9/26 - 9/28 Weekend Roundup

*UPDATE* I've been painfully sick for the past three days. As soon as the seasons change in Daegu, I get sick. It's happened every year for 3 years. This year was the worst. I called in sick on Tuesday(I couldn't move), I went to work on Wednesday(I was sent home after proving that I was unable to speak at an audible volume) and I gutted out today. Scores with winners and losers. I've got some catching up to do.

That new intern at the Korea Times was a busy little bee this weekend. He posted not one, but two articles. In the first, the KBO has set an attendence record. Over 5 million fans have attended KBO games this season. In the second, Lee Seung-yeop has continued to hit the baseball well for Yomiuri. It's amazing what happens when ballplayers are given a chance to get healthy.





What we have here is Jerry Royster making good on a promise. When he first took the job, he said he would sing if they made the playoffs. Well. Lotte is in the playoffs and Mr. Royster led the team in a stirring rendition of "부산 갈매기"(Busan sea gull).


On to the roundup...


9/26
Doosan 1, Samsung 0
W - Lee Hye-cheon (7-5), L - John Ennis (1-3), S - Jeong Jae-hoon (18)

LG 3, SK 1
W - Lee Beom-joon (3-1), L - Song Eun-beom (8-6), S - Jeong Jae-bok (13)

The Heroes 5, KIA 4
W - Ma Il-yeong (11-10), L - Kwak Jeong-cheol (1-1), S - Shingo Takatsu (8)

9/27
Doosan 5, Samsung 0
W - Matt Randel (8-9), L - Yoon Seung-hwan (9-11)

SK 8, The Heroes 4
W - Kim Kwang-hyeon (16-4), L - Kim Seong-hyeon (0-4), S - Esteban Yan (6)

KIA 1, LG 0 (11)
W - Han Ki-ju (2-2), L - Ryu Taek-hyeon (0-1)

Lotte 4, Hanhwa 3
W - Kang Yeong-shik (6-2), L - Kim Hyeok-min (4-5)

9/28
Samsung 10, Doosan 9
W - Jeong Hyeon-wook (10-4), L - Lee Seung-hak (6-5), S - Oh Seung-hwan (38)

The Heroes 4, SK 3
W - Min Seong-ki (1-0), L - Esteban Yan (1-1)

Lotte 4, KIA 2
W - Lee Yong-hoon (6-7), L - Im Joon-hyeok (5-5), S - David Cortes (8)

9/25 Roundup and News

How popular is Jerry Royster? Popular enough to start appearing in ads for Lotte. If I'm translating correctly(and I may not be), this reads, "Dream of Lotte" and "Do Lotte Castle Together." Personally, I think its great that a Korean company is willing to attach an African-American face to its name.

The Korea Times does a writeup on first pitches at baseball games. Nothing that interesting here, but Lee Myung-bak has yet to throw a pitch as president. I wouldn't be surprised if he made an appearance at this year's Korean Series.

The Korea Times also did a feature on the MVP race. My personal pick would be Kim Hyeon-su of the Doosan Bears. He's probably going to win the batting title this year and is as deserving as Karim Garcia and Kim Kwang-hyeon.

I believe this column is fairly entertaining. I believe the SK Wyverns are the best team in Asia right now and will finally bring home an Asian Series victory for Korea. I believe I will be cheering when this happens.

On to the roundup...

The Heroes 5, Doosan 2 (10)
W - Shingo Takatsu (1-0), L - Lee Jae-woo (11-3), S - Jo Yong-hoon (1)

The Heroes started the game with a 2-run rally off of Doosan starter, Kim Sang-hyeon. That would be all they would do against Kim. Kim worked 7 strong innings(100 pitches, 73 strikes) allowing just the 2 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks with 5 K's. The Heroes starter, Kim Su-kyeong was even better. He worked 8 strong innings(113 pitches, 68 strikes) surrendering 2 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks with 6 K's. The score would remain tied at 2, until The Heroes untied it in the top of the 10th. The Heroes struck for a 3-run rally off of Doosan reliever Lee Jae-woo. With runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs, Jo Jeong-geun, delivered a base hit to left. The Doosan left fielder fired the ball towards the plate. The ball appeared to arrive before a sprinting Kim Min-woo made it to the plate, but the tag was applied late and Lee was called safe. A 2-RBI single from Jeong Seong-hoon accounted for the rest of the rally. In the bottom of the 9th with runners on 1st and 2nd with one out, Woori reliever, Jo Yong-hoon, got a much needed double play ball to get out of the jam and end the game.

SK 4, LG 3
W - Esteban Yan (1-0), L - Woo Kyu-min (2-7)

SK held a 3-2 advantage heading into the top of the 9th inning, but LG DH Seo Dong-wook clubbed his 2nd homer of the game to tie the game at 3. Seo was the Twins offense. He hit a 2-run bomb in the 6th to put LG on the board and a solo shot in the 9th. In the bottom of the 9th, SK's Jeong Geun-woo drew a lead off walk to get the party started right. Then, Park Jae-sang bunted him over to 2nd. The next batter, Mo Chang-min, ripped a double down the 3rd base line to drive in Jeong and walk off the Twins.

Lotte 4, Samsung 1
W - Song Seung-joon (12-6), L - Jeon Byeong-ho (6-6), S - David Cortes (7)

I attended this game last night. I can't believe Samsung had a packed house for an essentially meaningless game. I'm used to having about 10 rows in the outfield to myself. It was shoulder to shoulder last night. Actually, it was a free night for college students plus insane Lotte fans making the trip to Daegu that filled the place up.

Song Seung-jeun didn't pitch nearly as well as his line would indicate. He was in trouble for most of his 5 innings(95 pitches, 46 strikes) of work, but Samsung usually let him off the hook. He allowed 1 run on 3 hits and 6 walks with 3 K's. Jeon Byeong-ho was as bad as his line indicated. He can't expect to win when he leaves pitches up in the zone to this Lotte offense. He lasted 4 2/3 innings(62 pitches, 38 strikes) allowing 4 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk. The boxscore claims he struck a batter out. I'm assuming its not lying, but I can't remember who or how. Lotte centerfielder, Lee In-koo, delivered a 2-run double during a 3-run rally in the 5th inning. Lee finished 2-3 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. Lotte 2nd baseman, Jo Seong-hwan also had a 2 RBI evening while going 2-4 with a double.

9/24 Roundup and News

Heroes catcher, Kim Dong-su, played in his 2,000th career KBO game on Tuesday night. Kim has played 19 years in the KBO and he celebrates his 40th birthday next month. He also hit his 200th career KBO homer this season. He enjoyed 20 homer seasons twice in his career, both seasons with LG in '93 and '98 respecively. His finest season actually came in 2003 as a member of the league champion Hyundai Unicorns. Kim hit .308 in 367 ABs, clubbed 16 homers and drove in 68 runs.

Kim Kwang-hyeon wants the pitching triple crown. It would probably make more sense to limit his workout before the playoffs. Kim has thrown more than twice as many innings this year as he did last year.

On to the roundup...

The Heroes 4, Doosan 2
W - Jang Won-sam (11-8), L - Kim Sun-woo (6-6), S - Shingo Takatsu (7)

Doosan starter, Kim Sun-woo, was absolutely lit up last night. He was lifted after a 40-pitch 1st inning. He did record all three outs by strike out, but he allowed 4 runs on 5 hits. The Heroes starter, Jang Won-sam, was able to cruise to victory. Jang tossed 7 2/3 innings(127 pitches, 85 strikes) allowing 2 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk with 4 K's. Shingo recorded the last 5 outs and lowered his ERA to 0.96.

SK 2, LG 1
W - Chae Byeong-yong (10-2), L - Chris Oxspring (10-10), S - Lee Seung-ho (2)

LG scored its one and only run thanks to a solo homer in the 2nd inning from infielder, Kim Sang-hyeon. Chris Oxspring was able to keep SK off the board, until he seemed to run out of gas in the 8th inning. He surrendered a 2-RBI double to SK's Park Jae-sang. Oxspring worked all 8 innings(115 pitches, 78 strikes) allowing 2 runs on 10 hits with 4 K's. SK starter, Chae Byeong-yong was a little better. Chae worked 8 2/3 innings(101 pitches, 69 strikes) allowing just the 1 run on 6 hits with 6 K's. This is the first game I remember in seeing, perhaps ever, that a base on balls was NOT issued. Both pitchers stayed in the zone and ahead of hitters. This game was an absolute pleasure to watch.

