If you've been around the Tigers you know that V-10 was on shirts, patches, jerseys, signs etc. last year and it meant Victory number 10. The Tigers are the most successful franchise in the KBO's history having won 10 league championships. This year the V-11 is almost as prominent. But as of yesterday I think D-11 would be more appropriate. D meaning defeat. The Tigers lost their 11th in a row yesterday and the causes were exactly the same as most of the losses in the current streak and the current season. I don't think I need to tell you what they are but I will one more time: coach and bullpen. And if you could narrow it down to one problem it would be the coach since he's the guy who chooses who to bring out from the bullpen.
It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out the coach needs to go. LARRY Holmes could piece that together. You go from first to worst with virtually the same players on the team anywhere else and the coach is keeping a bag packed. But for some reason Jo Beom Hyeon seems untouchable. There are fans on the Kia Tiger website calling for his release every day. People at the ballpark are starting to show discontent with the coaching staff as well. Moreso people NOT at the ball park. As Yogi Berra might have said, "Lots of people are going to Tigers games now because there's nobody in the stands." If I wasn't such a fan of the conspiracy theory I wouldn't believe the team might be purposely losing games hoping to precipitate the demise of their leader. But I DO so love a good conspiracy theory!
So, until I think the Tigers are actually trying I'm not going to summarize their exploits. It wouldn't be fair because right now I support their losing efforts. I don't know if I'd give 110% either knowing that my coach would invariably try to sabotage my efforts. I WILL tell you that I think Jo himself wants the old heave-ho. He is doing everything he can to get the boot. Why, just today I checked to see who will be pitching at the game and it will be none other than the cause of more losses than any other single player on the Kia Tiger staff: Gwag Jung Cheol. He's normally a reliever but he's doing such a great job running up the losses for the Tigers this year, Coach Jo decided he'd better move him up to starter. I just wonder who Jo will call in from the bullpen after a faltering Gwag has given up 5 runs in each of the first two innings. I wouldn't want to follow THAT act!
I was planning to visit friends today out of town but I'm seriously thinking of going to the ballpark to see this massacre. With any luck it will be the beginning of the end for Jo Beom Hyun's coaching career. I hope the Tigers can find a good coach and recover from the damage Jo has done them this season. I have been on the Lee Jong Beom bandwagon for a while but I get the feeling he doesn't want to coach the team. Most likely because he sees Coach Jo, a former superstar for the Haitai Tigers in the glory years, doing a terrible job but not getting sacked because of the respect people have for his days as a player. He probably doesn't want to be exactly like Jo, although I imagine he'd be a more knowledgeable coach and a helluva lot more of a player's coach. That's what this team needs. We'll see what happens.
If you want to check out the meaningless stats from a team that's coasting along at maybe 75% with a coach that's trying to get himself fired the "honourable" way, just check the KBO website at www.koreabaseball.com
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
50/50
To start this double post I want to tell you my idea of a good baseball coach. Having played and coached, I can see the game from both sides so I have a pretty good idea of how to, AND how NOT to coach. It would take too long to say exactly what makes a good coach but I'll give you just a couple of points and you will see why when you read about the Tigers' games of the past two weeks.
A coach should never think, "What can I do to win this game?" A coach should try to get his team into a position to win the game and then have the humility to let the players win it. He should NOT be jumping in at crucial points trying to make pitching changes or sending in pinch hitters to make it look like it was coaching that won the game. Not just because that usually doesn't work but because it makes the coach look like an asshole in the eyes of his players and it kills team morale. He should depend on his best players and let them do what they do best.
Which leads us to the second point: the coach should trust his best players. For hitters, he should tell them to be selective but he shouldn't be calling the "take" sign too often because that forces good hitters to watch juicy pitches go into the catcher's mit without even taking a hack at them. This is the hardest thing for a hitter to do. Well, let me amend that: A good coach shouldn't call too many sacrifice bunts because THIS is the hardest thing for a hitter to do. All hitters sac bunt reluctantly thinking, no KNOWING that they could have easily connected for a base hit up the middle instead of wasting an out on that perfectly good pitch.
For runners a coach needs to run the bases according to the players. If you have speed on the basepaths and a good contact hitter at the plate, call the hit and run. Stealing second is a MUCH higher percentage way of avoiding a double play than the sac bunt. Also a good way to fill the bases. And for the love of BUDDHA if you have a speedster rounding third and the fielder still doesn't have the ball, wave him home! There's nothing a runner hates worse than dying on third especially after having a chance to run home squandered by the third base coach's stop sign. Hell, I say wave guys home even if the fielder HAS the ball because it'll force him to make a good throw to home and the catcher to make a good tag. If both can do so, they've earned the out. If not we get another run. I'd rather see an out at the plate because of aggressive base running than watch a guy stranded on third because of careful base running. And so would every single player on the bench.
And for pitchers, (and I'm talking about starters here, the most valuable guys on your team), DON'T worry about rest! It wasn't long ago that pitchers pitched consecutive games! When did they start becoming so fragile that they need a week's rest between starts? 6-man rotations NEVER work. Mostly because it's very hard to find 6 great pitchers. If you have 5, use 5. If you have 4, use 4. Don't throw mediocre pitchers into the rotation to give the good starters time to rest. That's ludicrous. Most starters get better as the game goes along. So if they struggle a bit in the early innings don't resort to the bullpen or you'll tire THEM out. And if you have a bad bullpen, as the Tigers most certainly do, you really don't want them working tired. Also, it rots my socks off when I see a starter give up a hit or walk in the 8th or 9th inning and get instantly pulled for it. Or if they're breezing along and for no other reason but pitch count they're yanked in the late innings. Be patient with them! They're human beings, not computers. Some dayst hey can throw 200 pitches, some days they cool off after 90. However, a warm starter is almost always gonna be better than a cold reliever. ALWAYS when you are the coach of the Kia Tigers.
These are all ways to get your players playing for you. If players want to win for you, they play better and they make you look good. You don't need to look good by acting like a great tactician. Chest bump a player. Get a fist bump or a high five. THAT makes you look like a good coach. Best coach in the KBO is coaching the Lotte Giants. Watch them to see what a difference it makes.
