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Jerry Royster served as interim manager after the Brewers fired Davey Lopes in 2002. He "guided" the belaugered Brew Crew to a 53-94 record. A team that featured 13 different starting pitchers including such legends as Ben Diggins, Dave Pember, Jimmy Osting and Shawn Slater. Okay, I made one of those names up.
One of the few bright spots for this team was that a 22 year old infielder made his MLB debut in a September cup of coffee. The player wound up being Bill Hall. That was the only thing this team had going for it. Bill Hall's first appearance in the MLB. Although it was the last time we would see Izzy Alcantara in a major league uniform. Okay, two positives.
Anything that creates more interest around the KBO is a good thing. I'm looking forward to the first time Lotte comes to Daegu to play Samsung. I'm curious as to how the players and umpires will respond to a foreigner as a manager. Hopefully, the signing of Royster will pave the way for better foreign talent to come to the KBO.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
KBO hits a snag with STX, Hyundai Unicorns are without a sponsor
Link.
STX, a large Korean construction conglomerate, was originally planned to assume ownership and sponsorship of one of Korea's proudest franchises, the Hyundai Unicorns. Talks were officially ended yesterday with the KBO withdrawing its offer. It sounds like STX wanted to increase its visibility, but at the same time they were hit with a corporate scandal. It's not the best time for them to be advertising. This is the second time the Unoicorns have failed to find a new corporate sponsor. Unless the KBO can drum up another sponsor, it looks like they will have to foot the bill for Hyundai again. We're maybe five steps away from the "Chico's Bail Bonds Unicorns."
The KBO needs to find a way to make its product profitable again. Interest in Korean baseball is at an all time low. Part of this is due to the rise in popularity of soccer and part of this is due to inept management.
How to fix the problem? Good question. Teams really can't relocate, this is a small country. Cutting ticket prices won't help, they can't get much lower. More give aways and in-game contests can't really happen, they do plenty of this at ballgames. The KBO needs to market itself better and speed up the games. 4 hour snooze fests are no way to get people to your ballpark even if you have cheap soju. I've never seen a league market itself as poorly as the KBO. There I times I wonder how committed they are to having a league that isn't just an advertisement for the corporations that run it.
STX, a large Korean construction conglomerate, was originally planned to assume ownership and sponsorship of one of Korea's proudest franchises, the Hyundai Unicorns. Talks were officially ended yesterday with the KBO withdrawing its offer. It sounds like STX wanted to increase its visibility, but at the same time they were hit with a corporate scandal. It's not the best time for them to be advertising. This is the second time the Unoicorns have failed to find a new corporate sponsor. Unless the KBO can drum up another sponsor, it looks like they will have to foot the bill for Hyundai again. We're maybe five steps away from the "Chico's Bail Bonds Unicorns."
The KBO needs to find a way to make its product profitable again. Interest in Korean baseball is at an all time low. Part of this is due to the rise in popularity of soccer and part of this is due to inept management.
How to fix the problem? Good question. Teams really can't relocate, this is a small country. Cutting ticket prices won't help, they can't get much lower. More give aways and in-game contests can't really happen, they do plenty of this at ballgames. The KBO needs to market itself better and speed up the games. 4 hour snooze fests are no way to get people to your ballpark even if you have cheap soju. I've never seen a league market itself as poorly as the KBO. There I times I wonder how committed they are to having a league that isn't just an advertisement for the corporations that run it.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Asian Series 2007
Round One
Uni-President Lions 9, China Stars 5
SK Wyverns 6, Chunichi Dragons 3
SK was simply more prepared to play than Chunichi. The Dragons, without star first baseman Tyrone Woods or right fielder Kosuke Fukudome, had about as much interest in playing this game as the janitorial staff had in cleaning up after. These guys looked like they were suffering a serious championship hangover.
The Lions just outhit a young Chinese team. Most of the Chinese team looked competent, except reliever Xu Zheng. It took him 34 pitches to record one out. He allowed most of the damage while allowing 6 of 7 batters face to reach base and score.
