Hanwha's season has come apart on the mound, and the way this game is set up looks like more of the same. They are out of the race, they have lost five straight, and the arm they hand the ball to is a 19-year-old rookie. The market still treats them like a normal home side, which is the part I did not buy.
Look at how the last meeting went. Hanwha's starter was gone after 1.1 innings, the reliever behind him had to cover 4.2 innings, and Kiwoom piled up three homers on the way to a 9-3 win. Two days earlier it was 7-2 in the same park. Hanwha has been giving up 6.4 runs a game over its last ten, and since mid-August the club has gone through losing runs of 6, 9, 11 and now 5. That is a pitching problem, not a bad week.
The rookie starter is Kang Geon-woo. His first start of the year, back in May, lasted one inning and cost five runs. I could not confirm his October role, so I treat him as someone who gives a few innings at best before a tired bullpen takes over again.
Kiwoom is last in the table, so it is easy to dismiss them. But they have beaten Hanwha eight straight this season, and their bats, Davidson and Hiura in particular, have been hitting Hanwha pitching hard. Their starter Jeon Jun-pyo walks a lot of people, but he is used for about five innings and Kiwoom's bullpen threw four scoreless innings in the last game.
That is the picture I kept coming back to: the same two clubs, the same park, a Hanwha staff that keeps running out of arms, and a price that still leans on home field and last year's name.
