I watched live baseball last night.
Specifically, I watched most of an exhibition game between the LG Twins and the Doosan Bears of the KBO.
First, though, I watched a few innings of the SK Wyverns and the Kiwoom Heroes.
I saw Yoon Suk-min* on the Wyverns hit a line drive down the line to left field that just barely snuck above the 95 meter sign on the fence for a home run. Looked a lot like number 70 off the bat of Mark McGwire, if that helps.
*All names in this newsletter came from this site, off of the numbers on uniforms. Some numbers were not on the site, and it’s possible others were inaccurate. I did my best.
I saw a cell phone commercial that seemed to be a Korean version of Aux Champs-Elysées? The question mark is there because, well, I can’t be right about that, can I? Is Aux Champs-Elysées, a cheesy song I learned in my 7th grade French class, Korean TV ad material? But then, I can’t be wrong about it either. The tune is generally familiar, and they did the “Au soleil, sous la pluie, à midi ou à minuit” part, which is the most immediately recognizable section of the song.
I mean, they did it in Korean, not French, and presumably adjusted the lyrics to be about great coverage for low, low prices, but work with me here.
I saw the SK pitcher, Park Jong-hoon, a submariner, breeze through the Heroes lineup. They scored a run off him in the third, but in the second and fourth he had no trouble (I tuned in during the second inning).
Then I changed which game I was watching, to the LG Twins facing off against the Doosan Bears. I wanted to see if Casey Kelly, who was on the (SF) Giants in 2018 and is now with the LG Twins, would make an appearance. According to a New York Post article, he won’t appear in a game until the 29th because he was quarantined for two weeks after entering the country and is therefore behind his teammates in preparation, but there was a shot of him talking to one of his teammates, so that’s one ex-Giant who was able to watch his teammates play live baseball yesterday.
I watched number 50 for the Twins shut down Doosan in the 4th inning.
I saw the Aux Champs-Elysées ad again. That’s definitely the song. I did not understand that there was a large Korean market for commercial parodies of songs about Paris. But then, it’s not like the way we sell cell phones in America is particularly dignified.
I watched number 53 for the Twins, a lefty, hit a soft grounder to third base. Because the Doosan third baseman was shifted over several steps towards shortstop, by the time he got there it would have taken a very strong throw to get the runner at first, and that was a throw that he just couldn’t make. That’s a longwinded way of saying “I watched number 53 for the Twins hit an infield single to third,” but it was just so nice to see some regular baseball plays that I couldn’t help myself.
I heard the announcer say “1 and 1” when the count was 1-1 with nobody out, and then, after the batter grounded out, he said “One out.” These tiny snippets of English were the most jarring part of the whole experience, because they almost made me believe that if I really listened hard, I could hear more English! This is certainly not true. Korean announcers broadcasting to a Korean audience are under no obligation to use English terms, and it would be silly as anything more than a Jon Miller “Adios pelota!”-esque flourish.
I’m dumb enough to wonder, though, if there’s something I’m missing.
I watched Jeong keun-woo for the Twins go down 1-2 in the count, and then work the walk off the Doosan pitcher, Park Chi-guk, who looked like he was 15 years old. On an 0-1 pitch, number 8 stole second base convincingly enough that the second baseman took the throw several feet in front of the bag and tossed the ball back to the pitcher without even pretending he was going to attempt a tag.
I watched Lee Chun-woong the Twins hit a nubber to the third base side that started off foul, but came back fair because of some crazy spin. When the Doosan third baseman charged hard, fielded it, and threw to first for the out, his throw was wide, and Lee easily made it to second base.
The next batter, Kim Hyun-soo, hit a grounder to first that took a tough hop that the first baseman couldn’t handle. The second baseman backed up the play and tried to toss the ball to the pitcher to get the out at first, but the ball was (again) off line, and hit off Kim as he ran up the line. The run scored. 2-0, LG.
Lee Hyung-jong, the next man up, doubled down the left field line. Kimwas running on the play, and it looked like the third base coach might send him home, but instead he put on the brakes and Kim awkwardly rushed back to third base. It was a good move to hold him at third, as he would have been extremely out at home. It’s questionable to call the hit a double, since you could argue for a single plus advancing a base on the throw, but, well, whatever.
Following him, Kim Ho-eun, a lefty, singled to left through the drawn in infield to score a run. Hong Chang-gi had pinch run for Kim, and he scored, with Lee Hyung-jong advancing to third.
The umpires and grounds crew people and, really, anybody who wasn’t a player all wore masks. The stands were empty.
Lee Hyung-jong would score on a sac fly to center, and Kim Ho-eun scored from first on a two-out double. It was 11:30 PM on April 20, 2020, and I was watching an honest-to-God rally in a live baseball game.
I saw batters’ swings get broken down, and I saw the same fast (I assume) food ad every other commercial break. I saw doubles into the gap and baserunners thrown out at third. I saw warning track fly balls and breaking balls in the dirt. I saw Jung Woo-young for LG throw behind Kuk Hae-sung for Doosan, who responded by hitting an opposite-field homer on the next pitch.
What I saw was baseball.
Even beyond the language barrier, and me not recognizing anyone other than Casey Kelly and Jose Miguel Fernandez, it was a little bizarre. It’s weird to hear the dugouts so clearly during a broadcast, and to see foul balls bounce around empty seats like it’s pinball. It’s also weird to just be watching baseball this year, when there has been none for so long.
But I could get used to all that. If MLB were to come back at some point this year, and it looked like this, and I wasn’t side-eyeing the entire operation because it would definitely lead to people getting unnecessarily exposed to the coronavirus, I’d watch until it became normal because I miss it. I hope there’s a way for this to happen in America this year. I hope there’s a way to play Major League games daily during the summer, like we have since the beginning of the 20th century. And I hope that my existence, and the existence of millions more people who desperately want to see baseball back, doesn’t mean that baseball acts irresponsibly and opens the season before the season should get opened. That’s a recipe for tragedy, and one Major League Baseball needs to avoid.
The LG Twins won 5-2, by the way. I wouldn’t be much of a baseball reporter if I didn’t give you the score.