episode_0100

[End of episode 8. The leadoff hitter is Koo Jin-mo, and Japan has a new pitcher, Matsui Yuki.]

[Did they bring up Matsui, a left-handed pitcher, to deal with Jin-mo Koo, a left-handed hitter? I think he will probably even face Kim Soo-ho, the 7th hitter.]

Koo Jin-mo’s performance today was 0 hits in 4 at-bats. It was a grade that did not live up to the name Koo Jin-mo. In addition, today’s batting condition was the worst by anyone’s standards as he hit two double plays. Koo Jin-mo was leading Korea’s batting line up until now, but a day like this could happen to any player.

However, it is surprising that they performed like this in a game against Japan. Gu Jin-mo felt resentful towards the sky. However, even on days like these, you can’t be stubborn.

“Pinch! Jinhong Lee!”

Koo Jin-mo accepted the replacement.

[Here, pinch hitter Lee Jin-hong comes in.]

Korean national team coach Lee Geum-hyun’s choice was right-handed hitter and Lee Jin-hong. He was the future Buffaloes’ franchise star and leading hitter.

When he debuted in the same class as Seonghyun and Kang Han-beom, he was considered a hitter one level higher than Kang Han-beom. Combined with his position, he was called post-Joo Hyung-jin.

But what held him back was injury. In his debut season, 2006, he hit 18 home runs with a batting average of 0.277, taking second place in Rookie of the Year honors after Sung Hyun, who won four pitcher awards and the MVP. The following season, he hit 0.298 with 25 home runs and won the outfield Golden Glove.

And he was selected for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and helped the Korean national team win the championship. However, an injury suffered at the Beijing Olympics hindered him throughout his career.

The first gold medal for the Korean baseball team. Behind that glorious performance, there was an unfortunate injury that ruined the player’s career.

In 18 years of professional baseball, he played only eight seasons full-time, excluding his rookie season. However, the results he showed during those 8 seasons were 7 Golden Glove Awards, 3 Home Run Champions, and 1 MVP.

Future Buffaloes fans, who have the largest fandom in the KBA, always speak in unison. A healthy Jinhong Lee is an MVP contender and the best player of all time.

And Lee Jin-hong, who won the Golden Glove for two consecutive years in good health, came to the plate.

“Jinhong. “Even though it’s your first time batting, aim boldly.”

“All right.”

Bottom of the 8th inning, 2 runs down. The director’s request was simple. Hit a long hit.

‘I’ll hit it hard this time.’

Japan met in Group B of the finals. The coach demanded a big shot and placed Lee Jin-hong, whose defense and power were below average, in the starting lineup. And the result was a huge failure. He betrayed the coach’s trust by fumbling the ball in defense and being tied up against Ohtani.

And now, Jinhong Lee did not want to betray the director who trusted him once again.

‘Just put the fastball in your head and let’s go. Swing it simply.’

An old saying in the baseball world. Aim for the changed pitcher’s first pitch. Jinhong Lee planned to put that old adage into practice.

‘It’s a pitch in the mid-140s, but it has good deception pitching form. There is little difference in the form between a fastball and a breaking ball, so if you go long, you are at a disadvantage. ‘Aim from the first pitch.’

The public’s expectations, colleagues’ expectations, and the manager’s expectations. And there are criticisms that he is a hitter for the domestic market. The double insults and support that came to him the day he threw a no-hitter and lost in the game against Japan.

Putting all those complicated things aside in his mind, Jinhong Lee focused on pitching.

[Jinhong Lee. Although he is still 0-hit in the WBC, he is a player who has the ability to hit a big hit.]

[I hope Jinhong Lee shows himself here.]

[In addition, Jin-Hong Lee is a strong left-handed pitcher and is called a left-handed pitcher in Korea… Argh! I hit it! I hit it!]

‘Go over, go over!’

Lee Jin-hong, who hit the first pitch hard, thought as he ran to first base. But unfortunately, the batted ball hit the fence and fell in front of left field.

‘Ugh!’

Pain in the thighs from running at full speed. Lee Jin-hong, who suffered from injuries for a long time, knew what this pain was. And if you continue to run here, the injury may reoccur.

[It’s big! It’s big! This batted ball! Left field follows, follows! A hit that goes beyond the height of the left fielder! Lee Jin-hong all the way to second base!]

[The hit was too fast. Ah, Lee Jin-hong is famous for his slow feet, but Seiya is a strong dog. If it’s like this, if it’s like this!]

Even though his legs were burning, Jinhong Lee did not stop walking. And then I fell and entered second base.

Pop. The sound of something breaking. But there was something more important right now than the pain I felt in my leg. Jinhong Lee raised his head and looked at the second base umpire.

“Safe!”

It’s literally a narrow miss. However, Jinhong Lee did not wake up even after the safe declaration. No, I couldn’t wake up.