Anyway, you didn't have to watch the Tigers to know what happened in the past two weeks. More of the same with only a few new things.
June 8 - The Doosan Bears came to town and of course I went to see our ace, Yang Hyun Jong face down the second place team. He usually pitches a boring game and this one was no exception. He went 7 innings allowing 6 hits and 7 walks and only striking out 4. Not one of his best performances statistically. But he only allowed one run. When he left it was tied at 1. The relievers did well. This game was a tactical battle between the coaches and absolutely fugly to watch! WAY too much bunting and messing around! In the end it was a tactical mistake by Doosan's coach that lost the game for them. After Kim Sun Bin was bunted to second the coach of the Bears pulled the outfield in expecting Kim to score on a base hit. If he'd been watching the Tigers this season he'd know it would have taken TWO base hits to score Kim because he would have been held up at third. At any rate the EXTREME move of drawing in the outfield allowed Lee Yong Gyu to just swing hard and that's what he did hitting a lazy fly ball over the head of the fielder who would have caught it if the coaches had let the payers play. Unfortunately for Yang he didn't get the win. Virtual unknown An Yung Myung, (whose name sounds like chewing gum), threw 3 pitches and got the win. If you are a good coach you remember this game and how pulling the outfield in cost the opponent. Final Kia 2 Doosan 1
June 9 - I went to THIS one too. Colon looked good going 6 allowing only 3 hits and a walk and fanning 3. The relievers also pitched well. This was a great game to watch. Especially Kim Sun Bin who is Mr. Excitement right now for the Tigers! Hitting and running and stealing and sliding. The players played and the coach allowed them to. Nice to watch. And Colon is now 3-0 and starting to make his undefeated record look legitimate. Final Tigers 7 Bears 0
June 10 - Could we sweep the second place Bears? Extra starter Jeon Tae Hyun got the start on this day. He did well. Not a lot happened in this one. Gwag, who has been awful this year, let in the two extra runs that lost it for the Tigers but Jeon took the hit because they were let on base by him. I'd prefer to see the starter try to work his way out of trouble rather than letting the bullpen blow the game. Anyway, he's now 2-4. The Tigers outhit the Bears but couldn't get the win. Final Doosan 3 Kia 1
June 11 - LG came to town and with my favourite pitcher on the mound I was in the stands. I got wet for my trouble but it was also good to see Kim Sang Hyun, last year's league MVP, back in uniform for the Tigers. The game was what I've come to expect from a Yoon Suk Min outing. First run was unearned. Scored without the aid of a hit. Fourth run was scored by a guy reached base on a defensive error. And the relief pitching allowed a 2-run homer. Without that, Yoon would have won 3-2. But he's cursed. I'm sure of it! He went 7 2/3 giving up 5 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 5. How does that translate into 4 runs for any OTHER pitcher? Again the Tigers outhit the opposition with Kim Sun Bin remaining hot but they let this one get away. Final LG 6 Kia 3
June 12 - Lopez didn't pitch TERRIBLE in this one but he gave up a 2-run homer and a 3-run homer. It's hard to win like that. And after Kim Sun Bin was told to bunt a guy to second and heroically bunted aggressively sliding into first for a base hit, Lee Jong Beom was told to bunt the runners from 1st and 2nd to 2nd and 3rd and while attempting the bunt he got hit directly in the head by a pitch. As if there weren't enough reasons for coach Jo to stop the sac bunting! Anyway, I won't talk too much about this other than Lopez is now 1-4 and the final was LG 11 Kia 0
June 13 - Maybe Seo Jae Eung could get us a win at home against the lowly Twins who were feeding the Tigers their arses for the past two games. He gave up 5 hits and 2 runs over 5 2/3 innings. Not bad. Gwag Jung Cheol gave up 3 runs in his 1 inning stinking Moodeung Stadium up again but the Tigers bats were alive on the evening. Kim Sang Hyun got his first homer since returning, Kim Sun Bin continued to tear it up and An Chi Hong went 2/4 with a 3-run home run and 4 RBI's. The final was Kia 9 LG 5
What do you know? Another 3-3 week!
June 15 - Let's start the week off right with Yang Hyun Jong's 10th win shall we? Again he didn't pitch a gem giving up 7 hits and 4 walks in 5 2/3 innings but he only allowed a single run. The heart of the Kia Tiger batting order Choi Hee Seop, Kim Sang Hyun, Kim Sang Hoon and An Chi Hong all went 2/4 on the night. Final score Kia 7 Hanhwa 1
June 16 - Perfect record on the line, Colon pitched well once again. He gave up 4 hits, 2 walks and struck out 4 while only giving up a run before being pulled after his usual 6 innings. I'd like to see coach Jo leave him in longer. But on this night the bullpen didn't blow the lead and with three hit nights by Kim Sun Bin and An Chi Hong and with three guys getting home runs, (An, Big Choi and Na Ji Weon), the one run Colon surrendered didn't cost the team. Final score was Kia 8 Hanhwa 1
June 17 - Jeon Tae Hyun pitched so-so and his relief didn't do much better in this back and forth battle. The lead changed several times but the Tigers ended up on top for the sweep of the Hanhwa Eagles. An Yung Myung, who pitched an ugly inning and 2/3 ended up with the win. He's now got more wins than Lopez! Try to figure the game of baseball! Former Tiger Chang Sung Ho looked good going 2/3 with a walk and scoring twice. Jo doesn't think we can use him any more I guess. Big Choi, Kim Sang Hoon and Na Ji Weon picked up homers and for the second straight day Kia had three in a game! This was a strange one! I even saw Jo Beom Hyeon out of his shadowy corner of the dugout FIST BUMPING players! Maybe this is a good thing. Final Kia 7 Hanhwa 6
