Wiz manager hoping layoff cooled Dinos' bats between KBO postseason series

KT Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul holds an interview prior to a scrimmage at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Oct. 26. Yonhap

While waiting for his team's postseason opponent, KT Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul watched the NC Dinos swing some hot bats with a wary eye last week.

With the Wiz set to face the Dinos in the best-of-five second round starting Monday evening, Lee said he hoped those bats had cooled over the weekend.

The Wiz had the bye to this phase in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason and enjoyed 19 days off since the end of the regular season. The Wiz played four postseason games and had four days off after sweeping the SSG Landers on Wednesday.

"I think their pitchers may be refreshed after those four days off," Lee said in a pregame scrum at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, south of Seoul, on Monday. "But I've been hoping their batters would have cooled off by now after their break. They were hitting really well in some earlier games. Maybe those hitters will be slightly off today."

NC Dinos manager Kang In-kwon watches his team in action against the SSG Landers during Game 2 of the first round series in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, Oct. 23. Yonhap

The Dinos hit .283/.385/.404 as a team against the Landers, scoring 18 runs in three games behind 28 hits, including three long balls and three doubles.

Lee has his own lineup concerns, too. With left-handed slugger Kang Baek-ho ruled out for the season after suffering an oblique tear during a scrimmage last week, Lee doled out a lineup of eight right-handed batters Monday against Dinos right-hander Erick Fedde.

Fedde, the Triple Crown winner in the regular season as the league leader in wins, ERA and strikeouts, is making his KBO postseason debut Monday. He'd missed earlier action after being struck in the right forearm by a batted ball during his final regular season start on Oct. 16.

Dinos manager Kang In-kwon said the four days off couldn't have come at a better time for his side.

"I think Fedde is fully recovered," Kang said. "We don't have any cap on his pitch count today. It will all depend on game situations, but he should be good for about 100 pitches."

During the regular season, right-handed batters hit only .212 against Fedde. (Yonhap)