2009 KBO Season Primer: Lotte Giants

2. Lotte Giants

In 2007, the Giants were essentially a laughingstock. They had talent on the roster, but the team lacked direction and wandered to a 7th place finish. That winter, they replaced their manager with the first foreign manager in the KBO, Jerry Royster. Things changed right away. The Giants started winning. Royster managed to instill a positive attitude in this talented roster and it paid off. The Giants finished 3rd last year, but sputtered in the opening round of the playoffs against an over-achieving Samsung Lions team.

This team probably has the best 1-2-3 starters in the KBO. 34-year old ace, Son Min-han started with Lotte in 1997. He finished last year with a 12-4 record in 26 starts. He worked 179 innings with a 2.97 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. Son struck out 80 and walked 40. #2 starter Song Seung-jun finished 12-7 over 26 starts. Song threw 153 1/3 innings with a 3.76 ERA and 1.41 WHIP. He struck out a team best 114 and walked 70. #3 Jang Won-jun finished 12-10 over 26 starts. In Jang's 155 2/3 innings, he posted a career best 3.53 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. He struck out 102 and walked 54. Lotte has added American Jon Adkins to shore up a bullpen that struggled all year. Not a single Lotte reliever recorded double-digit saves last year. 37-year old Choi Hyang-nam posted 9 and he was last seen in the St. Louis Cardinals minor league camp. Kang Yeong-sik was one of the more reliable bullpen arms last year. Kang lead the Giants with 16 holds, but he had problems with keeping the ball in the park. He surrendered 6 homers in only 56 innings.

Last year, Lotte finished second in the league with 93 homers. Mexican national, Karim Garcia lead the team with 30. He also lead the team in RBI(111) and OPS (.894). He was a legitimate MVP candidate last season. Garcia was everything Lotte needed. His outgoing personality and strong hitting endeared him to the fan base. At most Lotte home games Mexican flags would be waived alongside Korean flags. Garcia's bat was a big reason for the Lotte turnaround. Infielder, Cho Seong-hwan also posted a career year last season. Cho lead the team in batting average by posting a .327 BA in 423 AB's. He led the team in doubles(27) and runs scored(81). He also came in 4th on the team in OPS with an .845 mark. Cho was also successful in 31 of 34 stolen base attempts. Lee Dae-ho had a monster season hitting next to Garcia. The large third baseman clubbed 18 homers, drove in 94 RBI and posted a .879 OPS. Catcher Kang Min-ho also came into his own last season. Kang finished 2nd on the team with 19 homers and 3rd with 82 RBI. This team was an offensive juggernaut.

In the off season, the Lotte Giants made the only real splash in the free agent market. They added Doosan catcher, Hong Seong-heun. Hong posted a .331 batting average and .812 OPS over 423 AB's last year. He figures to see more time at DH with the Giants. The Giants should post an everyday line up of 1. Cho, 2. Kang, 3. Lee, 4. Garcia, 5. Hong. That's probably the best 1-5 in the KBO.

This year, I think with more consistent effort out of the back end of the Lotte bullpen and EVEN MORE offense, this team could slug its way to a 2nd place finish.

2009 KBO Season Primer: SK Wyverns

With the 2009 season literally right around the corner and tens of new readers descending upon my little blog, the time has come for a KBO season preview.

I personally detest power rankings and lazy writers that pass them off as an actual column, but four our purposes, power rankings are the best way to structure this post.

1. SK Wyverns

The two-time defending champs should pick up where they left off last season. The team has stayed together and they're still relatively young.

