“Let’s Finish the Game, Since We Don’t Have Pitchers.”

Kim, Byung-Hyung (23. Arizona Diamondbacks) was disappointing, there only was a sound of boos from the fans at the ‘famous festival.’

The American press picked a weighty headline saying, “There was no winner.” There was no winner either for the ‘Ted Williams Trophy (MVP)’, which was commemorating ‘the last 400 hitter of the 20th century’ Ted Williams, who died recently.

The 73rd All Star Game, which was held at Miller Park in Milwaukee, ended with wounds. It was disappointing to both Korean fans and American fans.

The beginning was splendid. It opened with a first ball tossed by a former Milwaukee Brewers stars Hank Aaron, Robin Yont, Paul Moliter, and Eddie Mathews, and the atmosphere was heated up when the homerun king Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants), who set the new homerun record in a single season with 73 homers, hit a two run homer in the third inning.

The long awaited Kim, Byung-Hyun came up to the mound in the 7th inning with a runner in the second base with the leading score of 5-3. However, he was hit a timely hit by Batista and allowed consecutive hits to Tejada and Konerko, and allowed a reversion to 5-6. He allowed 3 hits and 2 runs in 1/3 innings. It was a consecutive suffering of Korean players for two years following Park, Chan-Ho (Texas Rangers), who allowed a first pitch homerun to Carl Ripken Jr. as soon as he appeared to the mound.

Besides Kim, Byung-Hyun, the Japanese ‘gifted hitter’ Ichiro got no hits out of 2 at bats, and Sasaki, who came up to the mound at the bottom of the 7th inning allowed a reversal with 3 hits and 2 runs in one inning, so it was not a pleasant All Star Game for the Asian players.

The actual game was a fun to watch for the fans since it was a seesawed hitting game. However, a problem appeared when the game entered into an extra inning with the score of 7-7. It was not able to continued the game since both team used up all the pitchers (9 for the American League, 10 for the National League.) After finishing the top of the 11th inning, the Major League Commissioner Bird Selleck discussed the situation with both managers and decided to end the game after the National Leagues hitting at the bottom of the 11th inning. As a consequence, it recorded a second draw since the 1961 game, which was stopped because of rain, since the National League couldn’t score a point in the bottom of the 11th inning.

The Milwaukee born Commissioner Selleck said, “It was an inevitable decision because there was no pitcher left in both teams although it was a regrettable situation,” and “I apologize to the fans.”

However, some forty thousand fans were angry about the draw and shouted, “Continue the game,” “Refund the ticket,” and some fans showed their anger by throwing bottles into the ground. The American baseball is a game basically does not recognize a draw. What is more, there were 5 cases that the All Star Game went to extra innings to 11th inning or more; therefore, it was understandable that the fans were mad. There was a deep shadow in the Major League, which showed a sign of a strike recently, since the ‘dream festival’ All Star Game was ended gloomily.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com