Chapter 636 – Episode 623. A New Trap.

“Ball.”

“Ball.”

“Ball.”

“Base on balls!”

‘Ha, this fuck, how did you get out well, and it’s a boring start again.’

Well done with two outs and a straight walk. Even if Siwoo was a pretty good hitter, it was incomprehensible that he would give up such a straight walk.

Perfect!

-Wow!!!!

Following that was a double by Schreiber, the Volcano’s new mercenary hitter. Before you know it, the situation becomes two outs and second and third bases. And the batter is Lee Yong-gi.

“Intentional Work!”

There was no reason to deal with Lee Yong-gi in a situation where first base was empty, so of course the bench ordered an intentional throw. It’s only the beginning of episode 1, but there’s no unnecessary elements to the operation?

“Time!”

And Gyeongho, who sensed something strange, immediately called time and came up to the mound. In such a situation, I, who also served as the team’s interpreter, could not be left out, so I also walked to the mound.

“Meng Hao, please translate.”

“Yes.”

“Diaz, throw comfortably, throw comfortably. “I’m going to take care of everything?”

“[Hey, are you out of your mind? Does a straight walk with two outs make sense? Huh?]”

“[Sorry. The control seems to have shaken slightly.]”

Diaz, this guy only gave me a pat or two on the cheek during the game to make him relax, but I guess he heard something from Burch, and from that day on, he always appeared in this low posture. Well, is it better than being stiff?

Even though I didn’t like his skills, I liked his attitude. Because it meant that he was willing to learn.

“No, what did I say, and the kid said he was sorry…, No, Meng Ha, you are speaking well, aren’t you?”

… What, I guess I can understand at least Sorry.

“Brother, don’t you trust me?”

Although the direction of the interpretation was slightly off, I was proud because what I said and what Kyungho said were similar.

“No, I believe it. I believe in Meng Hao. Um, um. Of course, I believe it. Then, would you like to ask how you want to compete?”

“[Hey, how are you going to compete? Yoon Joong-il, that bastard is such a piece of shit, you probably won’t give him a walk, right?]”

“[No matter what ball you ask for, I will definitely hit it!]”

“[Okay, ah, you’re not nervous because you’re playing against the No. 1 team, right? How can I make you relax like you did back then?]”

“[It’s okay!]”

“[Okay. Let me know if you’re nervous. I will definitely release it.] Brother, no matter what kind of ball you ask for, you will definitely give it to me?”

“Okay? Umm… I got it.”

What? Why is your expression like this? Could it be that veteran Kyung-ho was nervous?

“Brother, you’re not really nervous, are you? Would you like me to relieve your tension?”

“No, no, no. How old am I and how many championships have I won? Will I be nervous during the regular season? It’s okay, Meng Hao.”

Fortunately, listening to what Kyungho said, he didn’t seem nervous or anything like that. If he was nervous, I tried to make sure he was relieved, but fortunately, I didn’t think I would caress the man’s cheek today.

… Well, it might depend on how this inning ends.

“Yes. Then let’s block cleanly and attack.”

But fortunately, I never had to caress the man’s cheek.

“Strike! Out!”

Because Diaz came to his senses and struck out Yoon Joong-il.

‘Whoa, we managed to block the first inning, but it’s tough because they’re the No. 1 team.’

This season, I feel it every time I come into contact with Hwasan, and Hwasan definitely feels stronger than last year. Although Seonghyun’s performance was not the same as last year, the starting lineup, including Tainier, who looks like he will go to Japan or the United States next season, and the batting lineup were definitely better than last year.

By replacing mercenary hitter McD with Schreiber, Hwasan was using a cleanup trio of Choi Si-woo, Schreiber, and Lee Yong-gi, and Schreiber, who is sandwiched between Choi Si-woo and Lee Yong-gi, the best hitters in the league, is currently at the top of the league’s mercenary hitters. The explosive power was amazing.

In addition, the lower-ranking lineup, including left fielder Kim Hyeong-geon, who took second place in the Rookie of the Year award last year, also had some room to play. Is there a reason why it is currently in overwhelming first place?

