Chapter 747 – Episode 734. The Best Catcher in the League. (1)
: The Yankees are being ruined because of you! Your selfish behavior doesn’t suit our team! Get out now!
“Why are there so many idiots?”
It’s been a while since I went to work at the stadium. I opened the DM window to see if any beautiful women who wanted me had sent me DMs, but the DM window was full of swear words. At first, I thought it was a curse from Texas fans and thought it would make me laugh, but most of them were Yankees fans.
To be honest, there were a lot of people who sent me abusive DMs when I was in Korea, but this was my first time receiving abusive language from home fans, and the number of abusive DMs increased in the past few days. I didn’t even go to the game, so I found it absurd to see such abusive language being thrown at me.
I wanted to swear at the guys who sent me DMs, but Mattingly had a strict order to refrain from using social media, so I turned off my phone and put it in my pocket.
There were some polarizing AT fans, but these bastards seemed even worse than the AT fans who hadn’t been to fall baseball for over 20 years.
The locker room was in such a good mood from the start that I went to work.
“How are you?”
When I open the door and say hello, silence welcomes me. Normally, unintelligible reggae music should have been playing in the locker room. They said they had 1 win and 4 losses in the 5 games I was away, and it seemed like the atmosphere in the locker room was as bad as the performance.
‘Well, being quiet isn’t that bad.’
And, although I was quite happy with the quiet atmosphere, I was curious why this situation had suddenly become like this, so I called Camacho.
“Hey, why is the locker room atmosphere like this?”
Camacho, who was quietly observing my words, called me out of the locker room. Then, I looked to see if anyone was there or not and quietly opened my mouth.
“It’s just an annual event. You know, when you do well, you are treated like a Hollywood star, but when you do poorly, you are treated like a criminal.”
“Okay? “I’ve never received anything like that?”
“… “You really don’t read articles, do you?”
“When you don’t have time to worry about that, it’s better to have sex one more time. Anyway, is that why the atmosphere is like this?”
“Well, there’s that too, and you know that Cole lost a complete game, right?”
“Oh, I saw the article too.”
“Because of that, the atmosphere in the locker room was ruined. Anyway, we just have to take it easy and wait until the mood improves.”
In order for this atmosphere to improve, a victory was needed.
The problem is that today’s starter is Rodon. Rodon, who changed his catcher, allowed 7 scoreless innings in the first game and 3 runs in 5.2 innings in the second game, but he was still the player with the worst performance on the team.
In addition, the opposing starting pitcher was Baltimore’s young left-handed pitcher Weddington. Last year, he started full-time and recorded an ERA in the 6-point range, but this season, his experience appears to have helped him appear in 5 games, with an ERA in the 3-point range. He was a pitcher with a record of.
If you just look at the starting fight, do you feel like you’re a little behind? In addition, the batting line wasn’t in very good condition these days, so there was a high possibility that today’s game would be a bit dangerous.
‘Still, sweeps hurt my pride… Well, I guess I should do it.’
I thought I would play baseball comfortably when I came to America, but it was a little annoying to have to clean up the poop of scum, but since I got paid, I just did my job. And in these situations, breaking a path for the team was something I was used to.
“Today’s lineup.”
After finishing training with such determination, Mattingly began calling out today’s starting lineup.
“First baseman Ji. Left fielder Stop in number 2, right fielder Soto in number 3.”
Up to this point, it was similar to the day the left pitcher came out.
“And Stanton, the designated hitter at number 4.”
However, every time a left pitcher came out, the name of third baseman Vientos, who took the number 4 spot after Soto, was not called.
“Shortstop Volpi at number 5.”
In addition, seeing as Volpi, who had been used as number 9, was moved up the batting order, it seemed like coach Mattingly felt he had something to show.
Until now, our lineup has been fixed without much change except when left-handed and right-handed hitters appear, but today’s game feels like we’ve adjusted the batting order thoroughly based on data.
‘Well, the team situation is not good, so the coach should at least do something like that.’
