West All-Stars 5, East All Stars 4 (10)

W - Park Hyeon-joon, L - Oh Seung-hwan
West HR - Cho In-seong
East HR - Choi Hyeong-woo

The box score can be found here. At least 90% of it. They didn't bother to include the tenth inning. Thanks, KBO.

The KBO held it's all-star game on Saturday and, well, I guess I should write about it. This all-star game is especially meaningless because it's only an eight team league and all the teams face each other a lot. There really isn't much that's interesting about seeing Yoon Seok-min pitch against Lee Dae-ho because we already see it several times a year in actual games.

Either way, on with the round up.

The West(KIA, LG, Nexen and Hanhwa)started the scoring in the bottom of the first. KIA center fielder Lee Yong-gyu lead off the game with a double down the left field line and scored when teammate and third baseman Lee Beom-ho poked a single through the right side. Lee would score when the very next batter, LG left fielder Lee Byeong-gyu stung a double off the wall in right center to give the West a 2-0 advantage.

The West picked up another run in the bottom of the second on a solo homer from LG catcher Cho In-seong.

The East(Samsung, SK, Lotte, Doosan) finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning. Lotte catcher Kang Min-ho singled and advanced to third on a single from Samsung third baseman Park Seok-min. Kang would score on a sac fly from SK second baseman Jeong Geun-woo.

The Eastern squad tied the game at three in the fifth inning when Samsung right fielder Choi Hyeong-woo hit a two-run bomb to right/center off of Hanhwa's Yang Hoon.

The game remained tied until the top of the tenth. The East put runners on first and third with one out. SK left fielder Park Jeong-kwon hit a grounder to the right side that should have been a double play, but second baseman Ahn Chi-hong appeared to struggle finding the handle and the runner from third was able to score to give the East a 4-3 lead.

Samsung reliever Oh Seung-hwan threw the ninth inning and stayed in for the tenth. He put runners on first and second almost instantly. KIA center fielder Lee Yong-gyu flied out to shallow center for the first out of the inning. Nexen left fielder Yoo Han-joon struck out swinging for the second out. LG third baseman Jeong Seong-ho singled to center to score the runner from second and tie the game at four. The next batter, LG slugger Lee Byeong-gyu, fell behind 0-2 and made a desperation swing on what would have been strike three. The ball was a perfectly placed fly ball down the left field line that managed to find fair territory in between three Eastern fielders. The go-ahead run scored and the Western Stars walked off the Eastern stars.

Lee Byeong-gyu was named the MVP of the whole affair.

Now, can we please get back to regular baseball?

7/21 Roundup and News

The KBO All-star game will be played on Saturday night at 6:30 local time. Rosters can be seen here. Weather permitting.

Doosan 6, Lotte 4
W - Kim Sun-woo (8-5), L - Jang Won-joon (8-3), S - Lee Hyeon-seung (3)
Doosan HR - Kim Dong-ju (10)
Lotte HR - Hong Seong-heun (4)

Lotte picked up a couple late runs to make this game look a little closer than it really was.

Doosan fell behind early thanks to a RBI single in the first inning by Lotte right fielder Son Ah-seop, but the Bears offense put together more than a few one and two-run innings and wound up with a 6-1 lead.

The Doosan outfield played a huge part in piecing together an offense. Bears left fielder Kim Hyeon-su went 1-3 with two walks and two RBIs. Right fielder Jeong Su-bin went 1-3 with a walk, one RBI and two runs scored. Center fielder Lee Jong-wook went 3-4 with a triple, one RBI and two runs scored.

Doosan starter Kim Sun-woo was solid. Kim threw seven innings(93 pitches, 63 strikes) of one-run baseball. Kim allowed four hits and struck out five. Doosan reliever Lee Hyeon-seung threw a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the save after reliever Kim Kang-ryul gave up a solo homer to Lotte DH Hong Seong-heun.

Nexen 11, LG 7
W - Lee Bo-geun (2-1), L - Shim Su-chang (0-6)
Nexen HR - Corey Aldridge 2(14)
LG HR - None

This was not a game for fans of good pitching. Both LG starter Ben Jukich and Nexen starter Moon Seong-hyeon were chased from the game in the fourth inning. The Nexen bullpen was slightly less bad than the LG bullpen.

