118 hits and has been on a steady decline ever since. He currently has no hits in 7 at bats for second last place Kia this season.

Dr. Bong to the Bullpen

LG fans saw a pretty unusual sight in Tuesday's 4-2 win over Hanhwa. Out from the bullpen to close out the lead was none other than our good bro Dr. Bong Joong-geun. Doc need 13 pitches to sit down 3 orange guys in a perfect 9th to grab his first save in his 6 year pro career.

Word is, Bong asked to try the closer role and that he was pretty nervous about the appearance. His "heart pounded" and his "face turned red." 

After serving as his team's ace for a number of years, Bong fell victim to injury last year and he has not been the same since.

Weekend Series Previews

Hanhwa at Samsung 

Samsung is coming off of a 10-0 shut out over Doosan's seemingly unstoppable Lim Tae-hoon. Expect them to continue.

Lotte at SK

Lotte is back at first after Doosan took the beating above. Lotte's high powered offense up against SK's All Korea defense.

Doosan at LG

Battle of Jamsil. Doosan is in second place and LG is in fourth place, but they only have a 1 win difference between them.

Nexen at Kia

Nexen is not the Nexen of last season and Kia is... also not the Kia of last season or 2009 (their championship season).

Monday Morning Quick-Cap

I had a pretty hectic weekend and it is Sunday night in Canada, Monday morning in the country of the KBO. I thought I'd post up a few notes on the weekend games and other news before I hit the sack.

I'm also skipping the rankings for the week, it gets a bit monotonous ranking 8 teams every week.

Sunday's Games

Hanhwa 6, Nexen 3

KBO press had been pushing this game between last year's bottom feeders as the marquee match-up of the weekend. A resurgent Chan-ho against an improved Nexen staff lead by fourth year import Brandon Knight.

Chan-ho was definitely effective. But it was actually the end of the bullpen that got it done for Hanhwa. Kim Hyuk-min grabbed his first dub of the season with a 1.1 inning no hitter. And Denny Bautista struck out 4 in 2 for the save.

Nexen couldn't sweep this series because of the bullpen in the Sunday finale. They scored first in the second inning but Knight took his first L of the season after giving up 2 home runs and letting in 5 runs.

Nexen won Friday and Saturday's games.

Doosan 4, Kia 3

Yoon Suk-min was effective again but Kia's bullpen couldn't keep it together. Kia's offence was no better as they couldn't capitalize on many chances. Doosan on the other hand finishes the month of April tied for #1 with Lotte. Kia sinks to 7.

Lotte 5, LG 0

Shane Youman looks like Jerry Royster's son and his complete game 1 hitter to beat LG is going have LG fans mad again and Youman off of the plane ride of shame for the time being.

Despite Lotte winning this series 2-1, LG still out scored the Busan Bombers 23 to 18 because of Friday's 20-8 aberration, I mean win.

Samsung 9, SK 4

Samsung won but they still can't make any headway up the charts as they close out April in 6th place and still out of a playoff spot. This after all three enemies above them lost (LG, Nexen, SK).

Samsung will start May against first place Doosan then hope they avoid at least one of Chan-ho Park or Ryu Hyun-jin when the face Hanhwa in the weekend series after that.

Performers


Doosan's Lim Tae-hoon: 3 wins, 0.53 ERA. On fire man.

Lotte's Shane Youman: 3 wins, 1.53. Lefty is a nice find for Lotte indeed.

Samsung's Lee Seung-yup: Washed up he is not. 5 home runs and a .406 batting average for April.

Nexen's Kang Jeong-ho: Leading the KBO with 7 home runs. His 20 RBI is second.

Notes: LG third baseman Jeong Seong-hoon also has 7 home runs.. Returnee Kim Tae-gyun only has 2 home runs but he leads the league with 29 hits.. Lotte is the best hitting team in the league, Kia is the worst..

Headlines: April 27, 2012 (FRIDAY)

Yesterday's Quick Scores and Game Notes

Hanhwa Eagles 8, Kia Tigers 0

Kia gets thrashed by the second last place Eagles, dropping them to second last overall. Ryu Hyun-jin pitched a 11K 7 inning shut out.