Samsung 8, Lotte 5
W - Bae Yong-su (9-8), L - Jo Jeong-hoon (5-3), S - Oh Seung-hwan (37)

Now that the Giants are in the playoffs they are clearly stat paddin' for the rest of the season. They scored 4 of their 5 runs on homers last night. They hit 4 of them. Park Jong-yoon in the 3rd, Kang Min-ho and Son Kwang-min in the 6th and Karim Garcia in the 8th. 4 of the teams 7 hits left the park and they struck out 7 times. Everyone wants to add an extra homer or two to the season total. Samsung added two long balls of their own. Both were also solo shots. Choi Hyeong-woo connected in the 2nd and Shin Myeong-cheol connected in the 3rd. Wait. Shin Myeong-cheol and home run do not belong in the same sentence unless it also has the words "does not hit." In over 1700 career at bats, Shin has exactly 19 homers. Slightly less than 1 homer in every 100 tries. On the season, Shin is sporting a robust .224 slugging %. Park Jin-man finished the night 2-3 with a walk, a double and 3 RBI. The double was the key hit in a 5-run rally in the 3rd inning.

9/23 Roundup and News

There was in fact a guy on the field last weekend. I can't believe I missed this stuff. The video was pretty funny. First, he removes his shirt. Then dives headfirst into second. Then, he kinds of mills around while waving and waiting for security. Then once security shows up, he does a roundhouse kick of sorts that left him lying on the turf. He was escorted out, shirtless. I don't believe a missing shirt counts as a "streaker," but bonus points for maintaining his nice smile throughout the event.



On to better news, populer Korean TV star, Jeong Shi-ah, was on hand in Jamsil Stadium last night to toss out the first pitch.

I hate this team. They have one great manager, one legit franchise player, a few spare parts and a whole lot of underachievers. The apathy has been maddening this season. This rant was much longer, but since it does not involve Korean baseball, I've chosen to cut it short. Moving on...

SK has officially clinched the best record and top playoff spot in the league. I can't believe it took this long to clinch. I noticed this article was written by an intern. Wow, I guess there are jobs worse than mine.

Baek Cha-seung has a 6-8 record this season with a 4.72 ERA. The Korea Times believes this to be an achievement.

While the Joongang Daily's Yoo Jee-ho posts another of his "Inside the KBO" articles. This one takes a look at the SK Wyverns and features a championship guarantee.

On to the roundup...

Doosan 12, The Heroes 5
W - Im Tae-hoon (6-5), L - Lee Hyeon-seung (5-8)

The Heroes, erm, flopped to a 3-2 lead, but saw that disappear thanks to a 7-run, 3rd inning rally from the Bears. Doosan starter, Matt Randel, didn't make it to the 3rd inning last night, but Doosan reliever, Im Tae-hoon, came to the rescue. Im worked 5 scoreless innings. He allowed only 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 6 Heroes. Doosan's Lee Dae-su had a big night at the plate last night. Lee finished 2-4 with a key 3rd inning triple, 4 RBI and 1 run scored. The biggest highlight for The Heroes is that the season is one game closer to being finished.

Hanhwa 4, SK 3
W - Song Jin-woo (6-8), L - Kim Won-hyeong (11-6), S - Brad Thomas (30)

It's too bad these teams won't be facing each other in the playoffs. Last night's game was a fairly enjoyable contest. I haven't really commented on this, but it's nice having 5 teams that qualify as "Not Awful" or better and even the bad teams aren't completely terrible. I think KIA and LG have played better than their records at times. Even The Heroes got off to a decent start before falling apart. Last season, we had only 3 teams that could have been considered "Not Awful." This year has been much more entertaining to watch.

Hanhwa ace, Ryu Hyeon-jin took the mound last night for the Eagles and he wasn't that impressive against the, erm, "tired"(hungover), Wyverns team. Ryu tossed 5 innings(97 pitches, 58 strikes) allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks with 5 K's. Ho-hum. Most of the damage came in the 5th inning when SK's Jeong Geun-woo drilled a 2-run double to give SK a 3-2 advantage over the Eagles. In the 6th inning with runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs, Hanhwa's Lee Yeo-sang hit a seeing-eye single through the right side to tie the game at 3. The game would stay tied at 3 until the 10th inning. In the top of the 10th with runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out, Hanhwa's Kim Tae-wan stepped to the plate. Kim hit a screaming line drive off the left field wall for a double and drove in the go ahead run. Brad Thomas tossed a 1-2-3 10th to record the save.

KIA 9, Lotte 8
W - Seo Jae-weong (5-5), L - Jang Won-joon (12-10), S - Han Ki-joo (26)

This game was sloppy, slow, but not dull. In the 6th inning, things got so strange that Naver Sports needed to provide a map. Basically, when a ball was hit back to the mound, it went through the pitchers' hands and then the shortstop couldn't find the handle and the ball rolled under his glove. At the plate, both teams received most of their offense from their catcher. KIA catcher, Lee Jae-joo had a huge night for the Kitties. Lee went 3-4 with a walk, a double, a homer, 5 RBI and 3 runs scored. While Lotte's Kang Min-ho finished the night 3-5 with a double, a homer, 4 RBI and 1 run scored. Heading into the top 7th inning, Lotte was down 8-3, but with fake rallies in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings, Lotte was able to make this one look good on paper and give the away fans something to cheer about.

9/19 - 9/21 Weekend Roundup

I guess there was a problem at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Friday. The whole deal sounds pretty silly to me and I'm surprised they tried it in Busan.

The Joongang Daily has another update on Choo Shin-soo. Personally, I'm growing a little weary of reading about Choo's every move. Especially with the KBO heading into the playoffs in a few weeks. Yes, he's had a good season. I get it. Let's move on.

Wait a second. The Donga Ilbo actually did this. They wrote a full article comparing Choo to Ichiro. Choo Shin-soo who has had exactly 1/2 of a good season compared to Ichiro. You know, the guy with 8 consecutive 200 hit seasons and will likely be appearing in the Hall of Fame one day. I quote, "When he made his U.S. debut with the Seattle Mariners in 2001, the team gave him little time due to Japanese hitting wizard Ichiro Suzuki." Let's see who do we go with here? This rookie or the guy that's been to the All Star Game 3 times already. Tough call.

There's more. "Choo’s at-bats numbered less than half of Ichiro’s due to injury and other reasons. Choo is hitting .310, almost the same as Ichiro (.314), but his average hit per at-bat is .31, the same as Ichiro’s. Choo’s RBI average per at-hat is .20, exceeding that of Ichiro (.15)." Hit per at-bat? That's not even a statistic! And you rounded Ichiro down! RBI per at bat? I think you meant AB per RBI.

This has me all worked up and it's only Monday.

On to the round up...

Scores for 9/19

SK 3, The Heroes 2
W - Lee Yeong-wook (2-2), L - Ma Il-yeong (10-10), S - Jeong Woo-ram (5)

All 5 runs in the game came via the homer. In the 3rd and 4th inning Heroes Kang Jeong-ho and Kang Byeong-shik(no relation) both hit solo homers to give The Heroes a 2-0 advantage over the Wyverns. In the bottom of the 4th, SK outfielder, Choi Jeong struck again. He delivered a 3-run bomb that proved to be all the offense SK would need.

Doosan 6, Lotte 5
W - Lee Seung-hak (6-4), L - Choi Hyang-nam (2-4)

Before heading into the recap it needs to be noted that both teams wore their thowback uni's for this one. Lotte was in it's powder blues and Doosan was wearing its converted OB Bears uni's(The hat has the Doosan logo instead of the OB logo). I really wish a beer company or better yet, a soju company, would assume sponsorship of The Heroes.

In the bottom of the 8th, Lotte was trailing 3-1, but struck for a 4-run rally to take a 5-3 advantage. They key hit came with two on and no out. Lotte's Jo Sang-hwan delivered an off the wall double to drive in 2 and give Lotte the lead. In the top of the 9th, the Bears responded with a 2-run bomb off the bat of Yoo Jae-wong to send the game into extra innings. Then, in the top of the 10th, Doosan slugger, Kim Dong-joo clobbered a Choi Hyang-nam offering over the fences to give Doosan a 6-5 advantage and, eventually, our final score.

