Strong pitching backs Wyverns‘ title chances
By Cho Mu-hyun
The SK Wyverns completed the exhibition games that ended Sunday as the top-seed for the first time in five years since 2007.
And with the season opener against 10-time Korean Series winners the Kia Tigers less than a week away, the Wyverns are off to a promising start as they look to make the playoffs for a sixth consecutive time.
In 2007, former manager Kim Sung-keun took charge of the club and the team went on to clinch the Korean Series.
Everyone knows SK is not what it used to be. The 69-year-old Kim is no longer at the helm and franchise pitchers Chong Tae-hyon and Lee Seung-ho are far south with the Lotte Giants.
Yet sports commentators put the Wyverns at the top of their list, along with the Samsung Lions and the Tigers, as candidates to lift the domestic title this year, even before the preseason fixtures. They are even surer now.
They topped the team earned run average (ERA) standings with 2.41, the only side in the two-point range except the Doosan Bears. Their strongest asset, the pitching, seemed unaffected by the squad changes.
The traditional line-up was visibly absent from the mound during the practice outings. Southpaw Kim Kwang-hyun and right-handers Song Eun-beom and Uhm Jung-wook missed the preseason fixtures while recovering from injury. Dominican import Aquilino Lopez pitched only once due to pain in his waist.
But their defense held up, thanks to the relatively lesser known Yoon Hee-sung, Park Hee-soo and Kim Tae-hoon. Yoon, who joined the club in 2004, managed a 3.00 ERA from two games as a starter. Park marked 3.60 as a reliever and Kim 3.29 as a starter. Either one of the three may just be the next franchise pitcher.
Rookie Lim Chi-young, praised by manager Lee Man-soo during the team’s spring training camp in Okinawa, Japan, had a slow start. He gave up 3 runs in the first exhibition game against the Nexen Heroes on March 25. But he steadily found his stride, throwing 58 strikes in six innings of Sunday’s against the Giants which have one of the best batting line-up in the league. His ERA for the preseason was 2.16, not bad for a player in his debut year.
“We played the exhibition games like the real games,” said Lee, carrying on his predecessor’s simple principle in becoming a strong club: no game must be taken lightly and players should always enter a game with the goal to win.
But form in practice matches does not always transfer to the regular season according to statistics. And there is still some homework for the team before the regular season begins Saturday.
A side can’t win with a strong defense alone. The club managed only six homers and is still deciding on who will be the designated cleaner. It is also unknown when the injured players will return.