June 18 - Two of the best pitchers in the league battling it out in this one. Yoon Suk Min with his silly 4-3 record that should be like 7-1 and Kadokura at 8-4 for the dreaded SK Wyverns. Would the Yoon Suk Min curse continue? In the FIRST INNING Choi Hee Seop committed a throwing error that allowed the first run to score. Here we go again! However, later in the game Yoon obviously balked and it wasn't called. It allowed him to get out of a lot of trouble. A bit of good luck for the hard luck Yoon! I thought things might be changing. He went 8 1/3 giving up 6 hits and 2 walks to the solid SK lineup. He made it the whole game with a 3-1 lead. In the 9th he gave up a leadoff single and after getting an out the guy was singled home. It was 3-2 with a guy at first base. Yoon had been baffling the Wyvern batters all day long striking out 6 of them. Why bring in any member of the worst bullpen in the league at this point? A ground ball could be a game-ending double play! Do you think there's anybody in the bullpen more likely to induce that ground ball than Yoon? Or he could just get the next two guys. His pitch count was 132 but his speed was still up there. But Jo saw the opportunity to win the game by coaching instead of letting the players play. On comes Yoon-killer Son Young Min. How bad is it when your most feared opposing pitcher is a teammate? Son promptly allows a stolen base then walks the next batter. And then in this, his coaching magnum opus, Jo calls Seo Jae Eung out. To ensure it was his masterpiece he also draws in the outfield. With not the winning run two bases away standing on second, the TYING run on second base. You pull the outfield in to guard against a hit. A hit that knocks in the game winning run! In this case the hit MAY have only tied the game. Or it might have just loaded the bases if the runner was held at third. But a fly ball over the drawn-in infield, (which is far easier to get than a hit), wins the game. And that's exactly what happened. Harken back to the earlier game on June 8th. This is just one example of many I've noticed that indicate how Jo Beom Hyun just doesn't learn. This game WAS Jo's masterpiece in my mind. It just goes to show that the Tigers are not just playing against the other team, they're battling bad coaching as well. Final: Wyverns 4 Tigers 3
June 19 and 20. I was too depressed to watch these games. Instead, (OH MY GOD!), opting for soccer! But you know exactly what to expect. Kia lost both making sure to get their 3-3 split for the week. Lopez with yet another ugly loss and a 3-hitter hurled by SK pitcher Kim Gwang Hyun. Seo took the loss and Gwag stunk again. Finals SK 10 Kia 4 and SK 4 Kia 0
I don't think I'll be able to document all the games this year. I'll be on vacation in Canada soon and am not sure if I can watch the games on naver over there. Not sure I will want to. And I'm VERY sure I'll have better things to do. But I'll likely be back at the end of the year if Kia makes the playoff. I sure hope so.
A coach should never think, "What can I do to win this game?" A coach should try to get his team into a position to win the game and then have the humility to let the players win it. He should NOT be jumping in at crucial points trying to make pitching changes or sending in pinch hitters to make it look like it was coaching that won the game. Not just because that usually doesn't work but because it makes the coach look like an asshole in the eyes of his players and it kills team morale. He should depend on his best players and let them do what they do best.
Which leads us to the second point: the coach should trust his best players. For hitters, he should tell them to be selective but he shouldn't be calling the "take" sign too often because that forces good hitters to watch juicy pitches go into the catcher's mit without even taking a hack at them. This is the hardest thing for a hitter to do. Well, let me amend that: A good coach shouldn't call too many sacrifice bunts because THIS is the hardest thing for a hitter to do. All hitters sac bunt reluctantly thinking, no KNOWING that they could have easily connected for a base hit up the middle instead of wasting an out on that perfectly good pitch.
For runners a coach needs to run the bases according to the players. If you have speed on the basepaths and a good contact hitter at the plate, call the hit and run. Stealing second is a MUCH higher percentage way of avoiding a double play than the sac bunt. Also a good way to fill the bases. And for the love of BUDDHA if you have a speedster rounding third and the fielder still doesn't have the ball, wave him home! There's nothing a runner hates worse than dying on third especially after having a chance to run home squandered by the third base coach's stop sign. Hell, I say wave guys home even if the fielder HAS the ball because it'll force him to make a good throw to home and the catcher to make a good tag. If both can do so, they've earned the out. If not we get another run. I'd rather see an out at the plate because of aggressive base running than watch a guy stranded on third because of careful base running. And so would every single player on the bench.
And for pitchers, (and I'm talking about starters here, the most valuable guys on your team), DON'T worry about rest! It wasn't long ago that pitchers pitched consecutive games! When did they start becoming so fragile that they need a week's rest between starts? 6-man rotations NEVER work. Mostly because it's very hard to find 6 great pitchers. If you have 5, use 5. If you have 4, use 4. Don't throw mediocre pitchers into the rotation to give the good starters time to rest. That's ludicrous. Most starters get better as the game goes along. So if they struggle a bit in the early innings don't resort to the bullpen or you'll tire THEM out. And if you have a bad bullpen, as the Tigers most certainly do, you really don't want them working tired. Also, it rots my socks off when I see a starter give up a hit or walk in the 8th or 9th inning and get instantly pulled for it. Or if they're breezing along and for no other reason but pitch count they're yanked in the late innings. Be patient with them! They're human beings, not computers. Some dayst hey can throw 200 pitches, some days they cool off after 90. However, a warm starter is almost always gonna be better than a cold reliever. ALWAYS when you are the coach of the Kia Tigers.
These are all ways to get your players playing for you. If players want to win for you, they play better and they make you look good. You don't need to look good by acting like a great tactician. Chest bump a player. Get a fist bump or a high five. THAT makes you look like a good coach. Best coach in the KBO is coaching the Lotte Giants. Watch them to see what a difference it makes.
Anyway, you didn't have to watch the Tigers to know what happened in the past two weeks. More of the same with only a few new things.
