The process rather than the result aroused anger among baseball fans. This is the story of the first game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) in Korea, which was a mess.
In the first round of the WBC round (Group B) 스포츠토토 held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on the 9th, Korea was beaten 7-8 by Australia, which was evaluated as one step lower. home run) and gave up 8 runs. The batting line was sluggish enough to stop with no hits until the fifth inning. Except for Yang Eui-ji’s 3-run at the end of the 5th inning and Park Byung-ho’s ‘direct hit from the left’ double in the 6th inning, no good hits came out. In particular, in the 8th inning attack, where the opposing pitching staff was shaken by overdoing 4 walks and 1 ball, not a single timely hit came out.
Kang Baek-ho showed the best bonehead play ever. After allowing Korea to turn 4-5, he came on as a pinch hitter at the end of the 7th inning without a runner, and hit a double through the middle left against Warwick Saupold, a foreign pitcher from the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO League. However, while celebrating toward dugout in an in-play situation, he deviated from the base and was tagged out by Australian second baseman Robbie Glendining. It was literally poured cold water. Korea failed to score an extra goal in the ensuing attack.
It is common in baseball, the ‘sport of failure’, for a pitcher to hit a home run and for a batter to strike out. Even if it is a confrontation between a player who plays on the world’s best stage and a frontier unknown. Shohei Ohtani, the current Major League Baseball (MLB) number one icon and the Japanese national team’s flagship player, also stopped with an ordinary ground ball in the opportunity to load the bases against China the day before.
The problem is basic. This is why criticism is pouring toward Kang Baek-ho. It is a completely different problem from the so-called ‘gum controversy’ happening at the Tokyo Olympics. At that time, there was a side of baseball fans’ resentment toward the performance of the national team, which had been repeatedly struggling, gathered in him. However, Jurusa against Australia had a direct impact on the flow of the game.
Kang Baek-ho is not the only one to be criticized. There were more scenes that baseball fans could catch on their backs. Na Seong-beom went on base at the end of the 5th inning and was hit by a runner. Yang Eui-ji hit a come-from-behind three-run home run and the momentum was rising.
The same goes for the 8th inning, when Korea started chasing after the Australian mound was out of control. Oh Ji-Hwan hit a ground ball to 2nd base with the bases loaded with 1 out 6-8, and in the meantime, runner Lee Jung-hoo stepped on the home runner on 3rd base. Afterwards, Lee Jung-hoo gestured toward third base, saying, “Come home.” Under normal circumstances, rushing home would have been impossible, but the catcher vacated his seat to cover first base. However, neither Park Hae-min, who stepped on third base, nor the Korean main base coach could grasp this situation.
The national team also lost in the first round of the previous two tournaments (2013 and 2017), and advances to the second round were entangled. The 2017 tournament was also lost to Israel, which was evaluated below one point. Australia’s loss is not new. The problem is that plays that have forgotten the basics have continued to emerge.