A GOOD week! Till today...

I just finished watching the Tigers game on my computer. They played LG in Seoul today. A new pitcher was on the mound for them named Roman Colon. If he's anything like Bartolo Colon, we'll take him. Bartolo won 21 games one season in the majors. 20 once, 18 twice. Roman is 8 and 10 in the majors with an ERA of over 5. But this ain't the majors. He looked good tonight. Since Lopez is a fixture and there's a maximum of two foreigners on every KBO staff, I guess I'll never know the correct spelling of Wright/Wryghte/Right??? Right?

I was excited as I left off last week to see if the Tigers would continue playing true Tiger ball that the coach had showed signs of in the early days of May.

May 4 - Kia was back home and my favourite player, Yoon Suk Min took the mound. I went to the game with Amber. Maybe she could change Yoon's luck. The Hanhwa Eagles were in town and they have a firm grasp on last place in the league. I thought the coach just might loosen up and let the team play because of it. Yoon pitched only 5 innings. I have no idea why he was pulled. Only 89 pitches, 7 strikeouts and he gave up ONE hit! He was anything but tired throwing his fastball well over 150 kmh consistantly. I even saw the gun register a 156 on one pitch. That's the highest this season. He was dominant and all but perfect and suddenly, YOINK! Did he sleep with coach Jo's wife or what? I just can't figure it out! But on this night I was too happy, (not to mention a bit too drunk), to care. The Tigers gave Yoon the run support he'd been lacking, lo, these many years I've been a longsuffering fan. And why? Because coach Jo let them play. Lee Yong Gyu was 2/3 with 3 RBI's; Pak Ki Nam went 3/4 and scored thrice; Lee Jong Beom was 2/4 and scored twice; and BIG Choi continued to be en fuego going 2/4 with 2 homeruns, one a gargantuan blast that probably went over the highway and into the river, and 4 RBI's. The Tigers scored at least one run for the first 6 innings of the game. It was probably the most fun of any game I've been to. Certainly the most fun this season. Please, coach Jo, let them keep playing like this... I'm sure they can do the same thing against other teams. I'll give you a link here. Watch the highlights if you can. If you have trouble, click on the small pic third from the top with coach Jo in it. See how many times the leadoff hitter gets to first and how many times the next guy bunts. Zero! Although I don't like this new thing Jo is doing when the leadoff hitter reaches second bunting him over to third. Pay no attention to him clapping for himself after the guy scores. I think that's just as stupid a call as the bunt from first to second. Anyway, Final score: Kia 8 Hanhwa 1

May 5th - Children's Day in Korea. The game was early. I forgot about Children's Day and didn't check the game time until it was over. Jeon Tae Hyun was pitching on the day. His ERA is pretty high but he is young and he has had some steady periods. I'd still prefer to see him in the bullpen, which needs him far more than the starting rotation, but what can you do? He did very well on the day going 5 innings, striking out 4, giving up 4 hits, two walks and lowering his ERA by giving up NO runs. He also got the win to go with his two losses. Good for him! Son, Gwag, and Yoo were all great! I don't know if they've all been good in the same game EVER before this! Maybe they're early birds or something. Lee Yong Gyu and Pak Ki Nam continued to be hot at the plate each going 2/3, Pak with 3 RBI's. An Chi Hong continues to hit well going 3/4. The scoring innings for the Tigers ALL started with leadoff hits that WEREN'T followed by sac bunts. Until the 6th when there WAS a leadoff hit followed by a bunt, and on TV they showed a view of coach Jo clapping for his marvellous call. Then a steal of third! DUDE! Why not forget the bunt and steal 2nd? It's much easier! Then when Pak Ki Nam gets a single the guy can still make it home from second rather than jogging home from third. And there would be one less out! It didn't matter on this day. The Hanhwa team obviously didn't sleep well. They only managed 4 hits that were welcome to a bunch of pitchers that desperately needed a day like this for their ERA's. A huge waste of an appearance by the usually dominant pitcher Ryu Hyun Jin. Final score: Kia 4 Hanhwa 0

May 6th - Say what you want about Seo Jae Eung, the guys still got game! He IS the team's designated cheerleader but he's also a very solid guy to have on the mound. And you just have to like a guy like that! On the day he gave up only 3 hits in 6 innings! That's amazing! Unfortunately, two of those hits were homeruns and he also surrendered 6 walks. And he hit a guy. He's not Yoon Suk Min, but he got a pretty tidy 5 strikeouts on the day as well. That all worked out to 2 runs. The Tigers were being outpitched in this one by Kim Hyuk Min of the Eagles until the 6th inning. Choi Hee Seop lead off with a walk. Then Na Ji Weon spanked a 2-run homer that tied the affair at 2. It's always nice to see him get a home run! Especially when it wins the Korea series! Then Kim Sang Hoon went back to back with Na. I STILL say he's had more key hits than any other player and to this point in the season deserves the Kia Tiger MVP. The Tigers got only 4 hits on the day but two of them were SuuWEET! Final score: Kia 3 Hanhwa 2