“Center fielder Kelnick at No. 6, third baseman Vientos at No. 7, first baseman Hall at No. 8, and catcher Torrence at No. 9.”
And the following lineup was a lineup that put Vientos and Hall, who were not good against left-handed hitters, in the back, and put Torrance, whose batting was not at the level expected, at number 8.
‘Tsk, I liked that Volpi was in number 9… Still, he’s the guy who makes basic bread.’
It was a good lineup from a team perspective and from a data perspective, but from my perspective as the number one hitter, it was a bad lineup because there was no player in front of get on base… In this case, there was a high probability that there would be no runners on base when I went to bat because there would be no one to connect to me at 7-8-9.
‘Mattingley still doesn’t know the team very well. If I just lined up all the kids with good on-base percentages in front of me, I would take care of the problem.’
However, I couldn’t express my dissatisfaction with the lineup that the director put so much effort into, so I just nodded.
‘Later, I should suggest putting bad players starting at number 4, and putting kids with good on-base percentages at 7, 8, and 9.’
After the lineup announcement was over and Mattingly left the locker room, there was silence again in the locker room. It was much better than listening to strange reggae songs, so I enjoyed the silence and watched a video of Weddington, today’s starter, and before I knew it, it was time for the game to start.
“Good! Matt! Let’s completely destroy it today!”
While Weddington was pitching in practice, the opposing catcher, Lutchman, caught the ball as if trying to revive the pitcher’s spirit and gave it back, saying something meaningless and returning the ball, but the opposing pitcher did not look that threatening as the empty cart was noisy. .
‘Is the speed currently around 93-94 mph? The splitter is in the low 80s and the angle is not very large, and the slider has a large angle but is a bit slow. Okay, not much different from the video. Let’s go, shall we? Mr. Rossby.’
‘Okay. I’m ready too.’
What you need to be careful about is the high speed compared to the slow speed. I have only hit one home run in 32 innings pitched so far, so I go to bat with that fact in mind.
‘It’s a splitter. ‘Body side.’
‘Oh, splitter from the first pitch?’
His choice is a splitter. One of the home runs he hit was a splitter, and his splitter wasn’t a particularly distinctive pitch, so I waited for his pitch with the mindset that I would swing the bat as soon as a careless ball came in. 〉
The guy’s ball is thrown outwards the moment it is thrown. It was different from what Mr. Rossby said, but I was able to judge it right away the moment it was thrown, and I was able to immediately notice that its splitter was formed higher than an ordinary splitter.
And the high splitter…,
‘… ‘Two three!’
Ta – Aak!
… The perfect prey!
The ball, hit at a slightly late timing, flew toward the right-center wall, and I slowly walked to first base while appreciating the hit.
-Wow!!!
“You bastard! “Is it a home run in the first at-bat before returning?”
“You have to hit one to keep up with the judge.”
Moreover, since he had been eating and eating the return to disciplinary action since Korea, it wasn’t that difficult to get a feel for the hit.
“Well done.”
“Then let’s take a hit at Judge as well.”
“Okay.”
And after giving the jersey and forearm high-fives, I returned to the dugout, and the players in the dugout welcomed me warmly, as if the silence in the locker room was a lie.
“It was a fantastic home run! Ji!”
“He hit a home run even before his return! Of course!”
“Good! Let’s win and go home!”
The improved atmosphere from my home run continued as Judge and Soto hit consecutive hits, and Stanton, who came out as the fourth hitter, hit a big outfield fly, bringing the score to 2:0.
Although Volpi and Kelnick retired with strikeouts and a fly to center field, the two runs from the top of the first inning were quite significant. During the five games I was away, the team’s average score was in the 3-point range, and we were suffering from empty hits, and we had already scored half that number in just one inning.
Now all that’s left is for Rodon to show his good side.
However, like all things, baseball does not always work out as expected.
“Base on balls.”
