SK Beats Chinese National Team, 13-0

People say that baseball is a sport that requires spiritual power. Players of a similar level of skills, once they play against each other, will see different results at the end. This is especially true during the post season when players are required to concentrate more.

On the second day of the 2007 Asia Series Konami Cup, SK and China`s China Stars, an all-star lineup of players from China Baseball League, played in the second preliminary round. SK players had superior skills, but they also overwhelmed their opponents with their spiritual force.

Chinese players committed many mistakes, and players in the dugout did not seem to want to win, either. After the game, China Stars team manager Jim Lefebvre said in fury, “I got angry at the players, but no player reacted to what I said. They lack spirit that they will win tomorrow even though they lost today.”

SK team manager Kim Seong-geun said after winning against Japan’s Chunichi the day before, “What counts is the spirit that we will win the game.”

The SK Wyverns, with 10 base hits and nine walks, beat the China Stars, who committed three errors, in a score of 13-0 in a game that was stopped in the seventh inning due to the tournament`s 10-run mercy rule. A wild pitch by China Stars starter Chen Junyi as well as other pitchers could do little to change the course of the game.

The game was one-sided. The Wyverns began scoring in the second inning, with Park Gyeong-wan`s grounder to second, bringing home Lee Jin-yeong from third. In the third inning, the team added four more runs, with cleanup hitter Lee Ho-jun managing a bloop single to right that brought in runners from second and third. This was the fourth win that utilized the mercy rule, and the second win for Samsung following last year. The SK Wyverns will play against Taiwan’s Uni-President Lions at 6:00 p.m. today.

creating@donga.com