novelraw Chapter 20 : Potato Ball (2)
Chapter 20 : Potato Ball (2)
Potato Ball (2)
To start with the result, Miners won.
It was only one game, but it was rather noisy.
There is drama in sports.
If it had been just an ordinary game, it wouldn't have been like this, but apparently even the club owner was greatly delighted.
And for good reason—it was their first opening game victory since the team's founding.
Moreover, it was quite a high-level game.
A match that didn't just end with the first opening day win after their founding.
Gang Young-ho, the starting pitcher for the Flamingos, pitched 7 scoreless innings.
He even managed to escape a bases-loaded, no-out crisis—created by a surprise bunt, a hit-by-pitch, and a defensive error—by striking out three consecutive batters.
But Porter became the hero of this game by securing a complete game win with 13 strikeouts and just 1 earned run.
In addition, the drama was completed when Kim Jae-beom, who had worn the Flamingos uniform just last season, hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning.
The Flamingos fans, who probably thought of this as just an appetizer they absolutely had to consume, looked shattered.
Even before the game started, they had applauded former Flamingos Kim Jae-beom and Yoon Bong-wan, but by the end of the game, it was probably a different story.
Laughing today, getting mad tomorrow.
Pouring your whole heart into cheering, but cursing three seconds later.
Even the most rational person becomes a devil from a single mistake.
That's what baseball fans are, and that's what baseball is.
I used to hate those emotional ups and downs so much they drove me mad, but now they were starting to make my heart race.
I was dying to get out there and play.
I wanted to get up on that mound and throw the ball.
I missed those people so much, those who cheered for my strikeouts and cursed at my home runs.
And, surprisingly, I wasn't the only one who felt that way.
"The pitcher is Seo Tae-seung and the pitching coach is Seo Tae-seung..."
Father closed his eyes and said something strange.
"The pitcher was Graham Donald Porter, and the pitching coach was you, father."
"......."
"...... Son."
"Yes."
"You were so focused on sports that you neglected your studies, so you have no grasp of context, do you?"
Anyway, it seemed Father was also quite enjoying baseball's return after a long time.
* * *
Kang Un-deok, the Gangwon Miners' owner and GW Group chairman, was absolutely delighted when the team beat last year's defending champion, the Incheon Flamingos, 2–1 in the season opener.
"Executive Director Jo. Should I treat the team to a dinner party, or should I just hand out cash gifts?"
– Chairman, I already mentioned it to Head Coach Song Moon-jung, but he said it's fine.
"Really?"
– Yes. He said, 'What's the point of a dinner just for winning a single game...'
Kang Un-deok was, in every sense of the word, an old-fashioned man. If his subordinates did well, he had to hand out envelopes, and if they did poorly, he had to scold them to feel satisfied.
But Song Moon-jung's words didn't sound so bad.
It sounded like they wanted to win frequently, not just once.
"I thought, since he's an old-school baseball guy, he'd welcome those sorts of things. Turns out, it was unexpected."
– He seems to be someone who values principles.
"Still, if they win tomorrow, throw them a party."
– Tomorrow, sir?
"Yeah, if we win back-to-back games at the opening series..."
The owner chuckled low.
"I'm going to call Flamingos' owner Chairman Go and tease him. You know the restaurant his second daughter runs? Eat and drink to your heart's content there, then post it online and brag about it a bit. Got it?"
– Understood, chairman.
It meant he wanted to thoroughly rub it in.
Not just among the baseball fans, but among the owners, too, Kang Un-deok had been the butt of jokes for running a money-draining, image-tarnishing baseball club.
In fact, even now his fingers were itching. He wanted to call and tease right away.
That's how sports work—a person who just won has bragging rights, even if their all-time record is 1 win to 99 losses.
But what Kang Un-deok wished for didn't end up happening.
* * *
After a loss, the team bus is always somber.
And if that bus is traveling long-distance from Incheon to Busan, it's only natural that spirits would be even lower.
The next schedule was an away game against the Busan Stars.
For the first game of the three-game series, Hwang Seung-tae sunbae was scheduled as the starting pitcher, and for the next game, according to Father's words, "the guy who looks in the best condition right now,"
Lee Min-gi sunbae, was set to pitch.
And on the last day of the Stars series, it would be my turn.
"Just get some sleep, kid."
"I've been quiet."
"You're so nervous for your debut your eyebrows are twitching, huh?"
"If you can't sleep that much, you could probably feel the earth spinning, couldn't you?"
Harold Bradshaw didn't seem very upset for a starting pitcher who lost his win due to the bullpen's blunder.
He just lounged lazily in his seat, bantering with me.
"By the way, why are you coming to Busan?"
He had pitched six innings as a starter, and had no plans to take the mound in Busan.
Yet, he was sitting right next to me.
"I don't expect special treatment for being a foreign player—I truly want to be one with the team."
Bradshaw said this with a soulless expression, then let out a snort.
"Kidding."
"I figured it was a joke. So what's the real reason?"
"Your dad told me to."
"Ah."
"......"
Bradshaw gave me a look, then smirked and closed his eyes.
"Joking."
"What?"
"I just want to visit every stadium. See what the fields look like, what kind of dirt's on the mound, how high it is, what the grass is like...damn it."
He spoke lazily, but at the end, his voice held a hint of disgust. It was something you just had to accept.
Pitchers often have a screw loose in some corner of their brain.
Uh...
Of course, I'm not...right?
* * *
When Miners signed swingman Hwang Seung-tae in the free-agent market instead of a big fish like Yoon Dae-yoon, baseball fans sneered that Miners must now be out of money and was settling for B-tier instead of A-tier.
When Yoon Dae-yoon was pulled from his first outing after just 1.1 innings, clutching his elbow, posts titled [Song Moon-jung's Foresight.jpg] did pop up online, but it didn't make Hwang Seung-tae's reputation rise any higher.
"It's just as well. Nobody expects 15 wins from me anyway."
Hwang Seung-tae, with his sly personality, didn't seem all that bothered by his low evaluation.
Seo Tae-seung let out a small laugh and added,
"People say we signed you just because your name is my name inverted."
"...... One of my nicknames is 'Gunjeoyite.'"
"What's that?"
"At one time, one of your nicknames was 'Taser Gun,' right? Well, mine's that, inverted."
"Oh."
Back in his Major Leagues days, Seo Tae-seung had earned the nickname 'Taser Gun' when a batter swung and missed at his 97mph (about 156.1km/h) splitter, but then the splitter hit the batter's foot and he collapsed, shaking, as if shocked by a taser.
"In my case, I cramped up covering first and shook like I'd been tasered..."
Seo Tae-seung laughed incredulously, and Hwang Seung-tae grinned in response.
It's not like you have to have that kind of personality to be a good pitcher, but having it doesn't hurt.
Even with a starting appearance ahead, he didn't seem nervous at all.
Seo Tae-seung might have set himself on fire just to prove all his doubters wrong.
But Hwang Seung-tae was different. Whatever, he just went with the flow, but prepared like a pro.
He really did have powerful pitches, just as I'd heard.
"To be honest, I worked pretty hard. Didn't want other people to get flak because I messed up..."
By other people, he probably meant the head coach, General manager, or pitching coach. Seo Tae-seung replied lightly,
"Then pitch so no one takes the blame."
In the last game, bullpen pitcher Yuk Kang-oh had allowed the tying run in the seventh.
It was something that could easily happen in baseball, but Seo Tae-seung had taken flak for poor bullpen management.
"It's out of my hands."
Hwang Seung-tae said, laughing, but looked confident enough.
Busan Stars had a powerful batting lineup, but Hwang Seung-tae was a pitcher they struggled against.
Especially last season, he'd pitched 17 innings against them, allowing only 2 runs in two starts and three relief appearances, with an earned run average of 1.05.
Although he's rarely been a full-time starter, he was well-prepared this season.
"Still, I'll do my best!"
When Hwang Seung-tae declared this with a salute, Seo Tae-seung asked,
"You served in the military, right?"
"Yes. I couldn't make the national team..."
"So you were in Sangmu?"
"Nope. Regular service..."
"Really?"
"Yes. When I was in boot camp, the drill instructor heard I was a pro baseball pitcher and said I'd probably be good at throwing grenades."
"Oh?"
"The instructor said he wanted to see how a pro pitcher throws a grenade, but since I throw sidearm, they all freaked out."
"......."
"No one knew who I was, so they didn't even know I was a sidearmer. Hah."
* * *
Chairman Kang Un-deok grumbled that if he'd treated the team to a dinner in advance, morale would have been higher and they might have won the second game against the Flamingos—but that was just hindsight.
Now, he was watching Miners's third game.
"tsk. I could've brought in an even better pitcher."
To this, Executive Director Jo Woo-jin replied uprightly,
"Pitching coach Seo Tae-seung says there's reason to be optimistic."
"Well, just as well we didn't bring in Yoon Dae-yoon. He reached the world's top in baseball, after all—he'd know best."
Yoon Dae-yoon's first game after signing as a free agent ended with a season-ending elbow ligament injury. He was reportedly to undergo Tommy John surgery.
"It's starting."
Since joining the main league, Miners had never played an opening game at home. Year after year, they finished last. No wonder.
A manager famed for development failed. A manager promising data-driven baseball failed.
To be honest, for someone like them, Kang Un-deok's interference was considerable.
Song Moon-jung–Seo Tae-seung.
Because they were people the owner had worked hard to bring in, he was trying not to interfere.
Miners's offense in the top of the first came to nothing.
Lee Seung-bin, acquired via trade, reached base on a walk, but the following hitters failed to deliver. Frankly, even that choice was hard for Kang Un-deok to understand.
A star player in the same position came out on free agency and, even though Kang Un-deok offered to buy him, he was rejected. Instead, they traded a first-round power pitcher for this guy.
Now it was Hwang Seung-tae's turn to take the mound.
Despite his round face, he had a relatively slender frame.
Executive Director Jo Woo-jin provided commentary as if he'd been waiting for it.
"For sidearm pitchers, flexibility is key. Pitching coach Seo Tae-seung is especially taking care of his weight management."
"Hmph. Good, good."
That made more sense to the old, wealthy owner than a complicated sabermetrics explanation.
Hwang Seung-tae induced a grounder to shortstop from the first batter, then struck out the second with a swinging K on his fourth pitch, a slider.
Against Park Seong-hoo—whom Chairman Kang Un-deok originally wanted to sign in the free-agent market—he threw six straight sinkers, getting a grounder to third.
The color commentator's voice rang from the TV.
– Wow, look at Hwang Seung-tae's sinker. The pitch quality is remarkable. He's not the type to use a wide repertoire, but he's got a deadly weapon—slider to righties, sinker to lefties. When you have faith in your pitches, this is the result.
Even Chairman Kang Un-deok found his lips curling into a smile, despite not liking some choices.
It was early, but just seeing this much was enough.
The pitcher he'd originally wanted was out for the season with an injury, and the pitcher he hadn't been satisfied with had just handled the hitter he wanted to recruit.
"If Coach Seo Tae-seung asks for something, just do it. He's done well with free agents and trades."
"Understood, chairman."
No one could say when the owner's moods might change, but Executive Director Jo Woo-jin answered as courteously as ever.
The camera was panning between a beaming Hwang Seung-tae and the fuming Busan Stars crowd after just one inning.