On the mound, this team is lead by KBO MVP and team ace, Kim Kwang-hyun. Kim finished last year with a 16-4 record, a 2.39 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP and 150 K's in 162 innings. He only allowed 9 homers all season and his K:BB was 3.00. He was the best pitcher in the KBO last season. Chae Byeong-yong was the "Jack of All Trades" last year. He spent most of the season as a starter, but he helped to shore up the bullpen in the playoffs. Chae finished the season with a 10-2 record in 27 games. He posted a 2.70 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP in 136 2/3 innings. He struck out 81 and walked 43. Chae will probably be SK's #2 or #3 starter behind Kim. Righty Jeong Woo-ram and lefty Jeong Dae-hyeon were a devastating 1-2 punch for the Wyverns out of the bullpen last year. Woo-ram would usually throw the 7 or 8th, while Dae-hyeon would lock down the 9th inning. Dae-hyeon missed most of August with an injury and Woo-ram struggled in the closer's role. 8 different Wyverns pitchers recorded saves last year. Jeong Dae-hyeon finished with 20 saves, a 2.67 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP and a K:BB of over 2:1. Woo-ram picked up 5 saves and 25 holds last year. He also posted a 9-2 record in 85(!) appearances

They've swapped out last years foreign pitchers for newer, possibly better models. Mike Johnson and CJ Nitkowski have replaced Kenny Rayborn and Esteban Yan. Both figure to start the season in the rotation. The only other new pitcher worth mentioning is Lee Sung-ho. Lee was signed from LG after a disastrous 2008 campaign. He does have a double-digit win season under his belt(He won 11 games in 2003), but he allowed 62 base runners in 24 1/3 innings last season. He could stick as a long reliever or be selling insurance in May.

At the plate, the Wyverns are as smart and disciplined as any team in the world. SK lead the league with a .361 team OBA. Also, 6 different Wyverns with over 100 AB's posted batting averages over .300. Third baseman, Choi Jeong, lead the way with a .328 average. Choi also posted an OPS of .890 in only his 3rd full KBO season. Center fielder, Park Jae-hong lead the team with 19 homers and posted an OPS of .958(!). Shortstop Jeong Geun-woo lead the team in stolen bases with 40, but he also lead the team in CS with 20. Jeong came in 2nd on the team with 72 runs scored. He also posted a .797 OPS.

The Wyverns really didn't make any significant additions in the off season on offense.

The SK Wyverns are an excellent example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. They didn't really have anyone put up ridiculous offensive totals, but they were capable of scoring enough runs to win. This team simply wore pitchers down and always seemed to deliver with runners in scoring position. Last year's SK Wyverns might have been the best team in Asia last year and there's no reason to believe that won't continue. This team was a buzz saw last year. They could make a run at 90 wins this season.

Shin-soo, How Do You Go From This Tranquility To That Violence?

"Usually I take the Hyundai."

You can get your very own Choo Shin-soo 80's bobblehead on Saturday June, 13 when the Indians face the Cardinals at Jacobs Field.

Japan 5, Korea 3 (10) Turn Out the Lights...

The party's over.



Both sides left everything on the field. The difference in this game was pitching. Japan's Hisashi Iwakuma threw a gem. He tossed 7 2/3 strong innings. He surrendered a homer to Choo Shin-soo in the 5th, but other than that he was essentially untouchable and if he did allow a ball to be hit hard, a fielder of some sort would leap in front of it. He was noticably laboring through the 8th and he was finally lifted after allowing a 2nd Korean run to score. He threw 97 pitches in the game, 54 were strikes. He allowed only 2 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk with 6 K's.

Yu Darvish came in for the 9th inning. I was stunned to see him striding out from the bullpen. He had just closed out the game against the US. I can't imagine his club is going to be very happy that he worked two days in a row. The second of which he threw 41 pitches. He struck out pinch hitter Jeong Geun-woo and walked the next 2 batters. Then, Choo Shin-soo struck out swinging. Third baseman, Lee Beom-ho delivered an RBI single through the left side to tie the game at 3. Predictably, Koh Yeong-min struck out swinging.

Bong Jung-geun wasn't exactly the "일본 킬러"(their word, not mine) the Korean media made him out to be. Bong threw 94 pitches during his 4 innings of work. He allowed only 1 run(unearned) on 6 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 1. The Japanese hitters worked deep into every count. The goal wasn't to beat Bong, but to wear him out and get into the Korean bullpen. Japan succeeded.

