episode_0162

‘The game is frustrating.’

We scored 2 runs with my solo home run in the top of the 1st inning and Choi Jin-cheol’s solo home run in the top of the 6th inning, but UG Overlords were not an easy opponent as they were last year’s winning team. Against Bellingham, who is showing good form, 2 runs were scored until the 6th inning, and the score is currently 2:2.

It seemed like it would be an easy game until he hit the home run, but the opposing mercenary pitcher was blocking our batting lineup well, as if his monthly MVP-level performance was no lie.

‘That bastard. Maybe it’s because he has good control, but Suho is not very good today.’

How could it be that Yoon Seong-tae and Kim Joo-yeop succeeded in getting on base in the top of the 7th inning with 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd bases, but with Kim Su-ho striking out, it was now 2 outs and 1st and 2nd bases on base.

‘Well, I can do it.’

My record against him is 1 hit in 2 at-bats, 1 home run, and 1 walk. The rest of the at-bats where he was out would have likely resulted in hits if the defense was as good as our team’s, so his pitch wasn’t that scary. Should I say that this is exactly the type I like?

Appropriate speed to hit with honest control. In this match, I was confident enough to throw it over the fence.

“Senior, how about the end of the ball?”

“You definitely look exhausted. If it hits you, I think it will pass. Oh, and the slider didn’t bend very well, but I don’t know if it’s because I’m a left-handed hitter.”

“okay.”

Are you out of stamina? Web, you are behind. How should I cook this guy? . As I was about to go to bat, imagining this and that, suddenly a pitching coach and an interpreter from UG’s dugout received the ball from the umpire and went up to the mound.

“Pitcher change. Yoon Jung-hwan!”

‘Are you replacing the pitcher here? ‘Is there a player in UG who throws better than Webb?’

‘It looks like he decided his stamina was low.’

‘But you struck out Kim Su-ho.’

‘Birds, those babies went out as runners, but if you are a director, won’t you change?’

At Rossby’s fingertips were runners Seongtae Yoon and Jooyeop Kim. hmm… . It was time to replace the pitcher.

Seongtae Yoon and Jooyeop Kim weren’t bad hitters, but they weren’t the type of hitters who could hit consecutive hits against Webb either, so it seemed like a good choice.

‘But why don’t you change it during Kim Su-ho’s at-bat and change it during my at-bat? Ki Ki-ju is also a left-handed hitter, so I think I can just block him with a left-handed pitcher.’

‘Then how do you stop it?’

‘Well, that’s ambiguous. uh? But Yoon Jung-hwan? ‘Who is Yoon Jung-hwan?’

Yoon Jung-hwan was a name I had never heard before. A name I haven’t heard of in today’s pre-game analysis. I don’t think he’s a pitcher who would come out in a 2-2 situation… .

phut! phut!

The changed pitcher throws practice pitches from the mound.

“Oh, do you like the ball?”

Velocity is around mid 150s? Perhaps because it was a pitching form between sidearm and underhand, the movement was considerable.

‘Was the ball just a two-seamer?’

‘No, it’s a four-seamer.’

Rossby, who went to the mound to see the pitcher’s changed grip, answers my question.

phut!

Contrary to the ball just thrown, a ball that does not bend

‘… The grip is probably a four-seamer now, right?’

‘… okay.’

Even Rossby spoke in a confused tone. Some of his balls were bent toward his body and thrown like two-seamers, while some had the trajectory of a four-seamer.

‘Can you tell the difference?’

‘well? The grip didn’t really change.’

‘Fuck, then what?’

Before we knew it, his practice pitching was over. And we didn’t notice the difference until the practice pitch was over.

‘Well, it’s not to the point where I can’t hit it though. Let’s go in thinking it’s 155.’

Judging from the fact that he didn’t throw a breaking ball, it seemed like he wasn’t confident in his breaking ball. If he was confident about breaking balls, there was no way the power analysis team wouldn’t have told him about a pitcher who throws a ball like that.

‘It’s a bit uncomfortable being underhand.’

If you ask me what my weakest pitching form is, it would definitely be underhand. When Rossby played in the majors, there weren’t many underhand pitchers, so I also lacked experience. Many of my experiences were baseball memories shared by Rossby.

‘Okay, he’s a bullpen pitcher. ‘Come and see!’

Still, if Rossby told me, it was an experience and it was meaningless. After all, I knew where the helmet would arrive.

‘Fastball down the middle.’

‘okay.’

It’s a fastball in the middle, so you’re trying to hit me with the ball? Doesn’t UG know that I also hit a home run against Ohtani?

‘You are left behind.’

I set my batting timing to a speed in the mid-150s and waited for him to throw the ball. No matter how many outs there are, I wanted to teach them how to cheekily do a windup even when there are runners on first and second base.

And he threw the ball,

Huh!

what? The ball I believed to be in the middle suddenly disappeared from sight.

“strike!”

The referee calls a strike. What is this, you bastard?

‘It’s not in the middle at all? Where was it?’

‘It was quite high.’

‘yes?’

I thought it disappeared from sight, but it was high, right? But even though he was asked to play in the middle, he must have been nervous because he had just come up from the 2nd team.

“Senior, I think the pitcher is a little nervous. How can you help him relax?”

“… … .”

The catcher’s concept today is reticence. From episode 1, he didn’t answer anything I asked.

‘I think there was a lot of talk the last time I practiced… . ‘Isn’t it him?’

‘This time, it’s a fastball in the middle. ‘Concentrate.’

‘okay.’

Also, it’s a fastball in the middle. I was nervous earlier, so I’ll put it right this time. The guy does the windup again.

