Chapter 175 – Episode 173. Step by Step Step by Step. (One)

“Second base!”

Watching the future shortstop catch the ball and quickly throw it to second base, I slid into second base as well.

I could feel the touch of my foot on the base and the future second baseman hitting my thigh with his glove.

“Safe!”

It was a close match, but the referee made a safe decision as if he was fortunately not blind.

“Ahhh, your feet are so fast.”

As the second baseman was taking off his gear while hearing the admiration of my work, the first base coach came over to get my gear.

“Maengho, the aggressive run was good.”

“Well, that’s basic.”

“It’s just the basics at second base, but it’s a catastrophe when a runner comes out, you know? Let’s catch the first game and go.”

“Yep.”

After…. Leading hitter double, not bad.

‘Right? Mr. Rossby.’

‘Okay.’

‘How was your swing?’

‘To my eyes, it looks the same there.’

Well, I didn’t even expect it. Because reality is not a cartoon or a game, there was no such thing as suddenly hitting a home run in 4 consecutive at bats after receiving advice from Choi Jin-cheol. And in the first place, I didn’t even have the right to score on my turn today.

However, I think it eased my mind a little. I thought I would swing my swing without being swayed by the situation at bat, whether it was scoring or not, and it seemed like my swing came out a little lightly.

“Time!”

‘Uh, change the pitcher?’

At the bottom of the ninth inning, the score was 0:0. There, the lead batter got a double, so it was worth changing the pitcher.

‘Perhaps a left-handed pitcher will come up?’

‘I guess so.’

The future Buffaloes were trying to save their closer as much as possible, perhaps because it was an away game. And the pitchers who came up were left-handers Pil Seung-jo and Han Jong-hoon, whom we saw in the power analysis class.

Our batter who opposes him is the weatherman. According to what I heard during the power analysis class, Han Jong-hoon was also a player who had his strengths against left-handed batters, so he seemed to be a worthy match.

‘Didn’t I say that even the weatherman always swings on his own?’

I remember what the meteorologist said on the way home yesterday.

-“Hey, you are blessed. When I was a rookie, it was always a bunt at first base, an unconditional right fielder in scoring range, and a set on that day if I hit three balls. But you don’t have that Let the manager be free, and the hitting coach won’t say anything. It’s because that bastard, Sans, ran away. I trusted you as much as I did. You didn’t have to worry in the first place. If I had been pushed as much as you when I was a rookie, I would have hit 30 homers once.”

When he was a rookie, he was forced to bat on a team, but now that he has become a pinch hitter, he says that he swings on his own. Ki Sang-ju was not a man who spoke with one mouth when it came to baseball.

“Swing strike! Out!”

This is because he struck out with two foul home runs and one miss while striking three full swings.

‘Still, it’s really hard to search.’

And the intentional phrase that follows. Since the next hitters are left-handed hitter Bohr and right-handed hitter, it was a natural choice to skip Choi Jin-cheol, who is right-handed hitter and second in home runs.

“Great runner, Kang Joo-hyun!”

And, as if it were natural, Choi Jin-cheol was replaced with a major runner. As Kang Joo-hyun, who has the fastest feet among the rest of the roster.

‘How am I supposed to give you an autograph? Boo, that bastard is unreliable.’

He hit a three-run homer against Charlotte, but since then, he has remained silent in scoring range, so it’s hard to believe.

‘It’s a sign.’

‘Yes?’

‘Don’t think unkindly and look at the autograph.’

I looked back at the coach, not showing off Rossby’s words, and the coach was ordering the stealing of third base.

‘OK. Mr. Rossby, please.’

Gradually widen the lead width. I could feel the shortstop glancing at me.

‘Fastball.’

Preparing gwiru…. As soon as the pitcher took the motion to check, I quickly returned to second base. And once again widen the lead width.

“Senior! Concentrate on typing! Concentrate on typing!”

