Chapter 571 – Episode 563. The 100-Mile Man. (3)

[Ji Maeng-ho’s hit! Left! Left! Left! Ah, a foul going over the pole. I threw the first pitch, but it was a foul.]

[The ball just now was a slider, right? I decided to pull the outside slider, but it resulted in a foul. Furthermore, I think this will complicate the battery’s thinking.]

‘Phew… I thought he was passing. If I had gone a little further in, I would have passed over.’

The moment it was hit, the batted ball, which was sure to go over the fence, luckily deflected to the side of the pole, and Jang Woo-joo breathed a sigh of relief.

‘As expected, Brother Meng Ho. ‘This kind of curveball doesn’t work, right?’

The conclusion he has drawn while dealing with Ji Maeng-ho so far is that his breaking ball does not work against Ji Maeng-ho. In the end, the only thing you can trust is your own fastball. The reason he chose a slider as his first pitch was because he felt that fact keenly.

‘I’m glad though. It was a throwaway ball, but I made up the count. If this happens, the next ball…’

As soon as Jang Woo-soo received the ball from the catcher, he resumed his pitching form, thinking about the next ball he had previously decided on in the dugout. The next ball to be thrown is a body fastball. It was an obvious ball combination, but if the pitcher throwing the ball was Jang Woo-joo, the story would be different.

If a slider in the mid-140s was hit outward and a fastball in 160s was hit toward the body, the difference in velocity that the batter would feel was more severe than it actually was.

In any case, if you want to beat Ji Maeng-ho, you have to use force. Jang Woo-soo concentrated all his strength and shot the ball while stepping on his left leg.

“Big.”

And the moment you throw the ball, a stiff feeling rises from your arm… Although it hadn’t been a day or two since the baseball player had been in pain, the sensation he felt in his elbow now was something different from before.

‘… What about the ball?’

But now, the whereabouts of the ball were more important than the pain, so Jang Woo-ju fixed his gaze on home plate. The ball he shot was heading toward Ji Meng-ho’s body, and Ji Meng-ho’s bat did not move as if he had expected it.

“Ball.”

The referee’s call is ball. Even if two more balls were missed, it was a natural decision because the balls hit the batter’s body. Jang Woo-soo also knew that fact, so he wasn’t particularly concerned about the ball decision.

What bothers me more than that is Ji Maeng-ho’s eyes staring at me without moving a single inch… The speed of the ball recorded on the electronic display board was 163.1 km/h. Even though the ball hit that close to his body, Ji Maeng-ho did not flinch or dodge the ball and was glaring at him without blinking.

It was clear that if he made an apology gesture, he would lose momentum, so Jang Woo-joo accepted the catcher’s ball while ignoring Ji Maeng-ho’s look in his eyes that looked like he could kill someone.

‘Sweet, did I use too much force? It’s a bit missing.’

A stiff feeling rising from the elbow and the ball missing about 2 balls more than intended. In order not to repeat the same mistake, Jang Woo-ju prepared for the third ball, thinking about the sensation of the previous ball. The third ball prepared by the battery was once again an inside fastball.

Jang Woo-joo threw the third ball with the mindset that it didn’t matter whether it was a strike or a ball.

“Big… !”

Perfect!

“Foul!”

And the bat was pushed slightly by the fastball towards the body, resulting in a foul. It would have been dangerous if he had gone inside the zone, but since he missed about one ball, he was able to press the power of the bat and get the count to two strikes as intended.

However,

‘Sseu-eup, did you overdo it a little bit? My elbows… It’s not to the point where I can’t throw it, but…’

When he threw his second pitch, the pain he felt in his elbow was vaguely getting on his nerves. If this game had been a normal regular season, he would have called the coach right away, but now it was an important game with the team’s fall baseball at stake, and the batter standing in front of him was Ji Maeng-ho, so he couldn’t show a weak appearance.

[One ball to strike, unfavorable ball count for the batter.]

[In times like this, you have to be more careful. Ji Maeng-ho is perfect at targeting his opponent’s winning ball, right?]

‘Wooju, what should we do? Slider? Change-up?’

Although they decided on the ball mix in advance, in a two-strike situation, they decided on the deciding ball based on Ji Maeng-ho’s condition, so the two shared their opinions on the ball mix for the first time during this at-bat.

‘This time, I’ll go for an outside fastball.’

After an exchange of opinions, the ball chosen was again a fastball. A choice made based on the judgment that a fastball is better than a breaking ball, even if it is three consecutive fastballs. Additionally, the subtle pain in my elbow was one of the reasons I chose the fastball. If I chose a breaking ball and got a loss, it would have been a disaster.

[Jang Woo-joo takes a ready stance. Lifted the leg, ball 4!]

‘… ‘Ugh!’

Was it because I thought it was a crystal ball and applied too much force? The moment he threw it again, pain came from his elbow and Jang Woo-ju was unable to kick the ball all the way. When the thought of being screwed hit Jang Woo-joo’s head as he saw the ball flying so helplessly,

Perfect!

… Something unexpected happened.

Ji Maeng-ho’s bat touched the ball much earlier than his usual hitting timing, and the batted ball slowly flowed toward third base.

“First base! “First base!”

“Good! It’s done!”

The ball, which he could not properly hit due to the pain in his elbow, headed helplessly towards home plate, and to Meng Ho, who was waiting for the ball after timing his strike with a fastball, the ball had the same effect as a change-up.

