Chapter 855 – Episode 841. A Confrontation That Cannot Be Backed Down. (2)

[With Palenski striking out, number 9 hitter Joo Seung-cheol gets a chance to hit second base with one out in the top of the third inning.]

[Joo Seung-cheol played as the 5th or 6th hitter throughout the season, hitting .288 with 33 home runs and 109 RBIs, contributing greatly to the team’s batting lineup, but his slump in the World Series was unusual, wasn’t it? So today I came out as the number 9 hitter.]

[Until today, in the 6 games of the World Series, he was recording 2 hits in 24 at-bats and a batting average of 8 points and 3 bases. When will Joo Seung-cheol’s sluggishness end? … Strike! Out! Carlos Rodon gets an important strikeout!]

[Keu… Rodon, although he performed poorly in the last game, he is playing his role really well, right?]

[… Even Josh Sean struck out! The score difference of 1:0 is maintained!]

[… Verdugo! … Volpi! … Ji Maeng-ho! Patrick Cooper cleans it up with an out and creates a three-way inning!]

[Hey, even Ji Maeng-ho, the world’s best player, can’t help it if his knuckleball comes in swinging like that.]

[Yankee Stadium, where a tense pitching battle continues. The fourth inning begins now.]

[Actually, in the last game as well, the batting line gave up many runs starting in the 4th inning, so I’m curious what the result will be today.]

[… Strike! Out! Rodon strikes out Ohtani and sets him up! … Strike! Out! Even Tatis strikes out! Strikeout 5 batters in a row! … Out! Rodon’s three-way march is over, but Rodon ends the inning with a three-way throw!]

[Wow, already 8 strikeouts in 4 innings. Rodon came out sharpening his sword?]

[… Soto got on base with a walk, but Patrick Cooper struck out Stanton, led to a double play by Judge, and ended the bottom of the fourth inning with three batters! The starters from both teams who performed poorly in Game 3 showed their true worth today!]

…

…

[Rodon finishes with a three-way strike in the beginning of the 6th inning! 6 innings, 1 run, 11 strikeouts! A veteran’s true value will be shown today in Game 7 of the World Series!]

*

To be honest, I’ve been swearing at Rodon a lot in my mind. This was because Rodon was a truly unpredictable pitcher. Sometimes it seemed like he would throw 7 scoreless innings, but at other times he would give up 5 or 6 runs in 3 innings, so anyone watches Rodon’s game couldn’t help but criticize him.

Probably the type of starting pitcher that baseball managers hate the most is this season’s Rodon type.

However, at Rodon’s high point on the important stage of Game 7 of the World Series, I reflected on the things I had cursed in my mind and called out Verdugo and Volpi, the leadoff and second batters in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“Let’s give just one point, just one more point.”

“… Okay.”

“Okay, let’s give it a try.”

Verdugo and Volpi both nodded with firm expressions at my words because they had a feeling that they could win today’s game if they scored just one more point.

“Okay then, Ji. Please.”

“Okay.”

“… Stronger than before.”

Verdugo is asking me to hit him harder, probably because he didn’t get on base in his last at-bat.

‘Are these the words of a person addicted to drugs? .’

I felt a bit dizzy seeing Verdugo wanting more stimulation, but I couldn’t help but listen to Verdugo’s request. Because I also wanted victory as much as Verdugo wanted it.

Ta-ah!

The moment he slapped the guy, something strange felt in his hand, but Verdugo looked satisfied.

“Ugh…”

And Volpi is disgusted by that sight.

“Dougi, is that effective?”

“Of course. “I’m not a pervert, why would I do that for no reason?”

Verdugo’s World Series performance was .450 with 9 hits in 20 at-bats, and he also recorded one home run, with his OPS exceeding 1.1. When I heard that Verdugo was effective, Volpi looked a bit harsh.

“Why? “Would you like me to spank you too?”

In response to my question, Bolphy looks disgusted, takes one look at Verdugo, and closes his eyes. And Volpi’s mouth opens.

“… Take it easy. “Let’s come to our senses and go.”

“Okay.”

Mate!

“Fuck!”

Although I hit it more gently than Verdugo, it still brought me to my senses when I experimented with it myself. When I saw the sincerity behind Volpi’s swear words, it seemed like he too had come to his senses.

“Okay, let’s go. … Hehe.”

Verdugo grins as he sees Volpi like that, spits blood mixed in, and walks to the plate.

“… “That kid is okay, right?”

“… I don’t know either. “I just do it because they ask me to do it.”

And was it because of my special medicine?

“Ugh!”

“Hit bye pitch!”

Verdugo gets a base hit and finally succeeds in getting on base. Excluding my hit today, not a single player got on base, so this was a great achievement.

However, at that moment, Verdugo enters the dugout, being replaced by pinch runner Scantle Bury.

‘What, are you hurt? Missing Game 7 of the World Series because of a dead ball? No, it’s a knuckleball, so it won’t hurt that much…’

“Verdugo? Are you okay?”

As I was heading to the waiting box, I asked Verdugo a question as he walked by.

“Ah…, My tooth is falling out and it keeps bleeding. Tsk, I didn’t want to miss the game because of something like this… Of course, don’t worry. “I won’t ask you to pay for the implant.”

“… Wow.”

Hehe, this is a real American man.’

Mr. Verdugo, who looks disappointed even though his teeth are missing, and Mr. Rossby, who is smiling with satisfaction with an expression that says, ‘This is an American man.’

‘… ‘Are they crazy?’

I walked to the waiting box, vowing that I would not raise my children to be such a senseless person.

“Strike! Out!”

But unfortunately, Volpi strikes out and retires. I saw him caressing his cheek on the way in, and it seemed like he couldn’t concentrate properly because the area where I hit him hurt.