Score for 9/20

Doosan 8, Lotte 2
W - Kim Sang-hyeon (6-1), L - Son Min-han (11-4)

Lotte ace, Son Min-han, was uncharacteristically hittable and Doosan's Kim Sang-hyeon was very effective. Kim lasted 6 innings(84 pitches, 53 strikes) allowing 1 run on 3 hits and 1 walk with 6 K's. Son was battered for 6 runs during his 5 innings of work. Doosan 1st baseman, Choi Joon-shik, delivered a 3-run homer in the 4th inning to make the score 4-1 and put the Bears on top for good. Doosan's Kim Hyeon-su also had a good day at the plate. Kim finished 3-5 with a double, 2 RBIs and 1 run scored.

Scores for 9/21

Samsung 5, LG 3 (11)
W - Jeon Byeong-ho (6-5), L - Jeong Jae-bok (4-10)

This game, was terribly frustrating to watch as a fan. I had zero faith that Samsung would get the ball to Oh Seung-hwan in the 9th with a lead. I was half right. With Samsung leading 3-1 in the bottom of the 8th, LG put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 0 outs. Uh-oh. The Lions called on Yoon Seung-hwan to pitch out of the jam. LG quickly scored its 2nd run of the game on a slow roller to the Samsung second baseman. Yoon recorded the first out of the inning by striking out Kim Yong-woo with runners on 3rd and 1st. The next batter, Ahn Chi-yeong, drew a walk to load the bases. After all this, it was time for the Samsung closer to stroll in from the bullpen. The next batter, Choi Dong-su, flew out to right, but the flyball was deep enough to score the tying run. LG's Seo Dong-wook struck out with the bases loaded to end the threat. Then in the top of the 11th, Samsung third baseman, Park Seok-min, doubled off the left field wall. With one out, Park Jin-man, laced a line drive over the head of an EXTREMELY drawn in rightfielder to plate Park Seok-min. Park Jin-man slid in safely at third and was driven in on a SAC fly from Samsung's Jo Dong-chan.

SK 2, KIA 1
W - Kim Kwang-hyeon (15-4), L - Im Joon-hyeok (5-4), S - Esteban Yan (5)

Kim Kwang-hyeon was too much for an overmatched Tigers lineup to handle. Kim worked 6 innings(86 pitches, 54 strikes) of 1-hit, 3 walk baseball. Kim also added 3 K's to his total and likely sewed up the KBO's Pitcher of the Year(사이용?") award. SK scraped together just enough runs to win. Choi Jeong clubbed a solo homer in the 4th and Kim Jae-hyeon delivered an RBI double in the 5th.

Doosan 11, Lotte 2
W - Lee Hye-cheon(6-4), L - Lee Yong-hoon (5-7)

Leading 3-2 in the top of the 7th inning, Doosan busted this game open with a 5-run rally off the Lotte bullpen. They rallied for 3 more FU runs in the top of the 8th inning. Doosan slugger, Kim Hyeon-su, delivered another big game for the Bears. This time, he finished 3-5 with a homer, 4 RBI and 2 runs scored.

9/17 & 9/18 Roundup and News

I'm doing these together, just to get all caught up. Sorry this has taken so long.

This is a little late, but LG phone model, Jessica Gomez, threw out the first pitch at a Twins(LG) game a few days ago. Cameras were on hand. Hat tip to KoreaBeat.

The champagne was flowing in Busan last night! The Lotte Giants clinched their first playoff birth since 2000. I'm thrilled for Jerry Royster. He has completely changed the apathetic attitude that was present in Lotte's clubhouse for the past few seasons.

Lee Seung-yeop hit 3 homers in a game. He may be very clean, but he is not washed up. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

The Joongang Daily offers up an interesting opinion piece on the careers of Choi Hee-seop and Choo Shin-soo. This is one of the best articles Yoo Jae-ho has produced this year.

First the scores from 9/17...

SK 5, Doosan 2
W - Lee Seung-ho (3-1), L - Kim Sang-hyeon (5-1), S - Esteban Yan (4)

If these two make up games tell us anything, it's that the postseason should be a lot of fun this year. For the last two nights, Doosan and SK gave each other everything they had. SK held a slim one run lead heading into the bottom of the 8th inning. Doosan slugger, Kim Hyeon-su connected for a 2-run homer to give the Doosan Bears a 2-1 advantage. Doosan called on Kim Sang-hyeon to shut the door, but SK kicked it wide open in the top of the 9th. The Wyverns struck for a 4-run rally. With one out and the sacks packed with Wyverns, SK's Na Ju-hwan delivered a base hit to tie the game at 2. Then, Jeong Geun-woo delivered an old fashioned Baltimore chop base hit to the left side to plate the go-ahead run and keep the bases loaded. Then, Choi Jeong hit a sloooooooow dribbler down the 3rd base line that managed to stay fair and Doosan third baseman, Kim Dong-ju, fumbled to make the score 4-2 and keep the bases loaded. The final run was scored on a DEEP SAC fly from Lee Jae-won. Esteban Yan tossed a 1-2-3 9th to record the save.

KIA 4, The Heroes 2
W- Kwak Jeong-cheol (1-0), L - Kim Su-kyeong (3-6), S - Han Ki-ju (25)

I can honestly say I didn't watch this game, but I'm assuming golf clubs were involved at some point. KIA won this game thanks to a sterling effort from starting pitcher, Kwak Jeong-cheol. Kwak tossed 7 shutout innings(114 pitches, 64 strikes) allowing 6 hits and 3 walks with 3 K's. In the top of the 7th The Heroes fell to pieces. A base hit, followed by a walk followed by a pick off throw bouncing around foul territory allowed the first KIA run to score. Then The Heroes shortstop screwed up on the exchange from glove to hand and allowed the 2nd run to scamper home. A legit base hit from KIA's Kim Sang-hoon scored the 3rd run and a wild pitch scored the 4th. I think KIA hit one ball hard in the entire inning. Just baseball at its laziest. The Heroes need a break and it's coming soon.

Hanhwa 7, Lotte 4
W - Kim Hyeok-min (4-4), L - Jang Won-joon (12-9), S - Brad Thomas (29)

Lotte starter Jang Won-joon was pitching well enough, until the wheels fell off during a 5-run 6th inning rally. The inning was capped by a grand slam from Hanhwa centerfielder and foreign sensation, Doug Clark. Both Lee Dae-ho and Son Kwong-min hit solo homers for the Giants, but they never really had much going in terms of offense and Hanhwa was able to piece together just enough pitching to earn the W.

And the score from 9/18...

SK 8, LG 4
W - Kim Won-hyeong (11-5), L - Woo Gyu-min (2-6)

After 2 nights of emotional September baseball, I honestly suspected the Wyverns would get tripped up by the Twins. It's been a common theme in the recent years for teams to struggle after emotional wins. I couldn't have been more wrong about SK. They did fall behind, but they got into that lousy, lousy LG bullpen and battered them around for a few innings. As soon as Chris Oxspring left the game, LG was sunk. SK leadoff man, Park Jae-sang finished the night 4-6 with a double and 3 RBI. The SK catcher, Jeong Sang-ho finished the night 4-5 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.

Samsung 14, KIA 2
W - Ahn Ji-man (5-1), L - Yang Hyeon-jong(0-5)

Wow. I didn't see this coming from the local ball club. After giving up 2 first inning runs, I was convinced this would be a long night. I was right. It was a long night...for KIA!!!! Muahahahahahahaha! The Lions scored 5 in the 1st, 5 in the 3rd, 3 in the 4th and an FU run in the 6th. Lions Outfielder, Kang Bong-gyu went 2-4 with 2 doubles, a homer, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Park Jin-man, the shortstop with the slick glove and dreadful bat, turned a 2-4, 4 RBI performance last night. The only negative for Samsung was that it took 7 pitchers, including Oh Seung-hwan, to make it through a 9 inning game with a 12-run lead.

9/16 Roundup and News

No news of any real importance right now...

On to the round up...

