Efficient Bears Jump Out to Korean Championship Series Lead

Doosan’s speed defeated Hanwha’s cannons yesterday.

On October 14, the Doosan Bears took the lead in their playoff series with an 8-0 win in their home stadium Jamsil. Ever since the league was unified in 1986, the winner of the first playoff game has appeared in the Korean series 15 times out of 19. (79 percent)

Prior to the game, Doosan manager Kim Kyung-moon revealed, “I am worried about the team being so young, except Ahn Kyung-hyun and Kim Dong-joo, and whether the young players appearing in the postseason for the first time will choke.”

Despite the manager’s concerns, the young guns were still fast in the post-season. Lee Jong-wook, Koh Young-min and Min Byung-hyun stole 113 bases during the regular season, and they rattled Hanwha’s defense.

Lee Jong-wook walked in the first inning, and immediately stole the second base. He scored the first run on Choi Young-pil’s wild pitch. Lee Jong-wook added an RBI in the second inning with a runner on third base and two outs, and then stole second base yet again.

Min Byung-hyun’s three-base hit was also a demonstration of Doosan’s speed.

The Bears were up 2-0 in the seventh inning, and drove in the coup de grace with Lee Dae-soo’s triple deep to center field, three other hits, and one error. Lee Dae-soo wielded a hot bat as well, going 4 for 4 with 1 RBI and scoring 2 runs.

The Doosan ace, as well as the pitcher with the most wins during the season, Daniel Rios (22-5) pitched a neat 8-inning game with no runs and 6 hits to earn game MVP honors.

Hanwha seemed to be suffering from the aftermath of its three fierce first round playoff games. Even with the appearance of seven pitchers into the game, they were bombarded by 14 hits. In the fourth inning, down 2-0, Hanwha had men on first and third base and no outs, but failed to score a single run.

Doosan hit into four double plays, while Hanwha hit into three. This is the new record for a single post-season game. The prior record was set in the first playoff game in 2003 between Kia and SK in Gwangju stadium. Doosan’s four double plays tied the record for most by a single team in a playoff game. Doosan’s former franchise recorded four double plays in 1987 against Haitai (currently Kia) in Jamsil.

Jamsil Stadium’s 35,000 seats were completely sold out 1 hour and 10 minutes before the game.

beetlez@donga.com creating@donga.com