Chapter 100 – Episode 99. Revenge With Japan. (3)

[End of the 8th inning. The leading hitter is Jinmo Koo, and Japan has a new pitcher, Yuki Matsui.]

[You put left-handed pitcher Matsui up to face left-handed hitter Koo Jin-mo, right? I think I’ll probably deal with Kim Soo-ho, the 7th hitter.]

Goo Jin-mo’s performance today is 4 at-bats, no hits. It was a result that did not suit the name Gu Jin-mo. In addition, he hit two double hits and his batting condition today was the worst anyone could see. It was Koo Jin-mo, who had led Korea’s batting line up until now, but he was the law that any player could have a day like this.

It’s just that I had to play a game like this in a match against Japan. Gu Jin-mo was resentful of the sky. However, even on a day like this, you can’t be stubborn.

“Pinch hit! Jinhong Lee!”

Goo Jin-mo accepted the replacement.

[This is where pinch hitter Lee Jin-hong enters.]

Korean national team coach Lee Geum-hyeon chose right-handed hitter Lee Jin-hong. He was the future Buffaloes’ franchise star and signature hitter.

When he debuted with Seonghyeon and Kang Han-beom, he was regarded as a hitter one level higher than Kang Han-beom. It was to the extent that he was called Post Joo Hyeong-jin after being combined with the position.

But what caught him off guard was an injury. In his debut season in 2006, he hit 18 home runs with a batting average of 0.277, and was second in the rookie of the year following Seong-hyun, who won 4 pitcher crowns and MVP, and the following season won the outfield Golden Glove with 25 home runs at 0.298.

He was selected for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and helped the Korean national team win. However, an injury he acquired at the Beijing Olympics held him back throughout his career.

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

During his 18 years of professional baseball, he only played 8 full-time seasons, excluding his rookie season. However, the performance he showed during those 8 seasons was 7 Golden Gloves, 3 Home Run Champions and 1 MVP.

Fans of the future Buffaloes, who have the biggest fandom in the KBA, always speak in unison. A healthy Lee Jin-hong is an MVP contender and is said to be the best player of all time.

And Lee Jin-hong, who won the Golden Glove for two consecutive years with a healthy body, entered the plate.

“Crimson. It’s the first batter, but aim boldly.”

“All right.”

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

‘I’ll hit it this time.’

Japan met in Group B of the finals. The coach asked for a big shot and put Lee Jin-hong, who has below-average defense and main power, into the starting lineup. And the result was a fiasco. He betrayed the coach’s trust by fumbling the ball in defense and being tied up against Ohtani.

And now, Lee Jin-hong did not want to betray the director who believed in him once again.

‘Let’s go with only the fastball in our heads. I wield it simply.’

An old adage in baseball. Aim for the first pitch of the changed pitcher. Lee Jin-hong intended to put that old adage into practice.

‘It’s a ball in the mid-140 range, but it has a good pitching form. There is almost no difference in form between the fastball and the breaking ball, so if you go long, you will be at a disadvantage. I aim for the first pitch.’

The expectations of the people, the expectations of colleagues, and the expectations of the director. And criticism that he is a hitter for domestic demand. On the day he went 0-hit and lost in the game against Japan, he came to his senses and cheered him on.

Putting all those complicated things aside in his head, Lee Jin-hong focused on pitching.

[Jinhong Lee. It’s still hitless in the WBC, but it’s a player who has the ability to hit a big one.]

[I hope Lee Jin-hong will show himself here.]

[In addition, Lee Jin-hong is a player who is strong against left-handed pitchers, who is also called a left-handed killer in Korea. Aaaaagh! Hit! I hit it!]

‘Go over, go over!’

Lee Jin-hong, who hit the first pitch hard, thought as he ran to first base. Unfortunately, however, the ball hit the fence and fell in front of the left fielder.

‘Ugh!’

Thigh pain that comes up when running with full power. Lee Jin-hong, who suffered from an injury for a long time, knew what this pain was. And here he is also that the injury could recur again if he kept running.

[Big! Big! This batted ball! Left fielder Follow me, follow me! A hit beyond the left fielder’s height! Lee Jin-hong goes to second base!]

[The batted ball was too fast, ah, Jinhong Lee is famous for his slow feet, Seiya is a strong dog, so if this happens, if this happens!]