SK 5, Doosan 4
W - Jeong Woo-ram (9-2), L - Lee Jae-woo (11-2), S - Esteban Yan (4)

This game definitely had a playoff feel to it. Doosan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 3rd inning. Doosan 2nd baseman, Ko Yong-min, delivered an RBI double and was later driven in on a Kim Hyeon-su SAC fly. Ko slid in just under the tag during a bang-bang play at the plate. Replays were, uh, inconclusive. SK clawed out a run in the 6th inning. The in the 7th, Choi Jeong delivered a 3-run bomb to give SK a 4-2 advantage. In the 8th, SK added an insurance run thanks to some shoddy defense and an RBI single by Jeong Sang-ho. In the 9th, Doosan did not go away quietly. First, Doosan's Lee Dae-su delivered a solo homer with 1 out. Esteban Yan came on in relief and promptly loaded the bases with 1 out. Doosan pushed across another run with a SAC fly from the bat of Kim Dong-ju, but they were unable to plate the tying run. With runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out, Doosan's Hong Seong-hoon grounded out to short to end the game.

The Heroes 7, KIA 0
W - Jeong Won-sam (10-8), L - Kane Davis (2-5)

This was simply a case of too much Jeong Won-sam. It's too bad Jeong and Ma Il-yeong have been stuck on this sad sack of a team. Put those two on Samsung or Hanhwa and they're competing for the league title. Jeong tossed 8 innings(105 pitches, 74 strikes) of 4-hit baseball. He only walked 2 and struck out 5. At the plate for Woori, 5 different players hit doubles in this game and 4 different players stole bases. It was a busy night on the base paths for The Heroes. Heroes outfielder Kang Jeong-ho went 3-5 with a double and 2 RBI. Kane Davis has the look of a man who only has a few more weeks of this nonsense to get through. He only lasted 2 1/3 innings while allowing 5 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. Somehow, he struck out 2 batters.

Lotte 9, Hanhwa 6
W - Jo Jeong-hoon (5-2), L - Ryu Hyeon-jin (13-7), S - David Cortes (6)

The mighty Giants jumped all over Hanhwa ace, Ryu Hyeon-jin, early and coasted to an easy W. Ryu was pulled after only 4 innings(86 pitches, 47 strikes) of work. He had surrendered 5 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks with 5 K's. He was, essentially, un-effectively wild. The lone bright spot was Hanhwa centerfielder, Doug Clark. Clark busted out of a month long slump by going 2-3 with a walk, a homer, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Lotte leadoff man, Kim Ju-chan was a catalyst for the Lotte offense all night. He finished the night 3-6 with a triple, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Lee In-koo and Lee Dae-ho both had 2 RBIs on Tuesday night.

9/12 - 9/14 Weekend Roundup

On with the very late weekend roundup. My continued apologies for my vacation.

We get not one, but two reasonably well-written pieces from the Korea Times today. First, a look at Choo Shin-soo and Baek Cha-seung. Although this one mentions the words "record" and "Choi Hee-seop" in the same sentence. True, Choo should break his, erm, record for hits in a season by a South Korean, but do we have to mention him by name? I would have more confidence in Choo if I didn't know that he was still trying to break a record set by Choi Hee-seop.

Also, Lee Seung-yeop is healthy and on fire right now. I'll always have room for Lee in my blog. He's from Daegu, he seems like a genuinely nice guy and he's had a run of bad luck while trying to do the right thing for his country. It probably would have been smarter to skip the Olympic qualifiers and the Olympics and focus on getting his swing in shape for the NPB season, but he knew he was needed on the roster, so he went.

Doosan vs. KIA
9/12 - Doosan 8, KIA 3
9/13 - Doosan 8 KIA 3
9/14 - Doosan 12, KIA 2

Wow, talk about your depantsing. The combined score for this series was 28-8 and that makes it sound close. The only game KIA even held a lead in was the Friday night game. After Friday's 5th inning, KIA was outscored 28-5 for the rest of the weekend. I think the KIA bat boy turned in his baseball uniform for a caddy outfit. With Doosan, SK and Lotte clicking on all cylinders, this could be a VERY interesting post season in the KBO.

The Heroes vs. LG
9/12 - Heroes 2, LG 1
9/13 - LG 5, Heroes 3
9/14 - LG 9, Heroes 0

Yeesh, talk about a lousy match up for the last real weekend in the KBO(we're on a "makeup schedule" from here on out). The KBO box scores claim the attendence for the 3-game series was just under 8,000. I refuse to believe that any one was actually watching this matchup at the stadium. I'm assuming the attendence figures count the vendors and TV viewers as well. Friday night's game was a fairly entertaining pitchers duel. LG's Jeong Chan-heon outdueled The Heroes' Ma Il-yeong. Jeong tossed 7 scoreless, while Ma lasted 7 1/3 but surrendered 1 run. The LG bullpen coughed up the lead in the 9th and Shingo came on for another save. Saturday's game was over before it started. LG scored 5 runs in the first 3 innings and coasted to an easy W. On Sunday, Choi Won-ho shut The Heroes out for 6 2/3 innings while the LG Twins battered the Woori bullpen and took advantage of some poor defense to score of their 9 runs in the last 3 innings.

SK vs. Hanhwa
9/12 - SK 4, Hanhwa 3
9/13 - Hanhwa 5, SK 2
9/14 - SK 2, Hanhwa 1

This series felt like a post season series. SK is stuck in that bizarre spot where they have to keep everyone sharp, but also need to get their regulars some rest. Good thing this team is plenty deep. Friday nights' contest saw Hanhwa closer, Brad Thomas, get walked off by a Kim Kang-min base hit. Hanhwa battled all night on Saturday to earn the W. Hanhwa outfielder Yeon Kyeong-heum drove in a pair of key runs for the Eagles. Then on Sunday, SK walked off Hanhwa again, but this time in extra innings. SK's Jo Dong-hwa drilled a base hit down the rightfield line with the bases loaded to win the game in the 12th inning. This could very well have been the game that took Hanhwa out of the playoff picture.

Samsung vs. Lotte
9/12 - Samsung 6, Lotte 3
9/13 - Lotte 6, Samsung 5
9/14 - Lotte 9, Samsung 1

The crowd in Daegu was decidedly very pro-Lotte for this entire series. I guess a lot of Daegu transplants came up for the weekend. On Friday, Samsung's bend-but-often-break pitching staff bent and bent, but just wouldn't crack. Lotte banged out 11 hits and drew 3 walks, but they had a hard time plating runs. Between a Jin Kab-yong homer and some timely hitting from Choi Hyeong-woo, Samsung scraped together enough of an offense to win. On Saturday, Lotte jumped out to an early 6-2 lead and held on for the W. David Cortes tossed 2 innings to earn the save. Lotte's Park Ki-hyeok went 2-4 with a homer, 3 RBI and 1 run scored. Sunday's game was an out and out depantsing plus a wet willie. 9-1 makes the game sound close. During a 5-run 6th inning both Lee Dae-ho and Karim Garcia hit homeruns. On the mound for Lotte, Song Seung-joon cruised to an easy W. He worked 7 innings of 1 run ball. Yikes, Happy Chuseok Daegu!

9/11 Roundup and News

I'm terribly sorry. I took the weekend off for Chuseok and didn't say anything. I went to Fukuoka. Doing anything is difficult in Korea during Chuseok and I always try to escape.

The plan is as follows. A quick update for Thursday. An abbreviated weekend roundup and then back to regular scheduled programming plus a few extras I've been working on. Stadium reviews(I've written two, but they need to be cleaned up before posting) and year end awards will be among the extras.

As far as Cliff Brumbaugh....I've been able to dig up this. It sounds like he's nursing an injury of some type, but my translation skills aren't good enough to tell you what kind. Best I could do.

The Joongang Daily offered up another excellent look inside the KBO. The article focuses on Choi Hee-seop and his, erm, struggles.

The Korea Times tells us that Lee Seung-yeop is back. They also tell us that SK is the best team in the KBO. Also, air is good and smoking may or may not cause health problems in some individuals.

I can't believe Samsung might be able to sneak into the playoffs as the 4th seed. They're 1 1/2 games up on Hanhwa. The exact same amount that my beloved White Sox are up on the hated Twinkies.

On to the very, very abbreviated roundup....

Hanhwa 5, LG 1
W - Ryu Hyeon-jin (13-6), L - Chris Oxspring (10-9)

Samsung 3, Doosan 1
W - Bae Yong-su (8-8), L - Matt Randel (7-9), S - Oh Seung-hwan (36)

SK 3, KIA 1
W - Chae Byeong-yong (9-2), L - Yang Hyeon-jong (0-4)

Lotte 5, Woori 4
W - Son Min-han (11-3), L - Kim Su-hyeong (3-5), S - Choi Hyeong-nam (9)

9/10 Roundup and News

The Joongang Daily offers a look at lefthanders in the KBO. I didn't realize that most of the legit aces were lefthanded.

