Firefighters Who Set Fire

You send them in to extinguish the fire, but they pour on more gasoline.

In a game against Samsung Lions in Daegu on April 15, LG Twins’ coach Lee Soon-cheol was unable to stay calm after sending in Jin Pil-jung in the bottom of the ninth. LG was leading Samsung 5-2 but Jin allowed a walk, a hit, and an error that led to a bases loaded and two outs situation. Lee gave a sigh of relief after Jin barely managed to hold Cho Dong-chan of Samsung Lions with a ball flied out to deep center field.

Although Jin recorded three saves in five games, he showed an unstable performance, failing twice to relieve his team, and allowed nine hits and two runs in six innings pitched with a 3.00 ERA.

Jin Pil-jung is one of the better players. Other “firefighters,” including Lee Sang-hoon of SK Wyverns and Lim Chang-yong of Samsung Lions, are even worse off.

Lee, who was selected as the best reliever when playing for LG in 1997, showed an embarrassing performance with a record of one save and two losses out of four games he played after joining SK Wyverns. In four and a third innings pitched, he allowed six hits, one homer, and seven runs, pushing up his ERA to 14.54. In a game against Hanhwa Eagles on April 6, he took the mound in the bottom of the ninth when SK was winning 6-3. However, after allowing three consecutive doubles, he ended up giving a two-run homer to Kim Tae-gyun.

Lim Chang-yong of Samsung Lions, who changed from a starting pitcher to a closer, is also not doing so well. In Samsung Lions’ game against Kia Tigers on April 6, he took the mound in the eighth inning with his team ahead, 3-1. However, he allowed five hits and two runs in two innings and handed over the victory to Kia. When playing against Hanhwa Eagles on April 10, Samsung was winning 7-6 until he allowed a hit in the bottom of the ninth that led the game to a tie. Lim was unable to get a single save in three games but instead, he gained the embarrassing result of allowing eight hits, one homer, four runs in five innings pitched with one loss and a 5.40 ERA.

In contrast, Cho Yong-jun of Hyundai Unicorns secured the victory of his team in all six games perfectly, closing with six saves. During seven and a third innings pitched, he did not allow any hits perfecting a 0.00 ERA. Shin Yong-woon of Kia Tigers also boosted the morale of his team in three games against SK by picking up three saves in a row.

You can never secure the victory with the back door wide open. That is why a stable finish is directly linked to a team’s performance.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com