Monday, March 2, 2009

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.

1 comment:

Mark Eaton said...

Yes! I look forward to reading about more baseball in this country.