On to the roundup...

LG 1, Hanhwa 0
W - Lee Beom-joon (2-1), L - Yoo Won-sang (5-4), S - Jeong Jae-bok (11)

Strange events in the first inning. Hanhwa starter, Ahn Yeong-myeong was lifted after only two batters. He allowed a single and a walk. As far as I can tell, the Hanhwa manager had seen enough. Yoo Won-sang tossed six innings of 1 run ball in relief. The only LG run was plated on a sacrifice fly from outfielder Lee Yong-geun. 5 LG pitchers combined for a 6-hit shutout. LG starter, Lee Beom-joon tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings(80 pitches, 46 strikes) allowing only 4 hits and 2 walks with 3 K's. Nothing else remotely interesting occured in this game.

Doosan 12, Samsung 3
W - Lee Seung-hak (5-4), L - Jo Jin-ho (1-3)

Now. This is more like it. I was starting to get worried, what with 4 consecutive days of competent baseball from the Lions. It would be easier to tell you who didn't have a big night at the plate for Doosan. Well, slugger Kim Dong-joo was 0-4. The Bears didn't let Samsung starter, Jo Jin-ho, out of the 2nd inning and they treated Lee Sang-mok even more rudely during his, erm, "appearance." Doosan's Kim Hyeon-su was 2-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Doosan 2nd baseman, Ko Yong-min was 3-4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI on the evening. Bears DH Hong Seong-heun finished the night 3-3 with a walk, a homer, 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. The homer was a solo shot in the 4th inning. Samsung was just dreadful, but they did sock a pair of homers. Neither came from the bat of Yang Joon-hyeok. He's still 2 longballs away from breaking the KBO career mark.

KIA 7, SK 5 (11)
W - Im Joon-hyeok (5-3), L - Kim Won-hyeong (10-5)

This was a wild ballgame and I really can't believe SK was on the losing end. Heading into the top of the 8th inning, SK was down 4-1 and things were looking bleak for the defending champs. KIA reliever Yoo Dong-hoon came on to relieve Kane Davis after 7 strong innings(111 pitches, 67 strikes) of 1-run ball for the strapping westerner. The KIA bullpen took a 4-1 advantage and turned it into a 5-4 deficit. After a wild pickoff throw that allowed a runner to advance from 1st to 3rd, SK scored its 2nd run on a base hit from Lee Jae-won. After loading the bases, a long fly ball was hit to left field. The KIA left fielder couldn't have looked worse. He twisted, he turned, he flopped and he missed the ball. 3 SK runs scored on this one play. Park Jae-hong got himself 3 RBI's thanks to the KIA leftfielder suddenly developing an inner ear condition. In the bottom of the 9th, KIA tied the game on an RBI single from Lee Jae-joo. The 10th inning was quiet enough, but in the bottom of the 11th, Esteban Yan was relieved by Kim Won-hyeong. With one out and the winning run on 2nd, Kim surrendered a walk-off, 2-run bomb to KIA warm body, Kim Jong-kook. Game Over.

Lotte 3, Woori 2
W - Jo Jeong-hoon (4-2), L - Jeon Joon-ho (2-3), S - David Cortes (4)

Lotte was losing 2-0 in the 5th inning when the Giants struck for a 3-run rally. The rally was started on a solo homer from Giants outfielder, Lee In-koo. The game was tied at 2 after an RBI double from foreign sensation, Karim Garcia. Lotte took the lead on an off-the-wall RBI double from catcher Kang Min-ho. The 3-run rally was all the offense Lotte needed last night. David Cortes allowed two baserunners in the 9th, but he was able to get the first runner in a run down and strand the second runner at first.

9/9 Roundup and News

Baek Cha-seung enjoyed a quality start on Monday.

The Joongang Daily offers some thoughts on the Doosan Bears and the extra innings issue. Well worth a read.

On to the round up...

LG 2, Hanhwa 0
W - Bong Jung-geun (10-8), L - Kim Hyeok-min, S - Lee Jae-yeong (1)

Calling Dr. Bong to the operating room! Dr. Bong! The LG ace cut through the Hanhwa lineup like a surgeon through Kim Jeong-il. The good doctor worked 7 1/3 innings of shutout baseball(127 pitches, 73 strikes) allowing only 1 hit and 3 walks while striking out 8. LG, erm, "rallied" for 2 runs in the 7th inning. Lee Bong-gyu delivered and RBI triple and later scored on an RBI single from Park Kyeong-su. That was all the offense LG would need or get in this one.

Samsung 2, Doosan 0
W - John Ennis (1-1), L - Jeong Jae-hoon (2-3), S - Oh Seung-hwan (34)

Where were you when John Ennis claimed his first KBO victory? I was sitting in the centerfield seats at Daegu's Citizen Ballpark. I'm not stalking this guy, I swear. It's just been sheer luck that I happen to see him twice. I'm starting to worry about Samsung. The baseball they've been playing...it's...been entertaining for about 5 consecutive games now. Fast paced, low scoring, reasonably well played. Competent. What happened to the 4-hour long, 9-4 snooze fests with 14 pitching changes? What's going on here? Either way, Ennis showed up fully rested and had excellent command on his heater and change. He worked 6 shutout innings(82 pitches, 55 strikes) allowing only 3 hits and 1 walk with 5 K's. Samsung drew first blood on a 2-run double off the bat of Park Seok-min and that was all they needed to claim their 3rd consecutive W. Hey! Winning streak, man!

SK 8, KIA 0
W - Kim Kwang-hyeon (14-4), L - Lee Beom-seok (7-9)

8-0 makes this final sound close. The final might as well have been 80-0 with KIA's performance last night. I think I saw the pitching coach come out to the mound carrying his golf bag last night. These guys are ready for a relaxing winter vacation in Guam. SK ace, Kim Kwang-hyeon, was excellent last night. He breezed through 8 innings of work(100 pitches, 67 strikes) allowing only 2 hits and 1 walk with 3 K's. He faced 1 over the minimum for 8 innings. Back to back throwing errors lead to the first SK run. On the replay of the 2nd error, if you look close enough, you can actually SEE the pitcher think, "I'm NOT going to throw this into the 2nd row! ...damn." KIA followed the infield adventures by allowing SK's Park Jae-hong to put a ball into the seats in rightfield. I say seats because there wasn't a fan sitting in that half of the outfield. Things got worse from there. Moving on...

Lotte 4, The Heroes 3
W - David Cortes (2-0), L - Jo Yong-hoon (1-6)

The Heroes tied the game at 3 in the 8th inning on a dramatic solo homer from the bat of Heroic outfielder, Kang Jeong-ho. The euphoria brought on by the blast would not last for long. In the bottom of the 9th, Lotte's Kim Joo-chan drew a leadoff walk, but he was caught stealing on the very next pitch. Giants outfielder, Lee Seung-hwa, ripped a double off the wall in right field that would have ended the game if anyone was on base. The Heroes called on Shingo Takatsu to save the day. It was the Heroic Shingo vs. the Giant, Jo Seong-hwan. Jo lined a 1-1 pitch into centerfield for a base hit, Lee sprinted home and slid in under the tag. Giants win on a walk off single against Shingo. I'm starting to remember why he was released by the White Sox. Shingo giveth and he taketh away.

9/5 - 9/7 Weekend Roundup

Hey! The Donga Ilbo wrote another bizarre Korean to English article! These make my day.



Olympic star, Nam Hyeon-hee, tossed out the first pitch at Jamsil Stadium on Sunday. It's hard to recognize her without the mask.


Meanwhile, Korean Olympic weightlifter, Jang Mi-ran, did the same thing at the Heroes game on Sunday. I'm assuming she snapped the mascot in half immediately after this photo was taken.


I know, I know. We've all been waiting for Park Tae-hwan to show up at a ballgame. Well, sadly, you missed it. He threw out one of the first pitches at last year's SK/Doosan Korean Series. I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same thing this year.

On to the round up...

