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Hanhwa 6 - LG 2, Seoul (Jamsil) [Box Score] [Video Highlights]

Hanhwa took 2-3 games this series (and should have swept if it wasn't for an overpaid stiff making a mistake that would get you cut from a t-ball team), and their pitching is actually looking kind of promising.  Then again it might just be LGs weak hitting that makes them look good. Hanhwa's Felix Pie had a slow day at the plate, going 0-2 with a walk and a sac fly for an RBI. Josh Bell, on the other hand, accounted for all of the Twins' offense today, going 1-3 with a sac fly and knocking in both of LG's runs. Hanhwa's Song Chang-Hyun earned his first win today, throwing 7 solid innings, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks.

NC 3 - Nexen 4, Seoul (Mokdong) [Box Score] [Video Highlights]

NC's Eric Hacker started out rough, giving up back to back homeruns in the 1st, but settled down pitch for 7 innings, allowing 3 runs with 5 hits, 5 walks and 5 strikeouts, ending up with no decision. Notably, one of those 1st inning homeruns came off the bat of Park Byung-Ho, who has a league dominating 12 homeruns. Homeplate.kr favorite Coffee and Waffles got 1 hit in 3 at bats, a double, walked once and scored a run. Vinny Rottino has been a bit slow at the plate the past few games, and today was no different, going 0-3 with a couple of walks. The game was tied going into the bottom of the 9th when Nexen's Lee Taek-Keun hit a walk off sacrifice fly to end it. Nexen's closer, Son Seung-Lak, got the W on 1 inning pitched, 3 up and 3 down.

Samsung 5, SK 0, Incheon [Box Score] [Video Highlights]

This 3 game sweep gives Samsung a 5 game winning streak and a record of 8-2 over the past 10 games. On the other hand, SK has lost 3 in a row and are 2-8 over the same period. Rick Vandenhurk had a fantastic start, pitching 7 innings and giving up 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 9. Yamaico Navarro had a less stellar game, though, going 0-3 with a couple of walks and scoring a run. 

Doosan 15 - Lotte 6, Busan [Box Score] [Video Highlights]

Yes, I did take last week off from putting together a weekly wrap up, but I'm not apologizing for it. I am merely an unpaid intern here at HOMEPLATE.KoRp and can only do so much. The least they could do is give me some comprehensive medical and dental, but no, I get nothing. To be fair, it is giving me a leg up on the competition for breaking into the highly lucrative business of English language sportswriting about Korean baseball. As for why this week's wrap-up is coming out on Tuesday, there is a perfectly rational explanation. Monday is the usual off day for the KBO, so I typically will do the wrap-up on Sunday or Monday, but this week Monday was a national holiday and the off day was moved to Friday. Because of that, I just kind of assumed that the week ended at the end of the weekend series, which included Monday's game. 

More seriously, the past two weeks have seen some solidifying of the rankings with little change overall, excepting the total self-destruction of the SK Wyverns. SK has dropped from leader of the pack to being solidly in 6th place by only winning 4 of their past 13 games. The only other game that is playing under .500 over their past 10 games are the LG Twins, so things aren't looking good for the Wyverns. Due to a scheduling quirk and a rain-out, Hanhwa has only played 2 games in the past 11 days, which either leaves them very well rested or out of practice. The Samsung Lions are making a charge for the top, winning 8 of 10 and climbing up to 3rd place.

SK has been suffering some serious hardships, such as pitcher Yoon Hi-Sang sending out a public service message to all young players telling them they need to wear protection, no matter how cool they think they are.  Yes, that means you shouldn't watch the following video unless you enjoy watching a dude take a line drive to his grundle sack.

Remember, Kids, Wear a Cup

In hitting news, Nexen's Park Byung-Ho has been busy, cranking out 2 long balls yesterday and 4 in his last 4 games to take the league lead at 10. Both Jorge Cantu and Josh Bell are still sitting at 8, so need to up their production if they want to win the homerun crown. Luis Jimenez, who was out for the first few weeks of the season has 6, so as the season progresses he is probably someone to watch. He also happens to have the second highest batting average in the league, at .395, which is miles ahead of SK's Lee Jae-Won who is batting an unbelievable .463. 

