Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 28

※ Chapter 28. It’s Always Like That at First

We won the first game, a complete victory thanks to Hyuk-joon’s perfect pitching and hitting.

He allowed only two hits and one walk, striking out a whopping 12 batters.

Seung-joo’s performance, including a grand slam and 6 RBIs, was also great, but Hyuk-joon’s performance seemed even more dazzling.

So, Hyuk-joon was the MVP of the first game. He was selected as the MVP of the first game of the semi-playoffs [a round in the postseason, before the finals] and received a prize of 1 million won. He also unexpectedly mentioned me in his interview.

“If there is anyone you are most grateful for regarding this shutout victory, who would it be?”

“Um, I’m really grateful to Han-wool hyung [older brother or respected male figure].”

“A slightly unexpected person has appeared. Is that Kim Han-wool from the same team?”

“Yes, yes, that’s right.”

“Kim Han-wool also mentioned Hwang Hyuk-joon as the biggest contributor to his performance this season. What aspects of Kim Han-wool are you grateful for?”

“Ah, I haven’t told Han-wool hyung about this yet.”

Can I talk about it?

He mumbled softly, barely caught by the camera, and then continued.

“Well, Han-wool hyung told me he practiced something, right? I also tried to imitate his control a bit, so I… practiced a bit.”

“Kim Han-wool has publicly stated that he referred to Hwang Hyuk-joon’s form and brought the release point forward, which had a good effect. Is Hwang Hyuk-joon similar?”

“Yes. Hyung often tells me to relax. So, when I relax, my control gets better.”

“You relaxed and still threw 159km [~99 mph] today?”

“I think Han-wool hyung should become a pitching coach soon.”

“Is it okay for Kim Han-wool to hear this?”

“Ah.”

Ah, what am I saying?

That’s how the first game ended. The team’s morale was at its highest.

For good results, we need to maintain our team’s strengths, compensate for our weaknesses, exploit the opposing team’s weaknesses, and suppress the opposing team’s strengths.

We did that. So we won. It’s easy to say but difficult to do in practice. That’s why I was even happier.

But the unnecessary anxiety I had before the series started didn’t leave me alone.

“…Han-wool, let’s go up to check your condition.”

“Yes.”

Series Game 2. Kyu-jin hyung, who started as the pitcher, came down after allowing 2 runs in 6 innings.

That in itself can be seen as a very good performance, but considering that the opposing lineup boasts the strongest lineup in the league, KP, we should give him even bigger applause.

Until this point, I honestly thought we would win easily. While Kyu-jin hyung only allowed 2 points, the lineup scored 6 points once again, leading 6 to 2 with a 4-point difference.

Why is it that sad premonitions never miss?

7th inning. After Kyu-jin hyung, who had thrown over 100 pitches, came down, other bullpen pitchers besides me took over.

I thought it would be right for me to go up. The manager, who confirmed my gaze, shook his head.

He thinks they can block it enough. This isn’t the only game; the next game may be more important.

I don’t know.

The first pitcher faced four batters and gave up a walk, a hit, a fly ball, and a hit.

The second pitcher faced three batters and gave up a walk, a double, and a triple.

The third pitcher faced four batters and gave up a hit, a double, a fly ball, and a hit.

The fourth pitcher faced two batters and gave up a home run and a fly ball.

This happened in one inning. In one inning, they faced 13 batters and gave up 9 runs. The score, which was 6 to 2, turned dramatically to 6 to 11.

After the top of the 8th inning ended futilely with three batters, I went up to the mound in the bottom of the 8th inning under the pretext of checking my condition, even though it wasn’t a situation where I should be pitching since I hadn’t pitched for almost a week. It was a suitable excuse and a good reason.

It’s already been 10 years since I debuted as a professional. I had been rolling around as a backup pitcher for 10 years, and for the first time, I grew up being called an ace in the league.

Yes, thanks to ‘me,’ the team made it to the post-season for the first time in years. It’s my first fall baseball [postseason baseball]. But my first experience didn’t raise my motivation as much as I thought it would.

Bottom of the 8th, starting with the 9th batter, Ha Eun-min.

I definitely think the KP lineup is scary… The 9th batter’s batting average is over .310. He also has 8 home runs. Such a batter is number 9? It’s absurd.

Instead, he seemed to be trying to induce a slow ground ball to the pull side because his feet were a bit slow for a 9th batter. I tried throwing an outside curve on the first pitch, but it was called a ball, and the fastball on the same course that followed was awkwardly touched and resulted in a foul.

“Foul!”

After another foul on an inside fastball,

“Fair!”

The ground ball, as desired, went up the third base foul line on a sinker that curled in at the same spot, and Seong-hoon hyung, who was deeply positioned near the line, caught it with a backhand and threw it strongly to first base.

A loud bang! sounded at first base, and the first base umpire made an out call, and one out count went up.

After that, the first batter, Ahn Byung-guk, appeared. He wasn’t the kind of batter you would typically think of as a first batter: fast, good contact, and relatively low power.

He wasn’t very tall, but he had a stocky build that anyone could see. This player’s strength is getting on base. He tenaciously stays alive.

“Ball!”

“High ball.”