LG vs. SK
9/5 - SK 4, LG 3 (11)
9/6 - SK 6, LG 1
9/7 - LG 6, SK 5

On Friday, the game was tied 3-3 at the end of 9, so the teams went on to extras. In the top of the 11th with one out, SK's Kim Kang-min drilled a deep fly ball to center. The centerfielder did a massive bellyflop, missed the ball and Kim was able to race to 3rd with a standup triple. The next batter, Jeong Sang-ho, drove Kim in with a base hit. SK's Kim Won-hyeong tossed uneventful 10th and 11th to earn the W. LG knuckleballer, Chris Oxspring had a nice game. Oxspring worked 8 2/3 innings(128 pitches, 79 strikes) allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks with 6 K's.

On Saturday, the difference was the pitching. SK starter, Chae Byeong-yeong, gave the Wyverns a quality start and the bullpen closed the door early on LG. LG's starter didn't make it out of the 4th inning and the bullpen was fairly mediocre. Chae worked 6 2/3 innings(101 pitches, 65 strikes) allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks with 6 K's. SK outfielder, Park Jae-hong had great day at the plate. Park was 3-4 with a walk, 2 doubles and 2 RBI. Kim Jae-hyeon also had a nice day at the plate for SK. Kim finished the day 2-4 with a walk, a double, a triple, 1 RBI and 3 runs scored.

LG narrowly avoided the sweep by rallying from 5 runs down in the last two innings to get the W. In the 8th inning, RBI doubles from Ahn Chi-yeong and Choi Dong-su made the score 5-2. A two-run bomb into left field by LG catcher, Jo In-seong, made the score 5-4 and put LG in striking distance. In the 9th inning, SK called on reliever, Jeong Dae-hyeon to close the door on LG. With 1 out and runners on 2nd and 3rd, LG 1st baseman, Seo Dong-wook, slapped a bouncer past a drawn in infield and into center. Both runners were able to score and prevent the sweep. After realizing the winning run had crossed the plate, Seo balled himself up at first base to avoid the beating from his teammates. He stayed in the fetal position for about a minute while his teammates kicked him in the ass.

The Heroes vs. Doosan
9/5 - The Heroes 12, Doosan 5
9/6 - Doosan 9, The Heroes 3
9/7 - Doosan 5, The Heroes 3 (11)

12-5 makes Friday's game sound close. The Heroes were up 8-2 in 7th inning of this one. Heroes 1st baseman, Jo Joong-geun, lead the charge by going 3-4 with a pair of doubles, 4 RBI and 1 run scored. Woori outfielder, Kang Jeong-ho also got in on the action by going 2-4 with a triple, 3 RBI and 1 run scored. The Heroes tagged just about everybody the Bears sent to the mound, but Matt Randel has to be a concern for the playoff bound Bears. Randel was battered for 7 runs and he failed to make it out of the 3rd inning.

Doosan took some measure of revenge on Saturday by clobbering The Heroes ace, Ma Il-yong. Ma didn't make it out of the first inning. He allowed 5 runs on 4 hits and 2 hit batsmen while only recording 2 outs. After Ma loaded this bases, Kim Dong-ju cleared them with a grand slam. Kim finished the day 2-3 with a walk, 6 RBI and 2 runs scored. Doosan starter, Lee Hye-jeon, was excellent on Saturday evening. Lee worked 7 shutout innings(104 pitches, 72 strikes) allowing only 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7.

Is it just me or has Doosan played a lot of these extra inning games? This must have been torture for The Heroes. It's bad enough that they're an awful team, but making them play more than 9 innings in the last month of the season? That's just not fair. Doosan starter, Kim Sun-woo pitched well enough in this game. He worked 7 innings(92 pitches, 60 strikes) allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks with 1 K. My Hero, Shingo Takatsu, also made an appearance. He worked 1 2/3 innings. Scoreless, of course. In the 11th, Roh Hwan-su relieved Takatsu. He surrendered a lead off walk to Lee Jong-wook. Doosan 2nd baseman, Ko Yeong-min got Lee over to 2nd base on a sac bunt. Then, Kim Hyeon-su ripped a double into deep center to score Lee and give the Bears a 4-3 advantage. Lee Jong-ho was brough in to reliever Roh. Lee drilled the first batter he faced in the ass. He hit Kim Dong-ju. He had a large target. Then next batter, Choi Joon-seok, hit a slow bouncer to the short stop. Kim was able to scamper into second to avoid the force. With one out, the bases were loaded. Then, Yoo Jae-weong hit a flyball to deep left to score Kim. Doosan's Lee Jae-woo pitched an uneventful 11th and recorded the W.

Hanhwa vs. Samsung
9/5 - Hanhwa 3, Samsung 1
9/6 - Samsung 5, Hanhwa 3
9/7 - Samsung 2, Hanhwa 1

This was one of the most enjoyable series Samsung has played all year from a viewing standpoint. The team pitched well, fielded well and the games were all just a shade under 3 hours in duration. As a baseball fan, nothing makes me happier. Well, almost nothing.

Even when Friday's game was tied 1-1 in the 5th, I knew Samsung had no chance. Ryu Hyeon-jin was on the mound for Hanhwa and he pwns the Lions. Ryu was good, but a little wild. During his 8 innings of work(134! pitches, 76 strikes) he allowed only one run on 4 hits and 6(!) walks. He struck out 7 Lions. Brad Thomas tossed a scoreless 9th to earn the save. Hanhwa's MVP candidate, Kim Tae-gyun, clubbed a solo homer in the 4th to put Hanhwa on the board. Doug Clark drove in the go ahead run in the 5th with an RBI single.

On Saturday, Samsung leapt out to a 3-0, 1st inning lead thanks to a 3-run bomb from an individual named Kang Bong-gyu. Kang is filling in at first base for whoever it was that was injured. Yeah, it's been that kind of year. Hanhwa picked up a run in the 2nd and tied the game in the 3rd on a 2-run blast from outfielder Song Kwang-min. Samsung answered back in the 5th with solo homers from both Park Han-yi and Hyeon Jae-yoon. Oh Seung-hwan recorded the final 5 outs for yet another save.

On Sunday, solo homers accounted for all three runs scored by both teams. Hanhwa got on the board first with a solo bomb from 3rd baseman, Lee Beom-ho in the 2nd inning. Samsung took the lead in the 5th on solo homers from Park Seok-min and Son Ji-hwan. Samsung starter, Yoon Sang-hwan worked 7 2/3 innings(99 pitches, 68 strikes) allowing only 1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk with 9 K's. Oh Seung-hwan recorded the final 5 outs for the save. This was the 2nd day in a row that Oh has pitched more than 1 inning.

KIA vs Lotte
9/5 - Lotte 7, KIA 1
9/6 - Lotte 10, KIA 2
9/7 - Lotte 5, KIA 2



When you only score 5 runs in three days, it's going to be hard to win baseball games.


Lotte ace, Son Min-han, kept the Tigers off balance for 7 1/3 innings(88 pitches, 59 strikes) allowing only one run on 5 hits with 2 K's. While the mighty Giants offense battered foreign ringer, Kane Davis, during his 5+ innings(101 pitches, 55 strikes) for 6 runs on 12 hits and 5 walks. Somehow, Davis struck out two batters. At the plate for the mighty Giants, both Kim Joo-chan and Lee Dae-ho recorded 3 hits and 2 RBI's.

On Satuday night, the hits just kept on coming for the Giants. Lotte jumped all over KIA starter, Lee Dae-jin. The embattled Lee didn't make it out of the first inning. He recorded only one out while allowing 6 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. Karim Garcia clubbed a 2-run bomb during the 1st inning rally. Garcia finished 2-4. Lee Dae-ho finished 2-4 with a double, 4 RBI and 1 run scored. Lotte starting pitcher, Lee Yong-hoon, took full advantage of the early cushion. Lee cruised for 7 innings(98 pitches, 59 strikes) allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks with 2 K's.

On Sunday, it was more of the same for KIA. Mediocre hitting plus poor starting pitcher is not a winning formula. Lotte battered KIA pitcher, Seo Jae-weong, for 5 runs during his 4 innings of work. Lotte 2nd baseman, Jo Seong-hwan connected for a 3-run homer in the 2nd inning. Jo finished the game 3-5 with 4 RBI. On the mound for Lotte, Jang Won-joon cruised for 8 1/3 innings(102 pitches, 65 strikes) allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk with 3 K's. Foreign sensation and TSKB(True Stories of Korean Baseball) favorite David Cortes recorded the final two outs for his 3rd KBO save in as many tries.

