Chapter 727 – Episode 714. Watch Out for That Guy! (1)
-New York Yankees 7 consecutive wins! A 9-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays!
… The Yankees, thanks to Judge’s final three-run home run…. Meanwhile, Ji Maeng-ho recorded 2 hits in 5 at-bats, 1 run, 1 RBI, and 1 stolen base…
*
Ta – Aak!
Guerrero Jr.’ S batted ball goes over the right wall.
‘Is it a tie now?’
Rodon, the starting pitcher who hit the home run, was constantly spewing out profanity, but honestly, I think it was a ball that could have hit a home run, so I didn’t really sympathize with it. Anyway, Rodon, who was upset, struck out Kataya, the fourth batter, and counted out, but allowed a home run to Bichett, the next batter, widening the score gap.
The score is now 4:3. No matter how I looked at it, the ball seemed to have no power, so I thought for a moment why they wouldn’t change it, but Pothit came on the mound in place of Rodon and settled the remaining out count, ending Toronto’s attack in the bottom of the 6th inning.
‘From what I saw, it seemed like they should have changed it when Guerrero hit a home run.’
I came into the dugout feeling sorry for the upset, but the atmosphere in the dugout didn’t seem that different from usual, perhaps because we were on a 7-game winning streak.
“Where did Rodon go?”
“I don’t know. Where did he go after he threw the glove?”
Well, Rodon seemed very angry after the reversal. Anyway, except for Rodon, there didn’t seem to be many players who were upset about being upset. Does he seem confident that he can turn the tables at any time?
“Let’s go back to the station again!”
“I’m waiting! “I’ll give you a big hit and come back!”
Perhaps as an expression of such confidence, leadoff hitter Volpi walked into the batter’s box shouting loudly. The new pitcher on the mound in Toronto is Francis.
‘Oh, Gausman went down?’
Starting pitcher Gausman’s pitches didn’t look that good, so I took it easy, but most of them were clever pitches that went out of the zone, and the timing was strangely off, so I kept getting caught in front of the fence and was stuck with no hits in 3 at-bats, so it was good news that Gausman went down.
“Strike!”
The new Francis’ first pitch velocity is 94.1 miles (151.4 km/h). These days, I’ve only been practicing hitting balls over 150, and Gausman’s timing was a little off with his balls hitting around 88-90 mph, but now I’m able to hit some speeds that are acceptable.
‘Okay, you’re behind.’
As I waited, thinking about beating Francis, who was throwing over 150,
Perfect!
“Volpi! Volpi! Volpi!”
“Tony! Have you really sharpened your knives and prepared for this season?”
Volpi produced a hit between the second baseman and the shortstop and got on base.
“Ji. “I’m asking you again this time!”
As I prepare to leave the dugout with my bat, I can hear the voices of the players behind me, expecting a shot from me. Does it somehow make me smile because it reminds me of my AT days? Even at, whenever I went to bat, my teammates would look at me with eyes expecting me to hit something big, but not much has changed here either.
“Yes. Please wait.”
I waved to those players once and headed to the waiting box.
‘If I go all the way to Verdugo, is it three runs? Well, if we score two points, the pitchers will feel comfortable throwing.’
For a moment, I thought about getting on base and making a 2-run lead.
Perfect!
Verdugo’s batted ball was headed toward the third baseman, creating a double play.
‘Fuck!’
Toronto’s third baseman comfortably throws the ball to second base and gets one out. But then…,
“Huh?!”
As the second baseman’s throw misses, Verdugo starts running and lands on first base.
‘Ah, damn you bastard. Let’s run a little faster…’
If he had run at full speed from the beginning, it would have been a mistake that could have gotten him to second base, but Verdugo took a walk and the result was 1 out and 1 base. When you hit a home run, it didn’t matter whether the runner was on first or second base, but the pressure the pitcher felt when the runner was on first base and on second base was different, so it was a slightly insulting play.
