Chapter 130 – Episode 128. Losing Streak. (3)
“Isn’t that strange? Mercenaries, Kim Hyun-sik, Choi Jung-hoon, Mercenaries, Hwang Dae-hyun. And another mercenary.”
Before the game started, Woo Kwan-hyung called all the players together. When Woo Kwan-hyung asked if it was strange, I couldn’t feel anything strange, but the other players felt something in sympathy.
“What’s strange?”
And since I wasn’t one to put up with questions, I threw a fastball right away.
“Hey, hey.”
Yoon Seong-tae stabbed me in the side, but I removed the finger and looked at Woo-gwan. In response to my question, Woo Kwan-hyung sighed and told me the answer to my question.
“Maengho. Why would the club use mercenaries?”
“Of course, they must do better than Korean kids. Well, if you see that they’re here, they’re probably nothing special.”
The interpreter’s face was stained with embarrassment at my words, but it wasn’t my concern.
“Yes, they must be better than Korean kids. And Choi Joong-hoon, as you know, was a national team pitcher, right?”
“Yes.”
“Hwang Dae-hyeon is also the next-generation ace raised by Hyeon-seong. In other words, the opponent’s ace level pitchers are concentrated against us. Do you know what I mean?”
“I do not know?”
Aren’t they just pitchers? It didn’t seem like anything was wrong. To be honest, except for Ko Young-hwan, everyone looked the same there.
“These bastards saw us as fucks and forced us to rotate. This is it Right?”
“Yes, as Sangju said, we are using the pitchers we must win against us. In other words, we are being looked down upon.”
Does that look shallow? If anyone saw it, it was a statement that gave off the illusion of starting Ohtani-Verlander-Cole in succession, but I wasn’t in the mood to bring up such a topic, so I just nodded my head.
“Okay. It’s a bit to say the least, but honestly, we’ve deserved to be ignored so far. Sex wasn’t good either. However!”
At Woo Kwan-hyung’s words, all the players looked at Woo-Kwan-hyung with eager eyes.
“Let me show you! How valuable was the sweat we shed in the winter. And let’s make sure we don’t use these cheeky rotations again! Can you?”
“”Yes!””
“Invincibility!”
“”AT!””
“Let’s go!”
Before the game started, the morale of the players was so high that it was unbelievable that they had lost in a row.
‘Those who steal autographs are good at talking.’
‘They steal all autographs.’
‘Well, that’s not true.’
Anyway, my heart was twisted. Rossby just noticed that he didn’t like everything.
Tsk, should I make Rosby feel better today by having sex with another girl other than Soyoung? Of course, he also did it with Joeun yesterday, but Rossby seemed to want a new stimulus.
‘Hmm…. Should I call Dongjin after a long time and go to a club? … Oh, I went on an expedition right now. I don’t think Seungcheol hyung will go. Junhu went down to Icheon. Well…. Wonho?’
Come to think of it, Wonho was still in the first team of Shilla. We exchanged greetings before the game started. I thought that playing with Wonho wouldn’t be bad after a long time.
“Ruler! So let’s focus and go on defense!”
“Yep!”
Today’s starting pitcher is Janson, a mercenary pitcher who was selected as the first starter in AT. Although he lost the opening game, he had a quality start with 3 runs in 6 innings.
‘Tsk tsk. Since when did he only eat 6 innings and give up 3 runs, but he started counting it as a record? It feels like baseball isn’t baseball these days.’
‘Why are you so angry again?’
‘That’s when I was. If the starting pitcher didn’t pitch a complete pitch that day, he was criticized for being an idiot. He couldn’t do it, but he had to go 8 innings. He was treated as a starter. But these days, starting pitchers are evaluated with unheard-of records even if they only give up 3 runs in 6 innings, and what is a quality start?
‘Honestly, it’s kind of funny how he trembles over something that’s not a dick.’
Although Rossby was a man with many complaints, this time I agreed with them. 6 innings and 3 runs is 4.50 in terms of ERA. In fact, it didn’t seem to be an unusual record, even naming it a quality start.
However, looking at the words or articles of the power analysis team, it was funny to see that a pitcher made several quality starts last year.
‘Shouldn’t we select a pitcher who can’t even record such a fucking record?’
… I hadn’t realized how great a quality start was until I talked to Rosby.
*
Shinra Triggers. A strong team that has never been eliminated in fall baseball for nearly 10 years. When the team was founded in the mid-2000s, it was a team that was in the lower ranks with teams such as AT Thunders and Volcano Falcons, but in the 2010s, it was a team that emerged as a strong team with strengths in training and trade. Of course, at the center was Choi Joo-tae, the best shortstop in Korea.
Anyway, as such a strong team, I saw a lot of familiar faces. Lee Eun-chong on second base and Kim Hwan-young on first base. And even Park Chul-young, who is standing at bat. Batters 1, 2, and 3 were all from the National University. Just like us
‘I think the blows are similar…. After all, is pitching a problem?’
