Lotte: “If we won just half of our extra-inning games...“

Lee Jong-woon, a manager of the Kyoung-Nam High School baseball team, participating in the Golden Lion Cup High School Baseball Championship starting on June 24, has the nickname of “miracle man.” It’s because Kyoung-Nam High School won a championship unexpectedly despite an inferior team in the Phoenix Cup last year for their first appearance. At that time, Kyoung-Nam High School showed adhesive play with one point victories in four games until their advance to the semi-finals.

Manager Lee contributed to Lotte for 12 years as a player and a coach, but the results of Lotte are gloomy this year.

Lotte has a low winning percentage of seven wins and 13 losses in one-run games as of June 15, and has won only once in 13 extra-inning games. They have eight draws, most among the eight teams. Having control over Lotte this year, manager Yang Sang-moon has fallen on his knees in crucial moments for victory and has built up stress.

Lotte could jump up to the top four from last place if they had won half of their extra-inning games or drawn games, so it burns his heart. The team lacks a solid terminator and closer and their strength is exhausted due to frequent extra-inning games, so they have generally lacked endurance in the end.

Meanwhile, Kia is struggling with its starting pitchers, but places in the middle owing to their endurance, with eight wins and three losses in one-run games. Crucial big hits have helped them as they are in the midst of a 20-game homerun streak and rank second in team homeruns with 69.

Leading the league, Hyundai has recorded nine wins and six losses in a games decided by one run, and is a powerhouse, balancing batting, fielding and pitching. The team has displayed their stable capacity in extra-inning games with 5 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses.

In the meantime, as of June 15 when almost half of schedule was finished, 32 extra-inning games were played, and this season is expected to break the record of 49 games in 1996. Lotte had the most with 13 extra-inning games, and Doosan had fewest with 3 games. (1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss.)

There have been also 17 drawn games, almost three times more than the 6 games in same period last year, which is closing in on the record of 18 drawn games set in 1993.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com