“what? “Senior Jinhong, are you okay?”

“Jinhong! Isn’t it a trigram?!”

The next batter, Kang Han-beom, called out his classmate Lee Jin-hong, but Lee Jin-hong was pointing to his thigh with a pained expression. One of Lee Jin-hong’s chronic injuries. Hamstrings.

The devil’s injuries struck Jinhong Lee’s body again.

“Big runner, Yang Ji-hyuk!”

After being replaced by pinch runner Yang Ji-hyuk, Lee Jin-hong limped out with support. However, compared to his expression that was stiff throughout the WBC period, his expression now that he was replaced due to injury looked brighter than ever.

[Will Japan change pitchers? From now on, I have to deal with right-handed hitters Kang Han-beom and Joo Seung-cheol.]

[It looks like it will be replaced. ah! Ohtani, who played right field today, is walking to the mound.]

[and… . Things you only see in baseball cartoons are now unfolding before your eyes. Right fielder Ohtani comes up to deal with right-handed hitters Kang Han-beom and Joo Seung-cheol.]

[There is no problem with the rules. But watching this match on a professional stage, not an amateur stage, and even on a world stage… . I’m also a bit surprised.]

[Ohtani is practicing pitching.]

[According to the rules, if you throw less than 59 pitches, you can take a day off before pitching, so it looks like Ohtani is planning to end the game.]

As Otani came up, the crowd started to get excited.

‘It’s a mountain beyond a mountain.’

However, in order to defeat Japan, Otani has a mountain to overcome. From the time he played as an outfielder rather than a designated hitter, the Korean national team knew that Ohtani would step up in a critical situation.

Of course Kang Han-beom knew that fact.

An opponent that Kang Han-beom has never overcome. Otani. And the person I really want to overcome. Now that my classmate and close friend Lee Jin-hong had been replaced due to injury, the desire to surpass Ohtani, or rather, to destroy Ohtani, was stronger than ever.

Lee Jin-hong and Kang Han-beom met each other in high school competitions. After debuting as high school rookies together in 2006, they were always compared as right-handed sluggers and formed a rivalry. There are also future teams in Busan, Charlotte and Gwangju.

Fans were expecting that the rivalry that the Korean baseball world was paying attention to would continue to engage in friendly competition. But the rivalry between the two ended quite in vain. With the conclusion of Lee Jin-hong’s injury.

While Lee Jin-hong was suffering from injuries, Kang Han-beom bombed the league and moved to the major leagues.

At first, their relationship was filled with fighting spirit, but now that they are in their mid-thirties, their relationship has been close to 20 years.

As soon as Kang Han-beom saw his friend limping but smiling as he returned to the bench, he couldn’t helplessly back down.

[Kang Han-beom’s eyes are hot. I feel like if I get caught, I will get away with it. And Kang Han-beom is a player who showed off his instincts as a problem solver by recording 100 RBIs in the major league. Ohtani is also thinking about the ball.]

[Ohtani’s Splitter! You have to be careful of the splitter, Kang Han-beom. It’s so hot right now. I can recognize myself in the broadcast box, so I’m sure Otani knows it too.]

[break! jitterbug! It’s a huge waste. One strike.]

[Kang Han-beom, your concentration is good right now, but you need to keep your heart hot and your head cool. The swing is too big. Since the runner on second base is Yang Ji-hyuk, the best runner in the country, all you have to do is tap lightly to make one. There is no need for a big swing.]

If Kang Han-beom had listened to the commentary, he would have reacted like this.

-‘What kind of ice cream are you talking about?’

A light tap turns Ohtani’s ball into a hit? That was something only people who had never dealt with Otani said. Even if I hit it lightly, there was no chance of the ball leaving the infield. And even if you swung lightly in the first place, there was no guarantee that you could hit the ball.

Kang Han-beom’s choice is a direct breakthrough. If baseball, which you’ve played your whole life, doesn’t work, then clumsy tricks won’t work either.

Ta – evil!

And Kang Han-beom properly hit Ohtani’s second ball, the splitter.

‘Go over!’

Kang Han-beom eagerly watched the ball he hit.

[It’s big! It’s big! Strong Beom! It’s big! Center field, back! backwards! backwards! There is no more place to retreat… !]

[Aaaah! Strong Beom! Skip it! It works! Beyond… .]

The Japanese center fielder leans against the fence. Then he raises his glove up and catches Kang Han-beom’s batted ball. The 124m fence was too far for Kang Han-beom’s batted ball to go over. There were less than 15 stadiums in the world where this batted ball did not hit a home run when it flew straight to the center.

[ah… . The center fielder catches it… .]

Today, gunpowder exploded at Londipo Park, creating a slugfest, but the fence that Kang Han-beom was not allowed to use… . Yang Ji-hyuk, the second base runner, used his quick feet to run to third base as soon as the ball was caught.

