Lee Seung-yeop Suspended for Two Games Over `Fist Fighting`

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) opened a reward and punishment committee Monday and imposed a two-game suspension along with a 3 million won fine to both Lee Seung-yeop (27, Samsung) and Seo Seong-hwa (24, LG).

The KBO also ordered Kim Eul-yong, the head coach of Samsung and Lee Gwang-hwan, the head coach of LG, to pay, respectively, a fine of 5 million won for their responsiblity on letting players leave the dugouts two days straight and suspending games.

Lee Sang-guk, the chairman the KBO who presided over the committee, said that "After reviewing opinions of referees on the day and recorded video tapes, it was concluded that neither of the players` behavior was deliberate. Some suggested they should be suspended for 3 games, but considering it is their first time to be suspended since their debuts to the pro-league and, to treat them equally with other players, we decided to suspend them for two games."

Lee, who said right after the incident that "Even if I get suspended for 10 games, I have no single word to say," said "I accept the ruling humbly for forgiveness, Lately my condition has not been well, I will try to recover my fitness to do my best in the rest of the games."

The 2-game suspension could be a happy feature of the misfortune for Lee. Lee hit 41 home runs out of 90 games, in other words, 0.45 home run per game. If he keeps his pace, it is possible that he hits over 59 home runs out of 131 games, excluding the two suspended games out of the total of 133 games. He is likely to break the Asian record without difficulty. Lee is also highly likely to stay predominant over the home run competition, in terms of the number of home runs, against his rival Sim Jeong-su of Samsung.

Sim (28, Samsung) who hit 39 home runs out of 95 games - five more games than Lee - is expected to hit around 55 home runs if he maintains his pace.

However, Lee, who has had 100 runs, is likely to continue to lag behind Sim, who has recorded 106 runs, in the number of runs batted-in due to the suspension. They both have recorded a hitting average of 1.1 per game, so if their paces continue, Sim continues to take the lead with 146 runs batted-in while Lee has 144 batted-in by the end of the season. This result may give be heart-breaking for Lee, the MVP last year for most number of home runs and hitting average.

Chang Jeon jeon@donga.com