KBS 2TV Asian Games baseball coverage
"The game is over, but the tournament is not," said Park Chan-ho, KBS's Asian Games baseball commentator, after the team's 0-4 loss to Chinese Taipei.
Former baseball player Park Yong-taek, who broadcast the second game of the baseball team's Group B preliminary round against Chinese Taipei on KBS 2TV on February 2, emphasized, "If we don't beat Chinese Taipei today, we have to think of it as a final game, because there are many cases."
"Taiwan is also a team that came out to win the gold medal. In a game like this, we need to be careful with our defense and base running." Park Chan-ho also wished the team a victory, saying, "When you are ranked second in the group, the six- to seven-day schedule is tough, but when you are ranked first, it is much easier." He added, "Don't lose focus on each inning, and the manager's role and game plan will also be important."
Unfortunately, starter Moon Dong-ju gave up back-to-back doubles and triples to Taiwan in the bottom of the first inning, but he pitched strongly in the second and third innings, striking out three batters. However, when two more runs were scored in the fourth inning, Park Chan-ho ordered, "Even if we give up runs, we want to make sure that when we score, we score."
However, Korea's bats continued to struggle, and they were unable to score easily. "It's not a tight batting lineup. We keep getting on base. And our pitchers are throwing really well. It's just a matter of the hitters now."
KBS 2TV Asian Games baseball broadcast screen
As the bats remained silent, Park Yong-taek lamented, "The bold and aggressive offense is not working well. The batters should definitely take their swings," he lamented. However, the Korean bats struggled to get a leadoff hit until the sixth inning, and Park Chan-ho pointed out that they were only getting sporadic hits.
Down 0-2, the 'Promised Eighth' closer Ko Woo-seok came in, but with runners on second and third, he gave up a two-run single to Taiwan's Lin Zhihao, making the score 0-4. In the ninth inning, Park Chan-ho said, "I hope we can score at least one run in the last inning." "We shouldn't be like this," he said. Commissioner Park Yong-taek acknowledged Taiwan's ability, saying, "Most of the batters are late to the fastball," and added, "It can be said that the fastball of Taiwanese pitchers is powerful." In the end, the game ended with a score of 0-4, and Park couldn't hide his disappointment.
Meanwhile, Korea, Japan, and Chinese Taipei were evenly matched by Team Quality Balance (TQB) in the Super Round of the Jakarta-Palembang 2018 tournament. TQB is (runs scored/offensive innings)-(runs allowed/defensive innings), similar to goal differential in soccer and basketball. However, in baseball, teams can play different numbers of offensive and defensive innings.
If the TQB is also the same, the final ranking is determined by (ERA-TQB) and team batting average in tiebreaker games. The three teams tied at 2-1, with South Korea and Japan posting +0.167 and +0.056 in TBB, respectively, to edge out Chinese Taipei, which finished at ?0.222.
Liu Zhong-il is already at a disadvantage in Hangzhou. Hopefully, Taiwan will catch Japan, but if Japan catches Taiwan, everything is in the team's hands. After losing to Chinese Taipei without scoring a single point, South Korea will have the task of getting a big win against their arch-rivals in the Super Round. 19가이드03
