Hyun-Jin Ryu registered another quality start in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ first-ever regular season game in the Bronx, but suffered his third defeat of the season as his team fell 6-4 to the New York Yankees on Wednesday.

Ryu gave up three runs on five hits and two walks. One of the runs was a solo homer by Ichiro Suzuki in the sixth inning, which extended the Yankees’ lead to three as the Dodgers were held scoreless until the seventh. He threw 111 pitches and struck out four.

Ichiro’s countryman Hiroki Kuroda, a former Dodger, pitched six and two-thirds innings and gave up just two runs. It was reportedly the ninth time a Japanese pitcher has faced a Korean pitcher in a major league game. Continue Reading »

An egregiously lethargic South Korean national soccer team lost 1-0 to Iran in Ulsan, but the one-goal loss was enough to squeeze it into next summer’s World Cup in Brazil.

Despite dominating time of possession, the Koreans failed to create many clear-cut chances against Iran, which put 10 men behind the ball while playing off of counter-attacks.

Korean defender Kim Young-kwon whiffed the ball in his own half in the 59th minute, allowing Reza Ghoochannejhad to pick him off before slotting home the game’s only goal past Jung Sung-ryong. By defeating Korea, Iran finished in first place in Group A of Asian qualifying. Continue Reading »

Storied German soccer club Bayer Leverkusen signed up-and-coming South Korean star Son Heung-min on Thursday to a lucrative deal worth as much as $33.3 million.

Son finished last season as Hamburg SV’s top scorer after notching 12 goals in the 2012-13 German Bundesliga. As his initial contract with Hamburg was set to expire in June 2014, he garnered interest from some of Europe’s most prestigious clubs, with the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool of the English Premier League reportedly showing interest in signing the 20-year-old goal-scoring phenom.

Despite being courted by the big name clubs in England, Son chose to stay in Germany instead by signing with Leverkusen. The young upstart preferred staying in Germany where he has lived since he was 16-year-old junior prospect in 2008. He is now fluent in German and has been enjoying the celebrity lifestyle there. Continue Reading »

South Korean pitcher Byung-hyun Kim, who now plays for the Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization after having played in the major leagues for the Arizona Diamondbacks, is facing a disciplinary hearing for deliberately throwing a ball at the home plate umpire in a game.

Kim was taken off the mound in the fourth inning against the Lotte Giants on Wednesday with the score tied 3-3. As he reached the Heroes’ dugout with the ball in his glove, he threw the ball in the direction of the home plate umpire Moon Seung-hoon. Moon then confronted Kim by the dugout and ejected him for misconduct.

However, Kim denied that his throw at the umpire was deliberate. Continue Reading »

Hyun-Jin Ryu weathered the storm and put himself and the Los Angeles Dodgers in position to win, but the Arizona Diamondbacks clawed their way back in the 12th inning to forge a hard fought 8-6 victory on Wednesday night.

Ryu struggled to locate his four-seam fastball all night, and gave up season-high 11 hits in six innings. He still managed to keep the game under control and held the National League West leading D-backs to only three runs while striking out two, despite putting runners on base in every inning he worked.

“My fastball was coming over the center off the plate all game, and my velocity really wasn’t there,” Ryu said after the game. “But I think that’s because for the first time in a while I went off of four days’ rest.” Continue Reading »

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