June 8 - The Doosan Bears came to town and of course I went to see our ace, Yang Hyun Jong face down the second place team. He usually pitches a boring game and this one was no exception. He went 7 innings allowing 6 hits and 7 walks and only striking out 4. Not one of his best performances statistically. But he only allowed one run. When he left it was tied at 1. The relievers did well. This game was a tactical battle between the coaches and absolutely fugly to watch! WAY too much bunting and messing around! In the end it was a tactical mistake by Doosan's coach that lost the game for them. After Kim Sun Bin was bunted to second the coach of the Bears pulled the outfield in expecting Kim to score on a base hit. If he'd been watching the Tigers this season he'd know it would have taken TWO base hits to score Kim because he would have been held up at third. At any rate the EXTREME move of drawing in the outfield allowed Lee Yong Gyu to just swing hard and that's what he did hitting a lazy fly ball over the head of the fielder who would have caught it if the coaches had let the payers play. Unfortunately for Yang he didn't get the win. Virtual unknown An Yung Myung, (whose name sounds like chewing gum), threw 3 pitches and got the win. If you are a good coach you remember this game and how pulling the outfield in cost the opponent. Final Kia 2 Doosan 1
June 9 - I went to THIS one too. Colon looked good going 6 allowing only 3 hits and a walk and fanning 3. The relievers also pitched well. This was a great game to watch. Especially Kim Sun Bin who is Mr. Excitement right now for the Tigers! Hitting and running and stealing and sliding. The players played and the coach allowed them to. Nice to watch. And Colon is now 3-0 and starting to make his undefeated record look legitimate. Final Tigers 7 Bears 0
June 10 - Could we sweep the second place Bears? Extra starter Jeon Tae Hyun got the start on this day. He did well. Not a lot happened in this one. Gwag, who has been awful this year, let in the two extra runs that lost it for the Tigers but Jeon took the hit because they were let on base by him. I'd prefer to see the starter try to work his way out of trouble rather than letting the bullpen blow the game. Anyway, he's now 2-4. The Tigers outhit the Bears but couldn't get the win. Final Doosan 3 Kia 1
June 11 - LG came to town and with my favourite pitcher on the mound I was in the stands. I got wet for my trouble but it was also good to see Kim Sang Hyun, last year's league MVP, back in uniform for the Tigers. The game was what I've come to expect from a Yoon Suk Min outing. First run was unearned. Scored without the aid of a hit. Fourth run was scored by a guy reached base on a defensive error. And the relief pitching allowed a 2-run homer. Without that, Yoon would have won 3-2. But he's cursed. I'm sure of it! He went 7 2/3 giving up 5 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 5. How does that translate into 4 runs for any OTHER pitcher? Again the Tigers outhit the opposition with Kim Sun Bin remaining hot but they let this one get away. Final LG 6 Kia 3
June 12 - Lopez didn't pitch TERRIBLE in this one but he gave up a 2-run homer and a 3-run homer. It's hard to win like that. And after Kim Sun Bin was told to bunt a guy to second and heroically bunted aggressively sliding into first for a base hit, Lee Jong Beom was told to bunt the runners from 1st and 2nd to 2nd and 3rd and while attempting the bunt he got hit directly in the head by a pitch. As if there weren't enough reasons for coach Jo to stop the sac bunting! Anyway, I won't talk too much about this other than Lopez is now 1-4 and the final was LG 11 Kia 0
June 13 - Maybe Seo Jae Eung could get us a win at home against the lowly Twins who were feeding the Tigers their arses for the past two games. He gave up 5 hits and 2 runs over 5 2/3 innings. Not bad. Gwag Jung Cheol gave up 3 runs in his 1 inning stinking Moodeung Stadium up again but the Tigers bats were alive on the evening. Kim Sang Hyun got his first homer since returning, Kim Sun Bin continued to tear it up and An Chi Hong went 2/4 with a 3-run home run and 4 RBI's. The final was Kia 9 LG 5
What do you know? Another 3-3 week!
June 15 - Let's start the week off right with Yang Hyun Jong's 10th win shall we? Again he didn't pitch a gem giving up 7 hits and 4 walks in 5 2/3 innings but he only allowed a single run. The heart of the Kia Tiger batting order Choi Hee Seop, Kim Sang Hyun, Kim Sang Hoon and An Chi Hong all went 2/4 on the night. Final score Kia 7 Hanhwa 1
June 16 - Perfect record on the line, Colon pitched well once again. He gave up 4 hits, 2 walks and struck out 4 while only giving up a run before being pulled after his usual 6 innings. I'd like to see coach Jo leave him in longer. But on this night the bullpen didn't blow the lead and with three hit nights by Kim Sun Bin and An Chi Hong and with three guys getting home runs, (An, Big Choi and Na Ji Weon), the one run Colon surrendered didn't cost the team. Final score was Kia 8 Hanhwa 1
June 17 - Jeon Tae Hyun pitched so-so and his relief didn't do much better in this back and forth battle. The lead changed several times but the Tigers ended up on top for the sweep of the Hanhwa Eagles. An Yung Myung, who pitched an ugly inning and 2/3 ended up with the win. He's now got more wins than Lopez! Try to figure the game of baseball! Former Tiger Chang Sung Ho looked good going 2/3 with a walk and scoring twice. Jo doesn't think we can use him any more I guess. Big Choi, Kim Sang Hoon and Na Ji Weon picked up homers and for the second straight day Kia had three in a game! This was a strange one! I even saw Jo Beom Hyeon out of his shadowy corner of the dugout FIST BUMPING players! Maybe this is a good thing. Final Kia 7 Hanhwa 6
June 18 - Two of the best pitchers in the league battling it out in this one. Yoon Suk Min with his silly 4-3 record that should be like 7-1 and Kadokura at 8-4 for the dreaded SK Wyverns. Would the Yoon Suk Min curse continue? In the FIRST INNING Choi Hee Seop committed a throwing error that allowed the first run to score. Here we go again! However, later in the game Yoon obviously balked and it wasn't called. It allowed him to get out of a lot of trouble. A bit of good luck for the hard luck Yoon! I thought things might be changing. He went 8 1/3 giving up 6 hits and 2 walks to the solid SK lineup. He made it the whole game with a 3-1 lead. In the 9th he gave up a leadoff single and after getting an out the guy was singled home. It was 3-2 with a guy at first base. Yoon had been baffling the Wyvern batters all day long striking out 6 of them. Why bring in any member of the worst bullpen in the league at this point? A ground ball could be a game-ending double play! Do you think there's anybody in the bullpen more likely to induce that ground ball than Yoon? Or he could just get the next two guys. His pitch count was 132 but his speed was still up there. But Jo saw the opportunity to win the game by coaching