Choo Shin-soo was the subject of a writeup on Fangraphs, which tells us that the Busanite has arguably been the most productive offensive player in the majors over the last month. I knew he was swinging the bat well, but not to that tune. He’s got a .376/.459/.706 line over his last 85 at-bats, which is good for a 2.21 win probability added, second only to Mark Teixera over the last month.

The Korea Times had a piece on Choo earlier in the week. I’m not recommending the piece itself, but it has a few quotes from Choo and some history about his high school days as a pitcher for Busan High School. Guess why he had Tommy John surgery.

When the EWC 1-year anniversary rolled by a couple weeks ago it reminded me of the very first post I wrote here, which was about Kim Byung-hyun getting his release by the Arizona Diamondbacks. At that time Kim’s release meant there were exactly zero Koreans in Major League Baseball at the time. Kim was picked back up by the Marlins shortly thereafter. Last I heard Kim is living in San Diego where he has a sushi restaurant. He’s hoping to catch on with another MLB team next spring. If not, he’s always got the Woori Heroes (who likely own his rights) to come home to.

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Kind of an interesting trend revealing itself in Korea, which is a pop fascination with the idea of older women hooking up with younger men. This jumped out at me recently with the popularity of the latest boy band called SHINee, who have a little sub-Usher come Rain (비) ditty called “Older sister you’re so pretty” (”누난너무예뻐”).

Don’t miss the gold rapper chains and gangsta hankies these guys are flashing…

This group projects an over-the-top, squeaky clean, pure image, and last weekend I caught part of a reality-style show featuring the band prodding its most innocent, wide-eyed member (the guy with the “wicked” T-shirt) to go on a date with an older girl. He’s of course hesitant and spends a lot of time looking surprised and shy, but eventually agrees. The rest of the band stays inside a van, giggles and eats ice cream, watching lil’ doe-eyes on TV monitors. Naturally, being the virginal, pure child that he is, he often scurries back to the van for advice on how to treat an older woman (she looks to be about 18).

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SK’s Kim Sung-kun won his 1,000th game tonight, as the Wyvrens crushed Woori 8-0. Kim Kwang-hyun went 7 1/3, allowing zero runs and striking out nine on the way to winning his 13th. You do remember me saying he was poised to become the KBO’s best pitcher in his first full season, right? He’s awfully fun to watch.

I also noticed Woori has new uniforms. I have to admit, I don’t watch the Heroes often, and when I saw this the other day I thought the Heroes were doing a throwback thing. But in fact these are the official post-Olympic duds. Much better I think:

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Jackson and I have been doing some evaluations of NPB pitchers that will or will not be headed to MLB next year for a Yahoo! piece. One of the things I’ve come across and found interesting are the similarities in Japanese league sample sizes of Kenshin Kawakami (likely have 1550 innings after 2008), who will be looking to sign this winter, and Hiroki Kuroda (1510.1 innings), who signed for $35.3 million over three years last offseason.

Dave Cameron of Fangraphs has a post about Kuroda up today illustrating how up and down he’s been this season. Overall, he’s been solid…seven wins against 10 losses, but with an ERA of 3.87 and an FIP of 3.65. He’s definately done his duty to keep the Dodgers in ballgames.

Assuming he stays healthy and progresses after a full year in the states, he’ll be a very valuable pitcher. Here’s a recent article from the LA Times talking about some of the emotional ups and downs Kuroda has had this season, his first since the death of his father last year of lung cancer.   

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Just when you thought your shot at playing big league ball was finished, new hope awaits. The Hiroshima Toyo Carp and Chiba Lotte Marines are holding open tryouts. From Japanese Baseball:

The Hiroshima Toyo Carp will be having a tryout on September 15, 2008 at Hiroshima Shimin Kyujyo. They are looking for players, male, between the ages of 17 and 24 at least 175 cm tall. Proof of elegibility is required (i.e. not under contract with other leagues or eligible for the draft). For more details, contact the Carp front office at 082-221-2040 (or 81-82-221-2040 outside of Japan).

The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters will be holding tryouts at their Chiba facilities on October 4, 2008. You must be 24 years of age or younger, be able to run 50 meters within 6.5 seconds, and meet eligibility requirements (such as not covered under the draft system for school students and/or not under contract by another professional or semi-professional team). Personal histories (resumes?) must be mailed in before September 25, 2008. For details, call 011-857-3939 (or 81-11-857-3939 outside if Japan). You most likely be required to speak in Japanese, so have your Japan-knowledgeable agent take care of this.

