Chapter 380 – Episode 372. A Returning Veteran. (2)
[And there’s some good news for AT Thunders fans ahead of today’s game, right? The long-awaited heart of AT, Gwanhyeong Woo, has finally been named to the first team after overcoming a long injury.]
[You’re right. Coach Lee Soo-hyun insisted that he start the game on the bench in this series, but his position was that he could be used as a pinch hitter at any time because the training results were good.]
[AT Thunders regained first place with a win in yesterday’s game, so the return of Woo Kwan-hyung will be very reassuring. Will AT Thunders be able to maintain its first place? Today, we will tell you about AT Thunders’ lineup. 1st hitter Jeong Hwi-cheol, 2nd hitter Ji Maeng-ho, 3rd hitter Ki Ki-joo, 4th hitter Choi Jin-cheol, 5th hitter Kim Su-ho, 6th hitter Yoon Seong-tae, 7th hitter Baek Jeong-jin, 8th hitter Kim Hyun-seong, and 9th hitter Lee In-hyuk. It’s the same lineup as yesterday.]
[The balance of the batting lineup is perfect, right? In addition, Choi Jin-cheol, who had been sluggish at the beginning of the season, has stepped up and is taking center stage at number 4, so AT’s upward trend was, well, foretold, right?]
[If Williams and Jeong Yun-cheol return here, it will be a complete team. If these two players return, I think there will be no difference. Now, I will tell you about JT Golden Eyes’ defensive position. Starting pitcher Park Jeong-seop and catcher Han Jeong-hyeok formed the battery, …]
*
“Hey, Jeong-seop is being brutal today… ?”
“You missed the Olympics. “It’s worth getting angry.”
“Well, I also went to the WBC last year. It’s worth feeling sad about.”
“Isn’t Jincheol furious or anything? I was eliminated from national university. “Isn’t there something like this, a home run in four consecutive at-bats of anger?”
“What kind of national representative at my age? “At this age, it’s a waste of money.”
“Han Beom, my brother’s classmate, is doing well.”
“Bitch, are Kang Han-beom and I the same?”
JT’s selection today is Park Jeong-seop, a former national team member and JT’s ace. As his seniors said, his performance was fierce, as if he was relieving his resentment of not being on the national team.
Park Jeong-seop was the ace of JT Gold Eyes, the last founding team of the KBA and a low-ranking team for many years. Although he was not well-known and was not the ace that dominated the league, he was a player whose skills were certain enough to be selected for the last WBC.
He is the type of player who there would be no disagreement about if he were to join the national team right away. This season, he had an ERA in the late 2-point range, so he was likely to join the national team, but perhaps because the president likes younger players, he was pushed out by three players, Jang Woo-joo, Kim Won-ho, and Shin Su-ho, and was not selected for the national team.
If you look at the reason, it is said that they were pushed out due to the use of the bullpen by Shin Soo-ho, who is a professional bullpen player, and Kim Won-ho, who used the bullpen until last year, but from the player’s own perspective, he cannot help but be angry.
‘But why are you taking out your anger on us?’
Park Jeong-seop must have caught the edge today, and he was venting his anger against us by pitching 5 scoreless innings. I also got a walk, but in the remaining at-bat, I retired with a hit caught in front of the fence, leaving me 0-for-1.
Normally, if it was Park Jeong-seop, I had a good chemistry with him, so it wouldn’t have been strange for him to hit home runs in consecutive at-bats, but something really seemed different today. In addition, he was usually a bit shy, so he would throw flat balls when in danger, but today he barely allowed himself to get on base, so he didn’t have any of those shortcomings.
Fortunately, Crongs was able to block JT’s batting line by allowing 1 run in 5 innings, but it still felt bad to lose.
“Now. Gather together.”
It’s cleaning time with a score of 1:0. Captain Choi Jin-cheol gathered the fielders. It was a bit funny to see Woo Kwan-hyung next to him happily watching Choi Jin-cheol like that, but he couldn’t help but laugh at Choi Jin-cheol looking more serious than usual.
“You know you’re coming back at bat for the third time, right? Jeongseop, he throws well. But that doesn’t mean you can’t hit it, right? Right?”