instead of letting the players play. On comes Yoon-killer Son Young Min. How bad is it when your most feared opposing pitcher is a teammate? Son promptly allows a stolen base then walks the next batter. And then in this, his coaching magnum opus, Jo calls Seo Jae Eung out. To ensure it was his masterpiece he also draws in the outfield. With not the winning run two bases away standing on second, the TYING run on second base. You pull the outfield in to guard against a hit. A hit that knocks in the game winning run! In this case the hit MAY have only tied the game. Or it might have just loaded the bases if the runner was held at third. But a fly ball over the drawn-in infield, (which is far easier to get than a hit), wins the game. And that's exactly what happened. Harken back to the earlier game on June 8th. This is just one example of many I've noticed that indicate how Jo Beom Hyun just doesn't learn. This game WAS Jo's masterpiece in my mind. It just goes to show that the Tigers are not just playing against the other team, they're battling bad coaching as well. Final: Wyverns 4 Tigers 3
June 19 and 20. I was too depressed to watch these games. Instead, (OH MY GOD!), opting for soccer! But you know exactly what to expect. Kia lost both making sure to get their 3-3 split for the week. Lopez with yet another ugly loss and a 3-hitter hurled by SK pitcher Kim Gwang Hyun. Seo took the loss and Gwag stunk again. Finals SK 10 Kia 4 and SK 4 Kia 0
I don't think I'll be able to document all the games this year. I'll be on vacation in Canada soon and am not sure if I can watch the games on naver over there. Not sure I will want to. And I'm VERY sure I'll have better things to do. But I'll likely be back at the end of the year if Kia makes the playoff. I sure hope so.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Waiting to pounce
I think the Tigers are much better than a .500 ball club but that's the team's record overall, we seem to be winning half our games every week, last week we were 3 and 3 and what do you wanna bet we'll do the same this week? (Since I wrote this on Monday, I already know that I would WIN that bet.) It seems to me like tigers, this team is lurking in the tall grass of the savannah just beyond pouncing range of the rest of the teams in the league. So the Wyverns are like Wild Boar; the Bears are like Buffalo; the Lions are like Lizards, (large monitor lizards - yum); the Giants are like Gazelles, (is it gazelles or gazelle?); the Twins are like Turtles, (the delicious kind that live in the ponds the Tigers swim in); and the Eagles are like Elephant Babies. Tigers eat elephant babies! They do!
I think it'll take some real effort on the part of the coach to improve morale on the team before they pounce, however. If this team were set loose they could win it all again. Right now they ARE playing like stalking tigers. Being very careful not to get noticed and although they're hungry for a good, fat kill, they seem more concerned right now about scaring the herd away.
Anyhoo,
June 1 - Lopez came into this one with a 1-4 record and an ERA of 4.79. He improved his ERA but didn't get the win. This was yet another game Lopez deserved to win but didn't. He pitched 5 1/3 giving up 5 hits and a run but striking out 4. Don't know why he was pulled. He was happily cruising along with a 2-0 lead until he was called for a balk. It was a mysterious call since he had been pitching most of the game with only a fraction of a second of discernable stoppage in his windup. The timing of it allowed a runner to advance to second and then score on the ensuing base hit. Otherwise Lopez would have left with a 2-0 lead. But the Tiger bullpen can blow ANY lead. It was 2-1 in the 7th when Son Young Min came in. He pitched GREAT! Gave up only one hit and struck out 3! Then he got hit by a ball hit up the middle and for the first time EVER I was sad to see him LEAVING the field. Why can't he get hit on the nights when he's blowing somebody's 4-run lead? NO! He's gotta get hit when he's got the other team baffled as to what's coming next. So on came Kwag Jung Cheol.
He didn't pitch badly. Well not badly for HIM. There was a blooper hit into no-man's-land in shallow right center that was NOT caught by three guys. As I was saying, team morale is important. It's sometimes the difference between "I got it" and "You get it" on a team. Here was an example. SOMEbody gets to that ball normally. Then with 2 outs and guys on 2nd and 3rd Kwag threw four pitches a couple feet out of the strike zone OBVIOUSLY having been told to walk the bases full. This is another one of those bonehead coaching plays that is more popular than it should be. It's done so that the third out can be made at any base. But it's done in the major leagues where pitchers can throw strikes. It should NEVER EVER be done when any member of the Kia Tiger bullpen is pitching. So with the bases loaded Kwag starts looking shakey. He throws a wild pitch that almost scores a run. Then the batter gets the count to 3 and 2. Or 2 and 3 here in Korea. Everybody in the building knows there's a batting practice fastball right down the middle coming because you don't want to walk in the winning run. BLAM base hit - 4-2. Lee Jong Beom was 2/4 and had the only RBI for the Tigers. It's always nice to see him hitting well. Nobody else hit though. The Lions bullpen sent out pitcher after pitcher with ERA's below 3! If Kia just had ONE relief pitcher like that we might win some of these bullpen battles! Let me rephrase that: if Kia just USED one.... We have them but they're not being used much. Final score: Lions 4 Tigers 2
June 2 - Brandon Knight against the winningest pitcher in the KBO, our very own Yang Hyun Jong. It's odd that even though he's got 8 wins his ERA is at 3.86. It's be nice to see that drop a little bit. How about a complete game shutout to lower it? For I think only the second time this year Jo left the starting pitcher in for the entire game and Yang fired a gem! 129 pitches in a 4-hitter that included 9 K's. Not much else to report here. Cha Il Mok got the 2 RBI's and went 2/4 on the night. For the second game in a row the Tigers got only 5 hits. But they didn't need any more than that because they didn't need to use their bullpen. I actually fell asleep while watching this game but I like the result! Final score: Kia 2 Samsung 0
June 3 - Colon on the mound with a perfect 1-0 record, (har), and an ERA of 5.74. He gave up 7 hits but only walked one in this one. The Lions got 2 runs on him but he struck out 5 batters. He was in trouble a bit but never looked too bad. A well earned victory for him. Choi Hee Seop who had 3 walks on Tuesday and 3 walks on Wednesday decided to swing his bat and went 3/4 with a homer, 2 RBI's and 3 runs scored. Lee Yong Gyu was 3/5 too and Kim Weon Seop went 1/2 with a homer, an RBI, a run and 2 walks. When Lee Yong Gyu and Kim Weon Seop get on base things happen. If you want to truly play "small ball" you have to utilize these two speedsters!
