Park Myung-hwan’s Divine Pitching Puts Doosan on Top

Pro baseball experts now have to find a hole to hide in, thanks to Doosan starting pitcher Park Myung-hwan.

Doosan, a team that all the experts pointed to at the beginning of this baseball season as the candidate for last place, has replaced Hyundai, taking first place on Saturday. As of yesterday, the team is on a four-game winning streak and is preparing to extend its first-place standing.

This is the first time Doosan has placed first since May 17, 2001--three years, one month and nine days ago. In contrast, Hyundai, which had been in first place since April 11, has fallen to second in 78 days.

Doosan’s “Dokaebi Power” continued yesterday in the Jamsil Stadium, where they shut out Hanhwa 4-0.

Park, the key player for the team’s victory, dignified himself as the best ace in Korea. His fastball clocked 152 km/hr, and his main weapon, his slider, clocked 140 km/hr, an amazing speed for that pitch. These numbers surpass those held by Sun Dong-yul, Samsung’s head coach, who was known in his prime as the National-Treasure Class Pitcher. Although Park only pitched until the sixth inning due to a light injury on the tip of his finger, he gave up three hits, a walk and no runs while striking out six.

By doing so, Park has 102 strikeouts, widening the gap between him and LG’s Lee Seung-ho, who has the next-highest number of strikeouts at 93. Park and his teammate Rath are also tied with and Samsung’s Bae Young-soo for the most wins, at eight games. His ERA is 3.06, putting him second behind Kia’s Yoo Dong-hoon (2.68).

Doosan’s “bear’s gall” lineup was not intimidated by Hanhwa’s Song Jin-woo: Lee Seung-joon’s solo home run in the second inning, Kang In-kwon’s RBI double, and Hong Sung-heun’s finishing solo home run in the third inning decided early the outcome of the game.

In Sajik, with the help of Bae Young-soo’s 14th consecutive win, Samsung beat Lotte 4-1. Bae pitched seven innings with five hits, two walks and one earned run, extending this season’s winning streak--a streak that dates back to last year’s Aug. 12 game against Hanhwa in Daegu--to eight, and his winning streak against Lotte to six. The game continued tied 0-0 until the seventh inning, when Samsung scored three runs with Park Ha-ni’s two-RBI single, and Kang Dong-woo’s timely RBI hit, winning the game.

Kia has gone to a three-game winning streak in Kwangju, beating LG 13-2 after besting them in a doubleheader yesterday. Starting pitcher Rios pitched until the eighth, allowing five hits and two runs, while Kim Jong-kook, Hong Se-wan, Shim Jae-hak and Kim Kyung-eun all hit home runs.

Meanwhile, Hyundai’s starting pitcher Chung Min-tae had this season’s ninth loss (four wins) by allowing six hits, three runs (two earned) over seven innings, and Hyundai is two games behind leader Doosan.

Hwan Soo Zang zangpabo@donga.com