The Korean bullpen wasn't bad, in fact Jeong Hyeon-wook did his best to keep them in the game for 3 innings. Lim Chang-yong ran into trouble in the 10th. I have no idea why he was out there instead of Yoon Seok-min. Lim got into trouble early in the 10th and nearly pitched his way out of it. He was ahead of Ichiro 1-2, but couldn't put him away. Ichiro fouled off 4 pitches during his 8-pitch at bat. He finally drove a 2-RBI single into center field to give Japan the lead for good.



Darvish stayed on to record the final 3 outs in the 10th and the party was on. Go crazy, Tokyo.



This was a fun WBC. I'm not a huge fan of the final result, but I think it put the world on notice that some fine baseball is being played outside of the Americas and not just in Japan.

Next, KBO opening day is less than 2 weeks away! I know this guy is excited!

I'm Taking A Break From the WBC To Write About Fantasy Baseball

That was a scary 5 minutes. Crisis...averted. I can always count on the incompetence of the American national team. We just don't care.

Last night(approximately 11:30 PM Daegu time) we held the EWC Champions League draft. Last year, I participated in the first ever EWC fantasy league. It was a 20-person league of death that I barely survived. My team started strong, faded quickly and bottomed near the cellar. Using most of my limited fantasy skillz I was able to claw my way into contention. I peaked at 6th place around early August. The top 12 or so guys were invited to join this season's champion's league. I finished 11th. Go me.

The following is a breakdown of my team and my prediction for the season...

C - I was faced with a choice in the 4th round. Take Geovany Soto. Take a reach on an OFer that I don't really like. Draft Dan Haren. I snagged Geovany at the end of the 4th round. I drafted Haren in the 5th.

1B - I was picking 4th overall. Ramirez, Pujols and Wright went in that order. Miguel Cabrera also has eligibility at 3B. Grady Sizemore and Ryan Braun were also considerations, but I just get the feeling that Miggy could be a top 3 player at seasons' end. I think Braun is going to have muscle aches all year and Grady is stuck batting lead off when he should be batting lower.

2B- I snagged Kelly Johnson in the 12th round. I think he could be a 15/15 guy for homers and steals with a solid OPS. You could do a lot worse at 2nd than KJ.

SS - I watched Stephen Drew and Michael Young go right in front of me. I got Rafael Furcal in the 7th. I think he has top 50 value, IF he stays healthy. Big, big if, but he'll be leading off for one of the most potent offenses in the NL. "

3B- I grabbed Crush Davis in the 6th round. Did I reach? Possibly, but I think he's a guy with top 50 value. He could be an OPS monster this year.

LF - I grabbed Carlos Quentin in the 2nd round. If I had it to do over, I would have taken Manny over TCQ, but I was blinded by my fierce loyalty. If TCQ were caught with steroids, I would probably start watching cricket. I also didn't think that TCQ would have made it to me in the 3rd round. The idea of TCQ having a huge season for someone else sickens me.

CF - Lastings Milledge in the 10th ahead of Jay Bruce and Justin Upton. He has the most experience of the 3 and is arguably the safest. He's a 20/20 threat with upside. As long as he keeps his head on straight, he's not losing AB's. The Nats could have a nice offense this year.

RF - Jayson Werth in the 13th round. As long as he gets the AB's, he's a 20/20 lock with a solid OPS. Pat the Bat went 2 picks later. I think Werth is the better value.

Util - Justin Morneau. He was the best hitter left at my pick in the 3rd round. I took him ahead of Kevin Youkilis(injury concern) and Nick Markakis(crappy team concern). The only other guy I was considering here is Matt Kemp and I'm not sure where he's going to hit. He could bat 2nd, he could bat 7th. I know Morneau is going to hit in the middle of the Twins lineup.

Bench - I picked up Salty in the 19th round. If you spend a high pick on a catcher, you should have some insurance. I also think Salty is going to see time at 1st and DH for Texas. If he gets 400 AB's, I could see him approach 20 homers. Torii Hunter was still around in the 17th. I'm not a huge Torii fan at all, but an .800 OPS from a bench guy is something I'll take. Plus, he could go 20/20 this year. He just fell short last year. I needed some SB's and I didn't want to sacrifice other cats. I also got Carlos Guillen at the end of the draft. Purely for OBP purposes.