Corey Aldridge blasted a three-run homer in bottom of the third that tied the game at three. Aldridge blasted a solo homer in the sixth inning that wound up being the difference on the scoreboard. After Aldridge's second homer, Nexen rallied for three more runs in the sixth inning
to put the game out of reach.

Nexen right fielder Song Ji-man actually lead off the game for the Heroes. Song is one of the all-time great sluggers in the KBO at the end of a long and productive career. He wasn't the prototypical lead off guy even when he was younger. Song went 3-5 with a double, three RBIs and a run scored.

Center fielder Jang Ki-yeong went 3-4 with a double, two RBIs, three runs scored and a stolen base. Shortstop Kang Jeong-ho went 3-4 with two doubles, one RBI and two runs scored.

LG banged out 13 hits, but only one went for extra bases. Right fielder Lee Jin-yeong delivered the Twins' only extra-base hit of the night with a double in the third inning. Lee finished 3-5 with a run scored and a RBI.

KIA 4, Hanhwa 2
W - Yoon Seok-min (12-2), L - Kim Hyeok-min (4-7)
KIA HR - None
Hanhwa HR - None

With this effort, KIA starter Yoon Seok-min dotted the exclamation point that has been his 2011 pre-all star break effort.

Yoon threw seven innings(114 pitches, 76 strikes) of one-run ball. Yoon allowed four hits and two walks while striking out five.

KIA did most of its damaged during a three-run rally in the third inning. Right fielder Kim Won-seop started the scoring with a RBI double and later scored on a RBI single from third baseman Lee Beom-ho. Lee advanced to third on two wild pitches and scored on a Choi Hee-seop single.

SK 2, Samsung 1
W - Song Eun-beom (6-2), L - Ahn Ji-man (10-4)
SK HR - Park Jin-man (3)
Samsung HR - None

SK took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a RBI single from first baseman Lee Ho-joon. SK held onto that one run lead until Samsung tied the game in the eight inning on a RBI single from slugger Choi Hyeong-woo.

SK shortstop Park Jin-man was a thorn in the side of his former team yet again. Park blasted a solo homer in the top of the ninth to give SK a late 2-1 lead.

SK reliever Song Eun-beom stayed on to pitch a scoreless ninth and earn the W.

Samsung starter Cha Woo-chan finally threw a quality start despite walking five and allowing nine baserunners total. Cha threw 6 1/3 innings(102 pitches, 49 strikes) of one-run ball. Cha managed to strike out six.

7/24 Roundup and News: All-Star Edition

Eastern 9, Western 8
W - Lee Yong-chan, L - Song Seung-rak
Eastern HR - Hong Seong-heun 2, Karim Garcia 2, Yang Jun-hyeok Western HR - None

The all-star game came to Daegu on Saturday. The "Eastern" team was comprised of players from Lotte, Samsung, SK and Doosan. The "Western" team was made of players from Hanhwa, KIA, LG and Nexen. If you want full rosters, check out MyKBO.net.

I was surprised that they got the game in because it was pissing off and on for almost the entire evening. SK ace Kim Kwang-hyeon got the start for the "Eastern" squad, while Ryu Hyeon-jin started for the "West." To let you know how serious they took this start, both pitchers threw a couple pitches in the home run derby before the game started. Kim didn't make it out of the first inning and Ryu gave up a pair of homers. The "Western" squad jumped out to a big early lead thanks to Kim's meltdown. Kim recorded one out and gave up six runs on six hits and two walks. It was an assembly line. LG outfielder Lee Dae-hyeong started the scoring with an RBI double. KIA first baseman Choi Hee-seop with another RBI double. Then things got out of hand. The "Eastern" team answered back with a couple homers from Hong Seong-heun and Karim Garcia. Hong hit a two-run homer while wearing a fake beard. I'm not trying to start anything, but I'm fairly certain he had a little help from Ryu. Garcia blasted a solo homer to cut the lead to 6-3. The "West" tacked on a couple insurance runs in the third inning when LG third baseman Jeong Seong-hoon poked a single throught the middle with runners on second and third to push the lead to 8-3. The "East" tied the game in the seventh when Samsung's Yang Joon-hyeok, Hong and Garcia hit back-to-back-to-back homers. The game was still tied in the bottom of the ninth. The "East" started a rally. Hong singled and Garcia doubled to put runners on second and third with none out. Nexen closer Song Seung-rak intentionally walked an incredulous Jin Kab-yong. While Song was lobbing balls to his catcher, Jin actually put his bat down and shook his head. After Jin made the slow walk to first, Lotte infielder Hwang Jae-gyun ripped a line drive to left/center to walk off the "West." The post game beating/dousing with water was a little bizarre. Both teams decided to make Hwang pay for his base hit. He got doused by both sides.



