First post

I decided there was too much Kia Tiger reporting, griping, dissecting and the like finding its way into my regular blog and to keep the tens of readers of my Korean Chronicles blog from abandoning it for that reason... TA DA!!! The Terrible Tigers!

This blog will be about the Kia Tigers baseball club. I chose the name because at times the Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization can and DO inspire terror in opposing teams and at other times, they're just terrible.

There is a pretty decent foreign following of Korean baseball and if anything the recent Korean success at World Baseball Championships and Olympics has increased it. Sadly I don't think it has done much for the popularity of baseball in Korea. The Korean people all still seem to be suffering from that opium-like addiction that for reasons as yet not understood has escaped Canada and the U.S. Even its name has escaped only us as far as I know. It's called football to most, soccer north of Mexico. Korea's improbable 2002 run to the semi-finals in the World Cup of Soccer they co-hosted with Japan, marked three firsts for Korea: the first time the World Cup was co-hosted, the first World Cup in Asia and the first Asian team to make it to the semis. Before 2002 baseball was the most popular sport over here but ever since then this has been a soccer country! I don't think any of those accomplishments are bigger than the Korean gold medal in Olympic baseball in Beijing in 2008, but it seems the rest of the world, aside from those two aforementioned countries, might disagree with me. Even calling it the World Cup (of Soccer) is like when Asians say, "(ice) hockey." The World Cup of Soccer is the World Cup. Ice hockey is hockey. Incidentally I am pretty sure that (ice) hockey being a faster, more entertaining version of soccer is the reason soccer is insufferably dull to Canadians and Americans. No fights either! Still that doesn't explain the Swedes, Germans, Czechs, Russians and other countries who love both.

But that's WAY more than enough about soccer! I'm a baseball guy and this is a baseball blog. To be fair baseball is only my second favourite sport. Being from Canada I love hockey, but since I was always better at baseball than hockey, because you don't have to wear skates to play it, I have played more baseball and learned the finer points about it. And since there is, as near as makes no difference, no hockey to be found in Korea, I have become a bigger baseball fan. And for the past 7 years or so, since they BECAME the Kia Tigers, I have been a fan of them.

All I will tell you as a history of the Kia Tigers is that I haven't yet experienced the joy of seeing them win. As the Haitai Tigers the team won a record 9 KBO championships but since becoming the KIA Tigers in 2001 they've only been in the playoffs twice finishing 3rd in the league twice and last twice. Never 2nd, never 1st. That's a pretty sadsack record in a league with only 8 teams, but hey, I'm a Vancouver Canuck fan. I can take the disappointment. However, THIS year I believe things will be different. Barring any unforseen disasters. Kia has a pretty good team. Better than pretty good. They SHOULD win. Here's a rundown of the team I posted on my OTHER blog early this season. It's remarkably accurate if I do say so myself, although there ARE a few things that need updating.

The lead-off hitter and last year's MVP Lee Yong Gyu went back for a catch against the wall and jumped against the wall twisting AND BREAKING his ankle. That was during the third game of the season. I was there. It sucked. In my opinion two things caused it: Lee's overaggressive nature, which I don't mind at all, and bad positioning. The coaches seem to move the infield and outfield around almost randomly. Their positioning has little to do with what's happening. At any rate, Kim Weon Seop has performed VERY well in Lee's absence. Maybe as good or better than Lee would have! He leads the team in average and hits and has for a while.

Coach Jo has been bad. His only really massive mistake has been moving Yoon Suk Min to the bullpen and using him as closer/long relief. But he's been playing chickenball with a team that should be aggressive. Pulling starting pitchers without any hint of a reason why. Last game I went to Ricky Guttormson was pulled after 6 innings of 2-hit ball. And if I remember correctly both hits were given up in the 1st inning. 101 pitches. No earthly reason to pull him. He came out with a 2-0 lead and, predictably, Son Young Min quickly went to work on blowing that lead. He gave up a run but luckily Park Kyung Tae and Yoo Dong Hoon shut things down the rest of the way. Coach Jo is absolutely in LOVE with the bunt and has overused it to the point of distraction. But worst of all he STILL doesn't understand the hit and run. In a lot of situations he almost FORCES the other team to kill Kia with it by playing the infield deep with one out. That allows any players on base to get huge leads and make it to the next base easily on the hit-and-run. It certainly DOESN'T allow Kia to get an inning ending double play. That is why when the infield is shallow it's called "double-play depth". But Jo don't know. Here are some details about some of the things Jo don't know.

If you think I'm being tough on old Jo, I HAVE been seeing encouraging signs that he's starting to show. He is bunting less. Still ALMOST every game he bunts when he shouldn't but he's doing it less. And, YES, he HAS called a hit-and-run or two. Or at least his players have done it without it being called. No way of knowing really. Also he's moved Yoon Suk Min back into the starting rotation. The results have been easy to see. Players seem happier and the team batting average has skyrocketed. Now pitchers only need to be average to get wins. And oh by the way, Kia is challenging for second place in the league right now!

I don't always complain about the team. There will be some positive posts here I'm sure. Like some kudos to Jo I posted after a recent victory. I have also commented on the resurgence of power hitter Choi Hee Seop this year. He reached 14 homers before anyone in the league and lead the team in RBI's after a really hot start. Since then he has cooled off though. He's been stuck on 14 home runs forever now. But he's still not the rally killer of 2008 and even though he strikes out a lot, his eye at the plate has improved. Besides, a power hitter will usually strike out frequently.

The big news of the season so far though has been a new player acquired from the LG Twins named Kim Sang Hyun. He has been hitting behind big Choi and taking full advantage of that sweet spot in the order. He leads the team with 43 RBI's right now. Choi has 34.

When injured stars Seo Jae Eung and Lee Yong Gyu come back Kia will have a deadly line-up! I wouldn't be surprised if they went on a long winning streak and even won it all this year. It's gonna be fun blogging about it all the way.