Chapter 308 – Episode 306. The Thread of the Gap. (1)
‘In the end, does today end like this?’
In the bottom of the 9th inning, I was watching Inhyuk Lee’s at-bat from the standby at-bat, but I couldn’t concentrate. Even if it was my turn, it was clear that I would skip it anyway.
The current score is 8:6. Aside from the 3 runs I scored, the rest of the batters worked hard by giving up 3 runs, but Jang Yoon, whom I trusted, was dealt a blow by allowing 3 runs in 5.1 innings, and UG’s batters increased the score by targeting the bullpens in the 6th and 7th innings. . And the score gap had not been narrowed until the 9th inning.
Perfect!
9th batter Lee In-hyuk hit UG’s closer Kim Woo-jun’s ball, and the batted ball flew high above the head of the infield.
“Short!”
“Out!”
Two outs with this. There wasn’t a single runner in front, and even if you steal all the way to third base, it’s a difficult situation if you only score one run.
“I’m sorry.”
“That could be true.”
Inhyuk Lee handed me an apology as he passed by, but I wasn’t particularly angry because I didn’t expect it to begin with.
“Kim Woo-jun hit the ball very well today. The slider is sharp.”
“What are you talking about? “It’s probably going to be another walk anyway.”
“But just in case…”
“I understand first.”
Lee In-hyuk told me about Kim Woo-jun’s condition today, but since it had nothing to do with me, he listened with one ear and let it go with the other.
‘I’m probably going to walk again anyway, so what’s the point of listening? Under… If this happens, I will have no choice but to give Suho an autograph at second base.’
However, I was also worried about Kim Su-ho’s condition. Since he was swinging behind me to make as many sacrifice hits as possible, it was too much to expect a proper hit.
‘But I have no choice but to do it…’
Entering the at-bat with such worries, Kim Woo-jun did a windup and threw the first pitch.
“Ball.”
‘It must be like this.’
And the second ball.
“… Ball.”
“Huh?”
I felt something off about the ball, which seemed to be slightly closer to the strike zone than usual.
‘Mr. Rossby! Mr. Rossby!’
Feeling uncomfortable, I quickly called Rossby. Rossby, who had declared after his first at-bat today that he was going to watch the cheerleaders the rest of the time except when he was on base, answered my call.
‘What’s going on? We haven’t even arrived at the base yet.’
‘Please place your mitt! Please look at the location of the mitt!’
‘What? ‘I have two cheeks like usual?’
‘Okay, please position the mitt!’
The feeling of discomfort I was feeling now was the feeling of discomfort I had been feeling at bat all day today. And I was just confident with the ball. And the third ball was thrown.
“Ball.”
‘How is it? It’s closer than in literature, right? Right?’
The sense of incongruity I felt was that Mitt’s position was closer than in literature. The pitches of the pitchers, who didn’t even dare to swing their bats because they were so far out, were strangely close today. I felt a sense of distance, as if I could reach the end if I swung the bat all the way from home plate.
‘Hmm… It seems like that.’
‘Look one more time.’
At my words, Rossby began to focus on Kim Woo-jun’s fourth pitch.
“Base on balls!”
After the umpire called a walk, he walked to first base and waited for Rossby’s decision.
‘I’m not sure, but it’s closer than in literature.’
‘It seems like that too, right?’
It wasn’t certain yet. You can only tell by directly comparing the videos, but it seemed like the destruction of this shitty operation was a bit visible.
‘It was a little closer to the strike zone, but there’s no way you could hit a home run if you hit a ball like that. ‘You know that too, right?’
‘Of course it is.’
What Rossby said was true. Hitting a ball like that and making a home run was impossible even for Judge, the Major League home run king. No, swinging the bat at a ball like that would have been disqualifying as a batter in the first place, so I wouldn’t have had to swing it.
However, if you push it well, you can make at least a hit. Of course, getting on base with a walk or a hit was the same. But…,
‘It’s different if it’s a scoring situation with a runner on base. I think I might be able to create an opportunity at least once.’
‘Just think about other things later and go for a run now.’
‘Yes.’
While I was thinking about this and that, it seemed that Kim Su-ho had come to bat. Even though he was defeated, the game wasn’t over yet, so he erased the thoughts in his head and focused on the game again.
“Ball.”
“Ball.”
“Strike.”
The timing of the breaking ball came after three consecutive fastballs entered the catcher’s mitt.
“Safe!”
With that timing, I was able to easily steal second base. Kim Woo-jun was good at keeping left-handed pitchers in check, but he couldn’t stop me. Because you can’t keep it in check with a breaking ball grip in the first place.
‘What was the count?’
The ball count is one strike, three balls as Kim Su-ho waits for a breaking ball. And then I made eye contact with Kim Su-ho, who was standing at bat.
‘What about this ball?’
‘It’s a curve.’
As soon as he hears the pitch from Rossby, he sends an autograph to Kim Su-ho. I waited and prayed for Kim Su-ho to call me home,
“Base on balls!”
Kim Su-ho caught the ball and got a walk.
‘Okay, this isn’t bad.’
At bat is Ki Ki-joo, who hit a wedge home run in the previous game. Today’s performance was not bad at 2 hits in 4 at-bats, so it was worth looking forward to.