May 7th - The LG Twins were hosting Kia in Seoul's Chamshil Stadium. Yang Hyun Jong won big last time he pitched but it was one of his worst efforts of the year. I think he wanted to pitch better on this day. He DID going 7 1/3 giving up only 4 hits and NO runs. He walked 4 but fanned 5. It was plenty good enough to get him his 5th win which ranks him third in the KBO behind the Japanese pitcher, Kadokura for SK and the foreign pitcher Jimenez for Doosan. So as far as Korean pitchers go, he's got the most wins. The Tigers pounded out 7 hits which is not spectacular but they made them work. Again because there was nobody bunting people from first to second on the night. In the 2nd Kim Sang Hoon lead off with a single. An Chi Hong wasn't told to bunt and got a hit. The fielder bobbled it and Kim Sang Hoon came all the way around from first to score. One run and a guy on second with no out. With the sac bunt it would have been NO runs and a guy on second with one out. Which would you rather have? Choi hit a big 2-run blast in the 6th and then again in the 9th the leadoff hitter Choi got a double. Coach Jo's new habit is bunting guys from 2nd to 3rd. He did it here. Then the next hitter got a single to center and Choi jogged home. He could have made it easily from second and saved the out but Jo was seen in the dugout complimenting his baseball wisdom by giving himself a round of applause. I am really glad he seems to be abandoning the knee-jerk bunt from 1st to 2nd but is it going to be replaced by the even stupider bunt from 2nd to 3rd? Third time in four games we've seen this. Gawd I hope not! Final score: Kia 4 LG 0.

May 8th - You see what's happening here! The Tigers are on a roll! I believe it's because they are playing Tigerball instead of Chickenball, for the most part. To this point in the week I had planned to write a glowing report of coach Jo's ability to see the error of his ways and give him credit for humbly stopping his crazy coaching and letting the players play the game and win. BUT, on this day one of my stated fears was realized. Lopez was the starter. He was at 1 win and 2 losses although he totally didn't deserve to be. And on this day Fate was to screw him out of yet another win. He pitched 5 2/3, gave up 3 runs, 7 hits and only struck out 2. I've seen him pitch much better. But he had a 4-1 lead when he left. Unfortunately Kim Hee Geol pulled a Son Young Min and allowed a couple of Lopez's runs to score and one of his own and the game was tied at 4. It wasn't until the 9th inning that Lee Yong Gyu and Lee Jong Beom managed to knock in a couple of runs that won it for the Tigers. And for Kim Hee Geol! I think a relief pitcher should be allowed to give a win to a starter and this would be the perfect situation. Too bad that can't happen. And if I wasn't sad enough about the pitching travesty that this game was, in the 9th inning my worst fear: on came Yoon Suk Min, the Tigers' best pitcher, to get the save. Jo did this last year too and it was a STUPID move! What the hell is he thinking? Yoon gave up no runs, struck out two and got the save. OF COURSE! He's the best pitcher on the team! Wake up for the love of GOD!!!! Now I don't know WHAT'S gonna happen with the pitching. I'm dreading next week more than looking forward to it. Final score: Kia 6 LG 4.

May 9th - Today. I don't recall ever being so down about a 5-game winning streak before. There were good signs like the bunting from first to second on the decline but this new coach Jo brainstorm of bunting guys from 2nd to 3rd and the OLD brainstorm of putting his best pitcher in as a closer were getting me down. Now I know if you look at Yoon's career he's been a closer and a successful one but if you look more closely at his career there is no better pitcher for the Korean national team alive. There is no better starting pitcher for Kia. Even in this week where Jo's shown so much promise, it's pretty clear that he is still intent on doing something, ANYTHING, to make people think he knows more about baseball than they do. To make him seem like he's indispensable. When in reality a dummy could coach Kia and win, so long as that dummy had some humility and allowed the players to just do their thing and take the credit. This new move is something that will make Jo look good because there's no doubt that Yoon could be the best closer in the game. But he's wasted in this role. Yoo Dong Hoon is fine. Let Yoon start. Just don't take him out so damn early! MORON!!! He's been ahead in every game he's started this year when he's left. The only reasons he's only won 2 games are because of bad run support, relief pitching, bad defence and, HELLO, bad coaching. A good coach would surely have noticed this.