Lotte DH Hong Seong-heun won the MVP award by going 4-5 with a pair of homers, three RBIs and three runs scored. He also wore a special jersey for the game.



Instead of his name and number, he wore a jersey to thank the fans for giving him the most votes. The jersey translates to, "Most votes. Thanks."

Random Acts of Kindness and the All-Star Game

Every year I want to do a special post for the all-star game and every year I'm disappointed by it. Instead of actually giving it a write up, I'm going to link to the few local news stories and write about a real "All-star." You can read about the all-star game here and here.

I met Mr. Lim at his coffee shop near exit 1 of the Jukjeon stop on Daegu's green line. I noticed that he had a row of autographed baseballs on the wall and started asking about them. In Korean he told me, "Let me make the coffee first, then we can talk." After giving me my latte, we discussed each baseball on his wall. How he met the players and where he got the balls from. Most of them, believe it or not, were friends from school. Mr. Lim played baseball in middle school and high school and met most of the modern day KBO stars that way. He asked me who my favorite player was. I told him, "Oh Seung-hwan." He made a phone call and ran out the door. He came back 2 minutes later with a baseball with Oh Seung-hwan's signature on it and told me I could keep it. I was floored. I realize that in my advancing age, it's silly to have hangups about ballplayers. Especially those in the KBO. I'm creeping towards middle age. I shouldn't be impressed by grown men that play games for a living, but I still am. Something about that ball triggered feelings from my youth. The same feelings that were triggered when my dad came home with a Ryne Sandberg autograph after selling Ryno a Mercedes.

Mr. Lim didn't have to give me anything and I still can't believe he did just gave me an auto'd ball like that, but it totally made my day. I skipped all the way to the subway and all the way home after I finished my coffee. I'm still not sure what to make of it. I've got to get this guy a gift when I visit my hometown next month. I'm not sure what to give him. He's grown up around baseball. I doubt he'd be as impressed as I was with a auto'd ball. I think this calls for the Disco Choo bobblehead doll.

5/27 Roundup and News

I've got some catching up to do with the local sports rags. The Joonang Ilbo has been especially busy. First, they wrote this fluff profile on Rick Guttormson. I would have at least mentioned the drug testing.

The all-star game balloting has opened. Thrilling.

The games are taking longer this year.

Lee Ji-mo has signed with the LA Dodgers. I'm not sure what to make of this. He's finished his military service and Lotte is desperate for pitching. Hmmm, he's either got talent or he slept with someone's daughter and he wants to escape the country.

If you read this piece, you'd think Ryu Hyeon-jin was completely awful. He's had a few rough starts, but alarm bells aren't ringing. I'm not going to worry until there's a decline in his K numbers. I'm willing to chalk this up to bad luck.

On to the roundup...

Seoul Heroes 7, Doosan 2
W - Lee Hyeon-seung (6-3), L - Kim Sun-woo (5-4)

The Heroes must have noticed something about Kim Sun-woo and catcher Yong Deok-han. The Heroes stole 7 bases in this game. 6 of them came with Kim and Yong as the Doosan battery. In the 5th inning, the Heroes center fielder Jeong Su-seong stole home. Kim Sun-woo threw a pitch that was neither a pitchout or a regular pitch. The catcher was in position for a pitch out, but the ball went 5 feet over the umpires' head. It was just bizarre. Heroes 3rd baseman Hwang Jae-gyun stole 4 by himself, but he didn't score a single run. That's tough to do. It wasn't the stolen bases that doomed Kim Sun-woo, it was the homers. Kim surrendered a 2-run bomb to catcher Kang Gui-tae in the 4th inning and slugger Cliff Brumbaugh hit a solo shot in the 5th inning. Heroes starting pitcher Le Hyeon-seung was able to cruise for 6 innings(99 pitches, 59 strikes). He allowed 1 run on 6 hits and 4 walks while striking out 3.

