Chuseok Baseball Game

Ventured forth to Gocheok Skydome today with pal The Stumbler to watch the Heroes meet the KT Wiz. The start was inauspicious, and I'm not only referring to the Wiz taking a 6 - nil lead in the top of the first. It was our understanding that the ticket prices were 50% off--this was true, but as it turned out, only in the nose-bleed seats.

First, a little context as this is the first time I've arrived from the new exit (#2) at Guil Station on line 1. I blogged one of my previous trips here. The exit there was more scenic, but they've done some interesting things at the new exit, including a series of stellae that display a timeline of the history of baseball in Korea.


Even though the little pizza/soju kiosk in the second pic above was closed (and as The Stumbler pointed out, if one is going to grant a concession, a minimum requirement should be that it is open on game days ...) the food available was pretty good. New York Hot Dog and Coffee still has the closest thing to a legitimate chili cheese dog in Korea. There was also a chicken skewer shop good enough that we went back for more. And they are now selling the 1 liter "saeng maekchu" for 6000 W like they did back in Mokdong Stadium.

And if you could wait, there was a "maekchu-nim" who came by with fresh Cass on his back:


Sadly, he was the only such dude for the whole stadium! The other traditional constant one must love about baseball in Korea is the cheerleaders. Here are the KT Wiz boosters:


Anyway, the game. The Heroes' opening pitcher, Park Ju-hyeon (sorry, no hangeul on this computer), quickly dug a deep, deep hole, giving up five runs without a single out in the first. The Nexen squad gradually fought their way back into the game, with a big 4th inning and finally taking a 8 - 6 lead in the seventh. Here I am posing as the tenth run scores in the eighth:


There's no "pocha" scene after the games--at least not yet--so we wandered across the street to a promising-looking "eating street" and settled into a "Beer Caps" for a while with a nice view: