courtesy of: koreabaseball.blogspot.com

I'm still under the weather AND yesterday was Sports Day at my school. I've guzzled exactly 13 2 litre bottles of water in the past 15 hours in an attempt to rehydrate my body. I really wanted to write about the Hanwha/LG game. They played in Cheongju. The stadium is a bandbox and the two teams combined for 7 homers and at least 5 balls hit off the wall. Lee Beom-ho clubbed 3 homers and drove in 8 runs. I also finally attended my first KBO game on the last day of April. I watched Samsung get clobbered by the Seoul Heroes.

Scores, winners, losers and saves. A full update on Monday, I promise. I need more water...

SK 8, Doosan 3
W - Kim Kwang-hyeon (3-0), L - Jin Ya-kob (0-1)

Hanwha 19, LG 9
W - Kim Hyeok-min (3-1), L - Lee Beom-joon (0-3)

Seoul Heroes 8, Samsung 1
W - Lee Hyeon-seung (4-1), L - Yoon Seong-hwan (3-1)

KIA 11, Lotte 5
W - Son Yeong-min (1-0), L - Ha Joon-ho (0-1)

Hanwha Eagles third baseman Lee Bum-ho celebrates with coach Baek Jae-ho after hitting a grand slam in the second inning of the KBO game against the LG Twins, Thursday.

By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter

Hanwha Eagles third baseman Lee bum-ho produced eight RBIs, tying for the most RBIs in a game in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) after hitting back-to-back-to-back homeruns in the Eagles' 19-9 victory over the LG Twins in Cheongju, Thursday.

Lee, who also played for Korea in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in the same position, notched his first homerun in the second inning with a grand slam.

He hit the third pitch from Twins reliever Kim Min-ki sending the ball over the left-field fence to give his side a 7-0 lead.

The 27-year-old's fired-up bat didn't stop smashing balls.

In the sixth, Lee hit a solo homer, with the Twins trailing the Eagles by five (10-5), and put the nail in their coffin in the seventh inning with a three-run dinger.

This was the first time Lee has slammed three homers in a game since his debut in 2000.

The performance put him in the lead for the home run and RBI race with nine and 24.

``When the bases were loaded, I tried to concentrate more. Today I hit a grand slam as I was lucky,'' Lee said.

``I feel very good, because I stand in top spot in the homerun and RBI race, but I am not thinking about the homerun king title.

``My homer pace is really good, but I am not greedy about getting the title. I just do my best,'' Lee added.


source:koreatimes.co.kr

May 1st, 2009

The bullpen experience can vary from team to team and now for me country to country. Understanding how each pen is run is an important part of giving you the best chance to succeed. Now that I am in the bullpen with the Wyverns I’ll have to figure out how things work here.

In Japan it was a challenge figuring out the pen. On opening day my first season I warmed up 4 times, threw about 80 pitches and never went in the game. That prompted a meeting with my bullpen and pitching coaches after the game. It took a while, but we got it figured out. Their style of running a bullpen sharply contrasted what I was used to in the U.S.

My first day in the pen with the Wyverns was a complete disaster. There was a major break down in communication, luckily I didn’t pitch in the game. It’s a learn as you go process.

The key is getting a read on your manager. Trying to get a feel for how he likes to use the bullpen is extremely helpful. The situations he tends to use me in and how much he trusts me is information I’ll need to figure out. Knowing when he usually uses me makes it easier for me to get ready for the game. I can anticipate when I might go in and start getting ready, both physically and mentally. Consistency is the key, hopefully I’ll get that here.

It might take me a little time to get it figured out, but time I may not have. Our last foreign reliever was released after pitching just 2 games out of the pen. I think the best way to describe how our team is run from an American’s viewpoint is unusual. The pitching staff is used in a way I have never seen before, not even in Japan, so there are adjustments I need to make quickly to assure that this works out.

The one thing relievers like to see avoided as much as possible is warming up, getting fully ready to go into the game and then not going in. Too much of that is abusive on your arm and a good manager knows how to limit the amount of times that happens to his pitchers. In 2006 I had the best experience of my career when I only warmed up and didn’t go into the game 3 times. That was for the entire season, an absurdly low total. I told you it happened 4 times on my first day in a Japanese bullpen and it’s happened three times already in my two days in the Wyvern bullpen.

Getting ready and not going in the game is part of being a reliever and something we have to come to terms with. I have learned to pace myself through my years of experience and that’s why I say it’s key to have a feel for how your manager likes to use you. If your role changes daily or if you are used inconsistently it can make for a very long and painful season.

I’m just hoping I find a steady role in this bullpen and that I stay in the bullpen. I’m not interested in going back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen, that is never fun and it can be extremely difficult to have success when you’re asked to do that.


source: cjbaseball.com