"The players were united and focused"

The Lotte Giants won the fifth game of the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League season against KT Wiz 2-0 on Saturday at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea. With the win, Lotte snapped a four-game losing streak that began last weekend against the LG Twins.

Lotte made a number of changes to their starting lineup on the day. The good news is that Noh Jin-hyeok, who has been swinging the bat in the second team recently, was called up to the first team. Noh had been practicing at first and third base with the second team, and for the first time in his professional career, he was in the starting lineup with a first base mitt. Hwang Sung-bin and Han Dong-hee, who had been out of the field due to a hamstring injury, started side by side.

 

However, bad news followed. While preparing for the match, "Captain" Jeon Jun-woo suffered a left calf muscle cramp that forced him to pull out of the game. After limping back to the dugout, Jeon was taken to the hospital for a checkup. The detailed results are expected on the 17th. If he can recover in two to three days, it"s a good thing, but if the majortotosite.top injury is prolonged, Lotte could be in for another injury-plagued season.

Hwang Sung-bin, who returned to lead off for Lotte on this day, was absolutely flying. From drawing a walk to start the first inning and playing a big role in scoring the game"s first run, to perfectly fulfilling his role as the "link" with a surprise bunt single in his second at-bat, to his final at-bat in the eighth inning, where he went 2-for-3 with an infield single in front of the third baseman, scoring one run and drawing one walk. In particular, he made a jumping catch of Moon Sang-chul"s home run in the sixth inning.

 

On the mound, Park Se-woong, the "Glasses Ace," pitched his best game. Park, who had a 12-6 record with a 3.80 ERA in 36 appearances against KT prior to this game, overcame three potential run-scoring situations to earn his fourth win of the season with a quality start (six innings of three earned runs or less), throwing 101 pitches, allowing four hits, one walk, and striking out six in six innings.

 

"Park Se-woong pitched well with six innings of relief, and Jeon Mir and Kim Won-joong did a good job of keeping the game scoreless," said coach Kim Tae-hyung after the game. "Hwang Sung-bin, who returned from injury, did a good job not only on offense but also on defense, and despite the injury to captain Jeon Jun-woo, the players were able to win with a united heart and focus," he smiled.

Tottenham suffered a disastrous defeat, and "captain" Son Heung-min didn"t have much to show for it.

Tottenham lost 0-4 away to Newcastle United in the 33rd round of the 2023-24 English Premier League (EPL) at St. James" Park in Newcastle on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET. 

Son Heung-min, who started as a frontline striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation, was uncharacteristically taken off early. He was replaced by Dejan Kulusebski in the 13th minute of the second half with the team trailing 0-3 and played 58 minutes. 

Son didn"t record a single shot in the entire 58 minutes. It"s hard to say that Son was the only one who struggled. Overall, Spurs were outplayed by Newcastle. Spurs" connections in the attacking third were poor, and few of their passes reached Son in the first place. The team"s lack of buildup left Son isolated.

As a result, Son had to put the 10-10 goal on the back burner. With 15 goals and nine assists in the EPL this season, Heung-min is just one assist away from joining the 10-10 club. Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) was the next player to join the 10-10 club, but it didn"t happen.

 

After threatening early in the first half, Newcastle broke the 0-0 deadlock in the 30th minute. After breaking up a Tottenham buildup at the back, the ball was played through to Alexander Isaac. Isaac easily beat Tottenham center back Mickey van der Penn to open the scoring for Spurs.

Newcastle scored shortly after Tottenham"s kickoff. Anthony Gordon beat van der Penn with a right-footed shot that found the back of the net. 

 

It was just the beginning. After coming close to adding to their lead on several occasions, the Magpies finally conceded a third goal seven minutes into the second half through Isaac. Setting up a ?? counter-attack on the halfway line, Isaac latched onto a long ball from behind and finished with his right foot to complete his hat-trick.

 

Spurs made a flurry of early substitutions in hopes of turning the tide, but they were met with one more blow. In the 43rd minute, Fabian Scherer found the back of the net with a header from a corner kick. 

 

It was a crushing defeat that quickly dampened the good mood. Tottenham beat Nottingham Forest on Aug. 8 to move into fourth place in the table, which qualifies them for next season"s UEFA Champions League (UCL). However, they are level on points with fifth-place Aston Villa and needed to win at Newcastle, but they slipped up. The fight for fourth place is likely to be even more intense. Meanwhile, Newcastle (50 points) leapfrogged Manchester United (49 points) into fifth place.

Tottenham Hotspur is saying goodbye to Ivan Perisic.

Tottenham will face Burnley in the third round (round of 64) of the 2023-24 English FA Cup at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, on June 6 at 5 p.m. ET.

Prior to the match, head coach Enze Postecoglou held a press conference. During the press conference, he was asked about Perisic. "Postecoglou said Perisic will not play for Tottenham again," reports Football London. He underwent surgery on an anterior cruciate ligament injury in training last September. Perisic is determined to play at UEFA Euro 2024 in the summer and has been linked with a move to Croatian club HNK Hajduk Split after the end of the season." The report focused on Postecoglou"s response.

