Samsung’s Bats Come Alive vs. China

Samsung, which was struggling due to batting problems, achieved a major victory over China.

Samsung achieved a seven-inning, 13-1 win in the second preliminary game of the Konami Cup Asia Series 2006 held at the Tokyo Dome on November 10 against the China Stars. Now with a record of one loss and one victory, Samsung will compete with La New of Taiwan on November 11 to go to the finals.

Although this victory was against the weakest team of this competition, it is expected to bring energy back to the team. Coach Sun Dong-yul of Samsung said, “I think it will help change the atmosphere of the team.”

Samsung’s “weak bats” aren’t a new problem. The team batting average, only .255 during the regular season, dropped to .209 during the Korean Series, and this continued to the Konami Cup. In the first preliminary game with Japan’s Nippon Ham on November 9, Samsung managed a mere three hits to lose by 1 – 7.

After Taiwan’s La New, Samsung’s next adversary in the competition, won their game against China in a 12–2 eight-inning victory on November 9, Coach Sun expressed his vexation, saying, “The Taiwan team’s batting is one level above ours.”

Samsung’s frustrating play seemed to continue in the game against China. Samsung managed to get only one hit off of China’s starting pitcher Guo Youhua up to the third inning. Although Samsung’s pitcher Jun Byung-ho was holding the other team off, it would be no use if Samsung didn’t score. Fortunately, in the fourth inning, after the batting order had cycled through once, Kim Han-soo’s timely hit with runners on first and second combined with an error by the Chinese team helped Samsung score two runs, and in the fifth inning, with the score of 2–0, Samsung’s bats exploded. First, Kim Jae-geol led the team with a hit to left, and the rest of the team followed to score 10 runs with nine hits in the fifth inning. Samsung added another run in the seventh inning with Lee Jeong-sik’s hit.

Samsung is planning on sending out Brown, who is in his best condition, as the starting pitcher to make an all-out effort in the third preliminary game against La New. Let’s see how Samsung plays after a dose of “Chinese medicine.”

kimsk@donga.com