KIA 5, SK 2
W - Aquilino Lopez (2-2), L - CJ Nitkowski (0-2), S - Yoo Dong-hoon (1)

I, for one, can't wait for the 5 paragraph blog post from CJ about how he pitched well in this game, but still got stuck with the loss. It hasn't happened...yet, but I'm maintaining a 24-hour watch on his blog. It's going to be epic. I don't care how he rationalizes it this time. Allowing 3 of 4 runners to reach base is not a good outing, especially when its 2 walks and 1 HBP. That's how guys get released.

Senor Smoke has been difficult to figure out. He's looked either great or awful, but not much in between. He looked like a legit ace last night. Lopez tossed 8 innings(112 pitches, 68 strikes) of 2-run baseball. He allowed only 6 hits, 1 walk and 1 hit batsman while striking out 4. Ken Kadokura enjoyed a solid effort, but a lack of offensive support and a shaky SK bullpen(I'm looking at you, CJ) cost him a decision. Kadokura tossed 6 1/3 innings(118 pitches, 73 strikes) of 2-run baseball. He allowed 4 hits and 4 walks while striking out 6. With the score tied 2-2 in the 7th with 1 out, CJ Nitkowski was brought in to keep KIA off the board. He hit the first batter he saw in the thigh and he walked 2nd baseman Kim Jong-kuk. The look on the SK's manager's face when he allowed the walk was priceless. It appeared to say, "If I reported this guy for swine flu, would they deport him?" CJ got a ground ball for the 2nd out, but SK only got the force out at 1st, instead of the double play. CJ promptly walked Choi Hee-seop to load the bases and was removed from the country, erm, the game. KIA's Kim Sang-hyeon drilled a Yoon Gil-hyeon offering into center field and drove in the go-ahead runs. I was surprised to see Yoo Dong-hoon throw the 9th inning for KIA. He threw a scoreless inning to earn the save, but I was wondering where Yoon Seok-min was.

Hanhwa 8, Samsung 3
W - Ahn Yeong-myeong (3-3), L - Bae Yong-su (1-7)

Bae Yong-su surrendered solo homers to 2 of the first 3 batters he faced. He's awful and I feel old. If this were a softball team, guys would be telling him, "You know, next year you might want to try an easier league." Center fielder Kang Dong-woo and DH Kim Tae-wan both hit a pair of homers. Hanhwa starter Ahn Yeong-myeong pitched about as well as he usually does, but the anemic Samsung offense helped him out more than they should have. Ahn tossed 5 2/3 innings of 2-run baseball. He allowed 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4. This game was an absolute snooze to watch. Between the Lions being completely awful and Carlos Quentin suffering a hell injury, this has been a rough season for me. Moving on...

Lotte 6, LG 5
W - Lee Yong-hoon (2-3), L - Rick Bauer (0-1), S - Jon Adkins (10)

Rick Bauer! Welcome to the KBO! The Rick had a rough first outing, but probably won't be sent home...yet. He threw 5 innings(89 pitches, 59 strikes) and surrendered 4 runs. He allowed 7 hits and only 1 walk while striking out 5. Karim Garcia gave Rick a rude reception. The Lotte slugger hit a solo homer off of the KBO newcomer in the 4th inning. I think Bauer could fill the Chris Oxspring/innings eater role for this LG rotation. Anything more would be asking too much. 6-5 makes this game sound closer than it really was. If it weren't for a few fake rallies in the late innings, this game could have been 6-3. Lotte starting pitcher Lee Yong-hoon was solid, but not spectacular. He tossed 6 innings(90 pitches, 52 strikes) 0f 3-run baseball. He allowed 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4. Jon Adkins recorded a 5 out save, but looked shaky during a fake rally in the 9th inning.

All Star Roundup and News

The KBO's All Star Game was last sunday. I wanted to do a full write up of the game, but if the KBO isn't going to attempt to take this seriously, neither am I.

For a better write up, check out Aaron at the EWC. I found myself fairly frurstrated by the way this was put together. First, I couldn't figure out why they were doing an East vs. West set up with teams that where not necessarily in the east or in the west. I was terribly confused. Why not just keep it Seoul/Incheon vs. the other 4 cities or better yet, the previous year's champ vs. the best players from the other 7 teams. Then, they stopped the game in the 5th inning for a homerun contest. The goal was to make these 9 innings as long and as excruciating as possible. Third, no one seemed to really care. Neither the players or the fans seemed to really care. So, why should I?

The Joongang Ilbo was fairly critical of the affair, but for different reasons.

Can the Olympics start now?

6/10 Roundup and News

The Korea Times provides us with an update on All-star voting.