Starting pitching- I love my starters. I grabbed Dan Haren in the 5th round. I love the fact that he rarely gives up walks. It guarantees that he'll have a lower WHIP than he should. He'll post 15+ wins, an ERA around 3.00ish and a sub 1.25 WHIP with a solid number of K's. He's an anchor. I wanted Yovani Gallardo in the 7th, but Francisco Liriano was still around. I can't take YoGa over Liriano. I just can't. I wound up getting Yovani in the 8th. I grabbed Joba in the 11th round. Joe Girardi has said that he wants Joba to get 30 starts. That should put him around 160/170 innings. I'm fine with that from my #4 starter. I also snagged Jair Jurrgens in the 18th. I'm a big fan of The Surgeon.

Relief Pitching - Ok, I've made a conscious effort to not pay for saves. I grabbed Matt Capps in the 14th. The choice was between him and DJ Qualls. Capps will have fewer saves vultured. I grabbed Travis Hoffman in the 16th. I may have to get one of his setup guys off the wire if this pulled muscle doesn't improve. I also grabbed Jose Arredondo in the 18th. I think he's a solid setup guy for the first few months, then he takes the closer job from Fuentes. I was thrilled to get him. This is the first league I've been able to snag him in. Manny Corpas was my 20th round pick. I think he ends the year with double digit holds AND saves. Jeff Samardjzia was my pick in the 21st round. I'm secretly hoping he claims a bullpen slot and spends the year as a lights out reliever.

Overall - I really like this team. The starting pitching could be really special. 3 of my top 4 have top 10 starter upside. That's the key word for this team. Upside. I should change the name to the Daegu Upside. Most of the guys are fairly young, but accomplished players. Lastings Milledge is a prime example. This should be a fun year. I'm not thrilled with my bullpen, but I think there are a ton of saves and holds waiting on the waiver wire.

This World Baseball, Just Got A Little More Classic! Korea 10, Venezuela 2

"Korea advances in the WBC!"

Wow.

I thought this one would be A LOT closer. Then, I realized Carlos Silva was starting for Venezuela. Unless he's in a Twins uni and playing against the White Sox, Carlos Silva is awful. Carlos didn't disappoint me. He didn't get much help in the field. Venezuela committed 3 errors during his, erm, "outing" and 5 in total. The 5 errors is a WBC record. Congratulations! Silva stuck around long enough to allow 7 runs( 6 earned) on 6 hits and one walk. Only 4 of the hits stayed in the park.

Yoon Seok-min pitched his guts out. Yoon tossed 6 1/3 strong innings. He allowed both Venezuela runs on 7 hits and 1 walk. He added 4 K's. 12 of the 19 outs he recorder came via the ground ball.

At the plate for Korea, Choo Shin-soo finally showed up. Big League Choo clubbed a 3-run bomb in the first inning. His homer gave Korea a 5-0 advantage. He added 2 walks and 1 HBP(again!) to his total. In the 2nd inning, Kim Tae-gyun added another homer to his total. KBO batting champ Kim Hyeon-su finished the game 3-3 with a double, an RBI, 2 runs scored and a walk. Whenever the Venezuelans made a mistake, the Koreans made them pay. The Venezuelans made a lot of mistakes.

Korea is on to the finals! Now, they get to watch tomorrow's(today's?) Japan/USA game to find out exactly who they'll face. I'm secretly terrified of a match up against the USA. IF the Koreans play the USA and IF the US team wins, I just hope there is exactly 0 controversy. I don't want more incidents like this. I'm sure my fears are completely unfounded, but I'd be lying if I said I haven't been privately dreading this.

Japan 6, Korea 2

Well, meh. This was essentially a meaningless game. It was only played for seeding purposes. Japan gets to play the USA on Sunday and Korea has to face Venezuela on Saturday.

