Another Day of Choi

Korean major leaguers stood on the two extremes of the spectrum yesterday.

Hee S. Choi of the Chicago Cubs hit two doubles yesterday, demonstrating his power two days in a row. On the other hand, Jae Seo, who is the only remaining South Korean starter, failed to mark up one more win.

Choi was put in the starting lineup as a 1B fifth batter against Milwaukee Brewers, a game held yesterday in Milwaukee. He was two for four, and his hits were all doubles. Thus, his batting average rose again from 0.259 to 0.271.

He has recorded 23 hits so far, seven of them were home runs. He is leading the Cubs n the homerun race. Then, the remaining nine of them were doubles. Now, no one doubts the slugger capacity of Choi.

Matt Kinnery struck out his first four batters for the Brewers. But, in the second, Choi hit the one-out 148 km fastball for a double to get the Cubs started. Then, Choi got scored with one more supporting hit and a sacrifice.

Choi got struck out and grounded out in the fourth and seventh. But in the eighth, his fourth time at bat, he hit the 143 km fastball for another double, which bounced off the right fence, earning him one more RBI.

The Cubs romped over the Brewers 6-1. Troy O`Leary hit a three-run home run for the Cubs. By this win, the Chicago Cubs has won 23 wins and maintained its leading position in the NL Central.

In the meanwhile, Jae Seo took the mound as start in the Mets v. Rockies games held at Coors Field in Colorado, and threw seven innings. But he collapsed, allowing five runs on ten hits and three walks. He last won a game against Pittsburgh Pirates on April 18th. It was his fifth failure thereafter.

Although Seo gave the mound when the score was 3-5, he avoided marking up one more loser on his record since his team tied one time. Seo is 1-2, and his ERA has got worse from 3.43 to 3.69.

In the meanwhile, Byung Hyun Kim, who is now on the disabled list, is not able to pitch in the May 17th game against Pittsburgh Pirates due to the injured ankle.

Chang Jeon jeon@donga.com