I know the rest of the United States of America absolutely hates the Yankees. I know that Kim was responsible for putting the Yanks back into both these last two games. But lordamercy, I’ve never seen such a vicious lynch mob running after a 22 year old newbie who did a fine bit of pitching before he gave up those two homeruns.
I’ve heard: Break both his arms! Yum Yum Kim (both of these on this very board). Kim che eating rice lover (IRL).
Shouldn’t all this hatred be better directed at Brenly? Is this promising pitcher’s career over before it started?
It seems to me that with a relief pitcher you have to strike a delicate balance between giving them enough rope and not letting them hang themselves. Kim pitched superbly against the Braves in the NLCS and certainly deserved a chance to baffle the Yankees and get started on the road toward being the next Mark Wohlers. Unfortunately, he made the least of that opportunity and now he’s on the road toward being the next Mark Wohlers.
Brenly’s mistake was trotting him out there the second night. If I’ve done my math right, Kim averaged just over 20 pitches per appearance during the 2001 season. In game 4, he threw 55 pitches. He shouldn’t even have been an option for game 5.
In Kim’s defense, his ERA improved in regular season play from '99-'01 (minus the time he spent improving in the minors when he was sent back in 00, I think). I may be wrong here, but he’s currently at about 2.94 cumulative with the recent trouble. Plus, as knead to know pointed out, Kim delivered very well in the Atlanta series.
On a more subjective hand-wringing note, the poor guy looked like he was ready to cry afer throwing that game 5 pitch. My guess is that it will be some time before his pitching confidence returns again. The game 5 decision to put Kim in to close may have been an attempt to correct game 4’s loss of confidence. I think Brenly was confident that Kim would rise to the occasion - in hindsight it was a mistake.
