Chapter 763 – Episode 750. Yankees Captain. (3)

[Verdugo’s sweeping double! The Yankees’ battered lineup awakens! Score 4:0!]

[Hey, the Yankees’ batting lineup was tight for the past 5 innings, but after Ji Maeng-ho’s walk and Soto’s home run, it feels like the blood has been opened, right? Stanton’s hit, Vientos’ walk, and Verdugo’s timely hit. The Yankees produce a big inning.]

[Ah, Jose Berrios coming down the mound here. He leaves the mound after allowing 4 runs in 4.2 innings. … Ji Maeng-ho’s batted ball goes over! Ji Maeng-ho’s solo home run creates a 15-point difference! Score 15:0! The Yankees, who started scoring in the 5th inning, scored 4 consecutive innings!]

[The Yankees’ offense is terrifying, isn’t it? If Judge performs like this even though he is resting today…]

[… Victor Gonzalez comes on the mound for the Yankees in the top of the 9th inning. … Gonzales gave up two walks but ended the inning with no runs! The Yankees win 15-0 against Toronto!]

*

-New York Yankees win 15:0 over Toronto!

… A tight pitching battle of 0-0 continued at the beginning of the game, but starting with Soto’s home run in the bottom of the 5th inning, the Yankees scored 3 or more runs in 4 consecutive innings through the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings, scoring 15 runs, and starting pitcher Logan Gilbert pitched 8 scoreless innings…

Meanwhile, the Yankees recorded 34 wins and 12 losses, the second-best winning percentage in the major leagues after the Atlanta Braves, who recorded 35 wins and 11 losses. …

*

[… Strike! Out! Carlos Rodon ends the top of the first inning by striking out Bichette and Guerrero Jr. In succession. The Yankees’ attack begins in the bottom of the first inning. The Yankees’ lineup consists of No. 1 hitter Ji Maeng-ho, No. 2 hitter Judge, No. 3 hitter Verdugo, No. 4 hitter Stanton, No. 5 hitter Hall, No. 6 hitter Kelnick, No. 7 hitter Scantlebury, No. 8 hitter Sujeisi, Leading to number 9 hitter Torrance.]

[The Yankees gave their starting lineup a lot of rest, right? In fact, until this series, the Yankees had been running without a day off between away and home, so it seems that the players were very tired. Judge was given a break yesterday as well.]

[Yes.]

[I think it would have been difficult for Coach Mattingly to give the players a break so boldly, but I think we’ll have to see the results of today’s game to see how that turns out.]

Mattingly, who was watching the game while leaning against the railing, saw the Yankees’ lineup on the electronic screen, and although it was the lineup he had written, he felt something was missing.

‘I should have given Aaron time to cool off by today.’

In fact, Coach Mattingly planned to give Judge until today to cool off and calm down. He said that the team was doing pretty well regardless of Judge’s poor performance, and by showing him that the team could win without Judge, he was going to make Judge feel like he didn’t have to solve the problem.

Mattingly, a former legendary hitter, knew that such a small change in thinking could relieve the power from a hitter’s body.

In addition, we also provide injury management.

However, after Soto talked about discomfort in his wrist during training, he eventually had no choice but to add the jersey to the lineup. No matter how much Mattingly he did, he couldn’t remove both Judge and Soto from the lineup, so it was a natural choice to insert Judge when Soto was out, and it gave rest to the infielders who had been playing almost without a rest for almost a month.

Focusing on players who showed a bit of sluggishness in training.

After making the lineup like that, it ended up being a batting lineup that had to rely on Judge.

Giving the players a break and giving the judge a chance to learn for himself. Of the two, Mattingly chose to give the players a break.

In the end, no matter what, Judge is a league MVP-level hitter. If you don’t realize it yourself, the slump may be prolonged, but Judge was the batter who would eventually come up, so he decided that it was more important to give the fielders rest to prevent them from getting injured.

[Leader hitter Ji Maeng-ho’s hit! Ji Maeng-ho creates hits again today!]

And the hits started with leadoff hitter Ji Maeng-ho.

‘Remember yesterday’s Soto, Jersey.’

Mattingly hoped the hit would remind Judge of yesterday’s game. In the end, it’s the home run that awakens the team’s batting lineup.

Mattingly watched the game, hoping that Judge would remember that the frustrating offense from yesterday’s game was awakened starting with Soto’s home run.

[Ji Maeng-ho! Safe! Going to second base! … Attempting to steal base again! Safe at third base! Ji Maeng-ho succeeds in stealing his 36th base of the season!]

However, Judge waited until Ji Maeng-ho stole base, and the ball count ran high again.

Perfect!

And Judge’s bat, with a lot of force, hit the ball, and the ball headed toward the outfield.

A collaboration between clumsy team betting and a lot of power.

[Ji Maeng-ho comes home. The Yankees are ahead 1:0 from the beginning of the game!]

Although they scored first, the situation turned out to be completely different from what Mattingly wanted,

“That was a good hit, Aaron.”

Since he couldn’t show dissatisfaction with the batter who came in after scoring a point, Mattingly gave Judge a high five and patted Judge on the shoulder.

