Chapter 754 – Episode 741. Mini Korea-Japan War. (1)
“Hey, Verdugo. “Be polite and talk to the coach.”
“What? Ji? No, Ji. “Listen to me.”
A secluded hallway where no one comes and goes. As I approached, Verdugo called out to me as if he had just arrived. And hitting coach Mitch gave me a look telling me to calm him down, then patted my shoulder and disappeared.
‘No, that fucking bastard is just leaving. Why are you patting someone else on the shoulder?’
It wasn’t a special situation, but the guy tapped my shoulder and I got annoyed for a moment.
Verdugo speaks passionately.
“You know that today’s starter is a right-hander, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
“Jean is in the low 100% range against right-handed pitchers, and I am in the low .200 range against right-handed pitchers. Do you think it is right to hire Jean as the starter? Plus, I haven’t been able to play in games lately because left-handed pitchers keep coming out.”
“Hmm…”
Verdugo had a point, he was better on the record, and it would be frustrating for him not to be able to play.
However, that did not mean that an indulgence was issued for yelling and behaving rudely like this at adults.
“Still, leave it alone and be polite. Okay? “The manager and coaches all have their own thoughts.”
To be honest, it didn’t really matter to me whether Verdugo or Stanton came out, but the team was doing well with 6 consecutive wins and I didn’t want to cause any unnecessary noise, so I listened to Verdugo’s complaints and patted his shoulder to comfort him.
“… Ugh.”
“I think you have a talent for making contact. There will soon be a day when you appear as a starter. But let’s play while maintaining basic manners. Okay?”
Pang, Pang.
‘Hmm… Is it because the backrest is wide? It tastes good.’
“… Ugh, ugh. … Okay, stop.”
Verdugo listened to my true story and nodded in agreement. Looking at his expression, he seemed to understand what I meant.
“Okay. Let’s do well in today’s game. I can go out as a pinch hitter, so be prepared.”
“… I got it.”
After all, if you get the highest salary in the team, you should be able to resolve this kind of discord. It was great to see that my leadership was working in the U.S. As well.
‘Ha, there were a lot of juniors who followed me in Korea too. I miss you. Junhu and Hwicheol are like that.’
So I left Verdugo, who had a kind heart, and headed to the locker room to prepare for the game.
*
[Miller finishes with a three-way throw, 11:8! Game over! The Yankees achieve a series sweep and 7 consecutive wins at the same time!]
[The Yankees hitters performed very well today, right? It seemed like the game would be difficult as starting pitcher Singer collapsed early on, but the batting lineup, including Ji Maeng-ho, who got four walks, and Volpi, who had five hits and the final home run, moved organically and led the game to victory with multiple runs.
[Now, the Yankees’ next opponent is the Chicago White Sox, who are in second place in the AL Central with 18 wins and 18 losses. Another interesting matchup has come to fruition, right?]
[Yes. In yesterday’s game, Sasaki won against Texas by allowing one run in seven innings, but the White Sox have another Japanese major-leaguer, right? This is Imanaga. And it looks like Imanaga will appear in the rotation for tomorrow’s game.]
[This is the first Asian major league matchup in a long time. It’s going to be really fun, right? Although Imanaga has been slightly sluggish at the beginning of the season since moving to the White Sox this season, he is an incredible pitcher who has won 48 games in the major leagues over the past three years. Last year’s WAR was second only to Ohtani among Japanese players.]
[Besides, in the last game, he showed signs of life by pitching 5 scoreless innings, right? A match between Ji Maeng-ho and Imanaga. Are you really looking forward to it? So, let’s conclude the broadcast by watching today’s MLB highlights…]
*
-Yankees! Pajuk’s 7th consecutive win!
… The Yankees, whose batting line exploded and scored 11 points, took all four consecutive games against the Kansas City Royals and posted a record of 25 wins and 9 losses…
┗What is it? Why are these bastards still alive?
┗┗It seems like the batting line has come back to life. I just think they win when the batting cycle goes up and lose when they don’t.
┗┗Pitchers are not shit pitchers, so why is that? ㄷㄷ
┗┗ㅋㅋ Even if the starters are good, if the batting line is dead, they can only score 1–2 points. When I was out of the game, I couldn’t even score 1 or 2 points.
-A mini Korea-Japan match taking place in the major league! Ji Maeng-ho joins Imanaga!