KBO batting champ, Kim Hyeon-su, got the party started right in the first inning with an RBI ground rule double to give Korea a 1-0 advantage. In the top of the 2nd, Japan's Seiichi Uchikawa hit a solo homer to tie the game. Shuichi Murata singled and advanced to second on center fielder Lee Taek-geun's fielding error. He advanced to third on Choi Jeong's throwing error. To be fair, Choi was playing out of position. I can't remember him ever playing shortstop before. Murata scored on an RBI single from Yasayuki Kataoka to give Japan a 2-1 advantage.

Third baseman Lee Beom-ho tied the game in the 7th inning on a solo homerun. Japan answered right back by scoring 3 in the 8th and 1 more in the 9th to take a 6-2 lead.

The Korean bullpen was awful and the team looked lethargic in the field. Oh Seung-hwan, Kim Kwang-hyun and Lim Chang-yong combined to surrender 4 runs during the last two innings. To be fair, they didn't get much help in the field. The Korean team committed 3 errors in the game after committing only 2 in the previous 6 games. The Japanese team also committed 3 errors, but the Korean team never really made them pay for any of them. If the Korean team made a mistake, the Japanese pounced all over it.

This is a much better way to promote Korean culture than Dokdo signs.

Next up for the Korean team is Venezuela on Saturday at 8 PM. I'm guessing Hanhwa ace Ryu Hyeon-jin gets the starting nod for Korea.

Ichiro Has the Bat of Ty Cobb and the Soul of a Stoner

I quote...

"Should Japan win Wednesday, the two teams will face off again Thursday and possibly again in the semifinals. Korea has defeated Japan two out of three times in World Baseball Classic play this year.

"There is a destiny," Ichiro said. "It's like a girl you said goodbye to, and then you bump into the same girl again on the street so many times, because there's a destiny to meet again. Maybe better, might as well get married if we are going to meet this frequently." "

This isn't the first time he's done this.

I've tried to work through this in my head, but I'm at a loss. Let me try again. Okay. The girl is Korea. Has to be, right? The street, well, it's the East Sea. What else could it be? And marriage. Marriage...hmmm. JAPANESE IMPERIALISM!

Eff Yu Darvish!!! Korea 4, Japan 1

Heading into this game, I was wondering which Korean team would show up. The one that got slaughtered in Tokyo or the one that played their guts out and scratched out a 1-0 victory in... Tokyo. If today's result is indication, the latter is the truer example.

The Koreans were helped out by a wild Yu Darvish. It appeared that Yu had trouble getting his slider over for strikes. The Koreans were able to lay off the slider and look for the straighter stuff. Team Japan shortstop, Kataoka Yasuyuki, made a key error in the first inning that allowed the 1st Korean run to score and put runners on 1st and 2nd with none out. Darvish walked Kim Tae-gyun to load the bases. After a Choo Shin-soo strikeout, Lee Jin-yeong singled to drive in two runs.

Darvish settled in after the first inning. He struck out the side in the 2nd. Darvish managed to last 5 innings. He allowed 3 runs(2 earned) on 4 hits and 1 walk with 7 K's.

The real story on the mound was Bong Jung-geun. Bong has emerged as one of the leaders of this Korean squad during the WBC. He gutted through 5 1/3 innings allowing only 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks with 1 K. Bong recorded 12 of the 16 outs via the groundball. After Bong made his exit, it was time for the Korean bullpen to take over. Yoon Seok-min, Kim Kwang-hyeon and Lim Chang-yong combined to throw 3 1/3 scoreless with 4 hits and 4 K's.

Neither squad offered much at the plate. The Korean side did a much better job of capitalizing on mistakes than the Japanese team did.

Team Japan catcher, Kenji Johjima, was ejected in the 7th after he was called out on strikes. He dropped his bat at the plate and refused to pick it up when asked by home plate umpire, Hunter Wendelstedt.

Korea has already clinched a spot in the semis. They will have another game on Thursday at 9 PM ET against the winner of tomorrow's Cuba/Japan game.

Also, these guys showed up again...Funny, I didn't see one for Takeshima. Or the Liancourt Rocks. This nonsense is only going to get worse in Los Angeles.

Korea 8, Mexico 2

Well, well, well. This was a very pleasant surprise.

