"Gracious!" Jae-eung Suffers Keen Victory with Sosa`s 2-run Homerun

Seo Jae-eung`s (26• New York Mets)ball is becoming faster gradually.

Facing batter Mark Prior after 2 outs in the 4th inning, he consecutively showed thrusters marking 151km/h after 2 strikes. This is the fastest speed in the season.

The average speed was also above 145km/h. Seo went on the mound on the 17th to pitch as starter against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, and started throwing the balls significantly different from before when he marked early 140km. He presented himself a traditional `power pitcher` with smokeball as major weapon.

When he was in school before he advanced to the Major League (New York Mets) in 1997, his average fastball speed marked about 150km/h. However, he received an elbow operation in 1999, which resulted in slowdown of his balls by 3∼4km/h. He was concerned about aftereffect of the operation, and thought he would adjust breaking balls and control to supplement reduced speed.

Also, he completed his first season in the Major League this year to feel the limit of a breaking ball pitcher, concentrating on fastballs in the recent games.

Seo pitched 6 innings to allow 3 points (2 earned run) only, his 15th `quality pitching` of the season. He got 6 strikes and allowed only 5 hits, one of which was a 2-run homerun by Sammy Sosa.

Still, Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior (23) was too tough to beat. He is considered as one of candidates for Cy Young award this season. This is his 2nd season in the pro league, and he only allowed 2 runs with 13 strikeouts with 8 hits. It was his 16th win. (6 loss)

Cubs won the game 3-2 to maintain the 2nd rank, 1.5 games behind the leader Huston Astros. Choi Hee-seop did not play in the game, thus there was no confrontation between the Gwangju IL High School graduates.

Seo Jae-eung marked 8 wins and 12 losses (ERA 4.01) with only one game left in the season, so the Korean fans will have to anticipate next season for his to achieve a double-figure victory.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com