Round Two
SK Wyverns 13, China Stars 0
Chunichi Dragons 4, Uni-President Lions 2
How often do you see a slaughter rule enacted in a professional tournement? Whenever the China Stars commit 3 errors and allow SK to score 13 runs on only 10 hits. 8 walks and one HBP were allowed by Chinese pitching. Moving on.
Chunichi was able to piece together enough of an offense to get the win for its strong pitching. Kenta Asakura went 6 strong innings only giving up 2 earned. The Chunichi bullpen shut the door on the Lions, only allowing two runners to reach base in the last three innings. Shortstop, Hirokazu Ibata was the star at the plate for Chunichi. He went 1-3 and drove in all 4 runs.
Round Three
Chunichi Dragons 9, China Stars 1
SK Wyverns 13, Uni-President Lions 1
China actually had a lead in this game. They lead 1-0 until the fifth inning when Chunichi tied the game on Kazuki Inoue's solo homerun. Chunichi the scored 8 unanswered runs to take the W. Errors and mental mistakes continued to plague the young Chinese team. They commited three more errors in this game. Giving them a total of 6 in the series.
SK scored 13 runs in the first 4 innings and coasted to a second seven inning slaughter. Foreign starter, Pete Munro, was awful. 8 of the 13 runs were charged to him, with 7 being earned. Of the 14 batters he faced, 12(!) reached base. Every SK starter, except 2nd baseman Chung Kyoung-Bae, got at least one hit. The Lions lone run came on a solo shot by centerfielder, Yang Sun-Hsan.
Championship Game
Chunichi Dragons 6, SK Wyverns 5
This one actually left me a little bitter. SK won all three tournement games. Is it really fair to ask them to beat a team they've already beaten? On that team's homefield? Again? The gentlemen that run the Asian Series sure think so.
This was a fitting championship game.
This was a definite see-saw game with both teams holding and losing leads. SK starter, Mike Romano, was brought in for the eighth inning and was left to stay out for the ninth. He allowed the dreaded leadoff walk to 1st baseman Norihiro Nakamura. Nakamura advanced on a sacrifice by Atsushi Fujii and scored on a basehit by shortstop Hirokazu Ibata. Hitoki Iwase was the nail in the coffin as he pitched a 1-2-3 9th to secure the championship for Chunichi. This is Japan's 3rd consecutive Asian Series championship win.
Uni-President Lions 9, China Stars 5
SK Wyverns 6, Chunichi Dragons 3
SK was simply more prepared to play than Chunichi. The Dragons, without star first baseman Tyrone Woods or right fielder Kosuke Fukudome, had about as much interest in playing this game as the janitorial staff had in cleaning up after. These guys looked like they were suffering a serious championship hangover.
The Lions just outhit a young Chinese team. Most of the Chinese team looked competent, except reliever Xu Zheng. It took him 34 pitches to record one out. He allowed most of the damage while allowing 6 of 7 batters face to reach base and score.
Round Two
SK Wyverns 13, China Stars 0
Chunichi Dragons 4, Uni-President Lions 2
How often do you see a slaughter rule enacted in a professional tournement? Whenever the China Stars commit 3 errors and allow SK to score 13 runs on only 10 hits. 8 walks and one HBP were allowed by Chinese pitching. Moving on.
Chunichi was able to piece together enough of an offense to get the win for its strong pitching. Kenta Asakura went 6 strong innings only giving up 2 earned. The Chunichi bullpen shut the door on the Lions, only allowing two runners to reach base in the last three innings. Shortstop, Hirokazu Ibata was the star at the plate for Chunichi. He went 1-3 and drove in all 4 runs.
Round Three
Chunichi Dragons 9, China Stars 1
SK Wyverns 13, Uni-President Lions 1
China actually had a lead in this game. They lead 1-0 until the fifth inning when Chunichi tied the game on Kazuki Inoue's solo homerun. Chunichi the scored 8 unanswered runs to take the W. Errors and mental mistakes continued to plague the young Chinese team. They commited three more errors in this game. Giving them a total of 6 in the series.