I didn't have any afternoon classes, but I had to stay in the office. A small group of us watched the English broadcast on my computer. This game really wasn't very fan friendly. It was long, slow and dull. If we weren't playing a game of rummikub, we probably would have quit watching.
Ryu Hyeon-jin really struggled with command. It took him 65 pitches to throw 2 2/3 innings. Ryu allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 1 walk with 3 K's. He didn't look nearly as sharp as he did against Japan or Taiwan. Jeong Hyeon-wook tossed 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Kim Kwang-hyeon also came on to retire 2 batters. I'm assuming this outing was more to give Kim some confidence heading into his next start than it was to use him as a reliever. Yoon Seok-min struck out 3 during his 1 1/3 innings of relief work.

At the plate, Korea was able to turn Petco Park into a Homer Haven. Actually, I think the Mexican pitching had more to do with the homers than the ballpark did. I've been lead to believe that Petco is more of a pitcher's park. Lee Beom-ho got the party started with a solo homer in the 2nd. After tying the game at 2 in the 2nd inning, Kim Tae-gyun hit another solo shot to give the Korean side a 3-2 advantage. Ko Yeong-min added another solo shot in the 5th. Team Korea tacked on 4 insurance runs off a very mediocre Mexican bullpen.

After the shaky start from Ryu, Korea dominated the game. I hate to write this, but 8-2 makes this sound close.

The Korean victory coupled with Japan's shutout win over Cuba has set up a round one rematch. Yu Darvish will likely take the mound for the Japanese. I've got to think that Bong Jung-geun is going to get another crack at the Japanese. It was Bong's gutsy 5 1/3 shutout innings against Team Japan that helped them win the first round.



This is the worst acronym ever. They couldn't even come up with something for "O." How about "our?" I thought of that without even trying. Also, what does Barack Obama have to do with baseball. He is a big White Sox fan. Now, we all know that makes him really cool, but it has nothing to do with the WBC. How about coming up with one for Korea?

I've done my best to stay away from stuff like this(being a blog about baseball and not politics and all), but this is a little irritating. Nothing says "WBC" like a politically charged sign that no one outside of Korea knows anything about. I guarantee Charlie Steiner spent 20 minutes trying to figure out which one of the players was nicknamed "Dokdo."

Team Korea Lands in the US, Loses 2 Exhibitions

Kang Min-ho satisfies his "오빠부대." Bonus points for the white dude in the Dodgers hat trying to get his attention.

Meh.

Double Meh.

I really didn't want to post about these, but there was nothing else going on in Korean baseball this week. I decided it would be better to post.

I'm guessing jet lag played a part in Korea's first loss. That and rust. Son Min-han threw for the first time in weeks and he got absolutely lit. It also sounds like Kim Kwang-hyeon ran out of gas in the 3rd inning(?!?). That sounds like it warrants concern with the season a few weeks away. I'm guessing his pitch count was up around 60 or 70. The MLB website didn't feel like divulging that information and I am far too lazy to count.

Today's game was a lot better than yesterday's. The Korean team actually held a 2-1 lead after 6 innings! But, the Korean bullpen surrendered the tying run in the 7th on an RBI double from Blake DeWitt. Them in the 8th inning, Dodgers 2nd baseman, Chin-lung Hu drove in the go ahead runs on an RBI single.

Jeong Won-sam started for Team Korea. He tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He allowed only 2 hits and struck out 1.

Next for Team Korea is Karim Garcia's Team Mexico on Sunday at 11 PM ET. I believe that works out to 1 PM Monday afternoon in Korea, but I may be mistaken.

Korea 1, Japan 0

I'd like to say that this was a brilliantly played, tense battle, but that wouldn't really be true. This game was a brilliantly played, tense battle. Last night was perhaps the sloppiest 1-0 game I've ever seen.

Now the both Japan and Korea were throwing some leather last night, but when the winning side makes 5(5!) baserunning errors you can't say it's a well-played game. During the game against China, the Korean third base coach actually tried to tackle a runner to stop him from advancing. He missed the tackle and the runner was out by 15 feet. Last night, he stopped trying to tackle runners. I got the impression that he realized his players were going to be overaggressive and get into all kinds of wacky situations.