“Good! Let’s go today too!”

However, without knowing the coach’s speed, Judge raised his voice,

[… Out! Although he gave up 1 run, Manoa finished the inning without giving up any more runs!]

The Yankees ended the first inning without scoring any more points.

After the first run in the first inning, the Yankees’ batting line was tightly tied to Toronto’s starting pitcher Manoa and could not score any more points. Although starting pitcher Rodon pitched well, allowing 1 run in 6 innings, neither team could score any more runs, leaving the game in balance. This was maintained.

[In the top of the 8th inning, Loaisiga comes on the mound for the Yankees.]

In the top of the 8th inning, when the game was balanced with a score of 1:1, Manager Mattingly brought up Loaisiga, a reliable teammate with 3 wins in 13 games, to take the game.

[… This batted ball! Behind left field! Behind left field! Let’s go! Guerrero Jr.’ S home run! Guerrero Jr., Who was silent throughout the series! Hit a home run in a critical situation! Score 3:1!]

The game ended when Guerrero Jr., Who had been struggling with one hit throughout the series, hit a ball over the fence and became the winning run.

‘It would have been nice if Aaron had played one more hit.’

Judge’s performance today was 0-hit in 2 at-bats, 2 walks, and a sacrifice fly RBI. Although Judge produced the team’s only RBI, Mattingly was disappointed that Judge did not show better performance.

If I were to point out the factors behind today’s loss, it could be that Loraiciga did not change when he got a hit, or that the batting line was not organic due to the input of reserve players, but I think that a batter of Judge’s level should solve the problem in this situation. It was because there was.

And under normal circumstances, he was a batter who could easily score two runs on his own.

‘Write it. But it’s hard to tell Aaron.’

The problem was that it was difficult to give Judge batting advice just because he had a few bad games recently.

Judge’s performance this season was 20 home runs and 52 RBIs with ratio stats of 0.291/0.395/0.687/1.082 in 46 games, ranking second in the major league in home runs and RBIs behind Ji Maeng-ho, and OPS behind Ji Maeng-ho and Soto. He was in third place.

Not just the American League, but the National League as well.

It was already taboo to give advice on batting form to superstars and MVP-level hitters like Judge unless he asked for it first, and Judge’s performance was so bad that he could not afford to break the taboo and give advice. It wasn’t.

That’s why I excluded him from the game, hoping that Judge would realize it himself, but it seemed like one game wasn’t enough.

‘Hmm…, I guess we should put this matter aside for now. ‘I have to prepare for the expedition right away.’

However, the game schedule was not in Mattingly’s favor as he continued to worry about Judge’s problems. If the home game had continued, we would have had a meal together and tried to lighten our luck, but tomorrow’s game was away, so we had to get on the plane right away.

Moreover, the opponent is Tampa Bay, the second-place team in the world. Unlike Toronto, which could win even without Judge, Tampa Bay was an opponent that could not guarantee victory even if it fought with all its might.

‘First, I’ll have to look at Judge’s training status tomorrow and make a decision.’

When Mattingly decided to put off his homework until tomorrow and got on his private plane,

… Ji Maeng-ho approached Judge.

When Ji Meng-ho first approached Judge, Mattingly did not feel anything strange when he saw him. The reason Judge gave Ji Maeng-ho his seat next to him was because he showed the same attitude he showed from the first expedition.

Thinking it was just an ordinary sight, Mattingly tried to walk to his seat without much notice.

At that time,

“Judge, try playing good baseball. It’s hard because I’m so fucking bad at it.”

In an everyday scene, an unusual conversation caught Mattingly’s ears.

‘Huh? … What did I just hear?’

To say something like that to Judge’s face… Did I hear wrong? I guess I’m starting to have auditory hallucinations these days because I’m older.

Embarrassed, Mattingly treated the voice he had just heard as an auditory hallucination, but it was not.

“… “What?”

… If it had been an auditory hallucination, there was no way Judge would have responded to that.

“Under… Please do your best. “I’m just tired because I’m really bad at judging these days.”

And Ji Maeng-ho’s voice, heard once again, confirms the fact that the conversation just heard was not an auditory hallucination.

‘No, I didn’t say that to Judge…’ .’

Judge is a hitter who has won the league MVP multiple times and is the most likely hitter to have his Yankees retire and go directly to the Hall of Fame. No one, not the coach, the manager, or even the fellow players, had ever spoken to Judge like that, but the troublemaker who had hit Verdugo in front of him was now messing with Judge.

However, there was no violent atmosphere like back then. On the contrary, the guy was talking comfortably as if he had no interest in who Judge was.

Just like saying hello to a real local guy.

But sometimes calm words are scarier than angry words.

A chilly silence began to fill the air inside the private plane. The players also realized what was happening in the front row seats of the private plane.

“Crazy…”

“Shhh.”

‘Are you crazy?’

‘Did you just say that to Aaron?’

The players who were talking to that calm voice all closed their mouths and waited for the judge’s answer.

“… Therefore, … Me?”

“Then who else is there besides you?”

And in the atmosphere before the storm, a nuclear bomb was dropped once again.