[Yang Ji-hyuk, tag up! Three leaves from third base.]

[ah… . I can’t get over this. really. Why is this stadium so large?]

[Now the situation is 1 out, 3rd base. Joo Seung-cheol comes to the plate.]

[When technical committee member Joo Hyung-jin played as a player, there was a saying that it was the promised 8th inning. I hope Joo Seung-cheol also follows his father’s example and shows that kind of attitude.]

“Aaaah! “Fuck!”

Kwasik and Kang Han-beom shouted and broke the bat. Joo Seung-cheol walked to the plate with his senior’s fighting spirit in his eyes.

‘Senior Han Beom… !’

And as soon as Joo Seung-cheol entered the batter’s box, he pressed himself into the deepest part of the batter’s box.

‘Body side? If you can throw it, throw it.’

Even if the control is slightly off, it can hit the body right away. If you are hit by a baseball hitting close to 160 km/h, it will not just end in pain. However, Joo Seung-cheol was still located in the innermost part of the batter’s box.

And Ohtani, too, was not a man who avoided winning even if the batter was close to home plate… .

[First pitch, ball! 163km/h. It goes deep into the body.]

[Joo Seung-cheol. If I did it wrong, I could get hit, right? But it didn’t flinch at all. This is momentum! Joo Seung-cheol is not inferior to Ohtani at all! After all, Joo Hyung-jin’s son!]

“strike!”

The ball comes towards the body once again. It was a slider that flowed from the right-handed batter’s body to the outside. Even though it was a slider that a right-handed batter would see coming toward his body and then bending sharply, Joo Seung-cheol watched the ball without moving.

A match between a batter who is not afraid of being hit by the ball and a pitcher who is not afraid of competing with his body. And this time, the goddess of luck sided with Korea.

“Ugh!”

[A ball that fits your body! Joo Seung-cheol! We get first base!]

[ah… . Joo Seung-cheol can’t get up… . If this happens… .]

[In the end, Kim Jeong-hyun was brought in as a pinch runner.]

Although it wasn’t a perfect victory, it was a valuable get on base. A faint smile appeared on Joo Seung-cheol’s face as he was breathing heavily after being hit by a ball on his side.

‘I think my ribs are cracked…’ ?’

Although Joo Seung-cheol had been hit by many balls, the pain coming from his ribs was different from usual. But even so, I was able to forget the pain at the thought of getting on base from Ohtani. And then Ji Maeng-ho walks in.

“Brother, are you okay?”

“Fuck, I feel like I’m falling behind. “How many pictures were on the electronic display?”

“101.8 miles”

A young junior who stimulates his inferiority complex. However, the feeling of inferiority was originally something one felt towards someone who was superior to oneself. In other words, Joo Seung-cheol acknowledged Ji Maeng-ho as being better than him.

Although he hasn’t shown anything in the pros yet, Joo Seung-cheol recognized Ji Maeng-ho just by watching him at the WBC. And the desire to win is greater than that sense of inferiority. Joo Seung-cheol suppressed his inferiority complex and spoke to Ji Maeng-ho.

“Believe.”

“… “I’ll try.”

[Now, Ji Maeng-ho, the number 8 hitter, comes to bat. Today’s score was 2 hits in 3 at-bats, including an intentional walk. He has one RBI and two runs scored. WBC’s overall record is 6 hits in 14 at-bats. He has a batting average of 0.428 and two home runs.]

[Ji Maeng-ho, when he was first selected for the national team, many experts expressed doubts. But now, he is perfectly filling Park Cheol-young’s empty spot. In particular, in the quarterfinals against Taiwan, he scored 3 RBIs and scored all of Korea’s points.]

[Now the situation is 1 out, 1st and 3rd bases. Since Ji Maeng-ho has fast legs, there is almost no chance of a double play, right?]

[That’s right. In particular, Ji Maeng-ho has a unique upper swing, so the ball usually goes out into the outfield. Ji Maeng-ho also needs to use his swing here to at least make a sacrifice fly.]

*

“Brother, are you okay?”

“Fuck, I feel like I’m falling behind. “How many pictures were on the electronic display?”

“101.8 miles”

Are you foolishly dealing with that? 101 miles. Seeing him breathing heavily, it seemed like Joo Seung-cheol was in an unusual condition.

“Believe.”

One word: believe. I cringe, but something hot rises from my chest.

The competitive spirit of not wanting to lose, patriotism, and pity for Lee Jin-hong, who limped to second base despite a strained hamstring, and Joo Seung-cheol, who did not dodge a 101 mph ball. Something hot mixed with such complex emotions.

Because I’ve been practicing like that since the last game against Japan for this at-bat. There was only one thing I could say to Joo Seung-cheol.

“… “I’ll try.”