Monday, July 11, 2011

Week 14 Rankings and Things

Special thanks to commenter Dan for pointing out that pitcher Brian Gordon will be replacing Jim Magrane on the SK staff. New York Times recently ran an article on the man which you can read here. This career minor leager seems to be a real battler, ready to do what it takes. But career minor leagers are like that, generally.

Rankings

Rankings for week of July 5 to 10. This is the 14th week of the KBO season. There are 8 weeks left in the 2011 KBO regular season.

1. Kia Tigers, 4-1 on the week, 1 cancelled game.

Nothing can stop the Tigers, even the weather. They were again the team that played the most, and they won the most. Their only loss was a 1 run loss against LG when Yang Hyun-joon slipped early.

Edit: LG played the most.

2. LG Twins, 3-3 on the week, no cancelled games.

LG's turn to play all games during a rainy week. They now have 8 less wins than Kia with time slipping away on the season.

3. Samsung Lions, 2-1 on the week, 3 cancelled games.

Resiliency and composure is what defines this team. Come from behind wins have been the norm. But this is the second straight week Samsung has played only 3 games.

4. SK Wyverns, 2-2 on the week, 2 cancelled games.

Lost both games to Samsung and then won both games against Lotte. SK is making themselves look very comfortable at 3rd place.

5. Doosan Bears, 1-2 on week, 3 cancelled games.

Dustin Nippert (8-4, 2.44) is the only positive out of Doosan this season. Fine tuning is what this team needs because it is still a good team on paper. Actually, this team's only good on paper if you look at their players' past seasons stats. I take that back, they're not even a good team on paper.

6. Hanhwa Eagles, 2-2 on the week, 2 cancelled games.

Unfortunately only got one Nexen series game in and fell to seventh place because of it. Eagles still have most wins out of the bottom 4. But with the second most games played in the league (78 GP to Kia's 79), LG's still in the driver's seat for the 4th and last playoff spot.

7. Lotte Giants, 2-2 on the week, 2 cancelled games.

Had a fun time beating up Doosan but couldn't handle SK. Offense is picking up, their .269 BA as a team is good for second in the league and they have the 3rd most hits at 685. Important to note is their 64 home runs is tied for second with LG and only Kia has more with 65.

8. Nexen Heroes, 0-4 on the week, 2 cancelled games.

I oppose expansion if all we're going to see are Nexen type teams. Yoon Suk-min and Aq. Lopez have 10 wins apiece for Kia, but nobody on Nexen has won 4 games yet. Pitcher Song Shin-yong, who went 8-0, 3.53 in 2004 is having a bit of a resurgence at 3-1, 2.40, 9 saves in Nexen's bullpen. It's only a resurgence because he plays on Nexen.

Things

Japan? Pass: Yoon Suk-min

Yoon does not want to go the way of Lee Bum-ho, Kim Tae-gyun, Lee Seung-yeop and other KBO overachievers by going to Japan, reports Osen. He would much rather go to the major leagues. This filler article does say that 20 major league teams are active in scouting in Korea. And all of them have looked at Yoon either at the park or on TV. The article also says that an unnamed American league scout compared Yoon to SF Giants righty Matt Cain. The article ends with the statement that if Yoon goes to the majors after this season, it would be a Korean baseball milestone. Total number of new things learned after reading this article: 0, total number actual facts reported in this article: 0.


BREAKING NEWS: LG/HANHWA TRADE

Well, looking through the Naver sports pages was a bit fruitful today as E-Daily is reporting that LG and Hanhwa have completed a mid-season pitchers trade. LG will be sending Kim Kwang-su to Daejeon and LG will be obtaining the services of Yoo Won-sang and Yang Seung-jin. None of these pitchers are notable but Kim is the older of the 3 at 30. Hanhwa may be looking for more veteran guidance as they prepare for what could be a playoff run.




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