5/1 Roundup and News

I guess the KBO ran an unadvertised promo. Saturday is blowout night!

Nexen 11, Doosan 3
W - Bae Him-chan (1-0), L - Lee Hyeon-seung (1-2)
Nexen HR - Yoo Han-joon (3) Doosan HR - Kim Hyeon-su (3), Lee Won-seok (4)

How does that ridiculous trade/sale of Lee Hyeon-seung look now, Bears fans? Doosan starter Lee Hyeon-seung was chased from the game in the second inning and the Nexen lineup took BP against the Doosan bullpen. Nexen outfielder Yoo Han-joon finished the evening 2-4 with a homer, 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Right fielder Song Ji-man, 1st baseman Lee Sung-yong and catcher Yoo Seon-jeong each drove in a pair of runs. Nexen starter Bae Him-chan was, erm, effectively wild. Bae only gave up 1 run during his 5 innings(84 pitches, 44 strikes) of work, but he gave up 3 hits, 3 walks and 3 hit batsmen while striking out 4. Tough night for the usually disciplined Doosan squad.

SK 21, LG 3
W - Gary Glover (3-1), L - Edgar Gonzalez (0-4)
SK HR - Park Kyeong-won (6), Kim Kang-min (4), Park Jae-hong (3), Jo Dong-hwa (2) LG HR - Lee Byeong-gyu (4), Lee Byeong-gyu (4)

The only reason SK only scored 21 is because they didn't feel like going for the two-point conversion while rolling to their 14th consecutive W. This team is a freaking machine. Also that's not a misprint in the homer section. LG actually has two players named Lee Byeong-gyu and they both share time at the same position. I have no idea how they keep this straight on the lineup card. Thankfully, they both have 4 homers, so it takes a lot of the guess work out for me. It's like Edgar Gonzalez is daring LG to release him at this point. He didn't give up all 21 runs, but he was chased from the game in the 2nd inning. I'm not going to give a blow-by-blow or really go in-depth on the stat lines. If you have a favorite SK player who plays regularly, he probably had a decent game. 2nd baseman Jeong Geun-woo went 6-6 with a double, 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored. Catcher Park Kyeong-won finished 2-4 with 2 walks, a homer, 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Gary Glover was the lucky recipient of 21 runs worth of support. Glover tossed 6 2/3 innings(101 pitches, 65 strikes) of 2-run baseball. Glover allowed 5 hits and 2 walks while he struck out 4. 2 of the 5 hits were solo homers. There really aren't words to describe how ragged LG's pitching and defense looked in this game, so I'm just going to move on.

Samsung 8, Hanhwa 5
W - Bae Yeong-su (3-2), L - Jose Capellan, S - Kwon Hyeok (1)
Samsung HR - Shin Myeong-cheol (4), Chae Tae-in 2(2) Hanhwa HR - Jeon Hyeon-tae (2)

Jose Capellan is also playing chicken with the Hanhwa front office. He was apparently playing a game of "see how many homers I can give up before they pull me." The answer was three. Capellan gave up 3 homers in the first three innings he pitched, then he started walking guys. Samsung 2nd baseman Shin Myeong-cheol took Capellan deep for a 2-run bomb in the first inning. 1st baseman Chae Tae-in added a solo bomb in the first inning and hit another in the third. Chae finished 3-5 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Samsung starter Bae Yeong-su threw 5 innings(89 pitches, 56 strikes) of 2-run ball. Normally I wouldn't mention, but Bae is coming off a 1-12 season. That's only one more win than me and I'm not playing. The fact that Bae is able to record 15 outs without giving up 12 runs is amazing to me. Bae allowed 5 hits, 2 walks and 1 hit batsman while striking out 3. Hanhwa chipped away at a mediocre Samsung bullpen, but were they were never really in this game.

KIA 15, Lotte 7
W - Yang Hyeon-jong (4-1), L - Jin Myeong-ho (0-2)
KIA HR - Choi Hee-seop (4) Lotte HR - Lee Dae-ho (6)

I'm guessing Jin Myeong-ho won't be asked to take the ball for Lotte for a few weeks. I wanted to tune in to watch Jin pitch, but I missed the start and turned the TV on in the 2nd inning. Jin faced 6 batters and retired exactly 1. I guess he can still make fun of the guy who didn't retire any, but that's a great way to dig your team a large hole. KIA 1st baseman Choi Hee-seop busted out in a big way. Big Choi went 3-6 with 2 walks, 2 doubles, a homer, 5 RBIs and 2 runs scored. KIA lead off hitter/center fielder Lee Yong-gyu finished 3-5 with a walk, 1 RBI and 3 runs scored. Despite the massive deficit they faced, the Giants didn't give up. Third baseman Lee Dae-ho put together a solid effort to make the final look not as bad as 21-3. Lee went 3-5 with a double, a homer, 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored.