Chapter 768 – Episode 755. Okay, Alcantara Analysis Complete. (2)
Is it a pitcher who feels pressure in a game he shouldn’t lose? Is it a typing?
Naturally, the pressure was much greater on the pitcher. Simply looking at the numbers, there were 9 batters to share the burden, but the pitcher had to carry the pressure alone.
They say there are fielders behind them, but in the end, it’s only the pitcher and the batter who really compete.
Pitcher is not called a lonely position for nothing.
And, the more undesirable the game was and the more attention it received, the more pressure the pitcher felt.
Of course, you had to turn that pressure into pleasant stress to become a good pitcher, but it was impossible to not feel pressure at all.
Does the pitcher not feel pressure? That’s probably a rookie pitcher who doesn’t know anything, or a scrappy pitcher who has nothing to lose anyway.
And Alcantara was a pitcher who did not belong to either of those two types of pitchers. He is the team’s ace pitcher who is bound to be under more pressure.
Alcantara was also a pitcher who knew how to turn pressure into pleasant stress, as it had been several years since he won two Cy Young awards and reigned as the dominant pitcher in the league, but even so, pressure was pressure.
In addition, the opponent is the #1 team in another league that they may face in the World Series.
Therefore, Alcantara was under more pressure than usual, and it was natural that the number of pitches increased as he threw the ball as carefully as possible.
From the first to the third inning, not a single pitcher was on base, but the number of pitches thrown was 51. Fortunately, up to 120 wasn’t too much of a stretch, so Alcantara wasn’t paying too much attention to his pitch count.
Although he pitched more than usual, it seemed like he could handle up to 7 innings at this pace.
[Now, Ji Maeng-ho, the number one batter, comes to bat. In his first at-bat, he recorded a ground ball to shortstop.]
And in front of Alcantara, Ji Maeng-ho, currently the hitter to watch out for in the major league, stepped in.
‘Ji… When I saw him in international competitions, I thought I would see him in the big league someday, and not only did I see him, but he was the best hitter… Well, I guess that’s why we were eliminated.’
Alcantara brings back memories of the Olympics and WBC as he watches Ji Maeng-ho come to bat. The national team, which could safely be considered the best force in Dominica’s history, was helplessly defeated by South Korea, where it belongs. That too twice.
For Alcantara, who loved his country and ran for the national team at any time despite injuries, Ji Maeng-ho at that time remained in his memory for a long time, and unlike other big league pitchers who dismissed his performance as luck and ignored him, he could not let down his guard even a single bit. I had no thoughts.
When you make such determination and try to exchange autographs with the catcher,
‘… ‘What is it?’
The guy started twisting his body around. … Just like Soto.
‘Ha, such a clever trick…’
I’ve seen many hitters act like that to get on their nerves, but I can’t believe a hitter like Ji Maeng-ho would act like that. He honestly felt better than his nerves were scratched.
In the videos I’ve seen of him so far, I’ve seen a lot of scenes of him doing extreme ceremonies, but he’s never behaved like that strangely at the plate before a pitch is made, and to act like that now is to use such dirty methods to get on base. It means that you want to do it.
In a way, he was saying that he recognized himself, so it was natural that Alcantara was in a good mood.
‘Still, he’s cocky.’
But he felt good, he couldn’t leave him like this. Because this was a matter of pride.
Even if Alcantara was the league’s leading ace and a top pitcher in the league who could turn pressure into pleasant stress, a pitcher is a pitcher.
There is no pitcher on the planet who would not warn a batter who behaves in such a strange way, unless he has become a routine of yelling at every pitch like Soto.
‘Bodyside, four-seam.’
Therefore, Alcantara quickly pressed the pitch com and sent a sign to the catcher. The first pitch against him is a four-seamer on the body side that can be sufficiently warned.
Alcantara set up a zone that was about 1–2 balls outside the strike zone on his side and threw fastballs.
“Ouch!”
“Ball.”
And then the guy hides his body and screams.
‘… Was it originally that style? I don’t think so…’
Ji Meng-ho, who he saw in the video, is the type to look at the ball without blinking when it comes to his body. He was a little puzzled because he remembered that he just watched and endured the inside ball in his first at-bat,
“No, isn’t that too deep? Did you plan to kill someone?”
Watching Ji Maeng-ho protesting to the referee so loudly that I could hear him, I immediately realized what he was aiming for and acting like that.
‘Are you trying to make me unable to throw my body? Is it because I was young? It’s a bit obvious.’
But I had no intention of being dragged along at his pace any longer. The warning ends here. Alcantara remained focused and prepared to throw the next ball.
‘… That damn thing again.’
After protesting, the guy once again did a strange dance at the plate and took a stance, but Alcantara didn’t want to hang out with him anymore.
‘As carefully as possible.’
But I had no intention of going in a hurry. The guy who was doing strange things at the plate was currently the guy who hit the most home runs in the major league.