… The match between the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox to be held at Yankee Stadium on the 12th will be a mini-Korea-Japan match. Currently, Ji Maeng-ho has a batting average of .433, 19 home runs, 43 RBI, and 25 stolen bases, including today’s game, while Imanaga has appeared in 7 games with 1 win, 4 losses, and an average of 6.15 in 41 innings. With an earned run and 47 strikeouts, Korean major-leaguer Ji Maeng-ho is predicted to have the upper hand.
But you can’t let down your guard. Imanaga is a powerful pitcher who has won 48 games over the past three years. Since his sensational debut in 2024, he has recorded more than 14 wins with 3-point range every year, and signaled a revival by pitching 5 scoreless innings and perfect pitching in the last game.
Who will emerge victorious in the mini-Korea-Japan match taking place in the Major League? …
The following are the performances of Koreans and Japanese players who are currently on the first-team roster in the Major League.
[Korea]
Ji Maeng-ho/NYY/2B
0.436/0.539/1.118/1.657 19HR 25SB
Seungcheol Joo/LAD/CF
0.308/0.363/0.596/0.959 8HR 4SB
Choi Joo-tae/LAA/2B
0.262/0.297/0.377/0.674 0HR 1SB
Suho Shin/SFG/RP
14G 2W 2L 17.2IP 8.66ERA 24K
Wonho Kim/HOU/SP
7G 2W 1L 33.0IP 5.45ERA 25K
Younghwan Go/TEX/RP
11G 0W 1L 18.0IP 3.00ERA 26K
[Japan]
Otani/LAD/TWP
0.303/0.396/0.683/1.079 14HR 7SB
7G 5W 0L 46.0IP 1.76ERA 57K
Masataka/BOS/LF
0.359/0.434/0.547/0.981 3HR 2SB
Munetaka/MIN/3B
0.274/0.336/0.615/0.951 12HR 0SB
Suzuki/NYM/RF
0.302/0.400/0.509/0.909 5HR 0SB
Yamamoto/LAD/SP
7G 3W 1L 47.2IP 3.02ERA 45K
Sasaki/CHW/SP
8G 3W 3L 48.1IP 4.47ERA 55K
Senga/NYM/SP
7G 2W 2L 42.1IP 3.61ERA 42K
Matsui/SDP/RP
11G 0W 1L 16.0IP 5.63ERA 23K
Imanaga/CHW/SP
7G 1W 4L 41.0IP 6.15ERA 47K
┗ㅋㅋㅋ If you put Fierce Tiger and Imanaga togetherㅋㅋㅋ do they become opponentsㅋㅋㅋ
┗If you want to match up with Fierce Tiger, you need to bring Otani in.
┗┗Is Otani doing well these days?
┗┗WAR He’s right next to Ho-Shin Maeng. The pitcher is on Cy Young pace at 1 point and his batting was a bit sluggish in the beginning, but he came back to life and hit his 14th home run.
┗LOL Opposition to the Korea-Japan war?
┗How can a person’s name be called the goat of the age group that women like the most?
┗┗Imanaga Youngpotiㄷㄷ
┗┗Imanaga is a great manㄷㄷ
┗Kim Won-ho and Shin Su-ho failed without a rumor haha
┗┗It is true that Kim Won-ho failed silently, but Shin Su-ho failed loudly.
┗┗It’s difficult to adapt to the major league after just one season
┗┗I felt it when I was very young. Honestly, I know that I followed Ji Maeng-ho, but it would have been better if I had gone in my late twenties like the Japanese kids.
┗But our country also sent some Japanese girls to major leagues. I guess I just have to follow it a little further
┗Wow, why did Kim Won-ho fail like this?
┗┗It’s not that bad haha. It’s because the last two games have been sloppy. Until then, it was around 3 points
┗┗It’s still early in the season haha
┗It definitely won’t work for Japan haha
┗┗It’s not going to work against Japan. Excluding Ohtani, I’m accumulating at least the WAR of all those bastards combined.
┗┗ㅋㅋ Why are you leaving out the soup bastard Otani? ㅅㅂ
┗┗Yes, if we combine Seungcheol’s ham, the two of us can cover all of Japan~
┗┗Fact) Yoshida and Murakami together have about 3, so if you combine them with Otani, you get about Ji Maeng-ho + Joo Seung-cheol.
