April 2012

BUSAN, South Korea -- American pitcher Shane Youman tossed a one hitter Sunday, leading the Lotte Giants to a 5-0 win while taking two of three games at home this week against the LG Twins.

Youman (3-0) pitched his first nine-inning shutout of his career, striking out seven in a dominating performance from the mound. Giants catcher Kang Min-ho hit a two-run homer in the eighth to seal the win for Lotte, who are at the top of the standings early on in the 2012 season.

"The defense played a great part in today's win, and the Lotte fans were great," Youman said after the game.

BUSAN, South Korea - Dong-gu District will hold the Art and Craft Market every Friday until the end of November, from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m. It is called a 'free market' in Korean because it takes place in an open space not normally designated as a market area, such as on a street sidewalk or in the park.

A sure sign of its growing popularity since last year, a wider variety of handicrafts made by young artists with beads, leather, pressed flowers, and polymer clay will be introduced at the free market this year. 

In an art and craft market, local artists come to exhibit and sell their artworks to citizens who have come to buy or browse. The market often takes on the atmosphere of a festival, and is a place where artists and citizens can naturally communicate with each other.

BUSAN, South Korea -- It’s not every day you see a girl with pink hair, rabbit ears and a pair of random foam dice dangling from the sides of her head wandering around outside in the rain with an acoustic guitar she never intends to play. It’s also not every day you see a quiet, unassuming woman selling Korean-language SpongeBob slash fiction.

But once every two months in Busan, you can see oddities such as these – and so much more.

DAEGU, South Korea - The Lotte Giants came away with a win and a loss this week with Samsung, also having to endure another lost game due to the heavy rains Wednesday night.

Lotte seemed primed to lose game 1 of the series, as Samsung took a 2-0 lead into the top of the ninth. Shane Youman pitched six effective innings, giving up two runs and five hits while striking out six, but Lotte's bats came to life in the top of the ninth when Jeon Joon-woo hit a solo homer, and Lotte exploded for six runs to win the game 6-2.

Lee Yong-hoon (3-0) pitched a third of the inning for the win.

After Wednesday's torrential rain canceled the second game, Samsung showed why they are the defending KBO champs by hitting two home runs off Lotte starter Go Won-joon (0-2) and defeating the Giants 6-3. Hong Seung-hoon knocked in two runs for Lotte, while Kim Ju-chan led the attack with two hits.