Seeing the velocity, he put strength on his back and arms and brought the bat out as late as possible, but Maengho’s best bet was not to get caught swinging at a ball that was about 15 km/h slower than his usual fastball. However, a strike that is too hasty to hit cannot produce a true hit.

Meng Hao ran hard to first base, but a person cannot be faster than the ball.

[This batted ball! Third baseman! Grab it! To first base! One out! Jang Woo-joo catches Ji Maeng-ho!]

[Was the ball just a change-up? The electronic display board showed 146 km/h…]

‘Ah, I thought I was screwed because it was a loss, but I missed it. It’s a bitch?’

A lucky situation brought about by elbow pain! Jang Woo-joo smiled inwardly at that lucky situation,

“Fuck!”

Maengho, who was out at first base, threw down his helmet and went into the dugout.

*

‘Fuck! Mr. Rossby! Didn’t you say fastball? But, 146?’

‘The grip was clearly a fastball… Hmm, it looks like they have adjusted their pace.’

’15 km/h? Jang Woo-ju?’

A guy who used to throw 160 fastballs suddenly threw a mid-140 fastball. Mr. Rossby couldn’t have made a mistake, so his pitch was clearly a fastball. Then, the remaining possibility is that Jang Woo-joo really adjusted his pace…

‘… ‘It doesn’t make sense?’

The only person in the league who can control the speed of a fastball at about 15 km/h is Seonghyun? No, even for Seonghyun, who was gifted with the sense of touch at his fingertips, it was impossible to control the speed of 15 km/h. At most, it’s about 10 km/h. But that was also about relaxing and throwing a slow ball and then throwing a fast ball in a crisis situation. It wasn’t about throwing a fast ball like this and then suddenly throwing a slow ball.

If that were possible, pitchers wouldn’t have to throw breaking balls, and the changeup in particular was a ball that there was no reason to learn more about.

In other words, there is only one conclusion.

‘… ‘Where do you see that bastard hurting?’

Jang Woo-ju’s condition was strange. I don’t know where, but it was clear that his body was hurting, or he was trying to throw a faster ball at me and lost his balance.

‘Yeah, that doesn’t make sense. The guy who throws 160 has better fingertip sense than Seonghyun? This is a scam. If he was that kind of kid, there’s no way he would be getting results like this in Korea in the first place.’

“Coach!”

As soon as I came to the conclusion in my head, I called the team’s hitting coach, Lee Ki-cheol. He usually didn’t like to talk to me, but for the sake of the team, I had to tell him what I found out.

“Huh? It’s Meng Hao. Why?”

“Jang Woo-joo, is something strange? What I hit was a fastball, and I got 146?”

“Okay? “I thought we all had changeups.”

“It definitely wasn’t a changeup. The bending angle is also the same.”

“… Really?”

“Yes. “I think you’re feeling a bit unwell?”

“For some reason, he threw the ball and paid attention to his elbow.”

… Did you check that too? I thought he was just doing Lupin with a salary by batting, but he still seemed to be doing his job.

“Sweet, I think I need to change my strategy pattern. After the inning, tell the batters to gather for a moment. “You know we can get together discreetly, right?”

“… Yes.”

It’s up to you to do it, make me do it…

I quickly called Hwi-cheol and roughly conveyed what Lee Ki-cheol said, and at the moment before our attack ended, and we went on defense, Lee Ki-cheol began speaking to the batters as if he were rapping.

“I’ll speak quickly because I don’t have time. Is there something strange about the state of the long universe? Starting from the next inning, try to stretch as much as you can. If you answer, it will be obvious, so quickly go to defense.”

The original strategy for dealing with Jang Woo-joo today was to win the game as quickly as possible. Jang Woo-soo’s fast ball was because when he went to bat with the idea of ​​looking at the ball as long as possible and hitting it with the bat, he could never hit the right hit. Moreover, if you try to hit a target, you could end up getting hit by a curveball from the universe. If the state of the universe had been normal, it was clear that it would have been an operation that would not have had much effect.

However, since there was something wrong with Jang Woo-joo’s body, it was clear that following Lee Ki-cheol’s new strategy, holding on as persistently as possible and getting Jang Woo-joo off the mound would increase the chances of winning. If you are not in normal condition, you will try to win as quickly as possible, and as the number of games on artificial pitches decreases, it becomes easier to cut. As the number of pitches increased, it was natural for him to come off the mound early.

Fortunately, the other players also nodded to Lee Ki-cheol’s suggestion, perhaps thanks to the prior explanation given before the gathering.

“I saw you talking to the coach while you were at bat earlier. What did you discover?”

However, Seongtae hyung, who just recently played against Woo Joo and earned the final out count in the bottom of the second inning, asked me a question whether I still didn’t understand.

“No, the state of the universe seemed a bit strange. There is no arrest whatsoever. “I glanced at your elbow, didn’t you feel it?”

“Okay? “It seemed the same to me?”

“I think he threw with less strength because he didn’t need to throw hard at his brother. Jincheol also said he felt something was strange…”

“Mind… !”

“Let’s focus on defense first.”

“Ugh, see you later.”

“Then let’s go on defense.”

Even Seongtae-hyung was convinced by this. It was heartbreaking to have to carry out such a dirty operation against space, but this was a battlefield, and we were professionals.

If you show weakness, it’s natural to bite!

‘You bastard, you were laughing at me earlier, right? You fell behind in your next at-bat. ‘Hehe.’