Now that the baseball season is up and running again it was time for my first visit of the year to the Jamsil Stadium. It’s ideal for me really as it’s only three stops away on the subway and I can be there about fifteen minutes after leaving my apartment. I hadn’t paid much attention to which teams were playing because it doesn’t really matter and there’s a game on involving one of either Doosan Bears or LG Twins six nights a week.
There’s also a circus at the Jamsil Sports Complex at the moment. Not a proper one with animals but that Circque du Soleil thing where gymnasts who were almost good enough to get to the Olympics make a living by doing their trapeze stuff whilst dressed up as pixies. Jen and I had made plans to go and see it the following Sunday, so part of my reason for heading down to the baseball was to pick up the tickets and save us from having to queue when it was busy.
Well, it all went as smoothly as a perfectly executed triple salto and within ten minutes I had the circus tickets, a box of chicken wings and a twelve thousand won ticket that I’d paid a tout ten thousand won for. The ticket was actually for the main stand, but I fancied just sitting in the outfield area and the stewards were happy to let me in.
Someone forgot his blanket.
The game was about half an hour old by the time I’d got a couple of beers and selected a seat. It was just coming to the end of the second innings with LG Twins leading Samsung Lions by one run to nil and with both starting pitchers still in the game.
Shim Soo Chang was chucking them down for LG and he managed to avoid conceding any runs until the fourth innings when Park Seok Min smacked one to within about ten feet of me. The old blokes behind me who were dressed in suits and who would probably tell their wives that they had been working late at the office scrabbled for the ball like ten year olds.
Shim Soo Chang - LG Twins
The starting pitcher for Samsung, Ahn Ji Man, did pretty well too. I missed the run that he did concede before I’d arrived but he managed to strike out five of the opposition who struggled to get a bat anywhere near the ball.
Ahn Ji Man - Samsung Lions
Both teams turned to their relief pitchers after about six innings with the score still at one each. It worked better for Samsung though as they were able to score four runs in the seventh innings to take a 5-1 lead.
The fella in front of me was torn between watching the live action in front of him and the Doosan Bears game on his telly.
It is always better somewhere else.
As for other notable players, I’m pretty the Samsung number 35 was Ryan Garko who has done quite well in the US Major League in the past, making starting rosters and scoring plenty of home runs. I’m not certain though as his name was shown on the scoreboard in Korean and the announcement sounded as if the bloke with the mike had put his head in a bucket of water. By the end of the season hopefully I’ll recognise a few of these players by sight.
There weren’t any more runs after the seventh innings and the game finished at about quarter to ten with Samsung claiming a 5-1 victory.
Trail of the Lion King 
April 21, 2011 at 6:38 am |
#35’s jersey says Garko (or, rather, Ga Ko, which means “go nose” in case you were wondering).