“Ball.”
“Strike!”
“Foul!”
“Ball.”
Before you know it, the count is full.
‘Let’s go to the body slider.’
And in a full count situation, the deciding ball chosen by Alcantara was a slider that fell from the body. Alcantara threw the ball as usual, and the moment his bat came out late, I had no doubt that this ball would send him back to the dugout.
Perfect!
“Foul!”
But the result is foul.
‘Ha, so you’re confident in making contact, right? I’m not hitting .400 for nothing.’
I couldn’t figure out why the guy who hit .400 was still dancing at the plate, but Alcantara acknowledged Ji Maeng-ho and threw the next ball.
‘Two-seam, outside.’
If you look at the timing delay on the slider, he is currently in a hurry to just get it right. If a fast ball is hit here, even Ji Maeng-ho will not be able to get the timing right.
Perfect!
“Foul!”
However, as if laughing at Alcantara’s thoughts, he hit the ball quickly this time and created a foul.
And then the guy dances again and laughs at himself.
When he sees the guy’s smile, an article he saw a few days ago comes to Alcantara’s mind.
-Ji Maeng-ho achieves a new record of 29 pitches in one at-bat!
‘This bastard…’
The ridicule comes from the confidence that one can make foul contact with the ball at any time. Since I sensed the guy’s intentions, I momentarily thought about attacking his side, but the score was now 0:0 and no one was killed. Considering his ability to steal bases by sending him to base, it was only a matter of time before he gave up a run, so Alcantara held back his anger with the self-control of an ace.
‘Okay, let’s see if you can do the same against me.’
A cocky guy like that needs to be pushed down with force. Alcantara chose the four-seamer,
Ta-ah!
[Ah! It’s big! It’s big! Ah… Ji Maeng-ho’s hit that goes beyond the foul line. It is a foul.]
“… Foul!”
Once again, his ball is called foul. This time, I made a slightly curved hit from the pole.
And Alcantara’s spine went cold.
‘Could it be that they were aiming for this?’
It gets the pitcher excited and makes the batter throw the pitch he wants. Perhaps his incomprehensible get-hitting ability comes from this kind of psychological warfare? A psychological game that feels like controlling a pitcher.
A cold sweat breaks out at the thought that I unknowingly threw what he was aiming for.
‘Be as unpredictable as possible… !’
Perfect!
“Foul!”
Perfect!
“Foul!”
[Ji Maeng-ho kicks the 10th ball!]
Alcantara threw the ball as unpredictable as possible to Ji Maeng-ho, and a foul was committed for throwing the ball.
It seemed like he was saying that all you had left was the ball in the middle, and I couldn’t even see him doing a strange dance at the plate.
Alcantara threw the ball in a cold sweat, and before I knew it, it was time to throw the 15th ball against him.
“Wow!”
The fifteenth ball was thrown with all one’s might while showing great spirit.
Perhaps because he used more force than usual, Alcantara’s last change-up was slower than usual, but it bent further and stabbed Ji Maeng-ho’s body.
Whoo!
The guy finally took a missed swing.
“Strike! Out!”
Finally, he returns to the dugout.
‘Whoa…, I’ve never seen a guy like that before.’
Alcantara breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Ji Maeng-ho returning to the dugout.
-Alcantara, No. 22, S/45 B/21 Pitch/66
… He didn’t notice that he had already thrown 66 pitches in 3.1 innings.
*
Ta – Aak!
“Great! Let’s go!”
Hall’s batted ball floats high. And then it hits the wall and falls. When my first hit against Alcantara turned into a double, I ended up screaming without even realizing it.
‘Okay, that guy is tired too. It’s the top of the 5th inning, so my at bat will come back in the 6th, and if possible, I might be able to get off in the 7th inning.’
If we get one more point here, it will become clear.
“Volpi! Gosh!!! Show me! Volpi!”
I shouted loudly the name of the next batter, Volpi.
“Out!”
“Strike~! Out!”
However, our offense ended in the top of the 5th inning as neither Volpido nor Kelnick, the next batter, could bring Hall home. But the number of pitches he has is 90.
‘Okay, get that bastard out next inning.’
Now all that’s left is for starting pitcher Gilbert to hold on. Fortunately, Gilbert is in good enough condition to record quality starts plus in the last four games in a row.
“Out!”
“Base on balls!”
“Out!”
“Base on balls!”
“Out!”
Gilbert puts two runners on base, but the inning ends with no runs allowed.
The top of the 6th inning began with the score still at 0:0. Vientos, who has been down to batting number 8 due to his poor batting skills recently, enters the batter’s box.
“Base on balls!”
“Okay! This is it!”
And Vientos, who appeared as the leadoff hitter, got on base and got on base. Giving a walk to a hitter like Vientos with poor batting skills means he’s getting tired!
The effect of ‘playing with fierce tigers’ was finally showing.