Chapter 774 – Episode 761. I Am the Head of the Household. (3)

“Strike! Out!”

‘Phew…’

The crisis of 1st and 3rd base with 2 outs. Fortunately, the top of the first inning ended with Rodon striking out Detroit’s fifth batter.

Normally, after giving him two outs, I would have watched Rodon suddenly lose control and give up a walk and a hit, and thought, ‘That’s what you’re doing,’ and wondered if I would have given him a point, but today was the first time my son went to see a major league game. All day.

I didn’t want to turn my first instinct into a loss, so when Rodon struck out, I unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

“Good strikeout, Rodon? “I ask you to do the same today as before.”

“Whoa… Just do what you normally do. You can do it, right? Ji?”

“Of course, just trust me.”

Rodon reacts to my compliment after a long time. Rodon usually didn’t say anything during his break, but seeing him say this made him seem to be in a hurry.

Well, it may not be as bad as mine as my son came to watch the game for the first time, but Rodon definitely needed a win in this game.

Rodon’s current performance was 5.02 ERA in 13 games, and his win-loss record was 3 wins and 2 losses. Thanks to the overwhelming firepower, there weren’t many losses, but it made no sense for the starting pitcher to win three while the team was winning 45 games.

Cole had 9 wins, Gilbert had 8 wins, and Buehler and Singer had 6 wins each, so everyone can see how trash Rodon’s pitching was this season.

After changing the catcher, Rodon’s pattern was that although there were times when he pitched a bit well, he collapsed suddenly when he collapsed. Since these pitchers were pitchers that the manager could not calculate, Rodon’s current position was dangerous.

Since Rodon pitched more than 190 innings for three consecutive years and recorded more than 15 wins and an ERA in the 3-point range, he is still in the rotation as a starting pitcher. If he had been a different pitcher, or even if his salary had been a little lower, it would not have been surprising if he had been sent down to the minors a long time ago. .

For reference, Rodon’s annual salary is $27 million, the 5th highest salary on the team.

Although his contract lasted until 28 years, his future as a player was uncertain if he continued like this, and Rodon was under pressure to achieve results commensurate with his salary, so he was desperate for victory.

‘Baby, my brother will help me out today.’

It’s not that I haven’t helped until now, but I had strong motivation today, so I went to bat thinking that I had to make Rodon a winning pitcher.

‘Mr. Rossby, let’s go. I have to show my grandson how cool I am.’

‘Hmph, what about grandson?’

‘Well, if it’s my son, he’s just like Mr. Rossby’s grandson. Let’s go, father!’

‘I have never had a gorilla cub like you as a son.’

‘Tch.’

‘… It’s a slider. ‘Body side.’

Mr. Rossby spoke bluntly, but he didn’t seem particularly displeased. Well, even if it was just my imagination, he didn’t really care. Whether I think so or not, all Mr. Rossby could do was swear.

Anyway, the first pitch Skubal chose was an inside slider. If I got cornered, I waited for his first pitch, preparing to throw it out of the fence.

“Strike!”

The guy’s slider landed well in the corner of the strike zone near his knee, and a strike was declared.

After all, is this the control of a left-handed starting pitcher who is one of the top five players in the league?

The location was so sharp that if you hit a ball like this, there was a high chance of a ground ball.

‘Wow, I was so impatient. Seungwon, are you watching? Your father is such a patient person.’

If Seungwon were just a little older, he would have known the meaning of enduring this and respected his father… I was so sad that I was young.

‘… I should have just gotten her pregnant when we first met.’

The second ball from the guy who waited and regretted not being able to get Soyoung pregnant when they first met.

“Ball.”

His second ball was hit high outside and the ball was declared.

‘Definitely, there are more guys throwing the ball here these days. ‘I have to be careful.’

After that, the counter hit a curveball and the count became two balls and one strike. The timing of a batter who can aim for at least one hit.

‘It’s a slider, outside.’

Perhaps aiming for a backdoor, Skubal chose an outside slider,

Ta – Aak!

The batted ball flew toward the fence.

-Waaaaa!!!! … Ah.

However, the result was a foul home run that missed the pole slightly. It was a high outside ball that was difficult to hit well due to my swing mechanism, but seeing that the ball hit at this timing was fouled, it seemed like his pitch was definitely heavier than when we met at spring camp.

‘Yes, I heard he pitched really well, but it was strange because he rested so much during spring training.’

Feeling like I shouldn’t think based on the last time we met, I picked out his balls as carefully as possible, and with a few foul hits, a full count was made.

‘It’s a change-up. Outside.’

‘Okay.’

And the ball he chose was a change-up. His changeup was a pitch that went at low to mid 130 km/h and didn’t have that good lateral movement.

Well, he was powerful against right-handed batters because he was able to time his throws well, but as far as I knew, that didn’t have much to do with me.

‘Come, come.’

I pray and wait for his ball to land in the strike zone. However, the moment I was thrown, I felt like I was out of the zone, and I was momentarily conflicted.

Because I wanted to establish my authority as the head of the family by hitting a home run.

Perfect!

‘Oh, shit!’

And that thought worked like a poison, and I pulled the outside ball as much as I could, but the batted ball bounced in front of me and rolled toward third base.

‘Fucked!’

Now all that’s left is how to run!

I ran toward the first base, squeezing out all the strength I had from breastfeeding, in fact, all the strength I had from drinking Soyoung’s breast milk yesterday.

‘It’s a close match!’

Fortunately, the third baseman was aware of the hard hit and was quite behind, and since the hit was slow, the timing seemed to be close.

And, as soon as I stretched out my foot and stepped on the first base, I heard the sound of the ball hitting the first base mitt.

“… Safe!”

“Nice! This is it!”

The result is safe. If I hadn’t exerted all my strength, I would have definitely been out.

There was no doubt that Seungwon was also delighted with the infield hit that his mom and dad had created together. Because any child would like a harmonious family.

Moreover, this infield hit was perhaps more meaningful than a home run.

‘Seungwon, are you watching? I didn’t hit a home run on purpose. ‘I want you to watch and learn from my father’s spirit of never giving up until the end.’

Because it was a hit that could teach my son not to give up until the end.

I had to show my cool side, and it was a bit difficult to teach a lesson, but this is the responsibility of the head of the family. For unavoidable reasons, Hojin could not fulfill his role as the head of the household because he did not have much time to spend with us, but he could become a great person like me only if he received good education at home, so I could not let go of the reins of his education.

‘Seungwon, this training…, Hmm…, Well, a court where you can steal things and not get caught?’

If you want to steal something and avoid getting caught, you need to be quick on your feet. In this class, I thought it would be a good idea to teach the lesson that quick feet are necessary to survive in the world.

‘Let’s go, Mr. Rossby.’

‘Curve.’

‘Okay.’

The first pitch he chose was a curveball. He seemed to think that just watching was enough to keep me in check, but since I already had a grip that I couldn’t throw from first base, I ran to second base as soon as the ball was thrown.

Perfect!

‘Fuck it, let’s wait for a day like today.’

However, the result was a foul. No matter how much I asked for it, I had no choice but to return to first base after swearing inwardly as I saw the jersey spinning wildly from the first pitch.

‘Fastball, it’s toward the body.’

“Ball.”

‘Change-up. ‘Body side.’

‘Okay, let’s go.’

And in a one-strike, one-ball situation, the ball he chose was a changeup. Since it was a ball that was perfect for running, I slowly started the car. And the moment his body flinched, I started running toward second base.

Because Judge had been shifted to a right-handed hitter, it was the second baseman who was near the base. The guy who made eye contact with me quickly ran over and took a seat near the base, but it didn’t matter. The glove is not yet closed.

‘Well, this is enough.’

Having successfully stolen base hundreds of times, my senses tell me that this steal was also a success.

Since I already had enough free time, I could have gone into the bent leg sliding (sliding in with feet first), but I did it because I wanted to show Seungwon how cool his father was.

For a baseball player, the dirt on his uniform was like a medal.

However, at that moment, gray pants with a black line blocking the front of the base block my path.

‘… Huh?’

Suddenly, even before I understood the situation, I felt a different sensation from the base at my fingertips… After such a foreign sensation, I felt a familiar sensation in my buttocks.

‘A poem like this…’

“Out!”

And by the time the situation was judged, the referee had already made the call.

“This bastard… !”

You’re preventing me from stealing with such a dirty play… It was the first time in a long time that I almost lost my sense of reason, but I remembered that Seungwon was watching, and I stopped raising my fist at him.

‘Whoa… Hold on, fuck it. Seungwon, your dad is earning money in such a humiliating and hard way, really.’

If I saw my dad beating up people at the first game I came to watch, it couldn’t have been good for my education.

Moreover, all the fathers in the world endure and make money for their fox-like wives and rabbit-like children even when faced with such embarrassing events. Since I was also a father, I could tolerate such injustice.

‘Hehe, you held back well, Ji Maeng-ho! You were just like my father.’

After holding back my anger for a moment, Coach Mattingly rushed out and asked for a challenge.

The video readout begins, and the video from before appears on the electronic display board.

Me, who throws my body around, and the guy who catches the ball by bending his knees to catch the ball that bounced ahead of me. And his hand touching my calf and his glove grazing my butt.

The timing is the timing of the bright three leaves. However, my hand did not reach the base, and the umpire, who continued to watch the video, eventually declared me out. And the referee holding the microphone.

“Ah. We just read whether there was base-running interference, but second baseman Keith’s movements were judged to be natural, and he was declared out. Over.”

-Wooooo!!!

-Turn off! Lose! La! Turn off! Lose! La!

-You dog-eyed bastard! I ruined the fucking base!

The referee’s words were met with boos from the home fans, but as always, the boos did not change the decision.

‘Fuck, this is natural, right?’

Yes, natural movement. Just watching the video, his movements seemed extremely natural. Since I was also a second baseman, I knew that it was quite possible for a second baseman to bend down to catch a ball that bounced.

But, I knew. That guy and I made eye contact. It was a situation where he had enough time to make eye contact with me, but he was blocking the base there? This made no sense.

‘Ha, fuck. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to spin Yama. ‘It’s been a while since I saw a bastard blocking the base?’

Something like this happened once in Korea before. Even then, I failed to steal a base.

Actually, blocking the bases was a good strategy against me. The probability of base-running interference was low, and even if base-running interference was declared, there was nothing to lose because it was still a three-leaf game.

I was able to block my unstoppable steal with this simple method, but there is only one reason why other teams in the victory-crazy KBA league didn’t do the same.

Because I broke that bastard’s ankle in my very next defense.

Well, at the time, I pretended it wasn’t like that, so there wasn’t any disciplinary action, but I made a guy in Benkle turn his face, so most of the players thought I did it on purpose. Did he turn his chin first? It was a long time ago, so I don’t really remember, but anyway, since then, the guys who blocked the bass in front of me have disappeared.

‘Yeah, fuck. I have to let these bastards know who I am.’

Of course, he had no intention of fighting because it was in front of his son, but if he did so, his reputation as the head of the family would obviously be damaged.

I thought the appropriate topic for the 3rd period class to teach Seungwon would be ‘How to not be ignored.’ Or ‘How to give back what you deserve.’