“That’s right!”
“Hwicheol. You are important “You know that Jeongseop shakes when he goes out as a runner, right?”
“I will try.”
“Okay. Everyone, make up your mind and let’s go. Crongs is our starter today, so we shouldn’t lose, right? And how much criticism would it be if you were ranked first and then dropped within a day? Now, everyone, focus. Let’s go! Invincible!”
“”AT!””
After the meeting ended, the beginning of the 6th inning began.
Perfect!
Senior Jin-cheol said that with the feeling of coughing up blood, but this bastard, Jeong Hwi-cheol, must have listened properly and hit a ground ball to the infield and walked away. Yesterday I did well, which was nice, but I didn’t feel bad for a day.
“Under… Sorry. “The ball is good.”
“You should eat two more bowls of rice from now on.”
“Huh?!”
“Because there is no power, the batted ball cannot leave the infield. Watch what your brother does.”
After saying that and patting Jeong Hwi-cheol on the shoulder, I tried to walk to the plate, but when I saw his body shaking with each gesture of my hand, it seemed like he needed to eat more.
‘How can a guy be so weak and get a girlfriend? Tsk. Right? Mr. Rossby?’
‘What does that have to do with you?’
‘… That’s right. ‘Please give me the ball.’
‘The first pitch is a fastball.’
First pitch fastball? Does this mean you have gained some confidence? Looking at Park Jeong-seop’s expression while standing on the mound, it seemed that something was different from usual. There’s about a month left until the Olympics, so it feels like you’re doing your best because other athletes might miss out due to injury.
He exerts strength as if he feels like throwing. I also erased other thoughts and focused on his pitch.
“Ball.”
The first pitch is a ball. It was a ball, but it wasn’t a ball that missed a lot. Rather, it was a ball that was sharply controlled to bring out the batter’s bat. Well, I skipped it because I didn’t have the heart to play it anyway.
The ball I’m aiming for is his breaking ball. The guy’s performance was good today, so he didn’t necessarily want to go head-to-head. If there was room in the scores, it would have been okay to fight head-on, but there was no need to be foolish and engage in a low-probability fight in a situation where hitting a curveball was more likely.
“Ball.”
“Strike!”
After waiting for about two like that, the long-awaited breaking ball sign finally came out.
‘It’s a slider.’
‘Slider? Okay.’
Since he didn’t respond to the fastball at all, it seemed like he had decided to throw a breaking ball. He’ll probably notice that I’m aiming for a breaking ball, so he’ll probably throw it out of the zone.
Here, it was Lee Ji-seon. It’s a choice whether to throw it toward the body or outward. Normally, he would throw a slider to the outside to create a swing, but looking at his confidence today, there was a high probability that it would be to the inside.
So I set up a hitting zone near my body and wait for the guy’s slider. And then the guy’s helmet.
‘Uh… ‘La?’
His ball flies to the center. Outward trajectory! I quickly stretched out my arm and tried to make contact with his ball.
Perfect!
A dull sound and a sensation felt at the tip of the bat.
‘Fuck. You were about to stab me in the body!’
As soon as I made contact with the ball, I ran to first base, and the batted ball bounced once in the infield and then flew between the first and second basemen. No, between first and second base. Because of the shift, the second baseman, who was biased toward second base, was in a position where he couldn’t catch, and the first baseman who was between first and second base quickly dived and tried to catch my batted ball.
And,
-Wow!!
‘Phew… I almost got screwed.’
The ball didn’t reach first base until I got there. A hit that rolls all the way to right field. The batting wasn’t good, but the results were good.
‘But what? You looked like you were going to throw it toward your body, but it ended up going outward?’
Even Park Jeong-seop, who was in perfect condition, didn’t seem to have the guts to hit a slider toward me. I was completely fooled because he was a pitcher with a good poker face. The results were good though. Anyway, I am the one with one out and a runner on first base. A chance has come to keep up with the score.
‘If there is a change, I will run right away.’
‘Yes.’
As July approaches, the weather is getting warmer, so I’ve been refraining from running these days, but when things get like this, I can’t help but run.
“Ball!”
“Second!”
