Friday, April 4, 2008

4/3 Roundup and News

First things first. In a stunning turn of events, the Korea Times actually wrote a not very well written, non-racist article about a foreigner player. I can only imagine what would have been written had Karim Garcia started 0-the season. I'm going to stop myself from ripping this, but come on..."Garcia Time???" Was there a "Jose Time" for Felix Jose? No. In Korea, there are two times. Normal time and "Lima Time," and my watch always points to Lima. Seriously, how much would it cost these guys to keep a foreign guy on staff just to talk them out of writing nonsense like this?

The Joongang Daily also writes a piece on the Lotte Giants. I guess their 4-0 start is more interesting than the Lions 5-0 start.

Also, a bit of site news. I've decided on a plan of attack for this season. I'm going to continue the daily recaps. I'll update standings and league leaders on Sunday and I'm going to resist the temptation to do power rankings. I've always thought power rankings were silly and arbitrary.

Samsung 7, LG 2

This team is a buzzsaw right now. The Lions are making fewer mistakes than the other team and pouncing when their opponent makes one. I can count the number of missed opportunities on one hand so far.

The Lions scored 5 runs off of former teammate "Downtown" Jamie Brown. Brown threw 109(!) pitches in 6 innings. He allowed 7 hits, three of which were doubles, and 4 walks while striking out 2.

Samsung's Park Jin-man was the big man at the plate. He went 2-4 with two doubles and 3 RBI.

Samsung ace Bae Yeong-su lasted five innings. He gave up one earned run on 6 hits with 3 strikeouts. He was fairly efficient in his five innings. It took him only 60 pitches, 42 of which were for strikes.

SK 5, Lotte 0

SK Ace Kenny Rayborn didn't miss many bats on Thursday, but when the ball was hit, it was usually to an SK fielder. Rayborn took 82 pitches(51 strikes) to work 6 2/3 innings. He allowed only 5 hits and one walk while striking out 1.

Lotte's Kim Joo-chan was the only hitter able to get to Rayborn. He went 4-4, all singles with a stolen base. The rest of the lineup was 4-28.

Walks were a problem for Lotte. Lotte pitching allowed only 4 hits all night, but they were accompanied by 7(!) walks. Two Lotte fielding errors didn't help their effort either.

Woori 5, Hanwha 2

I don't think this is a case of Woori playing well. I think it has more to do with Hanwha being awful. With this loss, the mighty Eagles have fallen to 0-5 on the season with little relief in sight. They get to face a talented KIA squad this weekend.

The story on the mound was the Woori bullpen. 5 pitchers combined to work 4 innings, allowing only two baserunners and shutting the door on any possible Hanwha comeback.

Cliff Brumbaugh continued to thump on Thursday. He went 2-3 with a double, a walk, 3 RBI and a run scored.

KIA 6, Doosan 3

KIA appeared to be in trouble after starter Yang Hyeon-Jong was chased after just 2 2/3 of an inning. Yang gave up all three Doosan runs on 6 hits with 1 walk. He did managed to sneak in 3 strikeouts.

The KIA bullpen picked up the slack for the battered starter. 5 pitchers pieced together 6 1/3 innings of scoreless work and put KIA in a position to win this one.

KIA struck back with a 4 run 4th inning that proved to be the difference in this one. The inning was essentially a hit parade that was capped by Choi Hee-seop's 2 run homer.

Doosan's Kim Dong-ju was 3-5 with two RBI, while KIA cleanup hitter Jang Seong-ho was 2-4 with two doubles and two RBI.

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