‘Please, Brother Sangju. Please! Mr. Rossby!’
‘It’s a slider.’
‘Older brother! It’s a slider!’
The weather leader must have seen my sign, so his eyes wavered for a moment, but then returned to their original state.
– Weather warning! Weather warning! Weather warning!
In Jamsil, you can hear fans chanting the name of the meteorologist. And as if responding to the cheers of the fans, Ki Ki-joo pushed left pitcher Kim Woo-jun’s slider to the finish line.
Ta-ah!
“That’s it! It’s big!”
“Ha, fuck!”
The batted ball flew high, Kim Woo-jun’s swear words echoed throughout the infield, and the batted ball continued heading toward the fence. However,
“Please, please.”
Despite praying while looking at the batted ball in the middle between second and third base, the batted ball that was headed towards the fence started to fall.
-Wow!!!
And UG’s left fielder, who was leaning against the fence, jumped and caught the batted ball.
“Ah… That one doesn’t fall out.”
Even if it wasn’t a home run, it was a batted ball that could have hit the fence and flown, but as expected from UG, which has the best defense in the country, that didn’t happen.
“Ha, fuck, that doesn’t go over. Was the launch angle a little high?”
As expected, Jamsil was too wide to push through. If it had gone over, it would have been a three-run game, but Jamsil did not allow that one shot.
So we left the happy UG players behind and entered the dugout.
“Today’s game was disappointing. Let’s prepare well for tomorrow’s game.”
“… Yes.”
The players were depressed due to the disappointing loss, but I didn’t care and called coach Lee Soo-hyun, who was about to leave the dugout.
“Director, do you have a moment after finishing?”
“Huh? What’s going on?”
“I think I discovered something.”
“Okay? Should other kids listen too?”
“No, it’s not like that. “Can I get a video of my at bat in the Korean Series from the power analysis team?”
“I get it. “I’ll tell you.”
“Then I’ll see you after the shower.”
After the coach left to interview the loser, other players approached.
“What is it? “What’s important?”
“What else did you discover?”
“No, it’s not that important, but there’s something I want to see with the director.”
Since I hadn’t confirmed it by watching the video yet, I didn’t say anything to my colleagues.
“Just call the director about something that doesn’t matter. I also have a way to win. I was excited for no reason.”
“You never know. Because this could be important.”
My colleagues around me began to react to my words,
“Okay, whatever. I feel sorry for my brothers today. “I should have given more points.”
“No, I couldn’t throw today. “I’m sorry, I should have paid more attention.”
“No. Senior. “I should have blocked all candidates for succession.”
Before I knew it, it was time for the post-mortem review, so I quickly got out of the dugout and headed to the shower room. After taking a shower, I went to the director’s office and found director Lee Soo-hyun waiting for me.
“Okay, what did you want to meet for? First, I saved all four at-bats…, I saw it before you came, but it was just a walk?”
“Yes, it’s a walk. But something felt a little strange today. “I’ll take a look at the literary at-bat first.”
“I don’t know what’s strange, but I guess you have something in mind. Well, here it is.”
And as a result of going through at-bats with Lee Soo-hyun, I was able to find out that the discomfort I felt while at bat was not just a feeling of discomfort. As I thought, it was because the ball was closer to me in Jamsil. It could be said that there was a problem with the pitcher’s ball control, but it was something different from that.
“Can you see the director too? In literature, it’s about throwing farther.”
“That’s certainly true… With a ball like this, wouldn’t it be impossible to hit a home run anyway? Okay. Homer. That’s why I was throwing it further away from literature!”
“Yes? What do you mean?”
“In literature, you can hit a home run by pushing outward, but in Jamsil, it’s impossible, so it’s a little closer. The battery may not be aware of it.”
What Suhyun Lee said made sense. In literature, if you hit it right, if you hit it with the bat, there was a chance of passing. But Jamsil was different. Because Jamsil was not a stadium that was overlooked just because the bat hit it. In fact, today’s weather warning hit was a pretty good pushed hit, but it was too much to get past Jamsil.
I subconsciously feared that I might touch the ball and get out, so I had an opportunity to throw close to the strike zone in Jamsil.
“But I don’t know if this makes any sense. Unless it’s a home run…”
“But you can still make hits. In an important scoring position. If the opportunity comes, I will create an RBI then.”
It was clear that UG’s fielders would lose their concentration due to walks in three consecutive games, and there was a high probability that a hit would be produced.
“Then…”
“I will play as the number 4 hitter in the next game.”
Although he played as the number 1 hitter and scored about 1 more run, it seemed like it would be better to do this strategy at number 4, where there is a high probability that there will be a lot of runners.
“… You know you only get one chance, right? “If the UG kids find out about this, they will definitely distance themselves from each other again.”
“Please believe me. “Director.”
As director Lee Soo-hyun said, you only get one chance. But I was confident. Hitting a certain type of pitch to a certain location was what I did all last year. If you train in your imagination like Rossby…
‘I can make at least 2 RBIs.’
“Good. “I will believe it.”
“Thank you. Director!”
‘Here we make 2:2 and go to literature. Because if it’s literature, you can get a lot of points without me!’
I strengthened my resolve and left the director’s office.
… And the next day, in Game 4 of the Korean Series, my opportunity presented itself as expected.