SK scored 13 runs in the first 4 innings and coasted to a second seven inning slaughter. Foreign starter, Pete Munro, was awful. 8 of the 13 runs were charged to him, with 7 being earned. Of the 14 batters he faced, 12(!) reached base. Every SK starter, except 2nd baseman Chung Kyoung-Bae, got at least one hit. The Lions lone run came on a solo shot by centerfielder, Yang Sun-Hsan.
Championship Game
Chunichi Dragons 6, SK Wyverns 5
This one actually left me a little bitter. SK won all three tournement games. Is it really fair to ask them to beat a team they've already beaten? On that team's homefield? Again? The gentlemen that run the Asian Series sure think so.
This was a fitting championship game.
This was a definite see-saw game with both teams holding and losing leads. SK starter, Mike Romano, was brought in for the eighth inning and was left to stay out for the ninth. He allowed the dreaded leadoff walk to 1st baseman Norihiro Nakamura. Nakamura advanced on a sacrifice by Atsushi Fujii and scored on a basehit by shortstop Hirokazu Ibata. Hitoki Iwase was the nail in the coffin as he pitched a 1-2-3 9th to secure the championship for Chunichi. This is Japan's 3rd consecutive Asian Series championship win.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Asian Series 2007
The third annual Konami Cup is set to start on November 8, 2007. The Konami Cup is a Round Robin championship between the three champions of Japan, Korea and Taiwan and the Chinese all stars. All the games will be played at Japan's Tokyo Dome. Japan has won the first two Konami Cups with the Chiba Lotte Marines winning in '05 and Nippon Ham Fighters winning in '06. Korea and Taiwan have both been runners up once. The China Stars are still looking for their first win.
The Chunichi Dragons finished the year in 2nd place in the Central League, but they won the climax series by defeating both Hanshin and Yomuiri to reach the Japan Series. It took only five games for the Dragons to defeat the Nippon Ham Fighters. The series ended with a combined perfect game from starting pitcher Daisuke Yamai and ace closer Hitoki Iwase.
Players to watch: Chunichi has the advantage in pitching and the best hitter in the tournement. Chunichi has three quality starters to use in the tournement. Kenta Asakura(12-7, 3.36 ERA, 105 K in 171.3 innings), Kenshin Kawakami(12-8, 3.55 ERA, 145 K in 167.3 innings) and Kenichi Nakata (3.59 ERA, 14-8, 177 K in 170.3 innings) aren't dominant aces like Doosan's Danny Rios or Yu Darvish of the Nippon Ham Fighters, but they can eat up innings and keep their team in the game.
Chunichi also has a fierce backend of their bullpen. Closer Hitoki Iwase was their 9th inning hammer all year. He posted 43 saves with a 2.44 ERA. He also struck out 50 in 59 innings of work this year while only walking 9 batters. Chunichi's top set up man is Shinya Okamoto. Okamoto didn't record a save all year, but he was a valuable bridge to Iwase. In 56 innings he allowed 67 runners to reach base. His ERA was 2.89 and he recorded 44 punch outs.
Tyrone Woods is probably the best power hitter in the tournament. He crushed 35 homers and drove in 102 for the Dragons. He posted an OPS of .948. The Dragons offense was helped by a career year out of utility man (seriously, this guy played everywhere)Masahiko Morino. Morino set career highs in almost every single major offensive category including homers (18), RBI(97), runs scored(75) and OBP(.366). It's also going to be interested to see Korean outfielder Lee Byung-Gyu take the field against his countrymen in the first game. He probably won't get plunked, at least not right away.
Chunichi is the clear favorite this year. They’ve got the advantage on paper as well as home field advantage for the tourney. This should be Japan’s third consecutive championship
The SK Wyverns finished at 73-48-5. They won the Korean Series in 6 games over the Doosan Bears, overcoming a 2-0 series deficit. They were in first for most of the season and no one ever really challenged them.
Players to watch: Pitching for the Wyverns starts with its two American starters, Mike Romano and Kenny Rayburn. Romano(12-4, 3.69 ERA, 81 K’s in 146.3 innings) and Rayburn(17-8, 3.27 ERA, 98 K’s in 184.6 innings) were easily the top two starters for SK last year and both will be important to SK’s success in the Asian Series.Chong Dae-Hyeon was the 9th inning hammer for SK last year, posting a microscopic 0.92 ERA in 78.3 innings. He recorded 27 saves and struck out 65. He was a big reason SK was so successful this year. When he was given a lead in the late innings, he protected it.
