The Samsung Lions will send Cha Woo-chan to the mound against the Doosan Bears. This was fairly easy to predict. The 23-year old lefty wasn't used as a starter until the end of June, but he turned in a fantastic final three months as a starting pitcher. Cha finished the year 10-2 with a 2.14 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 126 1/3 innings. Cha struck out 112 and walked 56.
Now, Doosan announced that The Human Victory Cigar, Hong Sang-sam, will get the start in game one. I had a feeling we'd be seeing Hong take the ball at some point during this series, but I can't imagine why he's pitching game one over foreign starter Kelvin Jiminez. Chances are that Hong isn't going to throw very many innings. If he makes it out of the fourth, it will be a miracle. So, Doosan manager Kim Kyung-moon is going to have to go deep into his bullpen in the first game. Also, it's on the road in a fairly hostile environment. Daegu isn't nearly as rowdy as Busan is, but Daegu fans have been known to make their presence felt during playoff time. Why would you send a fairly inexperienced starter out on the road with a hostile crowd? The only way this makes sense if Jiminez has a hidden injury of some sort.
Also my thoughts on the Lotte/Doosan series are up at Busan Haps. Lotte is going to face some tough decisions during the offseason.
1 comment:
Keep up the good work! I watched the game (of course) but found myself looking forward to your commentary!
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