Chapter 644 – Episode 631. Universe, Wake Up! (2)
“Strike! Out!”
‘Looks like this guy sharpened his knife today? 162? What? From episode 1. The records aren’t that good these days, so are you thinking of just throwing 5 innings?’
Jang Woo-joo ends the first episode with a three-way fall? Even if he wasn’t feeling well these days, it wasn’t anything special. Because the universe had the ability to do that.
But the speed of the universe does not go below 158 km/h from the first episode? That was something unusual.
The official average speed of the universe is 157.3 km/h. He was a guy who threw balls over 160 when he wanted to, but the average velocity was around that level, which meant that he threw balls in the low to mid 150s just as often as balls over 160.
Naturally, the faster the restraint, the better. However, other pitchers, including Woo Joo, do not throw the ball at their highest speed unless they are a reliever.
Why?
Of course it’s difficult. Throwing a ball required so much stamina that pitchers couldn’t even eat with their hands after they retired.
Unless you were a pitcher responsible for one inning, if you continued to throw the ball at the highest velocity like Wooju does now, you would be discharged after less than 60 to 70 pitches. Therefore, unless it was a special case like fall baseball or an international game, it was not common for a starting pitcher to give his all from the first inning.
Moreover, Wooju’s ball control wasn’t that good, so it was natural that his velocity would drop if he pitched with all his might.
‘Well, if you get tired like that, it’s a loss. It looks like you’re having a bit of a hard time because you lost yesterday and the day before.’
I wondered why they did it like that, but if it went down like that in the 4th or 5th inning, it was a good thing for us, so even though the first inning ended easily, it wasn’t bad.
‘The problem is…’
Ta – Aak!
“Are you okay! Are you okay! Don’t Mind!”
“Ah, that bastard starts again…”
Diaz, the starter today, was not in very good condition. He put two batters on base in the first inning, and in the second inning, the leadoff hitter hit a home run.
Even though he gave me a couple of slaps after the first episode, seeing things like that just made today a bad day.
‘Well, if you do it right and do it right, then you’re an animal or a human.’
After that, two more batters got on base,
“Nice!”
“Seongtae hyung!”
“Okay, did you see it? “Caught two by yourself?”
With Seongtae-hyung’s one-man double play, the top of the second inning passed without any more runs being conceded. And then the second inning began.
“Strike!”
‘163.2 km/h… I heard this kid is definitely fast.’
The ball that Woo-ju threw as the first pitch was one that reached almost his highest speed. But is it just fast?
‘Looking at him coming in the middle, it looks like his control is not perfect.’
If he had gone in aiming for a fastball from the first pitch, it was a ball that could have been thrown over the fence, but that was unavoidable since he didn’t know the ball would come like this, and it was a great achievement just knowing that his control was unstable.
‘Then when it’s time for a fastball, just aim for the center ball as much as possible. It’s a curveball, but if it’s at the level of the universe, you can just look at it and filter it out.’
Without Mr. Rossby’s help, his high-speed changeup would have been a little strong, but he beat me a lot last year anyway, and he also threw a lot of major-leaguers’ changeups over the fence in the WBC, so he definitely has no intention of throwing his changeup at me. I did it.
Then what’s left is curves and sliders. But there wasn’t much need to worry about the curve either. Even without Mr. Rossby’s help, I was now able to recognize about 90% of the curves. In other words, the winner is his fastball and slider.
‘… It’s still the same, kid.’
After internally applauding the consistent guy who hasn’t changed even though it’s been 4 years, I focus on his achievements again.
“Ball.”
This time, the ball deviates significantly to the outside.
“Hey, Universe, the ball is fast today, so why don’t you keep pulling it outward? “Woo Joo doesn’t have the brains to study, so he needs to be good at baseball, but because of you, he was able to take the college entrance exam at that age.”
“Damn… Ugh, fuck.”
As I pretended to talk to the catcher and spoke loudly on purpose, I saw Woo Joo’s eyebrows furrow slightly and then return. I put on a poker face, but did it show that I was annoyed? And immediately the universe started shaking its head.
‘I won’t throw any curveballs at Cosmic’s personality. It’s either a fastball or a slide… Ha, it’s fucking difficult. Sigh, I should just think of it as a fastball and swing it. There is still one count left.’
When I finished worrying like that, the guy also slowly started to start. And the guy’s ball was thrown.
“Jitterbug! Strike!”
“Oh, shit.”
Fuck, Jang Woo-joo, you idiot, are you throwing a slider here?
“If this continues, you will pass the CSAT…”
“Maw.”
“No…, “
“Shut your mouth. Because I’m starting to get annoyed.”
“…”
Now the count is one ball, two strikes. Since it was a very important situation, I silenced the catcher and started thinking about what he would choose.
