“How does it feel to be in such a bad mood to win the first place?” KIA manager Lee Bum-ho recently said with a bitter smile. It was a day after Lee Eui-ri, Park Min, and Yoon Do-hyun were injured in the first and second tier teams overnight. It was also a time when KIA was just ranked first by itself and is on an upward trajectory. Although the team has just started its long journey and is coping well despite twists and turns, the very complicated inner thoughts of the coach were all contained in one word.
Kia ranks first as of Tuesday. It has played only 18 games and 10 percent of its season, but has started to lead the league with a winning percentage of 0.778 (14 wins and 4 losses). While its flagship players, including Na Sung-bum, Hwang Dae-in, Park Chan-ho, and Lim Ki-young, are out due to injury, Kia is still unexpectedly faltering. Through coach Lee Bum-ho’s response to the crisis that has come from the beginning, the fact that he is the first coach and novice commander in the 1980s in the history of professional baseball is being forgotten, as if nothing can make headlines anymore.
In this upward trajectory, coach Lee began to show his temper as an adventurer. “April is the most important thing,” Lee said.
In preparing for the season before the opening, head coach Lee Bum-ho said, “How much of a match will be won during the 50 games until May?” Coach Lee Bum-ho, who acknowledged KIA’s assessment as a strong team without any burden and boldly said, “I will win this year” in front of everyone, saw the opening two months of “Spring” as the first match.
However, the plan has been narrowed down further now. The goal is April. Now that the team has started beating earlier than expected, the team decided to maintain the momentum. Most of the competitions between the winning teams start from the starting point. Starting in May, each of the main players who is out of injury will return one by one, and if the team continues to maintain the pace and wins, it will also add to the calculation that the team can run stronger from now on.
Coach Lee Bum-ho said, “April is the most important thing. We are almost halfway there, but the remaining games in April are a very important point for us. Na Sung-bum can return in early May, and Lee Eui-ri and Lim Ki-young will return within a week or two. Park Chan-ho will also come in a few days, adding, “If we hold out well in April, the weather will get warmer and I think we can show a better performance afterwards.” Satisfaction with “A lot of injured players has yet to be revealed anywhere.
The schedule itself makes you raise your fist. KIA will start three consecutive games with SSG, NC, Kiwoom, and LG from the 16th. There are no easy-going teams and they are strong teams one after another.
SSG, NC, and Kiwoom did not have high expectations as the top players this season, but they are showing the power of reversal at the beginning of the season. Currently, NC, Kiwoom, and SSG are in second to fourth place with half a game apart, following KIA. LG, which will meet at the end, is also on the decline, but is a clear favorite. KIA, which started its winning streak by sweeping all three LG games from the 9th to the 11th, is aiming for the “complete” of its April match until the three LG games it will meet again in April.
If the team takes the lead in matches with these rising teams, Kia could become stronger thereafter. Coach Lee Bum-ho originally calculated that the three consecutive LG games from the 9th to the 11th and Hanwha games from the 12th to the 13th will be difficult. However, as he showed his strength by winning two consecutive sweeps and six consecutive games, April became a “winner” for Kia. “If we hold out well with a .500 win rate in the remaining games in April, we will be able to show better things that we have after that,” Lee said.
KIA struggled hard in its three consecutive Hanwha games last weekend. Notably, on the 13th when ace Yang Hyun-jong took the mound, the team led 11-2 and eventually had a dizzying experience of winning by two points by including the must-win group, which it had saved that day due to difficulties in the interim game. Manager Lee Bum-ho said, “I couldn’t sleep.” Even after winning the game, I couldn’t sleep thinking carefully about the moment when I hesitated to replace the pitcher to save the must-win group for the next game. Along with spring, KIA’s “flower tiger” is showing its true colors as an adventurer.
BY: 토토사이트