Samsung Lions 6, Lotte Giants 3

Lions pole vault to 6th place after beating Lotte 6 to 3 off of Chae Tae-in's 2nd inning 2 run shot. Teammate Lee Seung-yup smashed his fourth of the season.

Doosan Bears 4, SK Wyverns 2

Dustin Nippert wins his third, one of 3 with 3 wins in the KBO (teammate Lim Tae-hoon and Nexen's Brandon Knight). Doosan is now tied with Lotte at the top of the standings with identical 8-4-1 records.

Nexen Heroes 9, LG Twins 7

Nexen scores 8 in the last two innings to beat LG after trailing all game. Nexen is now in a playoff position, tied 3 ways with SK and LG for 3rd place.

Oh Seung-hwan

Samsung closer Oh Seung-hwan, 30, has been getting a lot of press in the Korean dailies because of his blown save Tuesday against the Lotte Giants. Mr. Oh was a 47 save pitcher in 2011 and came onto the mound with the Lions up 2-0. He gave up 6 runs off of 4 hits and 2 balls. It was his first loss in "1013" days and the most runs he had ever given up in his career.

Well, Mr. Oh dazzled last night with 153km fastballs and grabbed his 4th save of the season. His 4 saves is second to Rad. Liz of the Twins who has 5. Lotte's Kim Sa-yul and Doosan's Scott Proctor also have 4 saves.

Mr. Sun Gets Mad

Kia Tigers manager Sun Dong-yul blew a fuse last night as his team was getting frustrated by Hanhwa's Ryu Hyun-jin's pitching and the Eagles' offence.

Kia center fielder Lee Yong-gyu was a victim of one of Ryu's 11 strike outs and Mr. Sun was not happy about it at all. Sun was convinced the check swing didn't go all way around and Ryu should have only had 10 strike outs.

If Lee had gotten on base, the Tigers could have loaded the bases, hit a grand slam, loaded the bases again, hit another grand slam, and then hit a solo shot into left field to win the game.

Weekend Series Previews


Kia at Doosan

Doosan is in first and Kia is second last. Kia might win the one game Yoon Suk-min pitches if they are lucky.

LG at Lotte

LG had been frustrated by Nexen and they may get frustrated again by Lotte.

Samsung at SK

Samsung's climb back up the standings gets a little more difficult with mighty SK in the way. SK lost two tight games to Doosan but they are still pitching elite.

Nexen at Hanhwa

Nexen is looking to solidify their position inside the playoff picture.

Headlines: April 23, 2012, Monday

It is Monday, April 23, 2012 in Korea. It is the 17th day of the 2012 KBO season. There have been 45 games played this season, unless I counted wrong (yes, I counted). And the Lotte Giants lead the KBO with a impressive 7-3-1 record (a clean .700 winning percentage).

Before we get into the topics of the day, I'd like to announce on behalf of our blog a new partnership we have agreed upon with our friend Dan K and his MyKBO group of KBO related online resources. His main website www.mykbo.net contains a lot of foreigner friendly KBO info (in English!) and he also has a Facebook group, Twitter account, and a YouTube channel (all links on his main website). 

Please take a look at his material if you've found our blog first. I think it is great we are creating an English speaking Korean pro baseball following community.

Lee Seung-yup

Lee Seung-yup is getting right back into his groove in Korean baseball. His 9th inning 2 run home run in the Sunday game against Hanhwa padded his team's lead enough to secure Samsung's second win a row against last place Hanhwa. 

Lee's numbers place him as the current second best hitter on the Samsung batting line up. His current slash line reads 356/463/689 with 3 home runs and 16 hits. The only batter better than Lee is third baseman Park Suk-min, who has the same number home runs and hits but sports a loftier 390/509/659 slash.

Samsung's mini sweep of the rained out 2 game set against Hanhwa has them on a 2 game winning streak after emerging from a 4 game losing streak.

Winless Aces

A number of aces are still winless (or recently winless) 17 days and 45 games into the 2012 season.

Hanhwa's Ryu Hyun-jin is as dominant as ever. In 3 starts, he has pitched 23 innings and has only let in 3 earned runs (4 total). But his team has not come through to get him that elusive first win.