Before the Olympic break, the Giants were looking burned out. The bats just didn't seem as quick. Since the Olympic break, this team has been on a roll. The Giants are 5-1 in the month of September and 11-1 overall. This team is a legit championship threat right now.

9/4 Roundup and News

SK Wyverns manager, Kim Sung-keun, recorded his 1,000 victory as a KBO manager. He needs only 476 more W's to become the winningest manager in KBO history.

Doosan 6, Hanhwa 5 (10)
W - Jin Ya-kob (2-0), L - Brad Thomas (3-5)

Well, this one only took 10 innings to finish. Gettin' there boys! Gettin' there! Before I go into the recap of this one. I just want to point out Jin's given name, Ya-kob. It's a western name from the bible that's been Koreanized. I had to consult my girlfriend to get an official Korean ruling on this. I guess this guys family is really into the bible.

With the game tied 5-5 with runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out, Hanhwa called on closer, Brad Thomas, to get them out of a jam. Thomas walked the first batter hed faced, but struck out the next two batters to end the inning. Things got a little heated after a a close 1-2 pitch was called strike 3. Doosan's Hong Seong-heun actually chest bumped the umpire while stomping his feet and crying. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Doosan actually got to Brad Thomas. Lee Song-yeol lead off the inning with a seeing-eye basehit through the left side. Then, Kim Dong-ju struck out looking. With the centerfielder playing in an extreme shift to the right, Lee Dae-su drilled a pitch into the gap in left/center. Lee Song-yeol was able to scamper home to score the winning run.

SK 5, The Heroes 1
W - Kim Won-hyeong (9-4), L - Jeong Won-sam (9-8), S - Jeong Dae-hyeon (20)

Kenny Rayborn was adequate and Jeong Won-sam deserved better. This game was closer than the final indicates. SK only lead 2-1 in the 8th when The Heroes bullpen failed worse than Booster Gold in the JLI days. Yes, I will be using random superhero references for the rest of the year. Rayborn tossed 5 innings(75 pitches, 43 strikes) allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk with 3 K's. Jeong stuck around for 7 innings(115 pitches, 79 strikes) allowing 2 runs on 8 hits and one walk with 8 K's. One of the hits Jeong gave up didn't stay in the ballpark. SK's Choi Jeong hit a 2-run homer in the 6th inning that would be all the offense the Wyverns would need.

Samsung 6, KIA 5
W - Jeong Hyeon-wook (8-4), L - Lee Beom-seok (7-8), S - Oh Seung-hwan (31)

This was one of those games that Samsung had no business winning, but as a fan, I consider myself lucky to have. Yang Joon-hyeok was the story last night. The aged Samsung slugger hit his 339th KBO homer. Putting him one away from tying the record and 2 away from breaking it. Jang Jong-hoon is the current KBO homerun king. Yang finished the night 3-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Yang's homer came in the bottom of the 6th and put the Lions on top for good in this one.

Lotte 11, LG 9
W - Kim Sa-yool (1-0), L - Lee Beom-joon (1-1), S - David Cortes (2)

11-9 makes this game sound close. Lotte was up 8-3 in the 4th inning, but some truly awful relief pitching and a couple fake rallies from LG made this one a little closer than it should have been. Lotte catcher, Kang Min-ho, swung a mighty bat for the Giants last night. Kang finished the night 3-4 with a homer, 4 RBI and 1 run scored. The homer was a 2-run blast and it came during a 4-run rally in the 2nd inning. It was an absolute bomb over the left field wall. David Cortes earned his 2nd KBO save. A few more and he gets a nickname. He reminds me a lot of Rich "El Guapo" Garces. I'm going to try out Jalsaenggin(잘생긴) and see if that sticks. I bet it doesn't.

9/3 Roundup and News

No news of any importance, but the Samsung Lions had another new foreign guy make his KBO debut last night. I'd like you to meet the newest Lion, John Ennis. His minor league numbers and the fact that his middle name is "Wayne" make him look pretty decent. He averaged more than a strikeout per inning and posted a K:BB of more than 3-1, but I get the impression that he stepped off the plane onto the diamond last night.

Doosan 1, Hanhwa 0 (18)
W - Kim Sang-hyeon (4-0), L - Ahn Yeong-myeong (7-1)

I went to last night's Lions/Tigers game and made it home in time to watch the last 5 innings of this game. It took almost 6 hours to complete this nightmare. Towards the end, the both the Bears and Eagles were both in "I-don't-care-anymore-I'm-goin'-deep" mode. If Ahn Yeong-Myoeng hadn't run completely out of gas in the 18th who knows how long this would have lasted. Doosan's Kim Hyeon-su "drove" in the winning run with a walk off, bases loaded walk. Doosan reliever, Kim Sang-hyeon, was awesome. He worked 6 innings of no-hit baseball, striking out 10(!) Eagles.

SK 8, Heroes 0
W - Kim Kwang-hyeon (13-4), L - Lee Hyeon-seung (5-6)

Last night was simply too much Kim Kwang-hyeon and too much SK offense. SK got the party started right with a 4-run rally in the 1st inning. With the 4-run cushion, Kim was able to focus on throwing strikes. It felt like Kim was ahead in the count with every hitter. The SK ace worked 7 1/3 shutout innings(106 pitches, 70 strikes) allowing only 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 9. SK centerfielder, Kim Kang-min finished the night 2-4 with a homer, 3 RBI and 1 run scored.

KIA 4, Samsung 3
W - Son Yeong-min (5-2), L - John Ennis (0-1), S - Han Ki-joo (24)

Where were you when John Ennis made his KBO debut? I was at Citizen Ballpark in downtown Daegu. Ennis pitched like he had stepped off the plane thirty minutes before game time. The first inning took FOR-EV-ER. Ennis lasted 5 1/3 innings(105 pitches, 65 strikes) before being mercifully lifted. He allowed 4 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks with 2 K's. He also had a brief disagreement with an umpire over balls and strikes. Felix Diaz was equally bad if not worse, but he was lifted in the bottom of the third due to an injury of some sort. I'm guessing either a pulled fat or strained suck. KIA catcher, Kim Sang-hoon, finished the night 2-4 with a 2-run homer in the 4th. His homer tied the game at 3. KIA would score again in the 6th on an RBI single from Kim Jong-kook and that would give us our 4-3 final.

LG 3, Lotte 2
W - Bong Jung-geun (9-8), L - Choi Hyang-nam (2-3), S - Jeong Jae-bok (10)

This game was scoreless through 6 innings, but the scoreless tie was shattered when LG busted lose for a 3-run rally in the 7th inning. In the 7th Choi Hyang-nam relieved Lotte starter, Song Seung-joon. Kim Sang-hyeon drilled a leadoff double to right field and just came in under the tag from Karim Garcia's throw. Garcia's bat has overshadowed his glove and his throwing arm. Both have been more than competent for KBO level competition. LG's Kwon Yong-kwan dropped a bunt down the third baseline to get Kim into third. Choi fielded the ball cleanly and flung it toward the Lotte third baseman, Lee Won-seok. Lee allowed the throw to dribble past him and while scrambling for the ball, he essentially tackled Kim. After the tackle, Kim was awarded home and LG took a 1-0 lead. The next batter, Park Kyeong-su, lifted a basehit juuuuust over the glove of the leaping Lotte shortstop to put runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. Lotte's Kang Yeong-sik relieved a shellshocked Choi. LG's Lee Dae-yeong dropped another bunt down the third base line. This time, it was fielded cleanly and Lotte forced Lee at first, but Kwon was able to score and Park advanced to second. The next batter, Park Yong-taek drilled a double into the gap in left/center to score LG's third and final run. The Giants offered fake rallies in the 7th and 8th, but were unable to plate the tying run.

9/2 Roundup and News

The Korea Times gives Choo Shin-soo a nice write-up. He's slowly starting to produce now that he's healthy, but I can't help but wonder what's going to happen when Martinez and Hafner come back and need to DH. Cleveland has a fairly crowded OF and Choo could wind up the odd man out.

Park Chan-ho wants to start next year. This is probably just posturing before the offseason. I think he knows that if he has a future in the MLB, it's in the bullpen.