The young catcher of the future Buffaloes, who came in for a pinch hitter, speaks while striking a mitt. Of course, I wasn’t an idiot to believe the words I shouted openly, so I prepared to return to the base again.

Phut!

This time, he did not stop at the motion but kept the second base in check.

“Safe.”

It was close, perhaps because of the wide lead, but the result was safe. Again, widen the lead width.

“Stop flirting!”

“Did you catch it if you twisted it?”

That’s how I wait for the timing of the change ball.

“Strike!”

The first pitch thrown to Bohr is a fastball. It was a ball that entered the strike zone and could not be hit by most left-handed hitters. Of course, I was just watching.

‘It’s a slider.’

‘OK.’

The slider thrown by a left-handed hitter curves toward the right-handed batter’s side, so it’s a bit more difficult to throw. The moment the pitcher was in set position, he ran toward third base.

“Nice!”

“Well, this much is easy.”

Third base stealer perfectly missed the timing of the battery. The catcher couldn’t even throw the ball.

“It was a difficult situation, but I did well. Fierce tiger Joo-hyun is going to play second base too, so look at the situation and run home. I practiced a lot, so can I do it?”

“Absolutely.”

The 3rd base coach demanded the most basic running game in the 1st and 3rd base situations so that the 3rd baseman couldn’t hear him.

If Kang Joo-hyun, a runner on first base, runs, if he throws the ball to second base, he runs home, and if the pitcher makes a cut, he returns to third base. It was a way to get 1 point for free when he stupidly threw to second base. And given the nature of the bottom of the ninth inning, there is no battery to gamble here.

A situation in which runners naturally become second and third bases when I steal third base. Even if Kang Joo-hyun spent a lot of time in the 2nd team, he is a middle-aged player who is almost 10 years old, so there will be no mistakes here.

Take the lead width naturally. Left pitcher Han Jong-hun turns his head and glances at me. It seemed to be bothering him.

‘Well, if you care about runners like this, of course….’

“Cheek!”

Han Jong-hoon’s control was shaken, and Kang Joo-hyun slowly entered second base. Again, the catcher gave the ball back to the pitcher without even trying to throw it.

‘Look, don’t just hit fast ground balls or infield flies. My brother will come in!’

At my speed, I was confident that even a shortstop grounder could hit the home plate.

Right!

Unfortunately, however, Bohr committed a foul and drove the count to two strikes and one ball.

‘Why is that bastard so weak in scoring position?’

‘Didn’t that guy say he had no major experience?’

‘Yes, as far as I know.’

Hehe, then it’s good to know.’

‘What is it?’

‘I’m nervous. I heard that there are guys who go to the majors after playing a little in this country? That guy is now in his late twenties, so if he fails here, he won’t even dream of becoming a major. So, I would like to show you something. That’s why I naturally put more effort into it than usual, and I can’t swing my own.’

‘Fuck, bird breast.’

‘You’ve been thinking about that too.’

‘I’m not like that!’

I was annoyed by Bore, who is a bird breast, but a comrade is still a comrade. I widened the lead to help with the bore. If it’s a fastball, it’s close enough to go home.

‘Please just roll it.’

“Cheek.”

Boer picks up the ball. But once he thought he was a bird’s chest, he didn’t pick the ball, it looked like he couldn’t even touch it. In other words, even for me, who is on the same team, there was no sense of intimidation in the scoring position. And when I saw that, I thought I knew what Choi Jin-cheol said about the feeling of intimidation in the scoring range.

It was the same on the ground, but because Kang Han-beom’s sense of intimidation and Bore’s sense of intimidation were completely different.

‘You be careful too. If I keep failing in the scoring zone, the vicious cycle will repeat itself.’

‘Yes?’

‘I’ll laugh at the first one or two, but if I keep messing around in the scoring zone, I’ll inevitably shrink as a human being.’

‘Then what should I do?’

‘Is there anything special, I have to hit once in scoring position and relieve the burden. There is a saying that getting out of a slump is a missed hit.’

‘Then why shouldn’t I have given the sign at second base?’