Still, since there was only one runner on base, it didn’t change the fact that if you hit a home run, it would be an instant comeback. What I’m definitely aiming for is a home run.
‘Let’s go. Mr. Rossby.’
‘Okay. … The first pitch is an outside curve.’
The ball the pitcher chose was an outside curve. I’m sure you’ve seen how I deal with curveballs in the previous 7 games, so it’s a little funny that I’m still throwing curveballs,
“Ball.”
As if he wasn’t so thoughtless, his first pitch had a curve that deviated significantly to the outside. Perhaps because it was thrown by a tall guy, the angle of deflection was large, so it looked quite threatening, but even so, it was a ball that made you think you could hit it right away if it was thrown into the zone at around 70 mph.
‘Did you see whether you were fooled or not? What about the next ball?’
‘It’s a body fastball.’
‘Okay.’
His fastball is around 93-96 mph. It was the perfect speed to hit, but since it was my first time with a pitcher, I decided to wait and see what kind of trajectory the fastball would take.
“Strike!”
And the guy’s fastball hits straight into the body.
‘Is this what a fastball feels like? Okay. Confirm.’
His fastball didn’t feel strange. Among major league pitchers, there were some who threw balls with a slightly floating trajectory, perhaps because they had a lot of spin, so I checked, and fortunately, they didn’t seem to be that type of pitcher.
‘Slider. A low ball that hits the mitt on the ground.’
“Ball.”
‘Is the slider’s trajectory like this? Okay.’
His third ball was a slider that almost hit a one-bounder. An ordinary slider with a larger lateral movement than a vertical movement. The speed is as high as 83 miles (133 km/h)
‘The pitches you throw are four-seam, curve, and slider, right? So, have you seen everything?’
It was quite meaningful to be able to see all the pitches he threw in just 3 pitches. I couldn’t be sure of the outcome when a pitch I had never seen before was thrown with two strikes, but now that I had seen it all once, at least I didn’t have to strike out.
‘Good. Now, if I feel like I’m entering the zone, I’ll just hit it.’
‘It’s an outside slider.’
‘Okay.’
And the fourth ball he chose was a slider that went out. Since it was a trajectory I had seen once, I kept the timing of his slider in my head and waited for his ball.
As I was getting ready to hit his ball, he stretched out his feet and swung his arms.
‘… John Ahn!’
Since I was told it was outside, I had enough time to swing the bat as I was preparing to hit from a little behind,
Ta – Aak!
The ball that hit the center of the bat flew toward the right wall.
“What the Fuck… ?”
And the catcher guy muttering swear words in a low voice.
“Don’t throw the ball into the zone.”
“… ?”
After throwing a word to the catcher and rounding the bases, the scores on the electronic display board began to go up one by one. Now the score is 5:4.
“You crazy bastard! “Six home runs already!”
“Ji! It was a good blow!”
And thanks to the sudden turnaround, the dugout was filled with a festive atmosphere, and starting pitcher Rodon, who was putting on icing after coming out of the break room, came up to me.
“Thanks. Thanks to you, there is no more defeat.”
“It’s my specialty to erase starting pitcher losses.”
“Haha. “I look forward to it in the future.”
Rodon is very happy and pats my shoulder. His face was full of goodwill toward me. Seeing a guy I’m not very close with pretending to be friendly like this, I guess the best way to become friends with a baseball player is to show off his skills.
When I was thinking like that,
Ta – Aak!
The batted ball sent by Judge flew toward left center with a strong hitting sound. And the batted ball soon passes over the fence and the judge begins to calmly circle the base.
“Aaron! Are you starting the engine now?!”
“Captain! Captain! Captain!”
‘Well, at this rate, 8 consecutive wins won’t be a problem.’
*
“That’s it for today. Bowden.”
“… I understand.”
“Don’t worry. “Our batters will soon turn things around.”
‘I guess so. Fuck.’
