Seoul: With the Kiwoom Heroes headed for their third straight last-place finish in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this year, manager Hong Won-ki hasn't had much to feel good about over the first half of the campaign. The Heroes took a 26-61-3 record (wins-losses-ties) into their last game before the All-Star break against the LG Twins on Thursday. They won 58 games out of 144 in each of the past two years but may not reach that mark this season.
According to Yonhap News Agency, trying to look on the bright side, Hong noted the work of a pair of veteran players and thanked them for giving the young team some semblance of stability. "Among pitchers, Ha Yeong-min has not missed a turn in the rotation and has been a steady presence," Hong said of the 30-year-old pitcher. Ha is 6-8 with a 4.81 in 18 starts. While those numbers are underwhelming, the right-hander has been the one constant for a team that has seen multiple pitchers fall in and out of the rotation with injuries and ineffectiveness.
On the position player side, Hong said Song Sung-mun, the 28-year-old team captain, has been just the kind of leader his young players needed. "He has done a great job keeping the guys upbeat during some tough stretches this year," Hong said of the ebullient player who is enjoying another solid offensive season. A year after setting career highs with 29 doubles, 19 homers, and 104 RBIs, Song is up to 21 doubles, 14 home runs, and 51 RBIs this season.
Asked to reflect on the season so far, Hong said it has been a roller-coaster ride. The Heroes started the season with two foreign hitters in Yasiel Puig and Ruben Cardenas -- the only club with that arrangement while the nine other teams each had one foreign hitter and two foreign pitchers. The strategy hasn't worked, with Puig getting cut in favor of a pitcher, Raul Alcantara, in May and Cardenas hitting the sidelines in early June with an arm injury.
When their No. 1 starter Kenny Rosenberg went down with a hip injury last month, they scrambled to sign Australian pitcher Lachlan Wells as a short-term replacement. "We started the season with the two foreign hitters because we struggled so much offensively last season. But it just didn't work out," Hong said. "At least Wells and Alcantara have stabilized our rotation a little bit lately."