Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Round 2, Game Two




Bears 9, Eagles 5
Doosan takes a 2-0 series lead

This game started around 6pm and ended around 10:30. It was an epic of Gaussian proportions. This was also the first game that featured a lead change. The previous 4 playoff games had one team taking control and keeping it for the entire game. This was only the 2nd game that you could say had a level of drama to it and it wound up being a 9-5 depantsing. Here's hoping Game 3 and the Championship series are more viewer friendly.
Wildest play of the night: in the 3rd inning, TWO runs were scored on a dropped 3rd strike. This highlight will probably be shown for the entire next season. THe ball got away from the Hanwha catcher. The play at home was reasonably close, but the throw from the catcher bounced in front of the pitcher and skipped away. The batter was able to round all the bases and make it home. He never stopped running. Hard. It was just a great heads up play.

Korean Playoff Fact: The team that makes the FEWEST pitching changes wins. For some reason, managers in the KBO like to play more matchups with their pitching staffs and have an exceptionally shorter hook with starters. This doesn't not lead to victory. So far, the team that makes the fewest changes is a perfect 5/5. This should seem obvious. The team that makes the fewest changes usually has better pitching and therefore a better chance to win the game. The problem is starters are getting yanked far too early and the bullpens are blowing up, not the starters. Typically, in American ball, if the starter gives up a couple early runs, no big deal. Managers usually stick with the starter for a few more innings, just to avoid burning through the bullpen. Well, in Korea, the rosters are a bit larger(Hanwha, for example, has 29 pitchers on its roster, but only 9 or 10 are active) allowing for more pitchers and a tendency for managers to tinker more.

The Hero: The top 1/3 of the Doosan batting order. Lee Chung Wook, Kim Hyun Su and Ko Yong Min combined to go 7 for 13 with 5 RBI, 2 runs sopred and two homeruns.

The Goat: The Hanwha manager. While Chong Min Chol wasn't great, he didn't deserve to get yanked in the 3rd. Had he stuck with his #2 starter for more than 2 1/3 innings, his bullpen might have performed better.

Hanwha could packs its bags for Daejon, down 2-0 when: The Hanwha bullpen coughed up 4 runs in the last 3 innings. It was a one run game and the bullpen couldn't keep Doosan off the scoreboard in a critical game.

Next game: October 17 at 6pm. The series moves from Seoul to Daejon. Ace Ryu Hyun Jin(17-7, 2.94 ERA) takes the mound for Hanwha, while Kim Myong Jae(4-7, 5.05 ERA) rumbles to the bump for Doosan in the possibly decisive Game Three. Hanwha! Doosan! Ryu! Kim! Catch the KBO on KBS!

1 comment:

Steve said...

Are you keeping up with the baseball back here in the states?

I have a Rocky Mountain High today!