It was exactly one year ago. Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop, who took the helm at LG, expressed his joy and reflection at being back at the helm. He said he looked back at the factors behind past postseason failures and emphasized “simple and quick.” He pledged that he would never hesitate in replacing pitchers in short-term games that would determine the team\'s fate.
It actually did. In Game 2 of the Korean Series (KS) on the 8th, LG moved faster than ever. Not only was starter Choi Won-tae, who was selected as a key player, replaced in the first inning, but all subsequent replacement timings were one beat earlier. The bullpen, which boasts the strongest depth, was utilized 200%, and after allowing 4 runs in the 1st inning, it went 8 innings from the 2nd to the 9th without allowing any runs. 토토사이트
The team color was not only revealed when the pitcher was replaced. He chased down his opponent with a home run off the first pitch, raised the mood, and then turned the game around with a home run off the first pitch. From the pitcher change in the first inning to the final home run, it was a stand-in drama made with LG\'s unique baseball style. We analyzed the KS 2nd game, which condensed the performance in the 144-game pennant race into one game.
He is a master of comeback wins, the 42nd in the regular season and the 43rd this year . In the regular season, LG won nearly half of its games as come-from-behind wins. Season record: 86 wins, 56 losses, 2 draws. Of the 86 wins, 42 were come-from-behind wins.
It\'s not a number that can just come out. This is the result of harmony between the bullpen and the batting lineup. The players’ posture was also unique. Coach Yeom said, “We did our best in every game this season. “Out of 144 games, there have been only a handful of cases where the chase team was used and the game was abandoned,” he said. “I always tried to win, but the players’ hearts were also very strong. Even when we are losing, all of our players shout out, ‘We can do it,’ ‘We can catch it,’ ‘We just need to score one point,’ and ‘Let’s just do one thing.’ “At first, it seemed like I was the only one who was motivated, but the players seemed more motivated than me,” he said with a smile.
The first winning pitcher of the regular season and the first winning pitcher of KS both
have the same opponent as Ham Deok-ju\'s regular season opening game and KS. LG also faced KT in the opening two-game series. LG\'s starting pitcher in the opening game on April 1 was also Casey Kelly, the same as in the first game of KS. Like the first game in KS, the result of the opening game was a loss. They lost their first game of the season at 6-11, but the next game on April 2nd was a comeback win.
The main player who achieved the first victory of the regular season with a come-from-behind victory was Ham Deok-ju. Ham Deok-ju, who stood on the mound in the 10th inning of extra innings, announced his revival with perfect pitching in two innings. LG\'s batting lineup targeted Park Young-hyun and Ko Young-pyo in the top of the 11th inning. Deok-Joo Ham became LG\'s first winning pitcher in the regular season.
The second game in KS is the same. Ham Deok-ju, who stood on the mound in the 8th inning, completed his mission with a perfect pitching in the 1st inning. And in the bottom of the 8th inning, Park Dong-won\'s comeback final two-run shot became the winning pitcher. As in the second game of the regular season, the winning pitcher in the second game of KS was Ham Deok-ju, and the losing pitcher was Park Young-hyun.
In the 11th inning of a game with more than 7 bullpen pitchers in the regular season, Inhan tactics are ready at any time.
On April 2, LG and Ham Deok-ju achieved their first win of 2023. LG used a total of 8 middle pitchers. In the second game of KS, 7 middle pitchers appeared on the mound, and there were 11 instances where LG had 7 or more pitchers from the bullpen during the regular season. They are prepared to enforce bullpen day tactics at any time, and pitchers are no strangers to bullpen days.
The postseason is an extension of the regular season. You can\'t suddenly implement in the postseason what you didn\'t do in the regular season. This is also the reason for the success of the bullpen day in the second game of KS. Even in the regular season, the bullpen door was opened every inning and all middle pitchers were mobilized as if to check attendance. As a result, Lee Jeong-yong, Jeong Woo-young, Kim Jin-seong, Baek Seung-hyun, Yoo Young-chan, Ham Deok-ju, and Ko Woo-seok combined for 8.2 scoreless innings in the second game of KS.
In the second game of the 2022 playoffs, they suffered a painful loss due to the late replacement of starting pitcher Adam Plutko. LG erased the pain of that time with the second game of KS.
The strategy of attacking the first pitch, which has always been emphasized, yielded the best results.
Manager Yeom recommends hitters to attack the first pitch. It was the same when he was the coach of Nexen and SK. It is believed that targeting the first pitch strike that the opposing pitcher throws inertically increases the probability of hitting. The batter often raises his voice saying that he cannot beat the pitcher if he is not proactive, including targeting the first pitch. So, I advise you not to hesitate to swing when the ball count is 3-0.
During the regular season, LG was the team most adept at attacking the first pitch. Of the total 1,364 hits, 217 were hits on the first pitch. The team batting average is first at 0.279, and the team batting average when attacking the first pitch is also first at 0.367. The reason for leadoff Hong Chang-ki\'s rebound is also his strategy of attacking the first pitch. Hong Chang-ki, who had a strong image of carefully selecting the ball and getting on base by walking, had a batting average of 0.400 on the first pitch during the regular season and created 22 hits by targeting the first pitch.
Ahead of the second game in KS, Coach Yeom emphasized attacking the first pitch. Manager Yeom applauded Hong Chang-ki\'s first pitch strategy in the first at-bat of the first inning of the first game of KS and hoped that he would maintain that attitude in the second game as well. Even though the batted ball was formed in front of the center fielder and he retired as a hitter, the quality of his batted ball was good.
Director Yeom said, “I told Chang-gi to keep doing the same thing. Even today, if a good ball is hit on the first pitch, you have to hit it. “If you always wait for the first pitch, things get even more complicated,” he said. Hong Chang-ki did not get the desired results in the second game of KS. Still, the quality of his batting is good. The ball thrown in the last at-bat would have been a right-handed hit if it weren\'t for Oh Yoon-seok\'s poor performance.
Oh Ji-hwan and Park Dong-won produced the results of the first pitch strategy. Oh Ji-hwan targeted William Cuevas\' first-pitch cut fastball in the bottom of the 6th inning and became the first home run hit in this year\'s KS. They narrowed the score gap to 2-4, marking the beginning of LG\'s pursuit. It was Park Dong-won\'s final two-run catch in the bottom of the 8th inning that made the entire Jamsil Stadium explode like lava. Park Dong-won fired a cannon that went over the left-center field fence on Park Young-hyun\'s first pitch changeup with one out and runners on second base. It was Park Dong-won, who showed his batting skills by hitting a left-field hit in the bottom of the 6th inning, his previous at-bat, and hit the first pitch in all four of his at-bats that day.