Baseball at its Best

“He was my mentor when I played. It would be rude of me to actually evaluate him. My affection for Coach Kim is more than what has been reported in the press.”(Sun Dong-ryeol, Samsung head coach)

“He is in his second year as coach. Many expected that Sun would do better than anyone else, but he even exceeded such expectations and achieved much in a short time. I completely entrusted Sun with the pitcher line-up during the World Baseball Classic (WBC).” (Kim In-sik, Hanhwa head coach)

On the day before the first day of the anticipated Korean Series on October 20, in the second floor meeting room of Daegu Stadium, the meeting between the two coaches was joyous from start to finish. The two have won as head coaches for four straight years, from 1986 to 1989, and then collaborated during the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games, the 2002 Busan Asian Games, and earlier this year in the WBC.

The once student Sun congratulated his former mentor Kim on his team’s entering the Korean Series and the extension of his contract. Kim smiled and thought of the old Korean saying, the student gets ahead of the teacher. Let’s look at the strategies behind the smiles.

First, the starting pitcher of the first game can be thought of as the watershed for victory. Samsung reported Bae Young-soo, and Hanhwa chose Ryu Hyun-jin; two strong pitchers. Bae Young-soo has not lived up to his name this season but his record against Hanhwa in three games, is two wins, one loss and an ERA of 1.37. Well acknowledged as “Lion Killer,” Rye Hyun-jin recorded five wins, no losses, and an ERA of 1.62 in six games against Samsung. Sun explained, “I first thought of Brown, but currently Bae Young-soo is in better shape and has a lot of experience in big matches.” Kim said, “At the end of the regular season, Ryu Hyun-jin’s physical strength seemed to fall, and seemed to be shaky in the post season, but his pitch strength is unchanged.”

Regarding his team’s chances of winning the Korean Series, Kim said, “Only fortune tellers know.” He then added, “My team was physically beat because of the close games they played, but they were able to get three days of much needed rest.”

Sun speculates, “We will go to Game Six.” And he added with a show of confidence, “Getting the lead first is important. We only have to lead up to the fifth or sixth inning. Then the bullpen will quietly finish the game.

The 2006 Korean Series have Samsung’s “defensive baseball” and Hanhwa’s “dynamite batting line-up” going head to head. It is also a “series between mentor and student” and a series between pitcher-turned-head coaches. All eyes are on who will be the last team laughing.

zangpabo@donga.com