‘Write… Have you lost your senses because you’ve been hitting on Verdugo lately? It worked well in Korea…’

It was quite disappointing that Volpi did not get on base, but anyway, the situation was one out and one base on base. Besides, Cooper was fighting me head-on today, so I didn’t have to worry about being filtered out.

In addition, Soto’s current RBI record in the World Series is 11. It was clear that there was probably no desire to put a runner in front of Soto.

‘It’s a knuckleball.’

‘Okay.’

And as expected, he took out his main weapon, a knuckleball. Today’s game against him was 1 hit in 2 at-bats.

I was lucky in my first at-bat, but unlucky in my second at-bat.

Well, from his point of view, it would have been the opposite of mine.

Anyway, all a batsman can do against a knuckleballer is hope that his ball hits my bat.

Perfect!

“Foul!”

I aimed for his first pitch, but it hit the inside of the bat, resulting in a foul.

‘Wow, the movements are scary.’

I felt it in my second at-bat as well, but it was definitely the case that other batters other than me didn’t get on base even once today. It didn’t seem easy to hit a ball like this properly, no matter how me or other hitters came.

In fact, the first at-bat was also an infield hit, so it was difficult to regard it as a regular hit.

‘Whew, watch it until the end…’

I wait for his ball again, reliving in my body the feeling I had when I hit a home run against him in the All-Star Game.

‘Knuckleball.’

‘Well, I’ll only throw knuckleballs.’

Since the only pitch he would throw was a knuckleball, there was no need for Mr. Rossby to speak, but hearing Mr. Rossby’s voice gave me a sense of stability.

‘Yes, come.’

And the guy’s ball was thrown.

The ball left my right hand and I thought it was going to fly upward, but it suddenly disappeared and moved away to the right. But not within the range of my bat. I held back the bat while watching his ball until the end, and the moment his ball was about to bend to the left again,

I swung the bat faster than ever.

Perfect!

‘Tch!’

As I tried to swing the bat quickly, my posture broke down, and I couldn’t hear a good hitting sound, but I couldn’t give up until the end.

“Run! Run!”

The first base coach must have judged it to be a hit, so he gave a sign to the first base runner, Scantlebury, to run.

‘Mr. Rossby!’

‘Run!’

And trusting Mr. Rossby’s judgment, I pass the first base coach and run toward second base. When Scantlebury and I moved near second and third base, respectively, Seungcheol, who was running diagonally, flew toward my batted ball.

At that split-second, I remembered the scene where Seungcheol caught my home run, and I got dizzy,

‘Please! Please!’

-Waaaaa!!!!!

Fortunately, when the ball entered Seungcheol’s glove, he had already bounced on the ground once.

‘Fuck, this is it! If you do this, you can reach third base!’

He tried to run to third base, but Scantlebury, who was the runner on first base, stopped at third base. I became desperate and immediately returned to second base to avoid being out, but I couldn’t help but feel regret.

‘Ah…’

Scantlebury and the third base coach were right. Even if it was obvious that if my batted ball was caught, I would be out at first base, I had to get back to first base. But I wonder what it would have been like if I had believed in myself and ran forward.

‘Just trust me…’

But now the situation is 1 out, 2nd and 3rd bases. And at the plate, Soto is said to have the best eye in the major league.

If it’s Soto, if it’s Soto who is no one else, if it’s Soto who played a solid role throughout this World Series… !

Ta – Aak!

A sharp hitting ball flying with a sharp hitting sound. However, Soto’s batted ball was too close to home. Betts catches Soto’s batted ball and throws the ball to the second baseman. And taking advantage of that opportunity, Scantelbury went home, and I went to third base.

‘Phew, it’s still 1 point.’

If Scantlebury had trusted me and ran all the way home, they would have been able to make it 3-0 and drive home…

But the situation has already passed. I erased those thoughts from my mind and focused on Stanton’s at-bat.

Perfect!

“Out!”

But the result was a ground ball to first base.

‘… ‘I admit it today.’

However, even after seeing that ground ball, I didn’t really want to curse. The day a knuckleballer hits the ball in the zone is nothing short of a disaster for the batters.

Still, there are 3 innings left.

‘Let’s just keep 2 points. Only 2 points…’

The top of the 7th inning began like that, and Rodon got off to a good start by catching Tatis, the leadoff batter of the 7th.

But is it because they gave everything until the previous inning? Rodon allowed a hit to Betts, and Manager Mattingly made a decision right away.

-Buller! Buehler! Buehler!

The fans gathered at Yankee Stadium chant Buehler’s name on the mound in unison.

And, as if to atone for his brutality in Game 4, Buehler cleaned up the inning by turning off the remaining two out counts into double plays, and Cooper, who also came on the mound in the bottom of the 7th inning, also dealt with Judge, Vientos, and Hall to make it 7. Concluding the meeting.

The game proceeded similarly in the 8th inning.

In the top of the 8th inning, the pitcher on the mound was Camacho. Camacho, as if to prove why he was on the Yankees’ roster even though he is the same age as me, held his opponent to no runs as he always did in the World Series, and Cooper came on the mound in the bottom of the 8th inning once again.

‘You’re behaving in a disgusting way. Wow, damn it, I got scratched today.’

So I went to bat with two outs and 1st base, but Cooper gave up a walk and the mound was replaced.

The pitcher on the mound for the Dodgers was Ohtani, who pitched 7 innings in Game 5. The Dodgers also risked everything in Game 5 by putting Ohtani on the mound.

And Ohtani ends the 8th inning by finishing off Soto.

There is now one inning remaining. And the score is 2 points lower.

‘Okay, just one more step, and you’ll win.’

Now there was only one step left to win the World Series.