┗┗Okay, you idiots, let’s see who wins tomorrow haha
*
“… Number 4, designated hitter Stanton.”
As soon as Stanton’s name was called for number 4, I checked Verdugo’s face. Even though I explained it to him yesterday so that he could understand, I tried to talk quietly and like a gentleman when he started making noises today, but of course he didn’t show any signs of that.
‘… Is it because he’s a left-handed pitcher?’
I wondered if the left-handed pitcher was the starting pitcher today and would put up with it even though he gave up yesterday’s bullshit, but I thought that no matter how much of an asshole he was, he wouldn’t put up with losing his starting spot just because a pitcher with the same hand was available.
That means my encouragement was enough to help.
‘Well, tomorrow’s starting pitcher is a right-handed pitcher, so we can look at it again then.’
For now, there was something more important than paying attention to a guy like Verdugo. That is, facing today’s opponent’s starting pitcher, Imanaga.
Honestly, I didn’t think much of it until yesterday, but I received a lot of messages through DM today asking me to beat the Japanese guys, so I wanted to win today if possible for the Korean fans.
That’s why you can’t just waste your time on the same kid. Before the game started, I studied as much as I could about how Imanaga pitched in the previous game and then entered the stadium.
“Ji Maeng-ho, fighting!”
“Meng Hao! Let’s win today!”
As I enter the stadium and play catch, I see fans carrying the Taegeukgi. I threw a few balls to those fans and then focused on catching again.
And then the game started.
Cole, who was the starter today, got a hit from Vaughn, but he cleaned up the first inning, giving me the at-bat.
‘They say there was a time when the value of the fastball pitch was number one when you just debuted in the majors. Let’s see where it stands now.’
I was curious about the fastball back then, but because of my age, I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t as good as it was in my prime.
Why am I sad?
After getting beaten up by me, I thought, ‘Ah, if I was in my prime, I would have won…’ Because it was obvious that you would think, ‘.
‘I have to step on it perfectly so that I don’t think like that.’
The balls you need to watch out for are fastballs and splitters. And even the sweeper, whose importance increased as he was hit in the major leagues. The pitches he threw were quite difficult. Because these were balls that had to be timed well.
‘It’s a sweeper.’
‘Okay. ‘First pitch sweeper.’
His choice is the first pitch sweeper. It was a pitch that he didn’t throw well against right-handed batters, but he knew that I would almost always watch the first pitch of his first at-bat, so he didn’t seem to want to show me a pitch that would have been a game-winning pitch.
“Ball.”
And the guy’s sweeper that lands near the knee. He almost swung the bat, but was able to get the ball.
‘Deception is definitely tricky. It’s not for nothing that I said that it would be difficult when you first meet Judge.’
However, the deception is a bit tricky, and it is difficult to get the timing right? Well, at least it was a fastball in the low 90s and a splitter in the low 80s.
“Ball.”
“Strike!”
“Ball.”
Perfect!
“Foul!”
Perfect!
“Foul!”
After watching his balls and getting a feel for them, I started kicking a few of them to figure out the timing,
‘It’s a fastball. Considering that the mitt is in the middle, it looks like it will be inserted into the zone.’
Finally, he chose the ball I wanted.
‘Let’s stick with strength vs. Strength, right?’
Full count situation. In times like this, most pitchers throw the ball they are most confident in. And the pitch Imanaga was most confident in was the high fastball. Well, other hitters might be concerned about the possibility of a splitter here, but it had nothing to do with me.
Anyway, the pitch he was confident about was a high fastball, so I set the hitting zone in that direction and waited for his pitch.
And the guy’s ball was thrown.
The ball from the guy who came high was headed towards the body like a crossfire,
‘… ‘Two three!’
I caught the timing through a few fouls and my bat spun without hesitation.
Ta – Aak!
-Waaaaa!!!!!
The result is a sound that sounds like the ball is splitting and the crowd cheers. The ball, which seems to have flown 500 feet at lightning speed, lands on the third floor of the outfield.
‘Well, at this level, you know that it won’t change just because you met in your prime, right? Oh, that’s right. I have to do this too.’
And there was even a sniping ceremony for the Korean fans who came to Yankee Stadium wearing the Taegeukgi.
“[Damn it!]”
As a Korean, it was quite a point of pride to see a Japanese person covering his mouth with a glove and spouting unintelligible swear words.