In the 7th inning Lee led off with a base hit. Then he stole second because Kim wasn't told to sac bunt. The throw to get him at second floated into center field so Lee went to 3rd. Kim worked a walk. Then he stole second and maintained his 100% stealing rate. While doing so Lee almost took off for home. I was hoping he would. I bet he'd have made it. They almost got a run off a hit and a walk! I just WISH coach Jo would stop telling Kim to bunt so much! Like he did in the 9th inning when he bunted Lee to second then he reached 3rd on Na's sac fly and Choi Hee Seop cranked one out of the park making the sac bunt yet another wasted at bat for Kim, one of the team's best players. Who knows what would have happened if Kim was allowed to hit? In the 4th Lee got an out so Kim HAD to hit because there was nobody to sacrifice bunt for. He got a home run! HEY he had 8 of them last year! It's such a waste to see him bunting! But maybe this pattern won't remain unnoticed by the coaching staff all season long. Final score: Kia 8 Samsung 3
June 4 - After taking 2 of 3 from the Lions, Kia swaggered into the thin air of Mok Dong to play the Heroe's, a team below them in the KBO standings. The ball was really flying in this one. The Tigers sent Jeon Tae Hyun out for the start. His 1-3 record and 5.76 ERA are remarkably similar to Lopez's even though Jeon is nowhere near as good a pitcher. Pitchers' numbers depend on a lot of things other than just their talent. Jeon gave up 6 hits and 3 walks in his 5 2/3 innings in this one. That's not bad. He did give up 2 runs both by way of the solo home run but at the end of the day he had the same record as Lopez with a lower ERA. Never would have predicted THAT! Choi Hee Seop went 3/3 in the game and STILL got 2 walks. In the 4th Kim Sun Bin almost got an inside-the-park homerun but he was held at third. I was nervous that he'd die there like so many have but Lee Jong Hwan homered him in. Then in the 5th Na Ji Weon hit a MONSTER 3-run job and he KNEW it! Clark hit two out for the other team but that wasn't enough. I won't mention the bullpen collapse because it didn't lose us the game and I like seeing coach Jo using some of the other guys. The final was: Kia 7 Nexen 4
June 5 - Ugh! Do I have to re-live this? Yoon Suk Min was the pitcher again. He's 4-2 this season with a 3.66 ERA. I went bowling with friends on this night. While waiting for everybody to show up I caught the first inning on the TV at the alley. The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a pitcher named Ko Weon Joon, who is not bad! He's 2-2 but he's got a 2.16 ERA! We smoked his ERA in the FIRST inning! He threw 46 pitches and I thought for sure we'd just keep on shelling him. Either way a 4-0 lead should have been enough for Yoon since he doesn't give up that many runs a game. So in this amazing first inning the Tigers had 4 runs and still had no outs against them. With runners on 2nd and 3rd Kim Sun Bin hit a fly ball to right field. Na Ji Weon tagged up and started home. I thought he would have made it but he stopped. Lee Jong Hwan walked and bases were loaded. Hong Jae Ho, who had a nice bases loaded double for his first base hit in the KBO, came up. He hit a foul ball down the right field line. If the first or second baseman had caught it, Na probably could have run home, but they didn't get there. Actually at the time I was thinking they might just have slowed up and not tried for it. It turned out to be smart. Hong struck out and Lee Yong Gyu came up for the second time in the inning and grounded out. I thought it should have been 5-0 but was hopeful that this wouldn't hurt the Tigers' efforts on this day.
Yoon didn't look his best. He walked a guy in the first then two guys hit the ball solidly but right into Lee Yong Gyu's mitt. But in the 2nd they got to him. In a way that must have made OUR coach fall in love with the bunt again. With runners at 1st and 2nd the Nexen coach sac bunted them to 2nd and 3rd. Then they BOTH got home on a productive out and a Yoon wild pitch. I just hate to see that! So it was 4-3.
This game actually came down to one PITCH in my opinion. In the 5th inning Yoon gave up a leadoff single. Then the second batter was started off with a strike. The second pitch was better than the first but the ump didn't do anything. The announcer made a wind-sucking hissing noise, the crowd went silent, Yoon, the catcher and the batter were all waiting for the strike call but it never came. They showed a replay and it looked even better in slow mo. The announcers questioned it and Yoon shook his head but it was called a ball. Maybe the ump got something caught in his throat. Had the ump called it right it would have been a strike-out since the 4th pitch in the at-bat was a strike. Instead there was a stolen base and an RBI double to tie the game at 4-4. Yoon struck out the next two guys so if not for that non-call he would have been out of the inning with the 4-3 lead intact. Next guy comes up and gets a hit to make it 5-4 Nexen.
Yoon Suk Min is my favourite player so take this with a grain of salt if you will but he deserved a win on this night too. He had two strikes on 16 batters in the 7 innings he pitched in this game. He managed to get the 3rd strike 5 times but 6 guys got hits and 1 got a walk after Yoon had them down 2 strikes. It always seems to be that third strike that's the hardest! Before Yoon exited the Tigers made the game interesting by tying it at 5 on ANOTHER Kim Weon Seop solo homerun. But with Kia's bullpen a tie in the late innings is rarely interesting. Yoo Dong Hoon walked a couple and gave up a hit and it was 6-5 in no time. That was the final.
