The Korea Herald

Choo, Tribe take heated slugfest

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) ― Choo Shin-soo sat at his locker in the Indians clubhouse, the bruise on the outside of his right knee just larger than a baseball and turning every shade of red and blue imaginable.“It’s nothing,” he said with a smile.Driving in the winning runs must have made the pain go away in a hurry.After getting hit by a pitch early in the game, Choo delivered a two-out double in the 10th inning Saturday night that sent Cleveland to an 11-9 victory over Kansas City ― despite bl

April 15, 2012

Twins let Angels power way back for 10-9 win

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ― There’s no mystery about this. As Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau perform, the Minnesota Twins will follow.Timely home runs by both of the former American League MVPs? That’s as close to a formula for victory the Twins can find.Morneau hit a two-run, go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, and the Twins rallied from six runs down to defeat the Los Angeles Angels 10-9 on Thursday.“That feeling when it comes off the bat and you know it’s gone, there’s nothing like that in baseball,” M

April 13, 2012

Rays rally in 9th to tame Tigers

DETROIT (AP) ― Last week, the Tampa Bay Rays rallied to win against Mariano Rivera.On Wednesday, they beat Justin Verlander ― after the Detroit ace had looked untouchable for most of the afternoon.“They are never going to give up,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “Say what you want about this team, but they play nine hard innings.”Ben Zobrist hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the top of the ninth, and Tampa Bay scored four runs in its final at-bat to beat Verlander and the Tigers, 4-2. Verlander

April 12, 2012

White Sox down Tribe

CLEVELAND (AP) ― Chris Sale won his first career start, limiting Cleveland to one run in 6 2/3 innings and leading the Chicago White Sox to a 4-2 win over the Indians on Monday night.Sale pitched out of Chicago’s bullpen the past two seasons but moved into the rotation after ace Mark Buehrle left as a free agent this winter. The left-hander, who had made 79 relief appearances, took a one-hit shutout into the sixth. In his longest outing, Sale allowed three hits and struck out five.The 23-year-ol

April 10, 2012

KBO postpones decision on league’s expansion

Lotte Giants say adding the Dinos will make the league less competitiveA plan to expand the country’s top baseball league from the current eight teams to nine next year has been halted with the sport’s governing body failing to reach an agreement on Tuesday.The NC Dinos, who currently play in the second division league, were seeking approval from the Korea Baseball Organization to become the league’s ninth team.The KBO’s board of directors, comprised of presidents of the current eight teams, gat

April 10, 2012

KBO postpones decision on league’s expansion

Santana, Indians edge Jays

CLEVELAND (AP) ― The Cleveland Indians’ first win of the season wasn’t exactly a piece of cake. Still, it was worth celebrating.Carlos Santana hit two home runs on his 26th birthday, Derek Lowe pitched seven strong innings and Cleveland’s bullpen finally held a lead ― barely ― and beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 Sunday.“Let’s tell him it’s his birthday every day,” said Cleveland closer Chris Perez, who retired Toronto slugger Jose Bautista on an infield popup with the bases loaded to earn the sav

April 9, 2012

Fielder, Cabrera hit 2 HRs each in rout of Boston

DETROIT (AP) ― Prince Fielder stood in front of his locker discussing his first two home runs as a Detroit Tiger.Then Miguel Cabrera ― who had just finished reviewing his own two-homer game ― walked past.“Pow!” Cabrera said playfully. “One, two, three, pow!”Detroit’s potent slugging tandem is already finding its groove.Fielder and Cabrera hit two homers apiece and Alex Avila added another off Josh Beckett in the Tigers’ 10-0 rout of the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.Detroit entered the season as a

April 8, 2012

Anyang KGC claims KBL title

The Anyang KGC won the 2011-2012 Korean Basketball League title Friday with a hard-fought victory over the Dongbu Promy in Wonju, Gangwon Province.The Anyang KGC beat the home team 66-64 in Game 6 to win the best-of-seven final series 4-2 and to clinch the KBL title for the first time in its history.The KGC’s center Chris Daniels scored 15 points and forward Lee Jung-hyun added 14 points to help the team win the Game 6.Rookie center Oh Se-keun, who was voted as the MVP of the finals, added 12 po

April 8, 2012

Votto agrees to $251.5m contract

CINCINNATI (AP) ― Joey Votto got a big payday by staying in a small market, agreeing to a $251.5 million, 12-year deal with the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday that is the longest guaranteed contract in major league history.The agreement adds $225 million over 10 years to his previous contract. The deal includes a club option for 2024, when the 2010 National League MVP turns 41.After watching NL Central rivals St. Louis and Milwaukee lose their first basemen to bigger markets, the Reds secured Vott

April 5, 2012

Marlins to open new park vs. Cards

MIAMI (AP) ― Perched atop the Miami Marlins’ multicolored, provocative home-run sculpture is a blue marlin, poised for splashdown whenever the home team hits one out.Call the artwork what you will ― gaudy, goofy, grotesque, great ― but there’s no denying it’s new. For the Marlins, that’s what this season is all about.Long overlooked and underfunded, they’ve become a big-spending, attention-grabbing team as they open the season at home Wednesday night against the World Series champion St. Louis C