‘come!’

Huh!

what… ? My swing cut the wind again.

“Strike!”

‘Mr. Rossby?’

‘… This bastard. ‘Jegu is an asshole?’

‘yes?’

‘I don’t even go near John.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Tsk, I’ll just tell you the type of pitch, so you can see the location and hit it.’

‘… All right.’

It was difficult to hit the trajectory because it was an odd pitching form that was halfway between sidearm and underhand, but I had no choice but to do my best.

‘Another fastball. It seems like the only pitch this guy can throw is a fastball?’

Fastball. The first two flew straight away without bending. If this happens, is it time for a curved fastball to come out?

The guy did a windup, and the runners on first and second base started running. What was it, an operation?

I was so lost in my thoughts that I couldn’t check the operation. What should I do? Should I swing it? Eh, I don’t know!

Ta – evil!

The batted ball bends and flies to the side of the pole. Major foul. The feeling of hitting in the hand was not very heavy.

‘Sweet, if you hit it right, you’ll at least have a long shot, right? ‘That’s because it’s difficult to match.’

‘Fastball.’

There is no separate operation… . Okay, let’s pick just one, shall we? The ball just hit the outside. Since there was a strike, there was a high probability that it would be a ball based on timing. So what I choose to do is not to run away, but to make a smart choice to watch the ball.

‘Tsk, tsk, you have a long tongue.’

‘ah! ‘I’m not running away!’

At that time, the ball he threw flew toward me. So, not at home plate, but at me.

“Ahh!”

Pain comes from my thighs. The speed recorded on the electronic display board was 156 km/h. Fuck, it really hurt.

‘You couldn’t avoid it because of Mr. Rossby! Why did he suddenly start talking to me while I was at bat… !’

‘You’re the one who couldn’t avoid it, so you blame me. Hehehe. The way he rolls around at bat looks just like an earthworm. It suits you well.’

‘Ugh, young me will have to endure it.’

“Hey, hey! are you okay!”

“Yes, it’s okay.”

“Hey, are you okay?”

The sound was so loud that even UG’s first baseman came running towards me. And UG’s first baseman was Koo Jin-mo, with whom I had a bad relationship. Well, starting from the game where I hit a home run with the bat I borrowed that day, we all became close friends until we returned home, so is it worth worrying about?

“are you okay.”

“Wow, I was scared that this bastard would attack me again.”

“Hey, senior. “Do you think I’m not a UFC fighter and I’m just coming out to fight?”

“A bastard like that did a good job of killing Senior Doo-hyung.”

“Senior, be careful too. Because that’s what I’m aiming for.”

“Baby, I guess it’s okay to see that you’re joking, right?”

The people gathered around me seemed overly worried about something, but I shook it off and got up.

“It’s really okay, right?”

“yes.”

Even as I was walking to first base, Koo Jin-mo didn’t move away from me, as if he was anxious for some reason. Why is this person like this?

‘Ha, it’s a shame we didn’t get to see the match.’

It was still uncomfortable, but was it cheap to get on base with your thigh? Anyway, it’s beneficial. Tomorrow, we will have to compete properly in a no-count situation.

‘Even so, I’ll have to ask you to show me the video during analysis time tomorrow.’

It was very frustrating because I didn’t have basic information about the pitcher.

‘by the way. ‘2 outs, bases loaded.’

Ki Ki-joo bats with bases loaded with 2 outs. UG replaces pitcher. The pitcher who was replaced was left-handed pitcher Kim Geun-woong. Ki Ki-joo remained faithful to the baseball world’s maxim of aiming for the first pitch of a new pitcher.

Perfect!

Ki Ki-ju’s exciting swing created a cheerful hitting sound.

“run! run!”

I sprinted from first base to home. If it were Jamsil, I would have run all the way to home, but this is Munhak. What could have been a sweep became 2 outs, 1st and 3rd bases.

‘Hmm, let’s meet Choi Jin-cheol… . Senior Jin-cheol also has 2 hits in 3 at-bats even with one home run. If I do well, maybe I can get in too?’

As if laughing at my thoughts.

“Base on balls!”

Choi Jin-cheol and Choi Jin-cheol, who are filtering out against difficult balls as if it were natural… .

widely!

“second!”

“nice!”

“it was good.”

Coupled with Boer’s incredible batting ability, which showed off his excellent batting ability by hitting 2 hits in 3 at-bats today, we had no choice but to be satisfied with the 2 RBIs due to the weather warning.

‘Still, with 2 points, we’ve secured the win. Tsk’

*

The match between UG Overlords and AT Thunders that day was quite intense. In the end, UG scored one run in the bottom of the 9th inning, but AT Thunders’ closer Park Jin-hyuk was able to get his first save in a long time by not allowing the score to be tied.

“Today’s game was disappointing, but there was definitely some gain, right?”

“As expected, just as the team leader said, the bat cut through the air. “It felt like I couldn’t deal with it at all until it hit me.”

“Still, I think we need to be careful. “When I saw the foul ball, I thought it would go right over if it was hit.”

“Well, it would be natural for any pitcher to get over it if Ji Maeng-ho catches him. “If anything, the ball must have been passed over by the web.”

Despite the disappointing 4-3 loss, the UG coaches’ expressions were not bad. Because we are starting to see clues to attack Ji Maeng-ho, which seemed impregnable.

“now. Then, let’s think carefully about tomorrow’s game. You know that tomorrow’s starting matchup is Kim Seong-gyeol vs. Park Jun-hyung, right? “Let’s make sure to hold on to tomorrow’s game.”

“All right!”

“yes!”