Monday, May 4, 2009

5/1 - 5/3 Weekend Roundup and News

LG vs. Seoul Heroes

5/1 - LG 9, Heroes 5
5/2 - LG 6, Heroes 2
5/3 - LG 7, Heroes 4


LG battered the Heroes all weekend and sit alone at 3rd place in the KBO. The Twins are only 4 games out of first.

Heroes ace Ma Il-yeong was dreadful, while Bong Jung-geun was excellent. Ma was knocked around for 6 runs on 8 hits and 4 walks during his 4 1/3 innings of work. Bong tossed 8 innings(110 pitches, 75 strikes) of 2-run baseball. He allowed only 5 hits and 1 walk with 6 K's. The LG bullpen tried to blow a 7-run lead...and they almost succeeded. Choi Dong-hwan and Ryu Taek-hyeon faced 6 batters and all 6 reached base. Woo gyu-min faced 2 batters, recorded 3 outs and got a vulture save in only 6 pitches. LG DH Choi Dong-su and right fielder Lee Jin-yeong both drove in 3 RBIs during before the bullpen tried to walk the entire Heroes roster.

LG's bullpen actually saved the day on Saturday. LG starter Choi Won-ho was lifted after only 4 2/3 innings. The LG bullpen worked 4 1/3 scoreless innings to help LG earn another W. LG DH Roberto Petagine and right fielder Lee Jin-yeong hit back-to-back homers in the 7th inning to extend the LG lead to 5-2. Petagine finished the game 2-4 with 3 RBIs, while Lee ended the game 2-5.

Sunday's game was tied at 3 in the top of the 8th inning. With a Doug Clark on 2nd and 1 out, Heroes catcher Kang Gui-tae singled to center and drove in Clark to make the score 4-3. In the bottom of the 8th, Roberto Petagine lead off with a single. The next batter, Lee Jin-yeong, also singled. With runners at the corners and 0 outs, Choi Dong-su doubled to tie the game at 4. LG loaded the bases with a walk and Kim Jong-jin broke the tie with a sac fly to right. With 2 outs and runners at the corners, LG center fielder Lee Yong-taek doubled to drive in 2 runs and make the score 7-4. In the top of the 9th, LG closer Woo Gyu-min tossed a 1-2-3 inning to record his 6th save.


SK vs. Samung

5/1 - SK 2, Samsung 0
5/2 - Samsung 5, SK 4
5/3 - SK 4, Samsung 3

SK starting pitcher Song Eun-beom was simply too much for Samsung on Friday night. Song tossed 7 shutout innings(117 pitches, 70 strikes). He allowed only 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6. SK centerfielder Park Jae-hong hit an RBI double in the 6th to give SK a 1-0 lead. SK catcher Park Kyeong-won delivered another RBI double to extend the lead to 2-0. Nothing remotely interesting happened for Samsung. Cha Woo-chan provided a quality start, but Samsung couldn't get anything going at the plate. Cha worked 5 1/3 innings(63 pitches, 35 strikes) of 1-run baseball. He allowed 2 hits and 3 walks with 1 lonely strikeout.

Samsung starter Ahn Ji-man provided another solid effort on Saturday, but this time Samsung was able to score more than 0 runs. Ahn worked 5 innings(75 pitches, 44 strikes) of 1-run baseball. He allowed 5 hits and 1 walk with 4 K's. He also has the most crooked brim in the KBO. This game also featured CJ Nitkowski's, erm, triumphant return to the mound. He walked the first batter he faced, but recovered and tossed not 1, but 2 1/3 innings before leaving. He allowed 1 hit and 2 walks with 2 K's. Keep reaching for that rainbow! Samsung right fielder Kang Bong-gyu had a solid night at the plate. He finished 3-5 with 2 RBIs and a run scored. In the 4th inning, Kang singled with runners on 2nd and 3rd to give Samsung a 2-0 lead. In the 8th inning, Oh Seung-hwan came in to nail down the game. He promptly surrendered a 2-run homer to Park Jae-hong to make the score 5-3. Oh stayed on for the 9th and surrendered another run on Ahn Kyeong-hyeon's RBI double. Oh settled down and managed to keep SK from tying the game.

I'm starting to think Ken Kadokura is better suited for a KBO bullpen rather than a KBO starting rotation. He keeps getting lit up in his starts. Ken was battered for 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks during his 3 2/3 innings of work. It took him 82 pitches to record 11 outs. The SK bullpen tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings and kept SK in the game. In the 5th inning, SK mounted a 3-run rally against Samsung starter Bae Yeong-su. SK SS Na Joo-hwan delivered and RBI single and left fielder Park Jae-sang smacked a 2-run double to give SK a 4-3 lead. Jeong Dae-hyeon recorded a vulture save. He struckout Samsung 2B Kim Sang-su on 3 pitches to end the game.