It wasn’t like this when we played with other teams, but Hwasan was definitely a tough team.

‘Ah…, If it were last year, I would have just batted, but I miss Suho and Williams… Well, it would be really nice if Jincheol could come back to the way he was last year…’

I almost missed last year’s perfect batting lineup. In addition, senior Kwan-hyeong, who occasionally came on as a pinch hitter or starter and scored an RBI. However, there was nothing that would change just because I missed it so much, so I put those thoughts aside and started cheering loudly for the batters who came to bat.

“Hwicheol! “Let’s get on base once!”

“Out!”

‘… Fuck. Restraint is 157? Tinie bastard. I guess I’m in good condition.’

Looking at him against Hwicheol, the number one hitter, Tinie’s condition looked pretty good today.

Perfect!

“Nice!”

However, no matter how good a pitcher is, he is bound to hit. My opportunity came in the first inning when Baek Jeong-jin, the second batter, hit a hit.

“Out!”

… Although it was two outs.

‘Ah, even if Sangju senior got on base, it would still be 3 RBIs.’

Tiny was already a good match, so wouldn’t it be a bit of a shame that his RBI went down?

This guy is a fastball-slider two-pitch pitcher. The ball was so fast that most batters couldn’t even touch it, but it had nothing to do with me, and the slider’s perfection wasn’t that great other than being fast, so the compatibility between him, and I was pretty good.

If you look at the timing of the fastball and the hitting technique, he was good at it, so he hit two home runs when we met this season.

‘Then, I will eat well.’

A turn at bat with such expectations.

“Ball.”

His first pitch choice was a ball. … He goes outward so much that it feels a bit absurd.

“Hey, bro. “Aren’t you too scared?”

“What are you scared of?”

‘It’s bittersweet, isn’t it?’

It felt similar to the last time we met, so I felt strange for a moment.

“Ball.”

As his second ball also fell wide to the outside, I was able to clearly realize what the situation was.

‘Oh, fuck. ‘Moon Ki-taek, this bastard is being damned again.’

There’s a runner on and two outs? There was no way Moon Ki-taek could just ignore this situation.

‘I was worried about this even in the last series, but damn, is this 100%? Ha, Ki-taek, it’s just you.’

“Base on balls!”

… And the result was, as expected, a walk.

Perfect!

“Out!”

In the situation with 2 outs and 1st and 2nd bases, Seongtae was unable to solve the problem and our attack ended in the top of the first inning.

‘Oh, fuck. ‘Today’s game will be difficult.’

*

[Diaz strikes out Choi Si-woo! He hit seven consecutive batters and finished with no runs until the third inning.]

Watching Choi Si-woo, the team’s main hitter, strike out, coach Moon Ki-taek, who was in the dugout, secretly bit his lip.

‘Tsk, I should have planted a wedge when it was shaking…’

0:0 until the 3rd inning. It was a normal game flow, but it was disappointing that the opportunity to score many runs in the first inning was lost.

‘Hmm… If this happens, today’s game will be a pitcher’s battle, right?’

In Moon Ki-taek’s opinion, Diaz was showing a pitch similar to the game where he became the winning pitcher today. And that meant holding batters to 0 to 2 runs over 7 to 8 innings.

Diaz is a left-handed pitcher who throws a fastball that exceeds 150. It was true that pitchers of that caliber were difficult for batters in the KBA league, so there was a high probability that today would be a pitcher’s battle.

The key to such a pitching battle is, as always, blocking Ji Maeng-ho. Ji Meng-ho’s strength and feet were weapons that could score one point at any time, so he had to pay attention.

‘Because it starts with the third attack in the bottom of the 4th inning…’

And, after several years of thought, Moon Ki-taek came up with a way to stop Ji Maeng-ho. Although that method was high risk, it was a method whose potential was fully confirmed in the last series.

[… At the end of the third inning, Tinie blocks AT’s attack with a three-way throw! … Diaz was in danger of scoring, but ended the inning with no runs! The game now goes to the bottom of the 4th inning! … In the bottom of the 4th inning, leadoff hitter Ki Gi-joo comes to the plate.]

