The Lotte Giants, who have passed the biggest hurdle after the opening of the 2023 season, aim for a last-minute leap in the first half. The goal set by the command tower is ‘7 Chi All’.
Lotte coach Larry Sutton had time to look back on the month of June ahead of the 7th game of the season against the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League Doosan Bears held at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan on the 1st.토토 가입머니
Coach Sutton said, “Everyone knows, but we started the regular season with good results in April and May.” I had a hard time in June because the complex parts that fell to the top overlapped.”
Lotte recorded a win-loss margin of ‘+10’ with 27 wins and 17 losses in the season until May. It caused a sensation to rise to third place, two games behind the first place LG Twins and one game behind second place SSG Landers. Even up to this point, Lotte’s ‘momentum’ seemed unlikely to fade easily.
Starting in June wasn’t bad either. Lotte’s flow was not bad even when it was decorated with a winning series in the 3rd home game against the KIA Tigers on the 2nd to 4th.
However, the crisis began when he was swept by KT Wiz in resignation on June 6-8. On the 9th, they beat the Samsung Lions and ended their losing streak, but on the 10th and 11th, they gave up the game and bowed their heads with the losing series. After returning to resignation, he was shaken with 1 win and 2 losses until 3 consecutive matches against the Hanwha Eagles during the week.
Even the 9 consecutive matches in the metropolitan area against SSG (Incheon) – KT (Suwon) – LG (Jamsil), which immediately followed, all fell on their knees in the losing series. As the sweep was dedicated to KT once again, the team atmosphere rapidly subsided. While losing ‘-10’ with 6 wins and 16 losses per month until the 4th week of June, the season performance was also 31 wins and 31 losses, barely pulling at 50%. As they were chased by 5th place Doosan by 1 game, 6th place Kiwoom by 2 games, and 7th place KT by 2.5 games, concerns about a fall in the middle ranks only grew.
Outfielder Ahn Kwon-soo was out in the first half due to surgery, and the bad news increased, including injuries to starting shortstop Noh Jin-hyeok, veteran right-handed hitter Jeong-hoon, and ace Na Kyun-ahn. The word ‘DTD’, which I don’t want to face, started following Lotte.
Lotte took a breather by winning two consecutive come-from-behind victories against Samsung on June 27-28. After an extended bloody battle against Doosan on the 30th, it was decorated with victory and ran for three consecutive victories. Although the winning streak ended with a loss against Doosan on the 1st, the fight for the rankings at the end of the first half became more interesting as it chased the 3rd place NC by 0.5 games.
The return of key players who left due to injuries is also imminent. Na Kyun-an’s start against the Hanwha Eagles in Daejeon on the 4th is almost confirmed. Noh Jin-hyeok and Jung-hoon step on the schedule to return to the first team after raising their senses in the Futures League. Right-hander young gun Choi Jun-yong, who played an active role as a setup man until last year, is also recovering to normal condition. With 100% power, conditions are being prepared to challenge as many multipliers as possible until the All-Star break on the 14th of next month.
Because of this, Sutton is optimistic about the July outlook. He did not mention the number of goals scored in the remaining games in the first half, but he believes in the recovery of the team’s performance as much as he has overcome a hurdle.
Coach Sutton said, “Lotte’s performance in June itself was not bad. There were games that were winning but were overturned in the second half, but the overall content was good.” he explained.
“The content was good means that the players fought hard on the ground. I will continue to find ways to win every day until the players who are injured return,” he said. I hope it will be a month where the atmosphere changes and you can hit and go up.”
Coach Sutton focuses more on the positives than the negatives, but it is difficult to be optimistic about Lotte’s July. Although the starting rotation is running stably, the ups and downs of the batting line are still large. 꽁머니사이트
Against Doosan on the 1st, it was also a loss that the other line failed to save scoring opportunities several times. In order for Sutton’s wish of ‘7-all’ to come true, the key is to achieve the same pitching balance in April and May.