Chapter 850 – Episode 836. I’m Not Wrong.
[Ohtani’s hit! First baseman in front! Ah! Hall! You missed it! Meanwhile, Ohtani reaches second base!]
[Ah, this mistake is big. After scoring one run, you can’t immediately send a runner into scoring position with an error like this.]
[In the top of the 4th inning, the LA Dodgers have a chance to reach second base with no outs. Now at the plate is Fernando Tatis Jr., The hero of the Division Series and Championship Series. No hits in the World Series yet. … To first base again! This time, the hole is captured. At the plate comes Betts, who has been struggling this season. His World Series performance is 1 hit in 5 at-bats in 2 games.]
[24 home runs in .205 and 3 league runs. Actually, it’s not that bad, but it’s true that it’s disappointing compared to the value of Betts’ name. However, in the Division Series, he showed signs of survival by hitting 2 home runs with an OPS of 1.102. We had a hit yesterday too. If you are a veteran like Betts, here…]
[The moment I tell you! Betts’ batted ball! It falls on the right line! Typo goes all the way home! Home! Let’s dig in! The LA Dodgers immediately tie the game! Veteran Betts ties the score! And then the 5th batter, Smith, gets a chance to hit 2nd base with 1 out.]
[Isn’t there a burden on Smith’s mind because he gave up 1 point while allowing a stolen base on 3rd base?]
[How will that burden work? … I hit it! Catch the shortstop and throw to first base! Out! But Betts reached third base in the meantime. Now the opportunity goes to Joo Seung-cheol.]
[Seung-cheol Joo also performed well in the Division Series, recording an OPS of 1.7? Tatis Jr. Did not receive MVP because he recorded 2.1, but he performed well in the division series. Although he underperformed in the Championship Series, he has…]
[Three out while flying high! Logan Gilbert concedes a goal but does not give up the lead!]
…
…
[In the bottom of the 5th inning in a 1:1 situation, Verdugo enters as the leadoff hitter.]
[Verdugo’s cheeks are red, right? A reporter once asked a question, and he said that when a player concentrates, his cheeks turn red. And now Verdugo’s cheeks are very red. It means you are in a state of extreme concentration.]
[… Verdugo drives with a three-ball! Verdugo’s three-ball strike! Verdugo makes a hit in a three-ball situation! The New York Yankees’ leadoff hitter gets on base!]
[Nice. This is the player’s concentration. In fact, it was a ball that went out of the zone, but Verdugo hit it very well.]
Haha. “You’re saying something funny.”
When words praising Verdugo came out on the broadcast channel, Moon Ki-taek, who was watching the game, laughed out loud. In Moon Ki-taek’s view, the result of this hit was meaningless.
Hehe, you’re all idiots. “Idiot.”
There is only one reason why Hwasan coach Moon Ki-taek, who is preparing for the Korean Series, sits alone in the coach’s office and watches the World Series in front of the TV while giving training instructions to his players. This was because he wanted to see that the strategy he had devised against Ji Meng-ho would work.
In fact, Moon Ki-taek was not a manager who paid much attention to the World Series. Because Moon Ki-taek was a person who used that time to analyze his opponent’s strength one more time.
However, a phone call ahead of the World Series made Moon Ki-taek stand in front of the TV. The person who made the call was Joo Seung-cheol, who belongs to the LA Dodgers.
-Are you Director Moon Ki-taek? My name is Joo Seung-cheol.
When Joo Seung-cheol first contacted Moon Ki-taek, he was surprised. Because Moon Ki-taek and Joo Seung-cheol had no connection to the point that they didn’t even know their contact information.
If I were to be specific, every time I met Hancheol in the fall baseball game, I always thought, ‘It would have been nice to have a hitter like that on my team, or when we suffered a humiliating loss to Ji Maeng-ho during the Korean Series in UG, ‘I wish we had a hitter like Joo Seung-cheol on our team.’ I didn’t think I would have lost like this.’
-I found out the contact information for my father and contacted him. If you don’t mind, I would like to discuss how to deal with Meng Hao.
However, the moment I saw that text, Moon Ki-taek immediately called Joo Seung-cheol, regardless of their relationship.
If there’s one thing Moon Ki-taek has, it’s that he’s never won against Ji Meng-ho. This season, they easily won the regular season championship in the KBA league without Ji Maeng-ho, but for Moon Ki-taek, all of this was meaningless.
Is there anything more fun in baseball life than competing with Ji Maeng-ho?
Since winning the Korean Series was almost guaranteed, the one wish left for Moon Ki-taek was to see Ji Maeng-ho collapse through his own strategy.
In that way, Moon Ki-taek told Joo Seung-cheol everything he thought, and Moon Ki-taek watched the World Series with anticipation.
However, in the first match, Ohtani did not follow his plan and was beaten by Ji Meng-ho and lost.
Well, I could understand. Moon Ki-taek was also a manager, so he knew how strong the pitchers’ pride was, and a player of Ohtani’s caliber could give them autonomy. Besides, if he could stop Ji Menghao with just 2 points, he didn’t need to use his strategy.
Of course, thanks to this, I was able to see great scenes for the first time in a long time, so Moon Ki-taek was able to gain his own benefits. Ji Maeng-ho’s home run after a pre-announced home run was such a great scene that it even made Moon Ki-taek’s heart beat.
And while watching that scene, Moon Ki-taek thought.
As expected, his method was correct.
Ji Maeng-ho was that kind of guy.
A guy who can hit an ace pitcher on an important stage, at an important moment, and hit what the fans want.
However, only one game is enough to test Ji Maeng-ho’s skills. The Dodgers seemed to have realized that fact, and today he came out with the strategy he had taught and blocked Ji Maeng-ho’s foot by putting the batter in front of him on base.
However, due to Volpi’s ability to steal bases, one point was conceded, and the Dodgers changed direction once again. The goal is to directly deal with Volpi, who has quick feet, and to give a walk to Verdugo, who has slow feet.
[Strike! Out! Glasnow strikes out Volpi! The out count goes up! Now, Ji Maeng-ho is at bat. Today, he is on base in every at-bat, recording one hit and one walk.]
[I’m really looking forward to whether Ji Maeng-ho will give the fans what they want again.]
And the match between Glasnow and Ji Maeng-ho continued tenaciously. Glasnow did not throw a single ball into the zone against Ji Maeng-ho, and Ji Maeng-ho constantly made contact with such balls and somehow aimed for a shot.
“Hehe, I guess that guy realized something strange too.”
[… Ah! Ji Maeng-ho walks with a walk… ! I tried to hold on to the ball that went out of the zone as much as possible, but I held on to the bat when the ball bounced one way.]
“Good, good! Haha!”
Moon Ki-taek, who confirmed his match with Ji Meng-ho, laughed like a crazy person.
Ji Maeng-ho is, in name and reality, the best baseball player on the planet.
And if his tactics work against Mangho, he can proudly prove the importance of a manager to the idiots who shout that the role of a manager is not necessary in baseball.
Moreover, when he was at UG, it was clear that he would be a good lesson to both the idiots who criticized him for using ridiculous strategies and the players who dared to rebel against him.
[Strike! Out!]
[Ah, Judge, there are two runners in front of me all day today, and I can’t solve it at all. This isn’t like Jersey, right?]
[… Soto’s hit third base! Catch it! Three outs while directly hitting third base! Glasnow escapes danger once again!]
[The Yankees’ batting lineup averaged over 7 points per game throughout the regular season, but this World Series is not easy. As expected, the Dodgers’ first and second starters are strong.]