KIA vs. Hanwha

5/1 - KIA 4, Hanwha 4
5/2 - KIA 7, Hanwha 5
5/3 - Hanwha 9, KIA 6

With KIA holding a 4-3 lead in the 8th inning, Hanwha right fielder Kim Tae-wan hit a solo homer off of former KIA closer Han Ki-joo to tie the game at 4. Hanwha was unable to score in the 9th or in extra innings. KIA called on WBC hero Yoon Seok-min to keep Hanwha off the scoreboard and he didn't dissappoint. Yoon worked 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to keep the score tied. He struck out 6 and didn't allow a single man to reach base. KIA starting pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong pitched well enough to win, but he didn't get much support. Yang tossed 7 innings(121 pitches, 72 strikes) and allowed 3 runs of 5 hits and 4 walks with 10 K's.

KIA gave starting pitcher Rick Guttormson an early lead and the KIA bullpen tried awfully hard to give it back. Guttormson turned in another quality start. He worked 7 innings(99 pitches, 65 strikes) and allowed only 2 runs on 5 hits and 1 walk with 4 K's. Hanwha didn't get anything off of Guttormson until he surrendered a 2-run homer to Kim Tae-wan in the 7th inning. The KIA bullpen promptly started serving up homers. Hanhwa's Yeon Kyeong-heum, Victor Diaz and Kim Tae-wan hit solo homers in the 8th inning off the the KIA arson squad, but it turned to be too little too late for Hanhwa.

Hanhwa clobbered KIA starter Aurelio Lopez and Ryu Hyeon-jin was left in a little too long on Sunday. Lopez gave up 9 runs(4 earned) on 10 hits and 3 walks. A pair of key KIA errors helped to open the floodgates during a 6-run rally in the 4th inning. KIA 2nd basenan Ahn Chi-hong allowed a ball to bounce off his glove and center fielder Choi Yong-gyu allowed a ball to roll to thr warning track on a diving stop. Ryu Hyeon-jin was solid through 6 innings, but he ran out of gas during th 7th. KIA rallied for 5 runs off of Ryu in the 7th. The final line on Ryu was 6 runs allowed on 7 hits and 5 walks with 6 K's during his 6 2/3 innings(125 pitches, 73 strikes) pitched. Brad Thomas allowed a walk in the 9th, but he also struck out the side to earn his 3rd save. Hanhwa 1st baseman Lee Do-hyeong drove in 4 of Hanhwa's 9 runs. He finished the game 2-4. 3 of his RBIs came on a bases loaded triple during Hanhwa's big 4th inning rally.

Lotte vs. Doosan

5/1 - Doosan 11, Lotte 5
5/2 - Doosan 7, Lotte 2
5/3 - Lotte 4, Doosan 2

On Saturday, Lotte starter Jang Won-joon was roughed up early and the Lotte bullpen was roughed up late. Jang was pummelled for 7 runs on 8 hits and 1 HBP during his 5 1/3 innings. Doosan starter Kim Sun-woo did his best to give the lead back, but he managed to hang on for the win. Kim allowed "only" 5 runs on 10 hits and 1 walk with 4 K's during his 5 innings(85 pitches, 57 strikes) of work. Doosan's Kim Dong-joo clubbed a 2-run homer in the first inning to give Doosan a 3-0 lead. Kim finished the game 2-4 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Lotte right fielder Karim Garcia and 3rd baseman Lee Dae-ho both clubbed 2-run homers to make the game close, but the Lotte bullpen was knocked around in both the 8th and 9th innings.

Doosan starter Hong Sang-sam was given an early lead and the Doosan bullpen shut the door on any Lotte attempts at a comeback. Hong tossed 5 innings(70 pitches, 41 strikes) of 1-run ball. He allowed only 2 hits and struck out 7. With the score tied 1-1 in the top of the 4th, Doosan's Choi Seung-hwan hit a sac fly with the bases loaded to untie the game. The next batter, 3rd baseman Lee Won-seok, hit a 3-run bomb into the left field seats to give Doosan a 5-1 lead. Doosan reliever Yim Tae-hoon recorded the final 6 outs in order to end the game.

Lotte managed to avoid being swept on Sunday. Lotte starting pitcher Song Seung-joon provided a quality start and the Lotte offense supplied just enough runs to earn the W. Song allowed only 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. He also struck out 3 batters during his 6 innings(99 pitches, 59 strikes) of work. Lotte 3rd baseman Lee Dae-ho had another solid day at the plate. Lee finished 2-4 with a double, 1 RBI and 1 run scored. Jon Adkins retired the final 4 outs in order to earn his 5th save.

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