‘First, there are a lot of change-ups in the final ball… You won’t throw it at me. Then it’s either a fastball or a slide… Slider? Should I throw the same ball again? Umm… If you’re a space character, it’s almost a fastball here… Under… Even if the ball was slow, if you just look at it and hit it, you’ll be right about it, but this guy is just needlessly fast…’
Ji-seon Lee’s fastball and slider are hellish… Before the worries are over, the bridge of the universe rises.
‘Fuck, I don’t know. Just look at it…’
As soon as the bat was ready to go out faster than usual, the universe’s arm swung, and the ball headed towards my body. Towards the body… More towards the body… ?
“Uh… ?! “Ahh!”
Suddenly I felt pain in my butt… The space guy’s ball was too fast to avoid, and it was almost certain that it slipped out of his hand, so I tried to throw the bat, but held back and glared at him. Then the guy turns white and takes off his hat and raises his hand.
“Oh, it wasn’t intentional.”
“I know, so don’t come closer.”
‘Aren’t you going to fight? It’s been a while since I’ve seen something interesting.’
‘Ugh, fuck. Since I’m the older brother, I have to endure it. I’ll have to go home and ask for this. Well, it was a two throw, but it’s not bad if it’s a walk.’
‘Eh, tsk. A boring guy.’
Mr. Rossby really thinks I am some kind of gangster… I ignored Mr. Rossby’s complaints and walked to first base. It didn’t look good going out, but anyway, I got to first base safely.
“Meng Hao, are you okay?”
“Yes, I dodged at the end and got hit in the buttocks.”
“Okay. “Then you can run, right?”
“Of course I have to run.”
Not running on first base with no outs was tantamount to dereliction of duty, so I immediately put on my baserunning gloves.
‘Mr. Rossby!’
‘I’m watching, bastard.’
And then Seongtae-hyung’s at bat began.
‘Fastball.’
‘Fastball.’
‘Fastball.’
‘… What? This bastard. ‘You just throw fastballs?’
‘Fastball.’
‘Wow, this bastard thinks he’s never going to let me run?’
The guy’s idea of trying to catch me as much as possible by only throwing fastballs made some sense. If a 160-degree fastball flew like that, it would be difficult for me to run. But…,
Ta – Aak!
… Yoon Seong-tae, last year’s Golden Glove winner and Jamsil’s 20 home run hitter, did not tolerate fastballs thrown four times in a row.
-Wow!!!
-Yoon Seongtae! Seongtae Yoon! Seongtae Yoon!
‘No matter how fast he is, if he just throws a fastball like that, won’t the batter be an asshole and not be able to hit it, Woowoo? ‘No, whose head does this thought come from?’
“Oh, shit!”
After throwing his glove and swearing at Woo-joo, he clicked his tongue once and went home. Then, Seong-tae smiled brightly and extended his hand to me.
“Nice! Thanks to you, I hit a home run.”
“If you’re grateful, give me the home run option.”
“… Let’s go.”
Anyway, he’s a salty stone.
The score was overturned with Seongtae-hyung’s two-run home run, and perhaps Woo-ju’s mentality was also overturned, as Woo-joo gave up two more points after that, widening the score gap to three points.
In the third inning, Diaz gave up two more runs as if he couldn’t lose, but the manager must have sensed something and quickly put Diaz out to end the inning, and the bottom of the third inning came.
Perfect!
“Sangju senior! Nice!”
The second at-bat with one out and runners on first base thanks to a hit by senior Sangju.
‘Okay, let’s hit the big one and take it down quickly. If I give up 6 runs in 3 innings, I will go down.’
I greeted his first pitch fully prepared,
“Ball.”
The first pitch in the universe was declared a ball as it went off badly.
‘This guy seems really shaken up a lot?’
If he was in this state, the ball he should aim for was clear. In times like these, the pitcher tends to throw the ball he is most familiar with.
“Ball.”
The third ball is greeted after lightly filtering out the downward one-bound curve.
‘It’s coming…’ !’
His ball heads toward his body just like the previous at-bat.
… Too much towards the body, like the last time at bat.
“Ah!! Fuck!”
This time the pain came from my thigh! Fuck! To be honest, I didn’t show it earlier because of the game, but the space ball was really painful. But guess me twice?
“Meng Hao? Mr. Meng Hao? Now, wait!”
The future catcher approaches me, raising his voice as soon as I throw the bat. He seems to have sensed my thoughts and approaches me.
“Aaaaah!”
But that wasn’t enough to stop me. I kicked the catcher with familiar footwork and ran straight to Jang Woo-joo.
“Jang Woo-joo, you bastard! Come to work! Fuck!”