June 6 - I actually didn't watch this game. I think it might be the first of the season I have completely missed. And I'm kind of glad I did. This could be used as a template for most of the Tigers' losses this year. In fact scroll back to June 1st and read that. This was almost a carbon copy. Lopez came out and pitched well. He gave up 7 hits, 2 walks and 4 runs all in the 7th inning, which was his last. He had been cruising along with a 4-0 lead to that point. Then the bullpen took over and Kwag Jung Cheol gave up 2 hits and 2 walks in the 10th and, VOILA, another .500 week. The Tigers managed only 4 hits in this one so I suppose the Heroes deserved the win. Final: Heroes 5 Tigers 4
It was a better week for coaching. I noticed more people rounding 3rd without jamming on the brakes this week. I also saw what I believe to have been a hit and run attempt in the second inning of Wednesday's game. Granted it was with Choi and Cha who probably aren't the best candidates for this strategy and Choi DID get nailed at second since Cha didn't make contact with the pitch but maybe this is a work in progress. Also it's good to see the leadoff speed on the basepaths. But our losses came down to bad bullpen in this one so although the coach is the guy who makes the decision to bring in relief pitching, I don't feel that the coach was so much at fault this week. Which is nice. But I STILL made a sign that I'm bringing to the ball game tomorrow that says, Jo Bum Hyun --> Jo BUNT Hyun. Just in case.
I think it'll take some real effort on the part of the coach to improve morale on the team before they pounce, however. If this team were set loose they could win it all again. Right now they ARE playing like stalking tigers. Being very careful not to get noticed and although they're hungry for a good, fat kill, they seem more concerned right now about scaring the herd away.
Anyhoo,
June 1 - Lopez came into this one with a 1-4 record and an ERA of 4.79. He improved his ERA but didn't get the win. This was yet another game Lopez deserved to win but didn't. He pitched 5 1/3 giving up 5 hits and a run but striking out 4. Don't know why he was pulled. He was happily cruising along with a 2-0 lead until he was called for a balk. It was a mysterious call since he had been pitching most of the game with only a fraction of a second of discernable stoppage in his windup. The timing of it allowed a runner to advance to second and then score on the ensuing base hit. Otherwise Lopez would have left with a 2-0 lead. But the Tiger bullpen can blow ANY lead. It was 2-1 in the 7th when Son Young Min came in. He pitched GREAT! Gave up only one hit and struck out 3! Then he got hit by a ball hit up the middle and for the first time EVER I was sad to see him LEAVING the field. Why can't he get hit on the nights when he's blowing somebody's 4-run lead? NO! He's gotta get hit when he's got the other team baffled as to what's coming next. So on came Kwag Jung Cheol.
He didn't pitch badly. Well not badly for HIM. There was a blooper hit into no-man's-land in shallow right center that was NOT caught by three guys. As I was saying, team morale is important. It's sometimes the difference between "I got it" and "You get it" on a team. Here was an example. SOMEbody gets to that ball normally. Then with 2 outs and guys on 2nd and 3rd Kwag threw four pitches a couple feet out of the strike zone OBVIOUSLY having been told to walk the bases full. This is another one of those bonehead coaching plays that is more popular than it should be. It's done so that the third out can be made at any base. But it's done in the major leagues where pitchers can throw strikes. It should NEVER EVER be done when any member of the Kia Tiger bullpen is pitching. So with the bases loaded Kwag starts looking shakey. He throws a wild pitch that almost scores a run. Then the batter gets the count to 3 and 2. Or 2 and 3 here in Korea. Everybody in the building knows there's a batting practice fastball right down the middle coming because you don't want to walk in the winning run. BLAM base hit - 4-2. Lee Jong Beom was 2/4 and had the only RBI for the Tigers. It's always nice to see him hitting well. Nobody else hit though. The Lions bullpen sent out pitcher after pitcher with ERA's below 3! If Kia just had ONE relief pitcher like that we might win some of these bullpen battles! Let me rephrase that: if Kia just USED one.... We have them but they're not being used much. Final score: Lions 4 Tigers 2
June 2 - Brandon Knight against the winningest pitcher in the KBO, our very own Yang Hyun Jong. It's odd that even though he's got 8 wins his ERA is at 3.86. It's be nice to see that drop a little bit. How about a complete game shutout to lower it? For I think only the second time this year Jo left the starting pitcher in for the entire game and Yang fired a gem! 129 pitches in a 4-hitter that included 9 K's. Not much else to report here. Cha Il Mok got the 2 RBI's and went 2/4 on the night. For the second game in a row the Tigers got only 5 hits. But they didn't need any more than that because they didn't need to use their bullpen. I actually fell asleep while watching this game but I like the result! Final score: Kia 2 Samsung 0
June 3 - Colon on the mound with a perfect 1-0 record, (har), and an ERA of 5.74. He gave up 7 hits but only walked one in this one. The Lions got 2 runs on him but he struck out 5 batters. He was in trouble a bit but never looked too bad. A well earned victory for him. Choi Hee Seop who had 3 walks on Tuesday and 3 walks on Wednesday decided to swing his bat and went 3/4 with a homer, 2 RBI's and 3 runs scored. Lee Yong Gyu was 3/5 too and Kim Weon Seop went 1/2 with a homer, an RBI, a run and 2 walks. When Lee Yong Gyu and Kim Weon Seop get on base things happen. If you want to truly play "small ball" you have to utilize these two speedsters!