[End of the 5th inning. The game has reached its halfway point, and the score is still tight. Which team will take the lead first? … Three out! Inning over! Gilbert completes the quality start pitching! … Three outs with a three-way strike! Glasnow also recorded a quality hit as the bottom of the sixth inning ended. Glasnow and Gilbert. Both teams’ two starters pitched well, allowing one run in six innings.]
[The pitchers on both teams are truly amazing. The Yankees’ average score this season was 7.46 points, and the Dodgers’ average score was 7.08, and it is hard to believe that they are teams that have scored such scores, but both teams’ starting pitchers have shown good performances since yesterday. This is the taste of fall baseball!]
[… Gilbert closing out the top of the 7th inning! 7 innings, 1 run, no earned runs. Perform your duties perfectly today!]
[… One out in the bottom of the 7th inning. Verdugo gets on base due to a walk. 2nd on base game today. … Two outs, catching Volpi. And today, Ji Maeng-ho, who reached base in all of his at-bats, comes to the plate. Glasnow has currently thrown 108 pitches.]
[It’s replacement timing here, but the bullpen pitchers are preparing in the bullpen, right? Do you keep throwing? Oh, this time you’re making an intentional statement?]
[Ji Maeng-ho walks to first base with two outs. His face looks full of dissatisfaction. And the pitcher is replaced, and now Phillips is on the mound. … Strike! Out! Evan Phillips returns the jersey!]
In this way, the game developed into a pitcher’s battle, continuing from yesterday.
“Yes, that’s it! Let’s stop Ji Maeng-ho!”
Moon Ki-taek continued to mumble in front of the TV, absorbed in the sight. After that, the pitchers of both teams gave their all and dominated the batters, just like in the World Series.
[Betts has been sluggish this season! Show your true worth in this match!]
[Ah, it was Camacho’s 1.2 innings, and it appears that Miller, the closing pitcher, was saved in preparation for possible overtime. It was a standard good decision, but the result was not good.]
In the end, in the top of the 9th inning, Tatis’ walk and stolen base, followed by Betts’ timely hit, put the Dodgers ahead 2:1.
And the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the 9th inning was 7th hitter Ohapee. Since Ji Maeng-ho’s at-bat was one at-bat short, Manager Mattingly tried to get on base somehow by using Kelnick, who was waiting on the bench,
[… Volpi’s batted ball! The game ends when it is caught by the shortstop! Score 2:1! The Dodgers close out the balance of the series! See you in LA!]
In the end, the game ended without Ji Maeng-ho returning to bat.
“This is it, this is it! Ugh, if only I had pitchers like these…”
In Korea, the only pitcher who could carry out his orders perfectly was Seonghyeon. Would the results have been different if there had been better pitchers? It was something unknown now.
But one thing was certain: his strategy was not wrong.
The idiotic UG fans who cursed at him, the players who opposed his strategy, and the management who fired him because they couldn’t overcome something as trivial as public opinion will now have no choice but to admit that fact.
The strategy that Moon Ki-taek wanted was carried out perfectly in the hands of the Dodgers, and as he watched the victory, the pain that had been bothering him for several years was relieved.
“… “I am not wrong.”
Like that, Moon Ki-taek sat blankly while watching the highlights on TV until the coach knocked on the door of the coach’s office.
“Director?”
And the coach was surprised to see Moon Ki-taek looking significantly older than in the morning, but he hid his surprise and called Moon Ki-taek.
“Huh?”
“All morning training is now over.”
“Ah, ah… Training, Korean series. There was only the Korean series left.”
“Now you have to win. “There isn’t even a fierce tiger.”
“… Yes, since we don’t have that guy, we have to win.”
But what is the meaning of winning without Ji Maeng-ho?
And at that time, a thought crossed Moon Ki-taek’s mind.
‘Then you can win wherever you are!’
I want to stand on the same stage with him again. That thought brought life to Moon Ki-taek’s lifeless face, and Hwasan’s coach, who was looking at it, thought, ‘What is it? ‘Did I see it wrong because of the sunlight?’ He said, rubbing his eyes.