By the way, don’t expect the teams to foot the bill for your expenses. Rumor has it Aaron is already in his backyard doing wind sprints to try to beat that 6.5 50 meter time…

There was a lot of fanfare in Asia and abroad when Trey Hillman left his post as manager of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters last season to manage the Kansas City Royals. Personally, I was very optimistic about his chances and I liked the idea of him bringing what he learned in Japan back to the states and applying it to what seemed like a good young core of players.

But Kansas City just put the finishing touches on a terrible August that saw the team win seven of 27 games, and the team now finds itself in last place in the AL Central. The mainstream Royals media, which is visible anyway thanks in large part to the popularity of columnist/blogger Joe Posnanski, is starting to grumble. Hillman also recently had a public tiff with catcher Miguel Olivo, and quite possibly one with Jose Guillen.

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The following is an interview with Robert Fitts, author of Wally Yonamine: The Man who Changed Japanese Baseball. The book is published by University of Nebraska Press and is now available at Amazon.com or at WallyYonamine.com.

EWC:What attracted you to the story of Wally Yonamine to the degree that you wanted to write a book on him?

RF:I like to joke that Wally Yonamine is the reason I don’t have a job. I was a professional archaeologist specializing in 19th century New York City when I first met Wally in 2003. I had planned to write only a short article when I sat down to interview him at his pearl shop in Tokyo. After listening to his riveting tales of Japanese baseball, a idea came to me.

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A topic I’m personally fascinated by. Replacement level populations, to put it in Sabermetric terms. But this is serious business in Asia and Europe, and I’ll try to link to it more often. I highly recommend Canadian conservative columnist Mark Steyn’s many writings on the subject.

Here’s an article in today’s Washington Post on how Japanese women are continuing to eschew traditional child-bearing roles. Great for women’s rights in Japan, but terrible for Japanese birth rates.

From Japanese Women Shy From Dual Mommy Role:

“I have never met a Japanese man who did not want me to be his mommy.”

That is the reason, Takako Katayama says, that she has not married. At 37, she has carved out a comfortable life here in Tokyo, with her own apartment, a good job at a cable television network, and a network of family and friends.

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Here is a very long, but fascinating article in Fast Company about Dr. James Andrews, a name you’ve probably heard many times with “was sent to…” proceeding it. Josh Beckett went there this past week and according to the article, the Red Sox even hired one of Andrews ex-staffers as part of a closely guarded project that helps predict if and when pitching injuries will occur.

From: The Most Valuable Player in Sports: James Andrews

If you could assemble a superstar, Frankenstein-style, from Andrews’s patients, it would have repaired knees from quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Donovan McNabb; a hip from dual-sports sensation Bo Jackson; shoulders from Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley; and elbows from the New York Yankees’ Andy Pettitte and the Chicago Cubs’ Kerry Wood. “I’ve always liked fixing people,” Andrews says. “I want to get these athletes back to doing what they did before.”

This is a fairly long read but worth the time. Here’s a short excerpt to get you interested:

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If you haven’t already seen it make sure to check out Patrick from NPB Tracker’s post on some of the weirder pitches and pitching occurrences in recent Japanese Baseball. He highlights Satoru Komiyama’s “Shake” pitch, which the artist himself describes as a forkball with no thumb pressure. Here’s a video of the pitch:

Ah the lengths pitchers will go to in order to remain viable in their 18th year. He’s also got a video of Ichiro throwing in a high school All-star game against Hideki Matsui.  

Spectators of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will take home precious memories of Usain Bolt winning the 100m and 200m dash in record time, Korea emerging as the team to beat in baseball, the glorious extra innings rule, and Michael Phelps winning 11 gazillion gold medals.  Oh, and that guy running around the ball in the opening ceremony was pretty cool.

Now that the buzz of olympic ecstasy is starting to fade, the question remains:  Was it worth it to bring the Olympics to Beijing? It sure was if you ask Jacques Rogge, who declared that the Olympics brought “unprecedented global scrutiny” to China.  Rogge, congratulating the IOC’s efforts, declared that the “changes in China are obvious today,” and that “others will become apparent with time”.