I agree with the Joongang Daily. Pick up the pace, please.

Interesting commentary from the Donga Ilbo on Park Chan-ho's "revival."

Mike McStay gives a very nice write up of Song Jin-woo's 2000th strikeout. I'm fairly embarrassed to admit that I was ignorant of his milestone, but in my defense I was out of town and there's not exactly a lot of easily accessible information.

The Woori Hero preparing for battle.

Hanhwa 10, Samsung 1
W- Jeong Min-cheol(5-6), L - Cho Jin-ho(1-2)

It was a thoroughly depressing effort from the Samsung nine last night. Hanhwa actually led 10-0 in the 8th inning. Thankfully, Samsung scratched a run across because 10-1 isn't nearly as embarassing as 10-0. This one was so out of hand that Hanhwa was able to find at bats for 6 reserves.

Hanhwa starting pitcher, Jeong Min-cheol(4.97 ERA, 1.47 WHIP), made an impressive start last night. He tossed 6 innings of 3 hit ball and allowed only 3 walks while striking out 4. At the plate for Hanhwa, everyone got in on the fun. MVP candidate Kim Tae-gyun(.343/.431/.698, 14 HR, 51 RBI) finished the night 2-3 with a double, a homer, a walk, 2 RBI and 1 run scored. Shin Kyeong-hyeon(.241/.293/.352) went 3-3 with a double and 2 RBI. The only Hanhwa regular that didn't reach base was leadoff man, Lee Yeong-woo(.296/.350/.429).

Doosan 5, Lotte 2
W - Kim Myeong-je(5-1), L - Marty McCleary(4-3), S - Jeong Jae-hoon(12)

Doosan jumped all over Marty McCleary(4.86 ERA, 1.55 WHIP) in the first inning and chased him from the game after only 2/3 of an inning pitched. McCleary allowed only one hit, but he had difficulty with his control. He walked 4 batters. Even with his wildness, McCleary didn't get much help in the field. He was only charged with one earned run thanks to some shoddy defense.

Doosan starting pitched, Kim Myeong-je(2.87 ERA, 1.20 WHIP) was excellent. He threw 7 innings of one-hit ball and only walked two batters. He only struck out 2, so he wasn't missing any bats. Kim was able to keep the Giants off balance for most of the night. It felt like everything was a lazy flyball.

Doosan's offense wasn't exactly electric last night. They scored 5 runs on 3 hits. Two of the hits came from Hong Seong-hoon(.339/.363/.450) and he only drove in one run. Doosan was helped by a few errors and a couple walks. Basically, Lotte made an awful lot of mental errors last night and it cost them the game.

SK 4, LG 3
W - Cho Yong-min(3-0), L - Jeong Jae-bok(3-4)

LG held a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the 9th inning, but their bullpen imploded. After pitching the 8th inning, Jeong Jae-bok(2.79 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 10 holds) was left in to finish the 9th. A double from SK's Lee Jin-yong(.327/.394/.500) scored the first run and another double from Park Jeong-kwan walked him off(.193/.260/.284).

LG ace, Bong Jung-gun(3.11 ERA, 1.26 WHIP), pitched well enough to earn the W. Dr. Bong lasted 6 2/3 innings(113 pitches, 72 strikes) allowing 2 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 7. SK's Kenny Rayborn(3.93 ERA, 1.57 WHIP) struggled through five innings(105 pitches, 59 strikes) of work. He allowed 5 hits and 5 walks, but LG only plated two runs against him.

SK's Jeong Gun-wo(.292/.360/.394) and LG's Park Yong-taek(.293/.352/.361) both finished the day 3-5 with a homer, 1 RBI and 1 run scored.

Woori 10, KIA 2
W - Jeong Won-sam(3-5), L - Lee Dae-jin(2-7), S - Hwang Doo-seong (6)

The Heroes lead the game 3-1 heading into the bottom of the 8th. In the 8th, they battered the KIA bullpen for 7 runs. The Heroes banged out 8 hits and drew one walk in the inning. 5 different Heroes drove in runs. The biggest hero for Woori was Song Ji-man(.293/.333/.479). Song finished the night 2-3 with a double, a homer, 3 RBI and two runs scored. Also, Woori slugger Cliff Brumbaugh(.276/.385/.454) stole a base. It was his first and, more than likely, last of the season. To be fair, he did steal 7 bases in 2004.