Having dropped two straight road games against the LG Twins to begin the Korean Series, the Hanwha Eagles are returning home for what they hope will be the maximum three games in friendly confines.
The best-of-seven championship round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will be in the central city of Daejeon for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Thursday -- and Game 5 on Friday, if the Eagles manage to win at least one of the next two games here.
The Twins won their first two home games at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul in convincing fashion, 8-2 and then 13-5. Only two times out of 21 previous occasions have a club gone on to win the Korean Series title after falling into a 2-0 hole.
If the Eagles can replicate their regular-season success at home, the brand-new Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark, then they will find themselves in a good position to join that rare company.
The Eagles had the highest home winning percentage this season at 44-27-2 (wins-losses-ties). They won seven out of 16 games against the Twins during the regular season and five of those victories came in Daejeon.
The Eagles' Game 3 starter, Cody Ponce, made one regular-season start against the Twins at home on June 14, and held them to a run on four hits in six innings while striking out 10.
And most of the Eagles' high-leverage relievers kept the Twins off the board when they hosted them in Daejeon, including closer Kim Seo-hyeon, who notched three saves while tossing 5 2/3 scoreless innings.
From the lineup, No. 3 hitter Moon Hyun-bin batted .357 with a home run against the Twins in Daejeon, while cleanup Roh Si-hwan put up a .417 batting average with a home run at home.
And if these players can build on their strong resume, they will go a long way toward helping their manager, Kim Kyung-moon, end some personal Korean Series droughts.
Over his illustrious managerial career, which includes over 1,000 regular-season wins, Kim has never led a team to a Korean Series title and has never won a home game during the championship series.
Kim was the runner-up as the manager of the Doosan Bears in 2005, 2007 and 2008, and as the bench boss for the NC Dinos in 2016.
He has gone 3-18 in Korean Series games, with the 2005 Bears and the 2016 Dinos getting swept. And none of those three wins came at home, leaving Kim 0-10 in home games in his Korean Series career.
Kim has also lost 10 straight Korean Series games, his last victory having come in the opener of the 2008 series. (Yonhap)
