Stir it with the “Wind” and Finish it with the “Killer”

Stir it with the “Wind” and Finish it with the “Killer”. November. 04, 2003 22:46. by Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com.

“Shake the infield with your feet.”

Mobility is the “keyword” at the preliminaries of the Athens Olympics and Asian Baseball Championship game between Korea and Taiwan that will be held at the Sapporo Dome, Japan, on November 5 at noon.

There is no such thing as artificial grass in Taiwan. Therefore, the Taiwanese defense will have a hard time playing at the Sapporo Dome which is covered with artificial grass. The Taiwanese National Team had undergone practice in the Sapporo Dome in order to adapt to the field conditions, but they knew it was going to be hard for the infielders to cope with the speed of the ball which is one pace faster than what they were used to.

The defensive abilities of the pitchers will be hampered as well. Taiwanese strategy analysis agent and head coach for In-ha University, Joo Sung-roh, stated, “The overall defensive abilities of their pitchers are not good. For example, starting pitcher, Wang Che-min (New York Yankees Minor League Double A), is very weak at handling bunts. Since our players have fast feet, we must shake their infield with surprise bunt attacks.”

Moreover, there is no left-handed pitcher that will stand on the mound, which means that the chance of stealing second base becomes higher. Lee Jong-bum (KIA) and Kim Jong-guk (Kia) have 50 and 31 stolen bases a piece, first and second place in bases stolen in the Korean Professional Baseball League respectively. Other players such as Park Han-lee (Samsung) has 17 steals, giving the Korean National Team an advantage to disturb the Taiwanese infield with surprise bunt attacks that could lead to a fairly easy victory.

Head Coach Joo stated, “Taiwanese players lack the persistent thirst for victory. They are renowned to give up on a game if runs are poured against them in the beginning of the game.”

The starting pitcher for the Korean team is “Taiwan Killer” Jung Min-tae. After suffering a thigh injury during the seventh game of the Korean Series, he has been able to effectively improve his physical condition and will be able to start against Taiwan on November 5. Aggressive inside pitches and curve balls are his winning strategies.

Aside from Jung Min-tae, Korea has “Submarine pitcher” Lim Chang-yong (Samsung), Cho Woong-chun (SK), and Lee Kang-chul (KIA) in the pitching lineup, all pitchers that Taiwan prefers to not face.

Taiwan has been waiting for this game against Korea, stating that a new era of a superior Taiwan, or “Overthrowing of Korea,” will arrive. Training camp has already been for over a month. In addition, they invited their national team that had participated in the Cuba Baseball World Cup to their training camp in Japan in order to play practice games to help them prepare better for the real game against Korea.

The Taiwanese players seem to have seriously committed themselves to beating Korea because Korea has regularly blocked Taiwan’s path to victory in international tournaments. Furthermore, Taiwan has been living years of despair because they have not been able to play in the Olympics ever since winning the silver medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

The Korea-Taiwan game will be a key one in establishing who will get the ticket for the Athens Olympics. Because both teams have in mind that the Japanese team, who is showing their toughest strategy ever, will be a burden for them. Therefore, this match is as important as a finals match for both Korea and Taiwan.