April 4, 2012

KBO season kicks off this weekend

After a busy offseason that saw a match-fixing investigation, departure of longtime franchise stars and arrival of new players, Korean fans are finally ready for the beginning of a new baseball season. The regular season commences this weekend when the defending champion Samsung Lions play a pair of games against the LG Twins in Daegu, while the Doosan Bears face the Nexen Heroes at the Jamsil Stadium in Seoul.Eight teams in the country’s top league will play each other in a total of 532 games o

April 3, 2012

Play ball

Baseball season kicks off this weekendAfter a busy off-season that saw a match-fixing investigation, departure of longtime franchise stars and arrival of new players, Korean fans are finally ready for the beginning of a new baseball season. The regular season commences this weekend when the defending champion Samsung Lions play a pair of games against the LG Twins in Daegu, while the Doosan Bears face the Nexen Heroes at the Jamsil Stadium in Seoul.Eight teams in the country’s top league will pl

April 3, 2012

Lee retires unexpectedly

For professional athletes, the most difficult thing is knowing when it’s time to call it a career. Lee Jong-beom of the Kia Tigers reached that point this spring. The 41-year-old announced on Saturday his retirement from baseball after 19 seasons in the country’s top baseball league.The news came as a shock as until recently the longtime franchise star trained hard in the offseason, hoping to continue playing for the team this season, which kicks off this weekend.But with just one week to go bef

April 2, 2012

Professional baseball aims to draw record 7.1m fans this year

South Korea’s top professional baseball league expects to attract a record 7.1 million fans this season, up 4 percent from last year, the Korea Baseball Organization said Sunday.Buoyed by an unprecedented wave of popularity, professional baseball games drew some 6.8 million fans to ballparks last year, marking an all-time single season record. The 2012 season is set to kick off on Saturday.The average attendance per game is also expected to rise to 13,346 fans this year from an average of 12,081

April 1, 2012

Chipper says this will be his final season

ATLANTA (AP) ― Flanked by his family, his former manager and a group of teammates he hates to leave behind, Chipper Jones choked up a bit and delivered the news that’s been looming for years:It’s time to call it a career.This time, he means it.With his 40th birthday approaching and a long string of injuries slowing him down, Jones announced Thursday he will retire after one more season as the Atlanta Braves’ third baseman.“I have fulfilled everything,” Jones said during a news conference at the

March 23, 2012

Mets’ future brightens

NEW YORK (AP) ― The New York Mets’ owners scored an early-season victory Monday, stabilizing the club’s financial future in a deal with a trustee for Bernard Madoff’s fraud victims that requires them to pay millions less than they might have ― and lifts a dark cloud from a team whose dismal play seemed to mirror its misfortune in the owner’s box.Mets CEO Fred Wilpon and team president Saul Katz, co-majority owners, emerged smiling from a Manhattan federal courthouse after a judge announced the a

March 20, 2012

Korea’s baseball governing body bans Baltimore scouts

The South Korean governing body of amateur baseball said it has taken steps to ban scouts from the Baltimore Orioles in Major League Baseball from attending local games.The Korea Baseball Association said it posted a notice in a stadium in Seoul that reads, “This stadium is off-limits to scouts from Baltimore Orioles.”The notice will be posted in about 20 other stadiums across South Korea, an official of the association said. He asked not to be identified, citing policy.The move came two months

March 20, 2012

Choo goes deep but Indians fall

GOODYEAR, Arizona (AP) ― Dustin Moseley was told to lighten up for a change. He did, and it worked wonders.Moseley, loosening the grip on his changeup, pitched three scoreless innings and Will Venable had three hits to help the San Diego Padres beat the Cleveland Indians 5-2 Saturday.“I thought his stuff was very crisp,” Padres manager Bud Black said of Moseley, working his way back from shoulder surgery on Aug 3. “He had command of his fastball. He did all the things you look for in an all-arou

March 11, 2012

Lee hits first homer of spring

Lee Dae-ho of the Orix Buffaloes hit his first home run of the spring at Thursday’s game, taking the Seibu Lions’ starter deep in the first inning for a two-run homer. Now, after three spring training games, Lee is 2 for 8 with a .250 batting average. It’s a bit of a slow start for the Korean slugger following his successful winter training season. During the winter, Lee went 13 for 19 with a .684 average, raising expectations for his debut year in Japan.Orix manager Akinobu Okada, who watched L

March 9, 2012

Choo homers in Tribe win

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (AP) ― Jack Hannahan hit a grand slam Wednesday and Jason Kipnis and Choo Shin-soo also connected for home runs as the Cleveland Indians beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-2.Hannahan’s fourth-inning shot came off Diamondbacks prospect Tyler Skaggs. Skaggs gave up the four runs on one hit and four walks in 2/3 inning.Arizona’s Trevor Cahill also struggled in his Diamondbacks debut, giving up a two-run homer to Kipnis and allowing Choo’s solo shot in two innings of work.

March 8, 2012