SK’s pitching and defense were the keys for SK this season. The team only hit .264 collectively, just good enough to come in 4th in the league. It was the fact that SK kept other teams off the scoreboard and avoided the big mistakes on defense. The goal for SK will be to keep the other teams off the scoreboard and scrape together a few runs and hope it’s good enough to win. SK will not be able to hang with Chunichi or Taiwan’s Uni-President Lions if games become slugfests. I’d expect SK pitching to be good enough to keep the Chinese team off the scoreboard.
SK didn’t have a single player finish in the top ten in either runs scored or RBI’s this season. Park Jae-Hong’s 17 homeruns were good enough for 9th in the league. Chong Gun-Woo lead SK with a .323 batting average this season (4th in the league), he managed to do this in 391 at bats.
For SK to have success in the Asian Series, they need to stick to the formula that got them here. Avoid big mistakes, capitalize when the other team gives them an opportunity and keep teams off the bases and off the scoreboard. SK will most likely be playing for runner-up.
The Uni-President Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League finished 2007 with a 58-41-1 record. After sweeping the Macoto Cobras in round one of the playoffs, it took the Lions a full seven games to win this years Taiwan series. They held a 3-1 series advantage, but allowed the La New Bears two consecutive wins to tie the series at 3-3.
Players to watch: Their top hitter is Dominican national, Tilson Brito. Brito is a journeyman in the truest sense. If I’m counting correctly, Taiwan is the 6th different country he’s played in during his professional career. He thumped 42 homers, drove in 132 and hit .307 on the season. Nelson Figueroa is essentially a ringer. He was brought in for the playoff push, starting only 4 games during the regular season. He won the Taiwan Series MVP award this year. He started games 1, 4 and 7 for the Lions. He won all three and was the difference in this year’s Taiwan Series. Pete Munro and his ridiculously fast, ridiculously straight fastball made the all-star team this year. Starting catcher, Kao Chih-Kang is one of the more famous players in the league. He was a member of the 2004 Olympic team and the 2006 WBC team. He carries a .280 batting average in 226 career games.
I don’t even have a logo for the Chinese team. China is still looking for its first win in Asian Series competition. Unless there’s a miracle for China or a disaster for the champions of the Asian leagues, I expect them to remain winless. Baseball is still in its infancy in China and the Chinese don’t have enough experience to compete with the strongest clubs in Asia.
My prediction? The Japanese look the best on paper and will be tough to overcome with their home field advantage.
The first game is in Tokyo on November 8. The first two games are the Uni-President Lions versus the Chinese All Stars and the Chunichi Dragons versus the SK Wyverns.
The Chunichi Dragons finished the year in 2nd place in the Central League, but they won the climax series by defeating both Hanshin and Yomuiri to reach the Japan Series. It took only five games for the Dragons to defeat the Nippon Ham Fighters. The series ended with a combined perfect game from starting pitcher Daisuke Yamai and ace closer Hitoki Iwase.
Players to watch: Chunichi has the advantage in pitching and the best hitter in the tournement. Chunichi has three quality starters to use in the tournement. Kenta Asakura(12-7, 3.36 ERA, 105 K in 171.3 innings), Kenshin Kawakami(12-8, 3.55 ERA, 145 K in 167.3 innings) and Kenichi Nakata (3.59 ERA, 14-8, 177 K in 170.3 innings) aren't dominant aces like Doosan's Danny Rios or Yu Darvish of the Nippon Ham Fighters, but they can eat up innings and keep their team in the game.
Chunichi also has a fierce backend of their bullpen. Closer Hitoki Iwase was their 9th inning hammer all year. He posted 43 saves with a 2.44 ERA. He also struck out 50 in 59 innings of work this year while only walking 9 batters. Chunichi's top set up man is Shinya Okamoto. Okamoto didn't record a save all year, but he was a valuable bridge to Iwase. In 56 innings he allowed 67 runners to reach base. His ERA was 2.89 and he recorded 44 punch outs.
