That [Kim’s] talent has moved up the timetable could greatly impact the NL playoff picture. THREE hours before first pitch, nearly seven hours before a game that would have all the pace of a sled trying to move on flat, dry ground, Buck Showalter predicted the initial post-game question.
“Who’s your closer?”
That he actually had to respond to that late yesterday afternoon spoke to both his prescience and, perhaps, to a Met blunder that only might help determine who does and doesn’t make the NL playoffs this year.
Byung-Hyun Kim authored a Natural-esque debut by putting down the Mets’ three best hitters in order, finishing with a strikeout of Mike Piazza that the 20-year-old Korean said ‘was a dream come true.”
That work saved an 8-7 Arizona triumph that gave the Diamondbacks the first two games of this series with their ace, Randy Johnson, going today.
For the record, Showalter said Gregg Olson is still his closer. He said it with less conviction than Dave Checketts has endorsed Jeff Van Gundy. It is understandable. Olson blew a save Opening Day by allowing Los Angeles’ Raul Mondesi to hit a three-run, ninth-inning homer, the first of his NL-high five blown saves.
Friday, against the Mets, Olson did register his sixth save. But he did it in such a bases-loaded, hold-your-breath fashion as to explain the concern about him. And he did it by needing 28 pitches, making Showalter feel he was unavailable for yesterday. Kim was.
“That is a lot to ask of a young guy in his first year in the States,” Mets GM Steve Phillips said of Kim being a closer. “Maybe he’ll do it.”
The expectation was that Kim could emerge as the Diamondback closer by the second half. That his talent has moved up the timetable could greatly impact the NL playoff picture.
Memorial Day Weekend is traditionally the time to begin pondering such matters. And, right now, Arizona is the NL West leader and in less than 24 hours moved from one-half gave worse than the Mets to 1 games better. These issues matter for the wild card since 10 NL teams began yesterday either in a playoff spot or within three games of one. September promises to be a demolition derby of teams vying for the four spots.
And now, perhaps, the great weakness of one contender, Arizona, is not anymore because Kim may be able to close. If that is so, the Mets may rue letting him slip away.
Both Phillips and his assistant, Omar Minaya, were not particularly expansive in discussing how they pursued Kim, as both used the phrase that the Mets “were involved” in the bidding. Bobby Valentine, who has a specialty in Asian matters from his background managing in Japan’s league, did not even want to talk about the subject.
A major-league official said the matter has caused great dissension among the Met front office, dividing those that wanted to go after him at substantial costs against those that did not.
Asked after the game whether he was ever close to signing with the Mets, Kim’s translator, Min-Soo Kim (no relation) never even looked at the pitcher beside him and said, “He doesn’t know.”
I asked if he could actually ask the pitcher. He said, “We both don’t know.” One more request to actually ask the pitcher was met with, “His job is to pitch, he doesn’t know.”
Kim’s adviser, Young Cheun, also refused to discuss the topic.
Kim was part of a Korean national team that played the Mets in the spring of 1997, when the Mets were in the process of pursuing the touted Jae Weong Seo, whom they ultimately signed.
It was believed the Mets had a window until the Asian Games last offseason to seal Kim, but would not make the necessary financial commitment. Then Kim had a superb Games and more than a dozen teams got into the bidding, with Arizona winning with a four-year deal at around $2.25 million, about three times the Mets’ pre-Asian Games offer.
After being summoned Thursday from the minors – where he breezed through Double- and Triple-A the past two months – Kim hinted at more than meets the eye, since that is all of 5-foot-9, 171 pounds of reedy proportions and smile. He reacted with poise to what awaited him: a hostile Shea crowd of 35,167, Valentine attempting to throw him off by asking that the size of the pitcher’s glove be measured, and Edgardo Alfonzo, John Olerud and Piazza.
Showalter said he expected the composure, reminding that as pressure goes, this was nothing. In the Asian Games, Kim had excelled when the promise for a championship was getting out of a two-year, mandatory military service.
Kim throws in a rather unique manner with nearly a submarine delivery from which he can throw 90-92 mph fastballs and several variations of breaking pitches. He did not wilt after falling behind Alfonzo 3-1, throwing four straight strikes, the last a slider on which Alfonzo flied out to center. Kim then got Olerud to fly to left. At 0-2 on Piazza, Kim unleashed an 84- mph slider that gave off the illusion of rising. Catcher Damian Miller called it a “Nintendo slider because it had such a big bend, like a video game.”
Piazza swung through it and Kim pumped his fist jubilantly.
“It was fun to be here today to see that,” Showalter said.
You can imagine, starting from the ninth inning yesterday, that the Mets as an organization don’t see the fun in it.