Outside of a few fancy new stadiums, here are the changes: Approximately 2 million people displaced from their homes, leaving scores homeless. 200 protestors who chained themselves to their homes–including a 77 and 79 year old woman– deported to labour “re-education” camps.  Other protesters beaten unconscious with electric batons.   150 Tibetans killed by police during a peaceful demonstration (warning: link graphic).
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About a year into my stay in Korea I got pretty wrapped up in audio book University-style lecture series. The most common brand of these is The Teaching Company, but there’s another called The Modern Scholar. TTC advertises in Harper’s, The Atlantic and I believe the NYT. My guess is these are often used as teaching tools in high school classrooms, although I can also imagine socialites in New York City listening to them on the Stairmaster to prep for that night’s cocktail party.

So if that didn’t just turn you off completely let me tell you I recently found a TMS series called Take Me Out To the Ballgame: A History of Baseball in America and it’s been glued to my ears during the past couple days. I guess you might call it an intellectual look at the game, its history, the changes and overhauls it’s undergone, and its relationship to American culture. Even if you know your Tris Speakers and Walter Johnsons you’ll still find plenty here.

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Japanese girls dancing in high school uniforms? Ok, sounds fun. Dancing in said uniforms to music taken from an Xbox 360 game? Ok, not exactly my thing, but I still like the dancing. Doing said dance in said uniforms in front of the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima?

Ummm.

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According to the Daily Mainichi Kirin Breweries has unveiled a new beer with a lucky seven percent alcohol content. Called “Strong Seven,” the beer will sell for around 141 yen ($1.28) for a 350ml can, and 197 yen ($1.80) for a 500ml can.

Are those prices correct?!

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Even though it concerns Koreans I haven’t paid much attention to the stories about the LPGA’s new mandate that it’s golfers must speak passable English. Much of the coverage has seemed to suggest that the decision is xenophobic in nature, which I think is absurd. However, Ray Ratto, a columnist I’ve read off and on since I was a kid, hits on the LPGA’s true motive in this in the article Cut through the language, skin soon in LPGA.

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Classic Marmot’s Hole post, if I may say so, concerning rising anti-Korean sentiment in China. A prominent Korean paper has recently run several pieces on the subject, pointing to the fact that during the Olympics Chinese fans took to rooting for 1. China, and 2. Anyone playing Korea.

They even rooted for Japan over Korea.

This is a subject that has long fascinated me since moving to Korea, mostly because I was surprised too see first-hand how terrible Koreans sometimes act toward Chinese people. That’s not to say all Koreans do this, and it’s not to say other races haven’t done it to Koreans and so on. I’m just talking about things I’ve seen and heard second-hand via my wife.

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The fact that Karim Garcia broke a bat over his leg during tonight’s Lotte/Hanwha game isnt’ really the item here. A bat over the leg is always mildly amusing, and probably worth an appearance Sportcenter’s Top 10, but what I really liked was the reaction by the Korean announcers, who really ate it up. In fact, before the inning was over the producers had found clips from each of the five other times Garcia had broken a bat over his leg during the season.

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While big ticket items like Darvish Yu and Uehara Koji  gobble up headlines as the next big thing to come out of Japan, crafty left-hander/magician Naruse Yoshihisa continues to make quiet noise as one of Japan’s top starting pitchers.

While Naruse still has a ways to go before he is eligible for free agency, it’s hard not to take notice  of his spiffy numbers: In his NPB career he is now 21-6 with a 2.32 lifetime E.R.A. for the Chiba Lotte Marines–with 221 k’s to only 48 walks.   Lost in the shuffle of this year’s olympic disappontment for Japan was the fact that Naruse tossed 12 scoreless innings, striking out 19 while walking only 5.

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Simon has an interesting snippet of a conversation between NPB legends Sadaharu Oh and Katsuya Nomura, conerning the Japanese team’s failure in the Olympics. Oh somewhat unfairly rips Toshiya Sugiuchi (who pitched very well vs. The Netherlands and was decent in the second Korea game) and they also digress into the ol’ “kids aren’t built the way they used to be,” but more interestingly they focus on Team Japan’s inability to take a walk.

I’m sure the team is being ripped every which way at home, but I’d throw in the atrocious fielding Takahiko Sato into the mix. He wound up with three errors in the tournament and his drop of a fairly routine fly in the second Korea game was a catalyst of the late rally.

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He is according to Waseda University professor Toshimitsu Shigemura who’s written a book called “The True Character of Kim Jong Il.” One of the assertions in the book is that the Dear Leader is dead.

From Japan Today:

If true, the implications are potentially vast. Among them: former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s summit partner during one or both of his landmark visits to Pyongyang in 2002 and 2004 was not Kim himself but a dummy—the stand-in Shigemura claims has been fooling the world for at least five years.

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