I thought, but then I shook my head. Because I strongly thought that if it was a bore in scoring position, I would not be able to hit it even if I told it. Anyway, now I had no choice but to believe.

‘Seriously, just hit one. My brother will give you points.’

And the pitcher throws the ball.

Widely!

The bat hits the ball and bounces loudly to the ground. Upon recognizing the sight, my feet were instinctively pointing home.

‘My hitting ball is slow!’

“Home! Home!”

“Stop!”

“Ji Maeng-ho!”

The sound of the third base coach calling my name fades away.

‘Mr. Rossby!!’

‘The third baseman caught it!’

Now that I’ve caught it, if I make a throw… ! The distance to home is about five steps. After taking two steps, he threw himself toward home plate. I could feel the glove brushing against home plate, and at the same time I felt the catcher’s mitt touch my head and back.

“Out!”

“Safe!”

Two voices are heard at the same time. However, it was not the voice of the referee that I have been hearing today.

“… Out!”

“Video! Video!”

And at the same time as the referee’s call, manager Lee Soo-hyun walked out and requested a video review.

‘Even if I think about it, it’s a bit ambiguous, right?’

“Hey, Ji Maeng-ho! What did you do? Why did you run home?”

“Yes?”

At that time, Woo Kwan-hyung, the next hitter who was closest to me, started talking to me. I couldn’t help but be embarrassed by the reprimand in my voice.

“Did you really need to run in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd run? Did the coach tell you to run?”

“… No.”

“But why? I had one out count left.”

There was a video reading video on the screen, but I couldn’t concentrate on it. Because Woo Kwan-hyung’s words were in principle correct.

1 company 2nd, 3rd base. Even if Boer was out, the team had one chance. The next hitter there was Woo Kwan-hyung.

“Did I not trust you?”

“It’s not like that….”

Why did I run? It was just instinct. His instinct was that if he couldn’t finish the game here, he would skip this inning. When I thought of the scoring hole, I had an obsession that I had to score points unconditionally.

“Then why?”

“… Thinking of the bore, I thought I had to score unconditionally.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s just that I’m a little weak in the scoring zone, so if I score here, I wonder if it will come alive even if I score….”

It was a word that jumped out after thinking about it, but if I hadn’t had that thought in my subconscious. It didn’t seem like a risk.

“Ugh. Let’s talk about it once the game is over.”

“Yep.”

By the time the story with Kwan Woo came to an end, it seemed that the video reading was almost over. The referee takes off his headset and spreads his arms wide.

-Wow!

– Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maeng-ho!

“Safe!”

Ha, fuck. Thank god.

“Anyway, it’s over.”

It looked kind of ambiguous, but it ended, and the players came running with water and sprayed me with water. Although it was a little disappointing that the original taste of the end was not added with the cold water of video reading.

“Hey, I thought you were a crazy bastard when you were running. What are you running for?”

“Ah, but the results were good.”

“It sure is fast.”

“Look, good. Good hit! Walk off good!”

“[Sorry for hitting you now.]”

Even though I made mistakes, the atmosphere of the players looked good because I won.

“Ji Maeng-ho!”

And in that atmosphere, director Lee Soo-hyun’s voice was heard.

“Yes! Director!”

“The result was good, but you know you made a mistake, right?”

… Fuck.

“… I’m sorry.”

“Come to work an hour early tomorrow. It’s a base run practice.”

“… Yes.”

Boh, to think that I have to suffer this kind of humiliation because of this bird’s breast… !

“Director. Still, the ferocious tiger did not run without thinking.”

“Okay?”

“Yes. They said it depended on the idea of ​​wanting to instill confidence in Bohr. Because Boer is having a hard time these days in the scoring zone. Aren’t rookies admirable?”

Also right-wing! He was one of the few seniors I respect. Nice… ! Seniors! Love it!

“It is extraordinary. But you know that doesn’t mean canceling training, right?”

“… Yes.”

… Fuck. I felt like I should have a little sex today.