episode_0095

“Meng Hao. You are the last hitter. Just get Ohtani to get 4 balls. “Then we can get Otani down.”

“All right.”

Bring the runner home. A mission entrusted to me. Looking at the last ball he threw to Kim Su-ho, Ohtani was also exhausted. Considering that, the speed is still easily in the low 150s.

‘Are you going to wait?’

‘no. If a good ball comes, I’ll hit it.’

‘That’s right, Ji Maeng Hoji.’

‘It’s been a while since I called you by name.’

‘Yeah, you monkey.’

I want to hit it. I want to hit like crazy. And I want to bring pinch runner Yang Ji-hyuk home.

‘Relax. ‘You know that if you apply too much force to the bat, it gets worse, right?’

‘All right.’

I listened to Rossby’s advice and eased off the bat slightly.

‘Let’s put it mildly. lightly.’

I decided to hit him lightly and looked at Otani, and he was grinning like before.

‘Splitting. Fuck. Mr. Rossby. What’s the pitch?’

‘The first pitch is a slider. Outside.’

Ohtani throws a slider. Is it really going to be difficult just because it’s the last one? I decided to wait for the first ball.

“strike!”

You idiot! You idiot! You idiot! I can’t believe I missed this. Ohtani’s slider deflected less than expected and fell squarely into the zone. In other words, loss of pitch. If you were aiming for a ball, you could have passed it over the fence. I can’t believe I missed this opportunity.

‘Concentrate! ‘It’s not too late to blame yourself even after the at-bat is over.’

‘… yes.’

Listening to Rossby’s story brings me to my senses. Okay, the strike count is still two. It was enough.

‘Fastball. ‘Body side.’

Outside slider and inside fastball. A classic combination. And classic means it always works. But not to me. Because I know it will fly toward my body.

‘I’ll hit it this time.’

Showing an outside slider and throwing an inside fastball means trying to get the count. I didn’t forget the mistake I made earlier and set a faster timing. If it were Otani, he would throw over 160 here.

I trusted Ohtani, one of the best pitchers in the major leagues.

‘come… !’

Ta-aak!

A light hit. The launch angle was low, but the left center was sufficiently split! I started running to first base right away.

‘spittoon!’

‘Line drive! It’s a direct hit to the fence! Run to second base!’

In this hectic situation, I trusted the navigation system called Rossby and started running to second base. The benefit of not seeing the batted ball in an in-play situation is beyond imagination! The second base is visible in front of you.

I slid into second base, but I couldn’t feel the second baseman’s glove. Perfect timing as expected… ? No, why don’t you tag me… ? A Japanese player makes this mistake… ? A fielder’s basic goal is to tag even if a runner steps on base. A Japanese player who is crazy about the basics can make such a mistake… . It was an absurd situation.

The anxiety that comes from that ridiculous situation. I instinctively looked at the groove.

Yang Ji-hyuk lying down… A Japanese catcher holding his mitt high.

“out!!!!!!”

And the referee’s loud out call. what? Yang Ji-hyuk can’t hear this? This is… this… Is it okay?

A red light goes up on the electronic display board. And the quiet Korean dugout. This was reality.

‘Tsk, the ball was too fast. Still, I hit one extra-base hit.’

‘… … .’

“What happened?”

Ignore Rossby’s words and ask the coach who came to receive the equipment.

“The ball was hit too fast. It hit the wall and bounced right off. The left fielder caught it.”

“Left field sleep… ?”

“Seiya Suzuki. As expected, it’s a strong dog. Should I not have turned it? “Fuck.”

The coach also seemed annoyed and swore. Seiya Suzuki. The best strong dog in Japan comparable to Ichiro. I heard this during power analysis. The line drive ball that hit the fence did not lose its power and arrived in front of Seiya like a bullet, and Seiya sniped at Jihyuk Yang.

That’s the whole story of the incident.

‘Fuck, no luck.’

properly… I hit him. A situation beyond my power. And it didn’t make sense not to hit this ball and hit it home. It’s just that Seiya’s defense was better and his arms were better.

“It’s unfortunate. If the batting had been a little less fast, it would have come in. It was also a close race. “But there is still one out count left.”

What’s more problematic is that Ohtani has only thrown 64 balls so far. There is a limit to the number of pitches of 65, but there is a rule that allows batters who have already been faced to the end, so the next batter must also face Ohtani.

‘But it’s Choi Joo-tae… .’

That’s right, strike! Tap, cheek, cheek, ta-ack! Swing strike out!

Choi Joo-tae, whom we trusted, also struck out after seeing 7 pitches, ending Korea’s attack in the top of the 6th inning.

‘Of course, that bastard is different from a monkey. Otani, Otani. He’s definitely a great guy.’

‘Mr. Rossby. You don’t see ghosts in Otani, right? Aren’t you getting advice from that bastard Babe Ruth?’

‘If there was such a thing, I would have told you already.’

complete defeat. They were tied tightly to Ohtani and could not score a single point.

‘But next time… .’

And I had no choice but to promise what would happen next.

*

“Ha, fuck. “It sucks.”

complete defeat. My record against Ohtani could be considered a complete defeat. I did hit one with a long-hitting course, but even though I knew it, it was still that bad.

I felt bad about losing completely for the first time. I can do this even with Rossby’s help, but are you saying that guys in the majors who score points on guys like that are monsters?

“Youngest child, how long are you going to stay there?”

“going… .”

As I packed up my equipment and was about to leave the quiet ground, someone from Japan approached me.

