8.15 Congratulatory Message from Two Young Men

Gwangju Il High School graduates ‘Korean Nuclear Submarine’ Byeong-hyeon Kim (Boston Red Sox) and ‘Big Choi’ Hee-seop Choi sent good news to fans at home on Korea`s Independance Day.

1-year-senior Byeong-hyeon Kim got his 6th victory of the year in the away game against Oakland Athletics at Network Associate Coliseum on the 15th. He went on the mound as the 4th pitcher in the 9th inning of the game, the score 2-2. He pitched perfectly to 6 batters for 2 innings, not allowing one of them an advance to 1st base.

Kim was assisted by his teammates who batted 2 runs in the 10th inning, and got his 6th win of the season. The score was 4-2. His record for the season is 6 wins, 8 losses and 9 saves. His average ERA dropped to 3.36 from 3.43.

Byeong-hyeon Kim pitched 101 2/3 innings this season, smashing the 100-inning mark for the first time since his major league debut in 1999.

Boston was trailing Oakland 1-2 in the 9th inning, but Manny Ramirez hit a homer, tying the game at 2-2. Immediately, Boston`s `guardian` Byeong-hyeon Kim went on the mound as relief pitcher.

Kim got his first batter Jose Guillen who hit a grounder right up to the shortstop and face Eric Chabez. He hit a high fly ball which was caught with a jump by the right fielder Gave Kepler. The next batter was Michael Tehada. He ended up hitting a grounder.

In the 10th inning, Boston turned over the game scoring 2 more points with a sacrifice fly and an error by the fielder. Spirited Kim returned all three batters in the end of the 10th inning with a strike out, a pop-up fly to the shortstop and a grounder. The total number of pitches was 28, among which 20 were strikes.

Boston beat Oakland, and is now a wild card competitor for the victory today and advanced one more step toward the post season.

In the meantime, Hee-seop Choi hit a double presenting 2 runs for his team at home against the Houston Astros. He started off his team`s lead, and Chicago eventually won the game 7-1. Choi played in the game as the fifth hitter and first baseman, and hit the knuckle ball thrown by Houston Astros starter Jerade Pernandez with 2 outs in the first inning and 2 runners on base, which became a double running across the left corner.

Hee-seop Choi got his RBI 21 days after the game against Philadelphia on the 25th last month, and his first double since the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on the 4th. It was his 17th double of the season, and he got one hit with four at bats with 2 RBIs, maintaining his batting average 0.229.

The Cubs are marking 63-57 (win-loss) this season, chasing the leaders of the National League Central Division Houston Astros and the Saint Louis Cardinals (64-57) by half a game to secure a better position to advance to the post season.

jaeyuna@donga.com