The team’s first starter is on base from the first inning…. The look of Janson from second base, after all, seemed unreliable. In addition, since he was a left-handed hitter for three consecutive batters, the sight of him gushing over the ball and spilling broth from the first inning was depressing the morale of the fielders.
Ta-evil!
‘Zal~ It’s flying.’
The ball hitting the fence felt like it was not real. Even so, my body was running to the outfield to relay like a habit. Woo Kwan-hyung, a right fielder, threw the ball to me as he greeted me with a skillful fence play.
‘The runner on second base is already in, should I block second base?’
“Home!”
‘Throw it home!’
Woo Kwan-hyung and Rosby shouted at the same time and looked over their shoulders to the infield. Kim Hwan-yeong, the runner on first base, was already circling third base, perhaps conscious of Woo Kwan-hyung’s weak shoulders.
‘This bastard!’
“This crosses the line!”
I quickly pulled the ball out and threw it until my shoulder dislocated. The ball I threw cuts through the wind and flies in a straight line to the home.
“Did you catch it?”
After receiving the ball, Jung Yun-cheol slid in and touched Kim Hwan-young’s body. He was far away so I couldn’t see if he hit home first. Is it three leaves? Or out?
And my doubts about the verdict did not last long.
“Out!!!”
“Nice!”
“Maengho! Sorry, it was good.”
“Well, the welcome senior was slow, but running from 1st base to home was crossing the line.”
I can understand ignoring Woo Kwan-hyung’s shoulder, but to run to the home while I’m holding on to the relay.
I met eyes with Kim Hwan-young, who turned around and looked in my direction, perhaps regretting being out. He smiled lightly and slashed his neck a few times with the blade of his hand.
‘Seniors. From now on, see who is on the relay and run.’
I could see Kim Hwan-yeong raising her middle finger in my gesture so that the camera wouldn’t catch it, but I didn’t feel particularly bad because it was a cute complaint from a loser.
“Are your shoulders still?”
Upon returning to second base, Cheol-Young Park, who took advantage of the throw to the home base and ran to second base, was waiting.
“Senior is still playing well.”
“Ha, if it wasn’t just the injury then. You won’t be able to play as a starter right now.”
“Then I would have been eliminated in the quarterfinals.”
“I’m not saying it’s wrong, so it’s more unlucky.”
As I was talking with Park Cheol-yeong, a mercenary hitter from Silla entered the plate.
Raciel Puig. A player who was selected as an All-Star in second place in the Major League Rookie of the Year. Even I, who was not interested in Korean baseball, heard the news that Puig was coming to Korea. It was impressive that he seemed to have a strong body, just like he was from the major leagues. I can feel Jansson’s nervousness at Puig’s appearance.
‘Hmm, but is it because I see too many major leaguers at the WBC? Doesn’t it feel intimidating enough to be so nervous?’
To be honest, in the final against the United States, it felt like hair stood up every time each player entered the plate, but Puig didn’t seem to be like that.
‘Well, there are Korean batters who hit better than Puig. Same with Seungcheol hyung. Rather than that now….’
After I stopped thinking about Puig, I watched the action of second base runner Chul-Young Park. It was because I thought that a team like the AT Thunders would steal signs to win, and the strong team Shinra Triggers would also.
‘Mr. Rossby, is there anything strange?’
‘Bastard. God if I know that.’
‘Ah, wasn’t Mr. Rossby the god of baseball? To be honest, Babe Ruth also pitched, but in terms of hitter, he’s far behind Mr. Rossby.’
Hehe, that’s not true. I’ve never hit a 40% of him before.’
‘Then, since he’s the god of baseball, you’ll see something strange, right?’
‘Um….’
As he slowly lifted him up, Rossby was also in a good mood, and he began to watch closely to see if Park Chul-young was acting strangely. And our battery split the sign.
‘How about it?’
‘Well? I don’t think there’s anything particularly strange about it.’
‘So Shinra doesn’t steal autographs?’
‘I can’t say for sure. Even if I steal the sign, the other person can notice it, so maybe I’m refraining from important situations.’
‘I guess so.’
If you signal every scoring zone like an idiot because you know the sign, you’ll be caught right away. But wouldn’t it be easy to notice that you suddenly start acting strangely? Stealing an autograph seemed more difficult than I thought.
‘Well, I don’t mind since Mr. Rossby is there.’
Then, right! I heard the sound of hitting a bat. An ordinary second-base grounder. With familiar hand movements, he caught the batted ball and threw it to first base, creating a second out count.
‘I thought I’d miss it because I was thinking about it, but I got it right.’
‘Ah, it’s been years since I’ve been playing baseball, but I miss these things. He’s not even a god.’
After two outs, Jansson struck out the fifth batter, and Shinra Triggers’ attack came to an end in the top of the first inning. It was disappointing for a foreign pitcher to give up one run in one inning, but it was a reasonable score because the Shinra Triggers’ batting line was not easy.
‘Because I said that the 1st and 5th episodes were the hardest. Well, it’s about 1 point. I can turn it over.’