“[hi? You said he was a rookie drafted this year? How amazing is it that a rookie hits my ball? Actually, would you say it was the thing that bothered me the most in Korea? Of course, there was Choi as well.]”

It was Otani. Although the pronunciation was a bit rough, typical of Japanese, the pronunciation showed that a lot of effort had been put into speaking English. Well, with Rossby’s help, my English was at a native level, but it was listenable.

With Naya Rossby’s help, I was able to speak English fluently. When I spoke English in Australia, I heard that he had a strong Texas accent and that he spoke like an old-timer, but that can’t be helped because Rossby is an old-timer from Texas.

“[Sohei Otani, did you say ‘Feng Hao Ji’? I hope to see you in the big leagues later.]”

It was annoying to see him smiling even though he won, but he played baseball with me anyway. Moreover, as the saying goes, you can’t spit at a smiling face, I couldn’t spit out a sharp remark when a nice-looking guy approached me with a smile.

“[Hello, nice to meet you. Just wait a little bit, we’ll be heading to the major soon.]”

The English came out smoothly, just as I expected. I, who have built up a wall with English, can speak English this well. As expected, Rossby is amazing.

“[Hmm. The way you talk is very grandfather-like. Anyway, today’s match was good. Let’s compete again next time.]”

If things continue like this, the next game against Japan will be the semifinals. I didn’t think that either we or Japan would fall before that. Both we and Japan could rightly be called the strongest forces of all time.

‘We’ll see. Otani! And look forward to it the next time we meet. I’ll erase that smile.’

‘Hehe, that’s exactly what losers say. Is there a loser’s association somewhere?’

‘damn! Shut up! ‘Because it’s unfair!’

*

-[WBC] Korea suffered a disappointing defeat to Japan. The match ended with a score of 3:1. Even though we lost, we fought well!

(OSXE Reporter Park OO)

Japan defeated Korea and secured first place by winning the fourth game of Group B of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC).

Korea suffered a disappointing 3:1 loss in the 4th match of Group B against Japan in the 2023 WBC 1st round held at Tokyo Dome in Japan at 7 pm on the 10th.

The Japanese starter on this day was 2021 American League MVP Sohei Ohtani (LAA). Ohtani delivered a pitch that lived up to his reputation, allowing no runs in the sixth inning. Ohtani, who blocked Korea’s batting lineup with a perfect streak until the 5th inning, faced a crisis in the top of the 6th inning when he walked leadoff hitter Kim Su-ho.

However, Japan was Japan. With one out and second base on Lee Yong-gi’s bunt, 9th batter Ji Maeng-ho hit a line drive that hit the left wall, but unfortunately, the ball was hit too fast.

The batted ball hit the wall and bounced right in front of Japan’s left fielder Seiya Suzuki (CHC), and Suzuki showed strong determination and caught pinch runner Yang Ji-hyuk. Thanks to Suzuki’s solid defense, Ohtani fulfilled his duties as a starting pitcher by striking out the next batter, Choi Joo-tae.

Korea’s starting pitcher, Seonghyun (NYY) also showed off his fighting skills, but his solo home run off Ohtani in the bottom of the third inning was painful. Seong Hyeon pitched 4.1 innings against Japan, allowing 1 run, and Jung Woo-sung (PIT), who came up next, tied up Japan’s batting lineup by allowing no runs over 2.2 innings.

However, in the bottom of the 8th inning, Woojun Kim (UG Overlords) had two outs and hit a home run from Japan’s third batter Munetaka Murakami (Yakult Swallows). Lee Jin-sik (Future Buffaloes), who came up next, also hit back-to-back home runs from Yamakawa Hotaka (Seibu Lions), putting the game on the line. Jinsik Lee caught the remaining out counts, but was unable to turn the game around.

In the top of the 9th inning, Choi Joo-tae (LAA) got on base with a single and Ki-joo Ki (AT Thunders) came in to make up for one run, but Japan’s closer Rocky Sasaki (Chiba Charlotte Mariners) struck out the next two batters. The game ended with a catch.

… … (reluctant)… …

-This is why they say Otani Otani.

-Tani Kun キタ━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━!!!www

You need to get out of here.

ㄴㄴYes, the next Joseonjing~ You were destroyed like a dog by the Great Hwang Japanese Empire, right?

-Still, Otani Perfect was blocked.

Oh, even if that ball was a little slow

Ji Maeng-ho played well, but he had no luck.

-Gukbong guys suck at Seonghyun, but it doesn’t work for Otani.

Is it the same as playing against a Japanese batter and a Korean batter?

Yes, Ohtani hit a home run~

-Just watch the pitch count and wait. Damn, everyone hits the first pitch without any mega and dies, so what are we going to do?

No fucking thoughts

ㄴI can see that you just want to finish quickly and go for a drink lol. This is why you can’t play baseball.

-under… . The gap with Japan is widening. Is Japan no longer able to win?

ㄴI originally couldn’t win.

Wasn’t it strange when Joo Hyung-jin was around?

ㄴThe excitement was as high as ever, but in the end, it didn’t work out for Japan.

-Still, the pitching match was great.

ㄴBack to back was disappointing, but ㄹㅇ was worth watching.

-I couldn’t beat Tanikun. Hehehe.

Not surprising.

ㄴWho the hell is Judge Shin who beat Tanikun and won MVP… .

ㄴBut wasn’t it just a small difference?

Just one thing?

Accumulating strikes with just a glance