The Korean baserunning was offset by their brilliance on the mound. Bong Jung-geun pitched his guts out. He threw 5 1/3 innings of 3-hit baseball. He struck out 2 and it seemed like everything was a groundball to the left side. Lim Chang-yong tossed 1 2/3 innings of relief to nail down the save. His stuff was absolutely electric.

Kim Tae-gyun provided all the offense Korea would need when he drilled an RBI single down the third base line in the 4th inning.

Aaron at the EWC gave last nights' game a great write up and I agree with a lot of his observations. Where is Kang Min-ho? Did he sleep with Kim In-sik's daughter or something? I thought we might see Park Kyeong-won for Kim Kwang-hyeon's start(they're battery mates with SK), but to have him play the entire series is ridiculous.

The Korean team gets to rest for a week and hang out in San Diego waited the result from Group B. I've got to think Ryu Hyeon-jin is going to open the 2nd round. It will be interesting to see who Kim pegs as the #2 starter. Could it be Bong again?

Korea 14, China 0 (7)

And balance is restored back to the universe.

Yoon Seok-min gave Korea exactly what they needed after their embarrassing loss to Japan. Yoon worked 6 shutout innings allowing only 2 hits and striking out 4. Everything was a lazy fly ball.

Korea drew 7 walks and 3 Korean batters were hit by pitches. Choo Shin-soo was drilled for the 2nd consecutive game. He's got to be wondering what he did to deserve all this. First, a sore elbow, struggles at the plate and now constantly getting drilled. All he wanted to do was represent his country and earn some karma with the baseball gods. My how they've punished him.

Third baseman Lee Beom-ho and shortstop Park Ki-hyuk both drove in 3 runs last night. Lee drilled a 2-run homer in the 4th inning.

The Chinese team was fairly awful in all facets of the game. The couldn't pitch. They couldn't hit(2 hits!) and they had trouble in the field(2 errors).

Korea faces off against Japan again. I have no idea who's pitching. Ryu Hyeon-jin only tossed a few innings in his first appearance. He couldn't do any worse than Kim Kwang-hyeon....could he?

Japan 14, Korea 2 (7)

There was a game last night? I hadn't heard anything.


In all seriousness the only excitement for the Korean side was Kim Tae-geun's 2-run bomb in the 1st inning.

Kim Kwang-hyeon suffered one of the worst outings of his career. He surrendered 8 runs(all earned) in his 1 1/3 innings of work. 3 of the 4 outs he recorded were via the strikeout. Nothing else good or interesting happened for the Korean side.



This game was completely forgettable. Here's hoping Team Korea can put it out of their minds and get ready to play a hungry Chinese team tonight at 630 PM local time. Yoon Seok-min will probably start for Korea. The loser will be sent home.

Korea 9, Chinese Taipei 0

Another first for my blog, I'm actually linking to an MLB.com news story.

The Koreans have just won their 10th consecutive international match. A perfect 9-0 in Beijing and now a perfect 1-0 in Tokyo.

The game ball goes to right fielder, Lee Jin-yeong. Lee clubbed a grand slam in the 1st inning to give the Korean team a 6-0 lead. 1st baseman Kim Tae-gyun started the scoring with a 2-rbi single in the first. Third baseman Lee Dae-ho added an RBI single in the 5th. 2nd baseman Jeong Geun-woo delivered a 2-run bomb in the 6th to give us our 9-0 final.

Cleveland Indians OF, Choo Shin-soo, started at DH for the Korean team. He looked like a guy who had been shutdown for a week. He finished the game 1-3 with a run scored and walk, but he appeared to struggle with his timing.

On the mound, Ryu Hyeong-jin and Bong Jung-geun both tossed 3 shutout innings. The 2 KBO aces combined to allow only 3 hits and 1 walk during the 1st 6 innings of work.

Quote of the game...

"Somewhat similar to the Chinese lineup..." - ESPN broadcaster Jon Sciambi on the Chinese Taipei starting lineup. John, not only does it look similar, but they played about as well.