Now, it’s Gyeonggi Joo’s turn at bat. Moon Ki-taek began sending signs to Lee Yong-gi, who was sitting wearing a mask, to give him a walk.

‘… ‘Okay.’

“Base on balls.”

Before today’s game started, Lee Yong-gi and I had discussed this situation in advance, so Lee Yong-gi faithfully carried out Moon Ki-taek’s sign.

‘Good, it’s going as expected.’

Moon Ki-taek was secretly delighted with the situation in the stadium that was going as he expected.

How to stop Ji Meng-ho’s power? It was simple. If Ji Maeng-ho was not given a chance to swing the bat, that power could have been prevented.

The problem is how to stop Ji Maeng-ho. Moon Ki-taek failed to find a way and collapsed in 2023. And even now, four years later, there has been no battery that stopped Ji Maeng-ho.

But the director was different. No matter how fast Ji Maeng-ho’s feet were, this problem could be solved by preventing him from running.

If there were runners in front of Ji Maeng-ho to prevent Ji Maeng-ho from running, no matter how fast Ji Maeng-ho was, he would not be able to overtake the runner in front and run, and the coach himself was able to control that.

Like now, when you give a walk to the weatherman!

‘You can stop Ji Maeng-ho if you create a situation where Ji Maeng-ho can’t run while controlling the batters’ on-base runs with walks!’

Of course, the risk was that great. Depending on the performance of the hitters behind us, we could have conceded many runs.

However, in a pitcher’s game, one point was precious, and it was even more precious in fall baseball when aces faced each other.

Therefore, Moon Ki-taek decided to use a high risk-high return strategy to win. If you fail, it’s like giving a match. However, if this method works, we can completely block Ji Maeng-ho in fall baseball, where giving up one point is the same as giving up the game.

If Ji Maeng-ho came in at number 2 and batters like Ki Ki-joo, Williams, and Choi Jin-cheol came out in succession, there would have been a high probability of many runs being conceded, but now, behind Ji Maeng-ho, there are only Yoon Seong-tae, Kim Sang-min, or old Choi Jin-cheol.

As we confirmed in the last series, the probability of this operation was quite high.

‘Once the odds of winning exceed half, this operation is a success. In the Korean Series, all you have to do is get 4 wins anyway. … Although the probability of AT appearing in the Korean Series is slim.’

The future match against AT will be a battle to see if this strategy works. If the season record against AT exceeds .500, Moon Ki-taek planned to introduce this method in the possible Korean series against AT.

Moreover, security was thorough. Ji Maeng-ho, who noticed this operation, could have come up with another method of destruction, so the only people who know about this operation are Lee Yong-gi and himself.

‘If that smart guy even finds out about this plan, he might be able to come and punish me. But if Yonggi and I keep our mouths shut, there’s no way that guy will know.’

[Ji Maeng-ho gets on base with a walk! Tiny faces a crisis with no outs on first and second base!]

‘Anyway, if Ji Maeng-ho hits a home run or gets on base with one out, he is given 1 point. If you want to win, this is the right way. Ji Maeng-ho, no matter how smart you are, will you be able to spot this trap? Perfectly, I’ll block it completely this time.’

[… Seongtae Yoon’s batted ball! Second base! Out! But at first base, three leaves! Now the situation becomes 1 out, 1st and 3rd bases!]

[Ah, Ji Maeng-ho is a fast player, and Yoon Seong-tae is also a player with quick feet, so it would be a shame that a double play wasn’t made. Still, it is fortunate that we caught Ji Maeng-ho, the runner on second base, because he is a threatening runner who can aim for home even with a short hit.]

[… Swing strikeout! Kim Sang-min is caught, two outs! … Baek Kyung-ho’s batted ball! High! Catch it! Roaring Tinie! Prevent the crisis of 1st and 2nd bases with no outs!]

‘Of course, pitchers like Tinie, Seonghyun, and Jaehyun can make my plan a reality!’

In theory, Moon Ki-taek thought his operation was perfect.

… Just before being broken by Ji Meng-ho, he was just like he always was.