I took advantage of his breaking ball and ran straight to second base. And of course, the result is three leaves. With this, 1 out and 2nd base.
Taaak!
And as if my efforts were not in vain, a meteorological batted ball splits right-center. A batted ball that hits the fence at high speed.
– Weather warning! Weather warning! Weather warning!
Because the ball was hit quickly, Ki-Gyeong-ju couldn’t head to second base, but it was enough for me to get home.
“Nice still!”
“I heard this kid is really fast.”
This is now a tie. Park Jeong-seop looked different from usual, but seeing as he threw an outside slider at me, people don’t change easily. In such a crisis situation, there was a high possibility that Park Jeong-seop would be shaken.
“Good! Let’s turn the tables!!”
Perfect!
“Second!”
“Out!”
“First!”
“Out!”
“… “I’m sorry.”
“Senior Jin-cheol, doesn’t he get angry like Park Jeong-seop? I was eliminated from the national university…”
“I heard it earlier, you idiot.”
“…”
“… “I’m sorry.”
However, Choi Jin-cheol hit the first pitch and made a picturesque grounder in front of the shortstop, resulting in a double play. Although he scored 1 point, it was a disappointing result. Choi Jin-cheol, who came in after hitting a double play, seemed to feel sorry and grabbed the first base mitt without even making eye contact with the other players.
‘Well, anyway, we tied the score.’
“[Haha, good. Exorcism. It was a good score. Ji. I’ll ask you again next time.]”
And looking at Crongs’ condition, it seemed like he would be fine for the next 1–2 innings, so I guess I felt reassured?
‘Whew. Okay. Let’s catch today’s game and maintain first place.’
*
[Strike out! Crongs ends the crisis he created himself. AT’s ace, Cronks, who allowed one run in the 7th inning but did not allow any more runs and recorded a quality start plus! The game now goes to the top of the 8th inning!]
AT Thunders created a good atmosphere as Ji Maeng-ho tied the score, but the game was not easy. AT’s starting pitcher Crongs also pitched well, allowing 2 runs in 7 innings, but today’s Park Jeong-seop was a pretty scary pitcher.
[2:1. In the top of the 8th inning, trailing by one run, AT needs more runs to win.]
[Starting pitcher Park Jeong-seop was in pretty good shape today, right? Until the 7th inning, they allowed 1 run and blocked AT’s batting lineup, which was a strong lineup. And the pitcher coming up… It’s still Park Jeong-seop. AT’s leadoff hitter is number 8 hitter Kim Hyun-seong. Here, director Lee Soo-hyun plays a pinch hitter. The pinch hitter is Han Sang-gyu.]
Perfect!
[This batted ball flies high! Left field! I’m following! Sliding catch! I caught it! Out! Park Jeong-seop even helps with defense! Catch one out!]
[Wow, it seemed like the batted ball was slightly pushed, and an ambiguous hit would come out, but Arnado showed good defense.]
But was it because Park Jeong-seop, who was showing great pitching, got one out and relaxed?
[Now one out. Baek Jeong-jin, the number 9 hitter, comes to bat. Ball, ball… Baek Jeong-jin gets a walk! We will continue the fire toward victory!]
Baek Jeong-jin, who appeared as the 9th batter today, walked to first base.
[AT went up to 1st place after yesterday’s game, but if Hwasan wins today’s game and loses today’s game, they will go back to 2nd place? AT Thunders desperately need a win.]
And…,
[Now, with one out and one on first base, the first batter, Jeong Hwi-cheol, comes in… Ah, pinch hitting again! And that pinch hitter is the heart of AT, which AT fans have been waiting for a long time! This is Woo Gwan-hyung!]
[Woo Kwan-hyeong proved that he is in perfect shape by hitting .403 and 9 li in the Futures League. What kind of performance will he show in this at-bat?
-Whoa! Woo Gwan-hyung! Wow! Woo Gwan-hyung!
-Invincible A! T! Woo Gwan-hyung! Wow,~!! Wow,~!!
… In the top of the 8th inning, when the team was losing 2-1, with cheering chants ringing in the stadium for the first time in a long time, Woo Gwan-hyung, whom AT fans had been waiting for a long time, came to bat.