Kim Sun-woo has been Doosan's ace for a number of years and he is still winless in the season. It's still early but we wonder when Sun-woo is going to settle down and stay Doosan's ace. In 3 starts Kim has a bloated 7.04 ERA helped by the ugly April 8 outing against Nexen when he was responsible for 9 eared runs in 4 and a third.

Jang Won-sam and Yoon Suk-min had been winless until recently despite strong performances. Jang grabbed his first dub coming in in relief in Samsung's Sunday win against the birds. You'll remember him in his infamous April 17 outing against Doosan when he let in 8 in the first inning.

Yoon Suk-min finally grabbed a win despite owning a .53 ERA on the season. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ne2PNX_zVY

He did it in fine form as you can see from MyKBO's YouTube upload above striking out 14 on the 17th. Doosan's super season starter Lim Tae-hoon is the only pitcher with a lower ERA so far: 0. Lim has only pitched 11 innings however (Yoon has pitched 17 and Ryu has pitched 23).

Week 2 Power Rankings

1. Lotte Giants (3-1 on the week)

• Lotte and Doosan are offensive powers early.

2. LG Twins (3-1)

• Cruising.

3. Doosan Bears (3-1)

• Swept defending champions Samsung and lost a game to Nexen.

4. SK Wyverns (1-3)

• Average offense, stellar defense.

5. Nexen Heroes (2-2)

• Improving: especially the rotation.

6. Kia Tigers (2-2)

• Scoring at nearly the bottom offensively and defensively as a team.

7. Samsung Lions (2-3)

• Got swept then swept. Too bad the swept series was only 2 games.

8. Hanhwa Eagles (1-4)

• Started the week strong with a win but lost the rest of their games.

Headlines: April 19, 2012

KBO Standings as of April 19, 2012 is as follows:

SK Wyverns, 7-2
Lotte Giants, 5-3-1
Doosan Bears, 5-3-1
LG Twins, 5-4
----
Kia Tigers, 4-5
Nexen Heroes, 4-5
Samsung Lions, 3-6
Hanhwa Eagles, 2-7

Park

Chan-ho Park made his second appearance on Korean soil yesterday in a 6-1 loss to the LG Twins at "home" in Cheongju. The 39 year old pitched 6.1 innings while giving up 5 hits and 3 runs.

Chan-ho reached up to 92 mph with his "sharp" cutters and sliders. He was pitching a shutout until he gave up a 2 run home run in the seventh against LG DH Jeong Seong-hoon.

The "Korean Express" is said to be strong only at 80 pitches. He made 93 pitches in his start and that was when it started to unravel.

Samsung Woes

Defending champions Samsung Lions are, as you can see above, 3-6, and still only above Hanhwa at the bottom of the standings. Samsung fans are, as you may expect, unhappy. Samsung is now in a 3 game slide, losing their final game in the Nexen series and losing their first two games of their current Doosan series.

Particularly troubling is the 8 run Doosan half of the first inning of game 1 of that series. Loser Jang Won-sam gave up 8 earned runs while throwing 53 pitches to 13 batters.

Samsung's slogan this year is "Yes, One More Time." They're either going to win a championship one more time, or they're not one more time, or they will be doing any number of things "one more time."

Nexen on the Rise


Nexen is 4-5 and peaking into the playoff picture early. That's an improvement from the last place finish from last year.

The reason for this improvement is said to be their pitching. Import Brandon Knight was super effective last night going 7 innings and allowing 3 hits and a run. Knight's ERA is at 1.37 and all 3 of his starts were Quality Starts.

Youngster Kang Yoon-gu has also been effective. His 2 losses and 4.26 ERA may not be great, but he did strike out 13 in his start against SK on the 11th and he gave up 2 runs in 6 innings in his start against Kia on the 17th.

Moon Seung-hyun pitched 6.2 innings and gave up 4 in his start against Samsung on the 14th. And on Sunday, Shim Soo-chang went 5 innings and gave up 3 runs.

Weekend Series Previews

Lotte at Kia: Lotte is tied with Doosan for second place and Kia is trying to move into playoff positioning.

Doosan at Nexen: A similar series as above.

SK at LG: SK's pitching is as tight as it can be, and LG has been back and forth.

Samsung at Hanhwa: Never would have thought the battle of the cellar dwellers would be Samsung vs. Hanhwa.