Tyrone Woods is probably the best power hitter in the tournament. He crushed 35 homers and drove in 102 for the Dragons. He posted an OPS of .948. The Dragons offense was helped by a career year out of utility man (seriously, this guy played everywhere)Masahiko Morino. Morino set career highs in almost every single major offensive category including homers (18), RBI(97), runs scored(75) and OBP(.366). It's also going to be interested to see Korean outfielder Lee Byung-Gyu take the field against his countrymen in the first game. He probably won't get plunked, at least not right away.
Chunichi is the clear favorite this year. They’ve got the advantage on paper as well as home field advantage for the tourney. This should be Japan’s third consecutive championship
The SK Wyverns finished at 73-48-5. They won the Korean Series in 6 games over the Doosan Bears, overcoming a 2-0 series deficit. They were in first for most of the season and no one ever really challenged them.
Players to watch: Pitching for the Wyverns starts with its two American starters, Mike Romano and Kenny Rayburn. Romano(12-4, 3.69 ERA, 81 K’s in 146.3 innings) and Rayburn(17-8, 3.27 ERA, 98 K’s in 184.6 innings) were easily the top two starters for SK last year and both will be important to SK’s success in the Asian Series.Chong Dae-Hyeon was the 9th inning hammer for SK last year, posting a microscopic 0.92 ERA in 78.3 innings. He recorded 27 saves and struck out 65. He was a big reason SK was so successful this year. When he was given a lead in the late innings, he protected it.
SK’s pitching and defense were the keys for SK this season. The team only hit .264 collectively, just good enough to come in 4th in the league. It was the fact that SK kept other teams off the scoreboard and avoided the big mistakes on defense. The goal for SK will be to keep the other teams off the scoreboard and scrape together a few runs and hope it’s good enough to win. SK will not be able to hang with Chunichi or Taiwan’s Uni-President Lions if games become slugfests. I’d expect SK pitching to be good enough to keep the Chinese team off the scoreboard.
SK didn’t have a single player finish in the top ten in either runs scored or RBI’s this season. Park Jae-Hong’s 17 homeruns were good enough for 9th in the league. Chong Gun-Woo lead SK with a .323 batting average this season (4th in the league), he managed to do this in 391 at bats.
For SK to have success in the Asian Series, they need to stick to the formula that got them here. Avoid big mistakes, capitalize when the other team gives them an opportunity and keep teams off the bases and off the scoreboard. SK will most likely be playing for runner-up.
The Uni-President Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League finished 2007 with a 58-41-1 record. After sweeping the Macoto Cobras in round one of the playoffs, it took the Lions a full seven games to win this years Taiwan series. They held a 3-1 series advantage, but allowed the La New Bears two consecutive wins to tie the series at 3-3.
Players to watch: Their top hitter is Dominican national, Tilson Brito. Brito is a journeyman in the truest sense. If I’m counting correctly, Taiwan is the 6th different country he’s played in during his professional career. He thumped 42 homers, drove in 132 and hit .307 on the season. Nelson Figueroa is essentially a ringer. He was brought in for the playoff push, starting only 4 games during the regular season. He won the Taiwan Series MVP award this year. He started games 1, 4 and 7 for the Lions. He won all three and was the difference in this year’s Taiwan Series. Pete Munro and his ridiculously fast, ridiculously straight fastball made the all-star team this year. Starting catcher, Kao Chih-Kang is one of the more famous players in the league. He was a member of the 2004 Olympic team and the 2006 WBC team. He carries a .280 batting average in 226 career games.
I don’t even have a logo for the Chinese team. China is still looking for its first win in Asian Series competition. Unless there’s a miracle for China or a disaster for the champions of the Asian leagues, I expect them to remain winless. Baseball is still in its infancy in China and the Chinese don’t have enough experience to compete with the strongest clubs in Asia.
My prediction? The Japanese look the best on paper and will be tough to overcome with their home field advantage.
The first game is in Tokyo on November 8. The first two games are the Uni-President Lions versus the Chinese All Stars and the Chunichi Dragons versus the SK Wyverns.
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