In the 7th inning Lee led off with a base hit. Then he stole second because Kim wasn't told to sac bunt. The throw to get him at second floated into center field so Lee went to 3rd. Kim worked a walk. Then he stole second and maintained his 100% stealing rate. While doing so Lee almost took off for home. I was hoping he would. I bet he'd have made it. They almost got a run off a hit and a walk! I just WISH coach Jo would stop telling Kim to bunt so much! Like he did in the 9th inning when he bunted Lee to second then he reached 3rd on Na's sac fly and Choi Hee Seop cranked one out of the park making the sac bunt yet another wasted at bat for Kim, one of the team's best players. Who knows what would have happened if Kim was allowed to hit? In the 4th Lee got an out so Kim HAD to hit because there was nobody to sacrifice bunt for. He got a home run! HEY he had 8 of them last year! It's such a waste to see him bunting! But maybe this pattern won't remain unnoticed by the coaching staff all season long. Final score: Kia 8 Samsung 3
June 4 - After taking 2 of 3 from the Lions, Kia swaggered into the thin air of Mok Dong to play the Heroe's, a team below them in the KBO standings. The ball was really flying in this one. The Tigers sent Jeon Tae Hyun out for the start. His 1-3 record and 5.76 ERA are remarkably similar to Lopez's even though Jeon is nowhere near as good a pitcher. Pitchers' numbers depend on a lot of things other than just their talent. Jeon gave up 6 hits and 3 walks in his 5 2/3 innings in this one. That's not bad. He did give up 2 runs both by way of the solo home run but at the end of the day he had the same record as Lopez with a lower ERA. Never would have predicted THAT! Choi Hee Seop went 3/3 in the game and STILL got 2 walks. In the 4th Kim Sun Bin almost got an inside-the-park homerun but he was held at third. I was nervous that he'd die there like so many have but Lee Jong Hwan homered him in. Then in the 5th Na Ji Weon hit a MONSTER 3-run job and he KNEW it! Clark hit two out for the other team but that wasn't enough. I won't mention the bullpen collapse because it didn't lose us the game and I like seeing coach Jo using some of the other guys. The final was: Kia 7 Nexen 4
June 5 - Ugh! Do I have to re-live this? Yoon Suk Min was the pitcher again. He's 4-2 this season with a 3.66 ERA. I went bowling with friends on this night. While waiting for everybody to show up I caught the first inning on the TV at the alley. The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a pitcher named Ko Weon Joon, who is not bad! He's 2-2 but he's got a 2.16 ERA! We smoked his ERA in the FIRST inning! He threw 46 pitches and I thought for sure we'd just keep on shelling him. Either way a 4-0 lead should have been enough for Yoon since he doesn't give up that many runs a game. So in this amazing first inning the Tigers had 4 runs and still had no outs against them. With runners on 2nd and 3rd Kim Sun Bin hit a fly ball to right field. Na Ji Weon tagged up and started home. I thought he would have made it but he stopped. Lee Jong Hwan walked and bases were loaded. Hong Jae Ho, who had a nice bases loaded double for his first base hit in the KBO, came up. He hit a foul ball down the right field line. If the first or second baseman had caught it, Na probably could have run home, but they didn't get there. Actually at the time I was thinking they might just have slowed up and not tried for it. It turned out to be smart. Hong struck out and Lee Yong Gyu came up for the second time in the inning and grounded out. I thought it should have been 5-0 but was hopeful that this wouldn't hurt the Tigers' efforts on this day.
Yoon didn't look his best. He walked a guy in the first then two guys hit the ball solidly but right into Lee Yong Gyu's mitt. But in the 2nd they got to him. In a way that must have made OUR coach fall in love with the bunt again. With runners at 1st and 2nd the Nexen coach sac bunted them to 2nd and 3rd. Then they BOTH got home on a productive out and a Yoon wild pitch. I just hate to see that! So it was 4-3.
This game actually came down to one PITCH in my opinion. In the 5th inning Yoon gave up a leadoff single. Then the second batter was started off with a strike. The second pitch was better than the first but the ump didn't do anything. The announcer made a wind-sucking hissing noise, the crowd went silent, Yoon, the catcher and the batter were all waiting for the strike call but it never came. They showed a replay and it looked even better in slow mo. The announcers questioned it and Yoon shook his head but it was called a ball. Maybe the ump got something caught in his throat. Had the ump called it right it would have been a strike-out since the 4th pitch in the at-bat was a strike. Instead there was a stolen base and an RBI double to tie the game at 4-4. Yoon struck out the next two guys so if not for that non-call he would have been out of the inning with the 4-3 lead intact. Next guy comes up and gets a hit to make it 5-4 Nexen.
Yoon Suk Min is my favourite player so take this with a grain of salt if you will but he deserved a win on this night too. He had two strikes on 16 batters in the 7 innings he pitched in this game. He managed to get the 3rd strike 5 times but 6 guys got hits and 1 got a walk after Yoon had them down 2 strikes. It always seems to be that third strike that's the hardest! Before Yoon exited the Tigers made the game interesting by tying it at 5 on ANOTHER Kim Weon Seop solo homerun. But with Kia's bullpen a tie in the late innings is rarely interesting. Yoo Dong Hoon walked a couple and gave up a hit and it was 6-5 in no time. That was the final.
June 6 - I actually didn't watch this game. I think it might be the first of the season I have completely missed. And I'm kind of glad I did. This could be used as a template for most of the Tigers' losses this year. In fact scroll back to June 1st and read that. This was almost a carbon copy. Lopez came out and pitched well. He gave up 7 hits, 2 walks and 4 runs all in the 7th inning, which was his last. He had been cruising along with a 4-0 lead to that point. Then the bullpen took over and Kwag Jung Cheol gave up 2 hits and 2 walks in the 10th and, VOILA, another .500 week. The Tigers managed only 4 hits in this one so I suppose the Heroes deserved the win. Final: Heroes 5 Tigers 4
It was a better week for coaching. I noticed more people rounding 3rd without jamming on the brakes this week. I also saw what I believe to have been a hit and run attempt in the second inning of Wednesday's game. Granted it was with Choi and Cha who probably aren't the best candidates for this strategy and Choi DID get nailed at second since Cha didn't make contact with the pitch but maybe this is a work in progress. Also it's good to see the leadoff speed on the basepaths. But our losses came down to bad bullpen in this one so although the coach is the guy who makes the decision to bring in relief pitching, I don't feel that the coach was so much at fault this week. Which is nice. But I STILL made a sign that I'm bringing to the ball game tomorrow that says, Jo Bum Hyun --> Jo BUNT Hyun. Just in case.
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