“In 2008, we won a gold medal thanks to (Ryu) Hyun-jin, and we had a big thing happen, so I’m very happy to see him again.”
When Kim Kyung-moon (66), the new manager of the Korean Baseball Organization’s Hanwha Eagles, was sworn in and held a press conference at the Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on Wednesday afternoon, Ryu Hyun-jin (37) was the first name he mentioned. Ryu was the only player mentioned by Kim, who didn’t mention any specific players throughout the press conference.
Ryu attended the inauguration ceremony with captain Chae Eun-sung as a representative of the team and presented a bouquet of flowers. Kim, who beamed when he saw Ryu Hyun-jin, responded to a question about Ryu Hyun-jin at the press conference, “I haven’t talked to him much yet. I just said hello. I was very happy to see him,” Kim said, adding, ‘I’ll talk to him a lot more when I arrive (at Suwon) in the evening.’ As he shook hands and greeted the players in the clubhouse, he said to Ryu Hyun-jin, “It’s nice to see you again. Let’s do it one by one,” and patted him on the shoulder.
For Kim, Ryu is a special player. Not only does he represent Korean baseball beyond Hanwha, but he also has unforgettable memories of being a part of the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medal-winning nine-game sweep.
The 21-year-old was the ace of the team led by Kim Kyung-moon. After throwing 127 pitches in nine innings of a 1-0 shutout victory over Canada in the preliminary round, allowing five hits, three walks, six strikeouts and no runs, Ryu threw 122 pitches in the gold-medal game against Cuba, allowing two runs on five hits, two walks and six strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings.
Kim and Ryu share a moment of glory that kicked off a renaissance in Korean baseball. A lot has happened in the intervening years. Ryu returned to Hanwha before this season after 11 years in the Major Leagues, and Kim joined the organization during the season after a stint at Doosan, where he served as the NC and national team manager.
It’s been 16 years since they came full circle, first with the national team and then with Hanwha. The years have flown by, with Ryu now a 37-year-old veteran and Kim, at 66, the oldest manager in the game, well into his gray hairs. But just as they shared a gold medal as youngsters 16 years ago, they’re back together again with a big goal: winning the Korean Series.
Ryu experienced the 2006 Korean Series as a rookie, but had to settle for a runner-up finish, falling to Samsung in a four-game series. He played for Hanwha until 2012, but didn’t 토토사이트 make it to fall baseball until the 2007 playoffs. He started on the mound in the 2018 World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was unable to win a championship.
Kim’s story is even worse. He reached the Korean Series three times with Doosan, in 2005, 2007, and 2008, but couldn’t get over the threshold for the last time. In 2005, he was swept in four games by Samsung, and in 2007 and 2008, he lost two games to four and one to SK, respectively. In 2016, his fourth season with NC, he returned to the Korean Series, but was swept in four games by his former team Doosan. His 896 career wins rank sixth on the all-time list, but he is the only one of the 13 managers with more than 500 wins to fail to win a Korean Series title.
Kim has one last chance to win a championship with Hanwha. Given his age, Kim is in his mid-60s, Hanwha is likely to be his last team. Kim, who took over as Hanwha coach on June 3, 2018, exactly six years after stepping down from NC, said, “I had a lot of thoughts while I was out there. There were many things that we did not do well,” Kim said, ”You know the regrets. Finishing second was a lot of pain for me. I will try to win the title with the fans here at the Hanwha Eagles. I really want to win the title,” he said.
Of course, winning the championship is not as easy as it sounds. As of three days ago, Hanwha is in eighth place with 24 wins, 32 losses, and one draw (a .429 winning percentage). They 바카라사이트 순위 are 4.5 games behind fifth-place SSG (29 W, 28 L, 1 D, .509 winning percentage), which is not too far off, but far from the championship. “Right now, the team is at the bottom, and I think the first thing we need to do is get to five wins. (This year), we’ll focus on the postseason and think about it when the performance improves,” Kim said, adding that next season is the year to challenge for the top spot.
For that to happen, Ryu’s performance will be essential. In 11 games (60 innings) this season, Ryu is 3-4 with a 4.50 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 55 innings pitched. In some of those games, Ryu has struggled on his own, but that’s largely due to poor defense and poor batting luck. However, he has stabilized with a 1-1 record and a 3.27 ERA in four games in May. On March 30, Kim canceled his start against Samsung Electronics in Daegu an hour before the start of the game due to discomfort in his elbow, but it was not a major injury and he is not expected to miss the next rotation. For Kim to fulfill his dream, Ryu will need to be healthy.