At the pitching coach’s words, Francis cursed under his breath and left the dugout. The team’s current record is 2 wins and 6 losses. He will probably have 2 wins and 7 losses with this game, and the loss will be written on his record.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
When I think about that, a curse word naturally comes out. As Francis was throwing his glove and laughing, someone approached him and spoke to him.
“So, I told you so. “Be careful of him.”
The main character of that voice was Crongs, who was the team’s actual ace. Crongs, who recorded 11 wins, 7 losses, and an ERA of 3.65 in Toronto last season, is off to a good start this season as he recorded an average ERA of 1.38 over 13 innings, taking responsibility for the first win of a team that had only two wins. It was.
And, before starting the series with the Yankees, he was the one who was always warning me to be careful of Ji Maeng-ho.
“Well, every time he played against me, he hit the ball towards the fence. Anyway, don’t worry too much, Bowden. Because things like this happen as the season progresses.”
And Gausman, today’s starter and a veteran pitcher whose victory was lost, approached him and spoke to him. Francis might have been annoyed that his victory was lost, but Francis calmed down his anger and expressed his apologies to Gausman after seeing him comforted like a veteran.
“Sorry. Kevin. “I should have protected you.”
“Are you okay. Because the season is still long.”
“Haha. Next time you deal with him, be more careful.”
And as I calmed down my anger, I heard the words of Crongs, who had been warning me about Ji Maeng-ho even before the series started. When he first gathered the pitcher’s group and warned them about Ji Maeng-ho, we thought he was in trouble because he was the guy who pitched in Korea.
The slider he threw would have hit the outside borderline if he hadn’t swung the bat, and there weren’t many people who could hit that ball, so he felt it wasn’t just a joke.
Since Francis was around the same age as Crongs, he knew Crongs well as he was ranked as a prospect.
Since his days as a prospect, Crongs has been evaluated as a player who could make the starting rotation in the major leagues, but he was famous for his trashy work style, and caused various troubles such as discord with his teammates and drunk driving. In addition, due to his maverick style, he ended up going to Korea. It was a guy.
Although he has been working hard at baseball since going to Korea, I was really curious as to why he was praising the Asian hitter so much since I had never seen him praise anyone during our time together for the past year.
“Okay, Matt. What was he like in Korea?”
“Ji? Hehe, take a good look. Because this guy will become the best hitter in the major leagues. The three years I spent with him were a time when I realized what baseball was. Besides, he will probably do better than he did in Korea.”
“Huh? Why?”
“He quit drinking. He asked me out for a drink yesterday, but I declined. When he was in Korea, he was a guy who liked drinking and women, but as soon as he came to the majors, he turned them all down. A talent as talented as this guy quits drinking and dating and focuses on baseball? Maybe the judge can get over it. Watch him.”
‘No, I asked you to tell me what kind of guy he is, so why are you praising him? Is that guy really Jesus?’
When I asked him to tell me what kind of batting style he had, the sight of Crongs only praising him made me wonder if he had created a believer like Jesus, a nickname given to him by the media.
“No, what’s your batting style like?”
“Hehe, I don’t know about that either. Because when Ji was in Korea, all the pitchers were busy avoiding him. If the game had been played properly, Ji would have hit over 100 home runs.”
“Fuck. Matt! Put that bullshit aside, how should I deal with this guy? “We have one more game left.”
“How do I know that? I plan to avoid all games with the Yankees. There’s no need to hurt my record by dealing with Ji.”
‘Of course, this guy is trash.’
Perhaps because it was trash that was famous in the minors, nothing particularly nutritious was said.
However, the fact that such a trash guy recognized Ji Maeng-ho even during his time in Korea, and the fact that the same guy that Crongs recognized stopped drinking and dating women in the majors and focused on baseball, sent chills down Francis’ spine.
And in the top of the 8th inning,
Ta – Aak!
Ji Maeng-ho’s batted ball with the bases loaded went over the left field fence, and as he watched him push it and Cabrera pull it to create a home run, Francis pledged himself to one thing.
‘… I guess I will have to avoid him from now on until his weaknesses are analyzed.’
