``OK! BK!`` Kim Byung-Hyun Save Parade

The primetime of Kim Byung-Hyun, a ` Submarine Made-in-Korea ` (22, Arizona Diamondbacks), is imminent.

Kim Byung-Hyun had been relegated to a middle-man position by Matthew Mantei last year and by Bret Prinz in the beginning of this year. But Kim has been recognized as a reliable closer by manager Bob Brenly since July.

Kim is running up the leader in save (12) and opponents` batting average (0.174), and the third place in the strikeouts (103) over starting pitchers within the team. As well his excellent record, he has attracted his fans with the 150km-range moving fast ball thrown from the relatively small body. The popularity of BK (Kim`s nickname) in the Bank One Ballpark is well beyond the imagination.

The reason why Kim has been praised so highly is that he is a man of guts who never shrinks by the power hitters. Kim earned his second consecutive save, capturing Sammy Sosa with strikeouts in home games on 18th and 19th.

On 18th, Kim took a mound in the 3-2 leading 8th inning after two outs with a runner on the third, he shut out Sosa with a swing out. And next day, he drew the standing strikeout from Sosa in the ninth with two outs and a runner on the first.

It is a matter of course that he received a standing ovation from the fans after knocking out Sosa in such critical moments and he was selected as `a player of the day` by the ESPN. Thus far, Kim grabbed six strikeouts with no hit in the eight encounters in total with Sammy Sosa.

And Kim enjoyed his first major league hit on 18th since his ML debut in 1999. In 5-2 eighth inning after two outs with runners on the second and the third, the ninth hitter Kim made a 2 RBI hit by sending a outside fast ball to the front of a center fielder in full count.

Although Kim presented a little pain on his hand after arriving at the first base, he boasted that he was a power hitter when he was in a high school (Kwangju Ilgo), saluting to the fans` thundering cheers.

Kim recorded a hit (0.125), a base-on-balls and two strikeouts out of 8 bats thus far.

Zang Hwan-Soo zangpabo@donga.com