"Perisic has commitments with the Croatian national team that he needs to return to as soon as possible," Postecoglu said. (Perisic"s departure) is a major loss for us. We thought Perisic"s experience this season would help us a lot, and we saw that in the first few games. But he will not play for Tottenham again," he said, confirming the end of the partnership.

 

Last season, Tottenham were nothing special. Ivan Perisic himself had a disappointing season, especially after his ambitious signing Antonio Conte was sacked after a tumultuous spell at the club. Towards the end of the season, his playing time dropped dramatically.

Tottenham started the new season under Postecoglou. After an assist in the fifth round against Sheffield United, Perisic suffered a horrific anterior cruciate ligament tear. Perisic was sidelined for the rest of the season.

Even after returning from injury, we never saw Perisic play for Tottenham. He wants to ????? play at the Euros and plans to spend his twilight years in his native Croatia.

 

Tottenham, meanwhile, have an FA Cup run in which they can realistically challenge for the title. Their opponent is Burnley, managed by Vincent Kompany. How they overcome the departures of key players such as Son Heung-min, Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr, James Maddison, and Mickey van der Vaart will be key to this match.

"Our team is too up and down. When we"re up, we play well...it"s important to stay in the game."

It was a hard-fought victory. Kim and Yelena led the way with 27 points apiece. However, the commander was not satisfied.

Heungkuk Life came from behind to win the second round of the Dodram 2023-2024 Women"s V League Women"s Division on April 21 at Chungmu Gymnasium in Daejeon with a 3-2 set score. The team was down 1-2, but turned it around with a strong performance. Her concentration in clutch moments was overwhelming.

"It wasn"t our best game, but it feels good to win," said Heungkuk Life coach Marcelo Abondanza after the match. Jeong Kwan-jang is the only team to hand Heungkuk Life a loss this season. "We trained a lot to not lose twice," he said in the pre-match briefing.

 

"It was a tough game. As a team, we keep going up and down. When we"re up, we play well, but when we"re down, we"re too down. I hope we can keep it up."

The team was led by Do Su-bin"s steady reception and digs. In blocking, they out-blocked the taller Jeong Kwan-jang 11-5, with Lee Ju-ah grabbing four blocks.

 

However, Coach Abondanza was not satisfied. "Honestly, our blocking and defense were good, but at some point, when there is confusion, we lose focus. It doesn"t ???????? work as well as we planned," he said, emphasizing that it was more a matter of concentration than skill.

 

Still, it"s encouraging to see Yelena bounce back. Once again, she torched the opponent"s court with 27 points and a 52.1% attack percentage. She was held to just one point in the first set, but came on strong in the second.

 

"She wasn"t bad in the first set, but she only scored one point," Abondanza said. "She"s getting better and better every game. Today, she got better and better as the sets went on. Even if she didn"t start well, her finish was quite good."

NC Dinos ace Eric Peddie will not pitch in Game 3 of the best-of-five semi-final series.

 

"It will be difficult for him to start Game 3," NC head coach Kang Myung-hyun said after the team defeated SSG Landers 7-3 in Game 2 of the 2023 Shinhan Bank Shootout KBO Semi-Final at SSG Landers Field in Incheon, South Korea.

 

He continued, "After training today, he expressed anxiety and had a medical examination. He was diagnosed with elbow impingement syndrome. If we go to Game 4 or 5, we will monitor his condition and decide on a pitching date."

 

Pedi, who won the pitcher"s triple crown with a 20-6 record, 2.00 ERA and 209 strikeouts, was hit in the right forearm by a Jong-Wook Koh pitch on April 16 against the Gwangju KIA Tigers.

He was unable to pitch in the wild-card game due to scheduling conflicts, but with NC advancing to the semifinals, he was given the opportunity to pitch in fall baseball.

However, it was Shin Min-hyuk, not Pedi, who started Game 1. This was because his injury hadn"t fully healed.

After the 4-3 victory in Game 1, Kang said, "Pedi threw 19 bullpen pitches and was about 90% recovered. It"s hard for him to pitch in Game 2 because he has anxiety," Kang said, adding, "We"ll set a pitching schedule after watching his recovery."

After that game, he locked in Pedi as the Game 3 starter. "I can"t go backwards anymore. I"m going to pitch Game 3," he said with a confident tone, adding, "I know he has anxiety, but ?? it"s better to pitch than to put it off any longer."

 

But that changed about five hours later, as Pedi continued to show signs of anxiety.

Kang said, "It"s hard to pitch in the third game at all. We need to see his condition the day after tomorrow. It"s important to listen to his doctor."

With two consecutive wins, there are some who wonder if the team can afford to postpone Pedi"s appearance.

In response, Kang said, "It"s not like that at all. It has nothing to do with the outcome of today"s game."

In Game 3, Tanner Tully will start in place of Peddie.

 

"We don"t need Peddie to win," Kang said. Our offense is on the rise, so I think we"ll have a good game in Game 3," Kang said.