Heroes slugger Park named MVP for July

Nexen Heroes slugger Park Byung-ho has been named the KBO League MVP for July, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Tuesday.

The KBO said that Park received 10 out of 28 votes from the reporters, beating Samsung Lions rookie hitter Koo Ja-wook by one vote. Lions third baseman Park Sok-min was third at eight votes.

This is the fourth time Park has won the monthly MVP award. The 29-year-old previously won the award in May 2012, September 2013 and May 2014.

Park, who joined the Heroes in 2011 from the LG Twins, had a .357 batting average, 10 home runs and 31 RBIs in 20 games last month. For the season, he tops the league with 34 home runs and 127 hits as of Monday. He is also the co-leader in RBIs at 94 and fourth in batting average at .344.

Park, who is looking for his fourth straight home run and RBI title in the league, will receive 2 million won ($1,717) for the award as well as 1 million won in coupons from KBO main sponsor Tirebank.

If delayed, KBO will play Monday games

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Tuesday that starting from Aug. 10, league games will be played on Monday if the weekend games are cancelled due to bad weather. Currently, the league plays six days a week except on Mondays.

The KBO said that if the Saturday or Sunday games scheduled between Aug. 8 and Sept. 6 are cancelled for bad weather, they will be played on Mondays. The KBO added that it will announce the game schedule later for cancelled weekday games.

Up to Monday, 67 games had been cancelled due to rain. Considering that the monsoon season isn’t over yet, there could be even more cancelled games. The KBO already said that it would consider double-headers if the league cannot meet its schedule.