LG 5 - NC 10, Masan [Box Score] [Video Highlights]

LG came out hot, with a 1st inning 3 run homerun by DH Lee Byung-Kyu but just couldn't keep up the momentum and NC went to work, putting up all 10 of their runs by the 5th inning. Josh Bell went 1-2 with a couple of walks and a run scored, and Coffee and Waffles had an uneventful day at the plate going 0-3 with an RBI sac-fly. The Dino's Thad Weber nabbed his 3rd win even though he had a rocky start, throwing 5 innings and giving up 4 earned runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. 

Lotte 0 - Hanhwa 3, Daejeon [Box Score] [Video Highlights]

No need to get your vision checked, Hanhwa really did manage to shut down Lotte tonight. Giant's starter Chris Oxspring ended up with the loss even though he had a fairly solid game, striking out 7 and giving up 3 runs over 6 ⅔ innings on 6 hits and 3 walks. Luis Jimenez went 1-4 with a walk for Lotte, and Hanhwa's Felix Pie went 0-3 with a walk, but managed to get an RBI which extends his RBI streak to 7 games. Eagle's start Yu Chang-Sik had a solid start, pitching 5 innings allowing 4 hits and walking 6.

SK 2 - KIA 20, Gwangju [Box Score] [Video Highlights]

KIA was on fire tonight. Quite literally, actually, because there was a small fire in the stadium tonight. Actually, the score is misleading as KIA only earned 8 of the runs tonight, but the Wyvern's 8 errors, 4 of which made at the position of shortstop, 3 of those from the glove of Kim Seong-Hyeon. Looks like we have some competition for the Henry Skrimshander incompetent shortstop award. SK's Luke Scott is still sitting out, and KIA's Brett Pill went 1-7 (yes, 7) with 2 RBIs, and he reached base on an error so ended up scoring 2 runs. Jo-Jo Reyes started for SK and gave up 6 earned runs over 4 innings on 8 hits and 5 walks to pick up the loss, and KIA's Yang Hyeon-Jong pitched 7 strong innings allowing 2 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk for the win.

Fire at Champion's Field

Samsung 1 - Nexen 11, Seoul (Mokdong) [Box Score] [Video Highlights]

The Heroes showed KBO newcomer JD Martin what it is like to be a pitcher in the Korean league, by running up 7 runs in his 5 ⅓ innings pitched. Martin gave up 10 hits and 1 walk, with 3 of those hits being homeruns, 2 of which were off Kang Jung-Ho's bat. Nexen's Vinny Rottino got a piece of the pie, too, going 3-4 with an RBI and a run scored. For the Lions, Yamaico Navarro went 2-3 with both hits being doubles and a walk. Nexen's Keum Min-Cheol got the win, pitching 6 ⅓ solid innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 walks.

SK 4 - Lotte 5, Busan [Box Score] [Video Highlights]

SK had control of the game from the top of the first, but ended up blowing it in a bottom of the 9th, two out rally when Luis Jimenez hit a 2 RBI walk off single to end the game. Jimenez went 2-5 on the day with 2 RBIs and a run score. For SK, Luke Scott took a rest for the day, apparently he is recuperating a sore wrist. It was a foreign pitching battle, though, with Jo-Jo Reyes starting for the Wyverns and Chris Oxpring on the mound for Lotte. Reyes threw for 6 ⅓ giving up 7 hits and 3 walks that led to 3 earned runs. Oxpring pitched 6 innings and gave up 6 hits, 3 walks and 4 earned runs. Both pitchers ended the day with no decision. Chong Tae-Hyon got the win on 1 ⅓ innings pitched, 4 up and 4 down.

Doosan 6 - NC 2, Masan [Box Score] [Video Highlights]

NC's offense just never managed to get started and Doosan took advantage of this for the win. Eric Thames did all right at the plate, though, going 2-4 with a single and a double, knocking in 1 of his team's 2 runs. Jorge Cantu did a bit better, going 3-4 with a single, a double and a homerun, picking up an RBI and scoring twice. That's Cantu's 6th long ball of the year, tying him with Thames and putting them both a single bomb behind Josh Bell. Thad Weber didn't have a great start, going 5 innings and allowing 6 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. Doosan's Yu Heui-Kwon remains one of the league's top starters, though, earning his 3rd win on 7 innings pitched, giving up 7 hits, a walk and 2 earned runs.