bunted with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 1-1 tie at Jamsil Samsung Electronics on Nov. 13.
Kim Hyun-soo, a longtime center fielder, has laid down a sacrifice bunt only once in his career. It was on September 22, 2007, at Samsung Electronics. It had been 16 years since Kim had a bunt. The bunt loaded the bases for LG, who went on to win 2-1.
In the three-game series against Gochuk Kiwoom from June 6-8, Kim did not touch the ground once. He wasn’t even used as a pinch hitter and was benched for all three days.
Shortly after the start of the year, Kim was the hottest hitter in the game. He finished April with a .400 batting average and seemed to be leading the batting title race, but after a brief bout of back pain in late April, he went silent. In May, he struggled, batting .148 in 21 games.
After being benched for a few days, Kim returned to the starting lineup on May 9 against Hanwha. He bounced back to bat .375 (9-for-24) in his last six games, including a 3-for-4 performance with two RBIs and three runs scored against Samsung Electronics on May 15.
“It was an unfamiliar experience,” Kim said, “because I changed my batting form to try to get back into the swing of things after recovering from back pain. “If I think it’s hard, it’s going to be hard forever, so I tried not to think about it,” said Kim, who has rarely had a slump in his 10 years of playing long regular seasons. I thought I had to get through it, and I calmed myself down.”
Trying to regain the ‘initial heart’ “I always change my bat and equipment frequently, but I thought it was best to go back to the way I felt when I first started,” Kim said. “I think it’s most important not to be intimidated. I didn’t bunt because I didn’t think it was the time for me to find my pride,” he explained. Kim began to return to his “hitting machine.메이저놀이터
Kim made his professional debut in 2006 and is now a veteran. But he still wants to grow. “I’m a veteran, but I think I still have a lot of work to do, and I think I can grow to the next level through my new experiences (recently),” Kim said.
On the 15th, LG moved back to the top of the standings for the first time in two weeks, led by the revitalized Kim Hyun-soo. Kim Hyun-soo said, “We still have more games to play than we have played. We’ll keep the momentum going,” he vowed.