Manager for KBO's best club pleased with consistent effort

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- With his LG Twins on a roll in the early part of the new Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season, manager Youm Kyoung-youb isn't just happy with their gaudy record. He is also pleased with his players' consistent effort, regardless of the scores.

The Twins routed the Kiwoom Heroes 13-1 on Tuesday, after building a 10-0 lead after three innings. It would have been perfectly reasonable for Twins players to go through the motions for the rest of the blowout, but Youm noted Wednesday they stayed locked in the whole time.

"In the past, most of our players would have lost their focus and pitchers would have been throwing nothing but fastballs just to get quick outs," Youm said at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, before facing the Heroes for the second game of their three-game series. "Some guys used to ask me to take them out of games like that because they couldn't stay focused. But we no longer have that issue because all of our players have the same mindset, whether we're up 10-0 or 1-0. That's really important."

The Twins are 11-1-0 (wins-losses-ties) to sit atop the KBO standings. It's the best start to a season in franchise history.

Youm praised catcher Park Dong-won for sticking to the game plan with starter Son Ju-young in Tuesday's win and said Twins relievers must maintain a similarly consistent approach when they enter lopsided games.

"When relievers come in and throw only fastballs in those situations, then they won't get better. And that defeats the whole purpose of being on the mound, because I put them into games hoping they will improve," Youm went on. "Hitters must also understand they have to take care of business regardless of what the scoreboard says.

"Ending the game early isn't important. We have to play our brand of baseball," Youm continued. "And if we do that, games will end early."

Tuesday's game happened to be the quickest one of the day, as it took two hours and 59 minutes.

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