Anyway... whew, I wasn't as happy as I should have been that the Tigers had finally risen above .500. They had a new pitcher and I thought maybe they'd continue to play like the new Tigers. But Jo went back to the old ways that had gotten the club so far below .500 that a 5-game winning streak was needed to pull back to even. Colon gave up a run mostly because of a rare balk call. He's probably still used to the majors. In the 2nd inning Kim Weon Seop reached on an error and Pak Ki Nam hit a 2-run homer. I'll tell you what, Pak Ki Nam and Kim Sang Hyun are both good hitters but neither is the greatest fielding third baseman! So then came the third inning. Lee Yong Gyu legs out a single with the totally unnecessary slide into first base. Lee Jong Beom is told by the erstwhile coach Jo Beom Hyun to bunt. It's the 3rd inning. The score is 2-1. FOR YOU! "Baseball Coaching For Dummies" tells you you're an imbecile to bunt in this situation for SOOOO many reasons. But to make sure you look like you are doing SOMETHING, you call the bunt. Of course Lee Jong Beom lays it down perfectly. He's a legend. Then An Chi Hong hits a triple. It's 3-1 for the Tigers with a guy at 3rd base and 1 out. Next batter Choi Hee Seop lines out so An can't score. And then Kim Sang Hoon flies out to deep right field and the inning is over.
Now, to the untrained eye this is a mild disappointment for the Tigers. I was eating nails and spitting bullets. I texted my friend Amber that the score could have been 5-1 and SHOULD have been 4-1. Now here's where it gets a bit technical. Lee Jong Beom has and average of about .250. Combine that with his keen eye at the plate and his ability to work a walk, plus his chances of inducing many pitches from a pitcher and possibly leading to a wild pitch, passed ball or even getting hit by a pitch. His chances of reaching base go up. Then consider the fact that the pitcher has just given up a single to Lee Yong Gyu. He was pitching from a full wind-up but now with a guy on base he has to pitch from what is called "the stretch." It's a faster move to the plate to guard against the guy on first stealing. NO pitcher pitches better from the stretch. Also there's Lee Yong Gyu on first base. One of the fastest guys in the KBO. He's GONNA be thinking about stealing so he'll draw a LOT of check throws to first. The pitcher is STRESSED to the max about Lee Yong Gyu on first. His normal rhythm is WAY out of whack. Lee Jong Beom is a Korean baseball legend. He can hit anything you throw up there. He's pitching from the stretch, after throwing a few balls over to first, worrying about the balk, and being very careful to not throw anything hittable to maybe the best baseball player ever in Korea. The coach of the Tigers lets this pitcher off the hook by telling Lee Jong Beom to BUNT! This is a collossally stupid move! Even if LJB had hit a slow grounder or a deep fly ball the runner would have made it to second. Also with all the added stress and pitching from the stretch LJB's average has increased to something like .500 or better. The odds are, he would have gotten a hit or at least a productive out. But Jo Beom Hyun chose to give a very early Christmas gift to the LG Twins and WASTE the at bat of probably the best Korean baseball player in history and force him to bunt.
Have I made my case clearly enough? This was absolute stupidity. Only made more obvious by the next batter, An Chi Hong getting a TRIPLE.

So, Now it's 3-1 for the Tigers. An Chi Hong is on 3rd base with only one, (the wasted sac bunt), out. It looks like Jo Beom Hyun might hoodwink the viewers into thinking that this wasn't an incredibly vacuous thing to have done. Next batter, Choi Hee Seop lines out. The runner on third can't go home. Now there are two out and the sadsack Jo Beom Hyun is wishing there was only one out. To make things even worse the next batter, Kim Sang Hoon does what he SHOULD, (as he always does), and flies out to deep right field. Only because of bad coaching there are two out instead of one so that fly can't count as a sac fly, it counts as a third out. And what's worse, there's nobody else coming up behind him because his coach has given the other team a free out.

This inning would have been a 5-1 score if Lee Jong Beom had reached base, which he had I figure more than a .500 chance of doing. It would have been a 4-1 score if he had hit a slow grounder or a deep fly ball or any kind of a productive out. The coach took all that probability away to avoid the much lower chance of a double play being turned on Lee Yong Gyu, one of the fastest guys in baseball, and Lee Jong Beom whose nickname is the "Son of the Wind" for his ability to steal bases.

Now, this didn't all work out for the bad. At the end of it Kia was STILL up 3-1. But I texted my buddy and said that there were still 6 innings left, and LG would probably score 2 or even 3 more runs. Especially since the starter was pulled after 3 innings and we have a bullpen that is notorious for being bad but only recently getting good results. I had faith that Son Young Min, Gwag Jeong Cheol, Kim Hee Geol or Yoo Dong Hoon, could be good, but not that all of them could be good on the same day. And they HAD to be today since the starter was pulled after 3 innings, 2 hits, 2 strikeouts, one run. Why he was pulled? Jo Bum Hyun's aparent dislike for starters. But I concede, the relievers did a remarkably good job on this day! Pak Gyung Tae, Kim Hee Geol and I have to say, Son Young Min. They were all good. Son is making a believer out of me. He's messed up a few this year but he's been VERY good in several other games. I am not so nervous any more when Son gets the call.
However, Kwag Jung Cheol. He's been good a few times but he's been absolutely nasty on a lot of occasions. It's time to introduce some new blood into the relief pitcher's rotation. Gwag needs a rest. He got an ERA of like 81 on this game. And it's not the first time. As I said before put Jeon Tae Hyun in his place as long relief. Yoo Dong Hoon is still a good reliever and Yoon Suk Min is the best starter you have on your squad! Don't waste his talents as a closer. I think if coach Jo did the exact opposite of what he wanted to do Kia would be better. Maybe first place.

Anyways, it was 3-1 for most of the game but Kwag Jung Cheol gave up some runs, (only 3 of them in 1/3 of an inning), and Kia lost.
I know we would have won if we didn't play chicken ball. Or if we could give Jo a copy of "Baseball Coaching For Dummies" in Korean. The streak of Tigerball and winning both come simultaneously to an end. LG 4 Kia 3.