Korea 10, Venezuela 2

Written by: Matthew Dewoskin on 22nd March 2009

Korea 10, Venezuela 2 | read this item

At the plate…

Choo Shin-soo finally looked healthy. Big League Choo clubbed a 3-run bomb in the 1st inning to give Team Korea a 5-0 advantage. Choo finished the day 1-2 with 2 BB’s and 1 HBP(again!). 1st baseman Kim Tae-gyun delivered a 2-run bomb in the 2nd. Kim finished the day 2-4. KBO batting champ and Team Korea left fielder finished the game 3-3 with a walk, 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. DH, Lee Dae-ho, also drove in a pair.

On the mound…

Yoon Seok-min pitched his guts out for the Korean side. Yoon worked 6 1/3 strong innings. He allowed both Venezuelan runs on 7 hits and 1 walk. He also struck out 4. I was surprised to see Ryu Hyeon-jin come in to face one batter in relief. I guess Korean manager Kim In-sik needed a lefty for one batter. This probably rules Ryu out as the starter of the final. Kim will probably turn to Bong Jung-geun to get the job done against the Americans or the Japanese. Carlos Silva was absolutely awful for the Venezuelans. He lasted only 1 1/3 innings allowing 7 runs(6 earned) on 6 hits and 1 walk. He was as bad as his line suggested.

In the field…

12 of the 19 outs recorded by Yoon came via the ground ball. These guys were throwing some leather out there. Kim Tae-gyun did miss a catch in the 8th inning that was ruled an error, but the game was so far out of hand that it didn’t really matter. The Venezuelan team committed 5 errors. All either led directly to runs or extended the inning for the Korean team. 5 errors is a KBO record.

Next up for team Korea is the finals on Monday at 9 PM ET. They’ll face the winner of tomorrow’s(today’s?) Japan/USA match up.

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Topics: 2009 WBC, Korean Baseball