Despite the pain of burning his legs, Lee Jin-hong did not stop walking. And as he fell, he went to second base.

Pop. The sound of something breaking. However, there was something more important now than the pain I felt in my leg. Lee Jin-hong raised his head and looked at the second baseman.

“Safe!”

Truly an easy car. However, even after the safe declaration, Lee Jin-hong did not wake up. No, he didn’t wake up.

“What? Jinhong-senpai, are you okay?”

“Crimson! Don’t you mind?!”

Kang Han-beom, the next hitter, called out his motive, Lee Jin-hong, but Lee Jin-hong was pointing at his thigh with a painful expression. One of Lee Jin-hong’s chronic injuries. Hamstrings.

The demon’s injuries hit Lee Jin-hong’s body again.

“Great runner, Yang Ji-hyeok!”

After being replaced by Yang Ji-hyeok, the runner-up, Lee Jin-hong limped out after being supported. However, compared to the previous expression that had been hardened throughout the WBC period, the expression now replaced by injury looked brighter than ever.

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

[Seems to be replaced. Ah! Ohtani, who played in right field today, is walking to the mound.]

[Wow…. What we only saw in baseball cartoons is now unfolding in front of our eyes. Right fielder Ohtani comes up to face right-handed hitters Kang Han-beom and Joo Seung-cheol.]

[There is no problem with the rules. But to see a game like this on the professional stage, not on the amateur stage, and on the world stage…. I’m also a little curious.]

[Ohtani is pitching practice.]

[As a rule, if you throw less than 59 pitches, you can take a day off and pitch, so I think I’m thinking of ending the game with Ohtani.]

As Ohtani came up, the crowd started to stir.

‘It’s a mountain beyond the mountain.’

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

Kang Han-beom, of course, knew that fact.

An opponent Kang Kang-beom has never overcome. Ohtani. And the opponent you want to overcome. Now that Lee Jin-hong, a close friend and classmate, was replaced due to an injury, the desire to surpass Ohtani, no, to destroy Ohtani, was stronger than ever.

Lee Jin-hong and Kang Han-beom met each other in high school competitions, and debuted as high school graduates together in 2006, forming a rivalry by always being compared as right-handers. The team there is also the future of Busan’s Charlotte and Gwangju.

Fans expected that the rivals that the Korean baseball world is paying attention to would continue to compete in good faith. However, the rivalry between the two ended pretty empty. With the ending of Lee Jin-hong’s injury.

While Lee Jin-hong was suffering from an injury, Gang-beom bombed the league and moved to the major leagues.

At first, it was a relationship that burned with a fighting spirit, but now that they are in their mid-30s, their relationship is close to 20 years of friends.

As long as he saw such a friend go back to the bench with a limp and a smile, Kang Han-bum couldn’t step back from here.

[Kang Han-beom’s eyes are hot. Feeling like you’re going to pass if you get caught. And Kang Han-beom is a player who showed off his problem solver instinct by recording 100 RBIs in the major leagues. Ohtani is also thinking about the ball.]

[Otani’s Splitter! Beware of splitters, Kang Kang. It’s too hot right now. I can recognize it even in the relay box, and Ohtani must also know.]

[Break! Jitterbug! Waste a lot One strike.]

[Player Kang Han-bum, your concentration is good right now, but you need to keep your heart warm and your head cool. Swing is too big. As the runner on second base is Yang Ji-hyeok, the best runner in Korea, all you have to do is hit it lightly and make one. You don’t need a big swing.]

If the strong tiger had listened to the commentary, he would have reacted like this.

-‘What kind of bingshi sound?’

Make Ohtani’s ball a hit with a light tap? That was something only people who had never dealt with Ohtani would say. Even if you hit it lightly, there was no chance that the ball would escape the infield. And even if he swung lightly in the first place, there was no guarantee he could hit the ball.

Kang Han-beom’s choice is to break through head-on. If baseball, which he has been playing all his life, does not work for him, even poor tricks do not work for him.

Ta-evil!

And Kang Han-bum properly countered Ohtani’s second official splitter.

‘Go ahead!’

Strong Bum watched the ball he hit eagerly.

[Big! Big! Strong criminal! Big! Center field, back! Backwards! Backwards! There is nowhere to retreat… !]

[Aaaaa! Strong criminal! Let’s go! Good luck! Beyond….]

