From Hell to Heaven, Kim Byung-Hyun

``I felt as though going from hell to heaven.``

Kim Byung-Hyun (22), who unintentionally led this year`s World Series to the most dramatic event allowing two game-tying home runs, heaved a sigh of relief after his team`s clinching the World Series title.

Even if it is afraid to assume, what if the Arizona Diamondbacks did not win the title? It was evident that all blames would be attributed to Kim Byung-Hyun. As Kim Byung-Hyun blew out two straight games in a two-out ninth inning in the World Series, the U.S. newspapers expressed the grave worries about the future of a promising 22-yearl-old young man. It was because that the shock was too massive for such a young player to deal with.

There have been a lot of pitchers who faded away from the stage after giving up the shocking home runs in the all-time major league history. There was Philadelphia Phillies` Mitch Williams who allowed a game-ending homer to Toronto Blue Jays` Joe Carter in the 1993 World Series game six, and there was also Atlanta Braves` Mark Wohlers who blew out the game by a homer of Jim Leyritz in the 1996 World Series game three….They all could not recover their scars of the miserable losses to fade away from the major league stage.

Kim Byung-Hyun took a closer position as a team`s `rising tutelary god`, recording 5 wins, 6 losses and 19 saves with 2.94 ERA and ranking the National League first place in the opponent`s batting average (0.173) in the regular season. If his fault in the World Series was not covered up by the team`s victory, it could be a serious huddle on his future baseball career.

ssoo@donga.com