Good Pitching “Confident,” Poor Batting “Discouraged”

Samsung’s Bae Young-su laughs, Hyundai’s Cliff Brumbaugh cries….

As this Korean Series is becoming an unusual one in which the pitchers are performing better than the hitters, the fates of the two regular season MVP candidates are crossed.

Bae Young-su, who won two titles—most wins and highest winning percentage— in the regular season, became the losing pitcher in Game 1, but left a strong impression in Game 4, setting a remarkable 10-inning, no-hit, no-run performance. He pitched 15 innings in two games, with 16 strike outs, four hits, two earned runs (four runs total), and a 1.20 ERA.

On the other hand, Brumbaugh, who won three titles—batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage—seemed triumphant in Game 1 by hitting a solo home run against Bae Young-su in the fourth inning, but until Game 6, his batting average was only 0.100. He is hitting 2-for-20 with nine strike outs. In Games 3~6, in which Hyundai had one win, two losses, and a tie, he was in a deep slump with no hits.

Performance in the postseason games is counted separately from that in the Korea Series. However it can’t be said that it has no influence in the MVP votes. Also, this year’s MVP voting takes place on November 2, a day after Game 9 of the Korean Series that is scheduled for November 1.

The Korean Series is expected to be another arena for the Rookie of the Year race as well. Nineteen-year-old high school graduate rookie Oh Jae-young took a unexpected starting win in Game 5; Samsung’s rookie Kwon Oh-joon responded by making an unexpected save victory in Game 6.

Oh Jae-young’s Korean Series record is one win and 2.70 ERA. Kwon Oh-joon’s is similar; one win and 2.57 ERA. For the regular season, Kwon Oh-joon has 11 wins, five losses, seven holds, two saves, and a 3.23 ERA, and is rated slightly higher than Oh Jae-young, who has 10 wins, nine losses and 3.99 ERA.

Hwan Soo Zang zangpabo@donga.com