Rodon, who gave up a walk to the leadoff hitter, hit a double to the next hitter, immediately facing a crisis with no outs on second and third base, and caught Henderson, the hitter of note, with a foul fly to third base, but there was still one more big mountain left for us.
That mountain is Lutchman, currently Baltimore’s No. 4 hitter and the best catcher in the major leagues.
Lutchman, who achieved .300, 30 home runs, and 100 RBI, the symbol of a slugger last season, was leading Baltimore’s batting lineup this season, boasting a .300 batting average, 10 home runs, and an OPS of over 1 point.
‘I wish I could filter it…’ .’
When playing baseball, there are moments when you feel like you will definitely get hit. The sinister atmosphere I felt from Lutchman was giving me that feeling, and Rodon’s second ball against Lutchman was aimed at the high center zone.
Perfect!
And the result was a hit that exceeded the height of the shortstop. The runner on third base comes home easily, and the runner on second base, who was watching, rushes toward home. Now all I can trust is Judge’s shoulders!
“… Safe!”
And Mayo, who was a runner on second base, narrowly missed the groove with his hand.
‘Ugh, fuck. ‘Something like this needs to be fixed.’
We couldn’t last even one inning and the score was immediately tied. Fortunately, Rodon ended the inning by blocking Baltimore’s next batters with a ground ball in front of the pitcher and a strikeout, but the runs allowed immediately after the score were enough to pour cold water on the team’s heated atmosphere, starting with the leadoff hitter’s home. Run.
And then the second inning began.
As if the left-handed pitcher was paying the price for putting three weak players in the 7th, 8th, and 9th positions, three batters were eliminated with a three-way error, and Rodon also blocked Baltimore’s batters with a three-way error, giving him his second at-bat in a tie situation. Came.
“Ball.”
“Ball.”
As I stood at the plate and picked a slider that went out, the ball count suddenly became two balls, no strikes,
‘It’s a fastball.’
‘Okay, I guess they don’t want to make a three-ball, but this is definitely in the zone.’
I swung the bat as hard as I could at his third pitch.
Ta – Aak!
A batted ball that splits left-center. However, because the launch angle was low, I ran quickly toward the base,
“Safe!”
Since the hitting speed was quite fast, I slid into second base.
‘Sseuup, if it were in Korea, I would have just stood and walked in, but it’s definitely the major league, right? The left fielder is also good at defense.’
The best thing here is to trust the judge and stay still. However, because the team’s mood was depressed, I decided to steal third base. Stealing third base against Lutchman, the best catcher in the league, was enough to boost the team’s morale.
‘It’s a slider.’
The first pitch thrown toward the judge is a slider, a breaking ball. I took advantage of the opportunity he was unable to keep in check and secretly widened my lead,
“Safe!”
Once again, I was able to reach third base by a narrow margin.
‘Baby, look at how red your face is.’
The guy standing on the mound was still young, only 24 years old, so I could clearly see his face turning red.
‘Would you like to shake it once?’
Since I was a left-handed pitcher, I took advantage of the difficult time keeping third base in check, so I widened the lead again and took a stance as if I was going to steal home.
“Safe!”
“Safe!”
With one check and every time the catcher throws to third base, he amazingly returns to third base and shakes the pitcher.
“Base on balls.”
As a result, his control wavered, and he walked.
Perfect!
Soto also took the opportunity to hit a hit that landed in front of right field, turning the tables again. Moreover, Judge also reached third base with that ball, giving him the opportunity to reach first and third base with no outs.
“Time!”
Then, Lutchman visits the mound and comforts the pitcher.
‘Baby, you’re working hard. Would that make you come to your senses? ‘Hehe.’
It’s okay to laugh at him for a moment while watching him struggle in the dugout…,
“Strike! Out!”
“Strike! Out!”
“Strike! Out!”
… The inning ended with three consecutive strikeouts.
‘… Is there a reason why he is definitely the best catcher in the major leagues?’
As expected, it was not easy to play against a team with a good catcher.