Korea will play the Japanese team tomorrow at 7pm local time. KBO MVP Kim Kwang-hyeon will likely start against Daisuke Matsuzaka.

That Was A Scary 5 Minutes...

A nation...whew...breathes a sigh...of relief.

I guess Choo felt some pain around his elbow and the Cleveland Indians flew into hysterics. For those of you sleeping on Choo in your fantasy league this bears watching. Choo has a history of being brittle. He missed time in '05, '07 and '08 with various ailments.

I especially like the photo of Choo stepping off the airplane...



If a every picture had to say a thousand words, this one would run out of steam around 20. Hot luggage carousel action! action! action!

Yomiuri Giants Stand Tall Against Korea, Win 3-0

Last night's 3-0 final makes the game sound close. The Korean team was sleep walking during this one. While the game itself was a bit of a snooze, there was some intruige to this one. Lee Seung-yeop started at first base for the Giants. Before the game, everyone was smiles and handshakes. During the game...everyone was smiles and handshakes.

The only real excitement was during the singing of the Korean national anthem. During the broadcast, they showed the Korean guys trying to look stoic during the anthem. Then, they cut to a shot of a very forlorn Lee Seung-yeop.

Lee started the game with a bang. With runners on 1st and 3rd and 2 out in the 1st inning, Lee clubbed a double off of Korean starter, Yoon Seok-min to score 2 runs. Lee would add an infield single in the 5th. Yomiuri's foreign ringer, Alex Ramirez clubbed a solo homer in the 3rd to give us our 3-0 final.

Lee Dae-ho was the only Korean player(other than LSY) to record an extra base hit. He finished 1-4 with a double. I get the impression that there was more interest in the postgame dinner with Lee than there was in the actual game itself.

The Korean team finished its exhibition schedule with a 5-1-1 record, but 4 of the wins and 1 tie came against the Hanhwa Eagles.

Look at Jerry Royster Getting Positive Press

H/T to the Marmot's Hole. It's mostly a fluff piece and not entirely accurate, but it's good for the KBO and for Jerry.

I quote...

In this league, umpires apologize for unpopular calls. Some change their minds as a gesture of politeness.

I've never seen an umpire change a call to be polite or apologize for that matter.

It goes on...

These fans crave a different variety of snacks to go with their ballpark beers: dried squid or live octopus, anyone?

Which ballpark has live octopus?

From Jerry Royster himself...

"Lotte Giants fans are Yankees, Red Sox the Cubs fans all in one," he said.

Not true Mr. Royster. Lotte fans aren't obnoxious, I've found them to be really humble when talking about their club. So that means they're not Yankees or Red Sox fans. They also pay attention to the game and they don't pee in troths. So, they're not like Cubs fans either. I don't really think there is a good comparison for Lotte fans. They're unique to Busan.

Koreans Edge Seibu Lions

In their most recent tuneup for the WBC, the Mighty Taeguk Warriors defeated the defending NPB champs, Seibu Lions, 4-2. Earlier this week the Lions defeated the Japanese National team 7-2.

Korea got the party started right in the first inning. Leadoff man, Lee Jeong-wook, singled, stole second and was driven in on an RBI single from leftfielder, Kim Hyeon-su. Seibu tied the game in the top(Wouldn't the Lions be the home team in Japan? Whatever) of the 3rd. The Korean team answered in the bottom of the 3rd in a big way. Cleanup hitter/1st baseman Kim Tae-gyun clubbed a two-run bomb to put Korea in the lead. Japan mounted a fake rally against Korean ace, Kim Kwang-hyeon in the 5th and squeaked out a run to make it a 3-2 ballgame. Korea tacked on an insurance run in the 6th on a Lee Jeong-wook RBI groundout.

Kim Kwang-hyeon wasn't in midseason form, but he wasn't awful. I got the impression, I'm basing this solely on body language and my own guess, that he was just working on location. His sideburns, however, were magnificent...

The only injury worth mentioning is to closer, Lim Chang-yong. He picked up a bruised elbow over the weekend when he was hit by a line drive. I wouldn't be surprised if he was held out of the opening round.

The Korean National team will face off against the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome tomorrow.