The Japanese center fielder leans against the fence. Then he lifts his glove up and catches a strong bat. The 124m fence was too far for Kang Han-beom’s batted ball to pass. There are less than 15 stadiums in the world that do not result in a home run when this ball hits the center.

[Ah…. The center fielder catches….]

Today, it was Rondipo Park, which created an aspect of a slugfest when gunpowder exploded, but a fence that was not allowed to Gang-beom…. As soon as the ball was caught, second base runner Yang Ji-hyeok ran to third base with quick feet.

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

[Ah…. I can’t get past this. Oh yeah. Why is this stadium so wide?]

[Now the situation is 1 company 3 base. Joo Seung-cheol comes in at bat.]

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

“Aww! Fuck!”

Kwajik, Kang Han-beom screamed and broke the bat. With his senior’s fighting spirit in his eyes, Joo Seung-chul walked to the plate.

‘Senior Han Beom… !’

And as soon as Joo Seung-cheol stepped into the batter’s box, he clung to the inside of the batter box.

‘Body side? Throw it if you can.’

Even if the ball misses even slightly, it can hit the body right away. If you get hit by a baseball that is approaching 160 km/h, it doesn’t just end with pain. But even so, Joo Seung-chul was located in the innermost part of the batter box.

And Ohtani, too, wasn’t a man who would avoid a game even if the batter was close to the home plate….

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

[Joo Seung-cheol. If I did it wrong, I could have hit my body. But he didn’t flinch at all. Because this is momentum! Joo Seung-cheol is not pushed by Ohtani at all! After all, Joo Hyung-jin’s son!]

“Strike!”

The ball coming towards you again. It was a slider that flowed from the right-hander’s body to the outside. If a right-handed hitter could see it, it was a slider that came to his body and then suddenly broke, but Seung-cheol Joo watched the ball without moving.

A match between a hitter who is not afraid of being hit by a ball and a pitcher who is not afraid of a game on the inside. And this time, the goddess of luck raised Korea’s hand.

“Aww!”

[Ball that fits the body! Seungcheol Joo! Get 1st base!]

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

[In the end, Kim Jung-hyun is put in as a major runner.]

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

‘It looks like the ribs are cracked… ?’

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

“Brother, are you okay?”

“Fuck, I think I’m going backwards. How many were taken on the billboard?”

“101.8 miles”

A young junior who stimulates his inferiority complex. Inferiority, however, was originally felt toward someone superior to oneself. In other words, Joo Seung-cheol admitted that Ji Maeng-ho was superior to him.

Although he has not shown anything in the professional world yet, Joo Seung-chul acknowledged Ji Maeng-ho just by watching him at the WBC. And he has a desire to win that outweighs that inferiority complex. Joo Seung-chul suppressed his feelings of inferiority and spoke to Ji Maeng-ho.

“Believe.”

“… I’ll try.”

[Now, hitter Ji Maeng-ho enters the plate. Today’s performance is 2 hits in 3 at-bats, including intentional walks. He has one RBI and two runs scored. Overall WBC record was 6 hits in 14 at-bats. 428 batting average and two home runs.]

[Player Ji Maeng-ho, when you were first selected for the national team, many experts expressed doubts. But now, Park Chul-young’s vacancy is perfectly filled. In particular, in the match against Taiwan in the quarterfinals, I made all of Korea’s points while making 3 RBIs.]

[Now the situation is 1 company, 1st, 3rd base. Since Ji Maeng-ho has fast legs, there is little chance of a double hit, right?]

[That’s right. In particular, since Ji Maeng-ho has his unique upper swing, the ball usually spreads out into the outfield. Maeng-Ho Ji also has to make his own swing here and at least make a sacrifice fly.]

*

“Brother, are you okay?”

“Fuck, I think I’m going backwards. How many were taken on the billboard?”

“101.8 miles”

Are you foolishly beating it up? 101 miles. Seeing that he was breathing heavily, it seemed that Joo Seung-chul’s condition was not serious at first glance.

“Believe.”

A word of trust. I groaned, but something hot rose from my chest.

I feel sorry for Lee Jin-hong, who limps to second base, and Joo Seung-cheol, who does not avoid the 101 mph ball, even though his hamstring is raised. Something hot mixed with such complex emotions.

I practiced 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.”