The KBO website is ten kinds of weird right now, so I can't really offer much as far as details. Here's the scores and I'll get everything updated as soon as the KBO squares itself away. Whenever that is...

Doosan 6, Hanhwa 1

Samsung 7, KIA 3

Lotte 8, LG 3

SK 4, Heroes 2

8/29 - 8/31 Weekend Roundup

Olympic Gold medalist, Jin Jong-woo, takes aim before tossing out the first pitch before Sunday's game. I don't know why Spongebob and random anime character needed to show up.

Lee Seung-yeop is trying to stick with the Yomuiri Giants, instead of getting sent back down to the minor leagues. According to the Donga Ilbo, he had a good weekend.

The Joongang Ilbo offered a roundup of sorts that focuses on the Giants and "Heroes." Woori really did sever ties with the KBO. Don't they know that they're in business with Shingo? Any business that Takatsu is involved in, is good business. This only paves the way for Charm Soju to sponsor a team next year. It's a well written piece and I wouldn't be surprised if Lotte shows up in the Korean Series. If David Cortes can bring some stability to the backend of the bullpen and the starting pitching continues to eat innings, they could be a force come October.

On to the round up!

LG vs Doosan
8/29 - Doosan 6, LG 3
8/30 - Doosan 6, LG 5
8/31 - LG 7, Doosan 4

6-3 makes Friday night's game sound close. Doosan was leading 6-0 in the 6th inning before LG even sniffed a run. LG Ace, Bong Jung-geun was anything but an ace on Friday. Dr. Bong lasted only 4 innings(106 pitches, 57 strikes) on Friday. He allowed 4 runs on 7 hits with 4 walks and struck out 4. Doosan's Kim Dong-ju earned not one, but two gameballs. He went 2-5 with 2 2-run homers(in the 4th and 6th respectively).

On Saturday night, LG held a 5-4 advantage in the top of the 9th. They called on newly appointed closer, Jeong Jae-bok to close the door. He allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk in the 9th inning, but he did manage to record 2 K's. Doosan's Lee Dae-su lead off with a basehit to left. Pinchrunner, Woo Jae-won, came in for Lee and he promptly stole 2nd. Lee Jong-wook and Choi Joo-hwan both struck out. Then, Kim Hyeon-su drew a 2-out walk to keep the inning alive. Kim Dong-ju ripped a single into center to score Woo and put the go ahead run on 3rd with two outs. The next batter, Hong Seong-heun, ripped a single into right to drive in the go ahead run. Doosan closer, Im Tae-hoon, tossed a 1-2-3 9th to save the W for Doosan.

It was a foreigner pitching duel on Sunday. It wasn't so much a duel as one was less bad than the other and kept his team in a position to win. Doosan's Matt Randel took one step closer to selling insurance next year as he lasted only 2 1/3 innings(63 pitches, 37 strikes) allowing 6 runs on 8 hits(only 5 stayed in the park) and 1 walk. Chris Oxspring flutterballed his way throught 6 innings(105 pitches, 57 strikes) of work. Oxspring allowed 4 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks with 2 K's.

Hanhwa vs SK
8/29 - SK 4, Hanhwa 2
8/30 - Hanhwa 7, SK 2
8/31 - SK 16, Hanhwa 2

On Friday, SK drew first blood with a two-run bomb from Park Jae-hong in the 1st inning. Hanhwa answered right back with a two-run rally off of SK starter, Song Eun-beom. Song was able to settle down and limit the damage to only 2 runs. He stuck around for 7 innings(101 pitches, 61 strikes) allowing 4 hits and 4 walks with 7 K's. Hanhwa starter, Kim Hyeok-min, wasn't able to find his groove and allowed another 2-run rally in the 4th inning. The final line on Kim was 5 2/3 innings pitched(106 pitches, 54 strikes) allowing all 4 SK runs on 6 hits and 5(!) walks. He added 2 K's.

Hanhwa struck back on Saturday night. With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 3rd, Hanhwa battered SK starter, Kim Won-hyeong for 4 runs. The 4-run rally was all Hahwha ace, Ryu Hyeon-jin would need. Ryu worked 7 strong innings(109 pitches, 67 strikes) allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks with 7 K's. Both runs came on solo homers from SK's Lee Jae-won and Jeong Sang-ho. Hanhwa MVP candidate, Kim Tae-gyun went 2-3 with a walk, a homer, 1 RBI and 3 runs scored. His homer put Hanhwa on the board 1-0 in the 2nd inning.

Whatever frustrations were brought on by Ryu on Saturday were taken out on Hanhwa pitching on Sunday night. Hanhwa used 7 pitchers during the 9-inning, 16-run pasting and only 1 didn't give up any runs. Hats off to Hanhwa reliever, Kim Kyeong-seon, for making it through 1 1/3 innings without getting pummeled like everyone else. SK's Jo Dong-hwa and Kim Kang-min both had a 4 RBI night. While Kim Jae-hyeon and Choi Jeong banged out 4 hits each. Only Lee Jin-yeong finished the night hitless(0-6 :-( ), but he scored and drove in a run.

KIA vs The Heroes
8/29 - KIA 3, Heroes 1
8/30 - KIA 2, Heroes 1
8/31 - Heroes 5, KIA 0

On Friday it took KIA's Lee Dae-jin 48 pitches to get through 2 innings. He was pulled before "The Heroes" could do any real damage. Reliever Im Joon-hyeok tossed 4 scoreless to help the Tigers limp to a victory over the woeful Heroes. Seriously, I feel bad for these guys. Salaries cut, poor training conditions and now they lose their sponsor because ownership loves their shady business practices too much. At least they can hang out with Shingo, who I'm sure, is a regular barrel full of monkeys.

Saturday was more of the same, except The Heroes actually held a lead, 1-0, until the bullpen(NOT Shingo) surrendered the tying and go ahead runs in short order. The Heroes' Kim Soo-kyeong worked 7 scoreless innings(83 pitches, 49 strikes) allowing 4 hits and striking out 5. KIA starter, Lee Beom-seok also tossed 7 innings, but he allowed a 3rd inning solo homer to The Heroes Kim Il-kyeong. KIA took the lead in the 8th after Lee Jong-beom delivered an RBI double and Choi Hee-seop(remember him?) drove in the go ahead run on a SAC fly to left.

On Sunday, Heroes Ace, Ma Il-yeong had decided he had seen enough. Ma put The Heroes on his back and threw 8 innings of 2-hit, shutout baseball. The Heroes offense also chose to show up today, rallying for 2 runs in the 4th and 5th inning to stake Ma to a 4-0 lead. Heroes outfielder, Lee Taek-gun drove in 3 of The Heroes 5 runs.

Lotte vs Samsung
8/29 - Lotte 7, Samsung 4
8/30 - Lotte 5, Samsung 2
8/31 - Lotte 7, Samsung 5


Lotte was the better team this weekend. Plain and simple. They made the big hits, the big plays and got the big outs.

On Friday, the Samsung bullpen fell apart in the late innings. Walking 3 guys and giving up 3 hits over 1 1/3 innings is never a good idea for a reliever, but Samsung's Jo Hyeon-geun thought so. Lotte's Son Kwan-min gets the game ball for going 2-3 with a walk, 3 RBI and 1 run scored. Lotte also had a new foreign pitcher make his KBO debut on Friday. David Cortes waddled in and recorded the save. I guess Marty McCleary forgot to bring the pretzels to Jerry Royster's poker game last week.

On Saturday, it was Samsung starter, Bae Yeong-su's, turn to be awful. Bae didn't finish the 4th inning. A 5th inning, 2-blast from the Mighty Mexican, Karim Garcia, was the early knockout blow in this one. Lotte was already up 4-2, but that insurance run seemed to take the wind out of the Samsung sails. Lotte starter, Jo Jeong-hyeon, was roughed up a little early, but settled down and tossed 7 strong innings. Jo allowed only 3 runs on 8 hits with 5 K's.

Samsung held a 5-3 advantage heading into the bottom of the 8th on Sunday night. Lotte posted a 4-run rally in the 8th inning that was keyed by some truly miserable pitching from Samsung's Jeong Hyeon-wook and a seeing-eye single from Lee Dae-ho to plate the first run. Karim Garcia followed with a 2-RBI double to give Lotte the lead. In the 9th, Lotte's newest foreign sensation, David Cortes, recorded a 1-2-3 9th inning to nail down the W.