“Foul!”

“Low ball.”

“Strike!”

He calmly picks out balls and leaves what he judges he can’t hit, and accurately swings only at the balls he can hit. That’s how the count became 3-2. It’s okay so far. What’s really scary about this player starts now.

“Oh, my head……”

I frowned as my head started to throb, and waited for Gyu-hak’s sign.

“Foul!”

“Foul.”

“Foul!”

“Foul!!”

Low inside fastball, inside sinker, outside slider, high inside fastball.

He cut them all off and faced the 10th pitch. I guess I’m only human, so throwing 10 consecutive pitches to one person is tiring.

Not physically, but mentally. If he were a batter, he might be greedy, but when it becomes 2 strikes, he shortens his bat by two fingers and the ‘that’ game begins.

“Foul―”

Like now.

“Foul.”

Son of a B!

“Ball, base on balls.”

After cutting off two more, he leisurely watched a ball that was too high and eventually walked to first base on the 12th pitch.

Playing baseball like a jerk!

An emotion I felt after a long time. I secretly glared at Ahn Byung-guk, who was slowly loosening his equipment and walking towards first base, and then received the ball that Gyu-hak threw.

After looking at the received ball here and there, I felt a strange annoyance and signaled that I didn’t like the ball and wanted it changed.

I threw the ball right next to the dugout, towards the ball boy, and received the ball that Gyu-hak threw again.

Hmm. I like it.

With a runner on first base, the second batter, Ryu Seung-hoon, appeared. Personally, I want to end it here. If I let him get on base, the next batter, Kim Ki-yoon, is too scary.

He even hit a home run against Hyuk-joon yesterday, and out of the previous five at-bats today, he had one walk and two doubles.

The runner’s feet weren’t very fast, so I could put myself in a set position with relatively peace of mind. I threw a slider that curved inside to get the count, but it was a ball because it was a bit deep.

Gyu-hak also didn’t want to meet the next batter, so most of the signs he was asking for were for a double play.

Outside sinker, downward splitter, inside fastball.

With two foul balls and one well-picked ball added, the count became 2-2. The sign that Gyu-hak gave here was a changeup that flowed to the outside.

I nodded a few times to indicate that it was pretty good and went into a stretch. After the still motion, I quickly finished lifting after only taking two breaths.

Tick―!

With that sound, the batted ball quickly headed towards first base.

“Ah!”

Ah, right. I can’t be spacing out.

Seeing the batted ball flowing to my left, I quickly ran to first base. After gaining speed, I saw that Ki-sung had already thrown the ball to second base while lying down, and then his gaze turned to second base. Myung-jin is throwing the ball towards me.

Having started playing baseball since I was young and having run this angle and distance hundreds and thousands of times, my body remembers it. Even if I don’t look and run, I can’t hit it exactly, but I can get close to it.

But,

“Yuck!”

The throw was not only off to the side but also low.

“Wack!”

With my right foot on first base, I snatched the short hop as if rolling forward. As soon as I felt the impact of the ball entering the glove, I showed the inside of the glove to the first base umpire.

“Out!”

The first base umpire immediately made an out call. However, the dissatisfied KP dugout sent a square sign with two index fingers. It seemed like they were requesting a video review.

“Hoo……”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it can happen. It’s okay, it’s okay. The timing is out, right?”

“Yes. The timing is definitely out.”

“Did your foot come off?”

“It’s a bit ambiguous. I saw it as coming off after receiving it.”

Soon, the text ‘Video Review in Progress…’ appeared on the stadium scoreboard, and a song with a somewhat profound and meaningful atmosphere played.

I thought they were wasting challenges on unnecessary things and glared at the place where the four umpires were gathered.

“It’s out. Don’t worry.”

“Why are you throwing so hastily?”

“No, my foot was a bit caught on the base……”

“When I saw it, Ki-sung wouldn’t have been able to receive it.”

“Eyyy, hyung.”

While the three of us, Ki-sung, Myung-jin, and I, were gathered and waiting for the verdict, small talk went back and forth.

Why isn’t the result coming out?

Then, I became unnecessarily anxious when the verdict didn’t come out as quickly as I thought it would.

Sensing that it would take longer than expected, I sat Gyu-hak down behind home plate. I started lightly practicing pitching to prevent my shoulder from cooling down.

Bang―!

Throw the ball, look at the umpires.

When I repeated this action about four times, I saw the home plate umpire, who had lowered his headphones, clench his right hand into a fist.

“Yes!”

Out without reversal. We hurriedly headed back to the dugout. I was happy that a great play had come out, but for a moment, the atmosphere inside me went down again when I saw the score on the scoreboard.

* * *

“Ya! Saeng! Ya! Sa!” [A baseball program’s catchphrase]

The screen showed the studio, and the announcer tapped the cue card in the air and shouted the name of the program.

“Hello, baseball fans, this is Son Cho-hee from ‘Ya Saeng Ya Sa’ [‘Let’s Live or Let’s Die,’ a baseball program]. Today, there was the third game of the semi-playoffs between KP Stars and Wonha Challengers. After dividing 1 win and 1 loss each in the first and second games, what happened in the third game that met in Jamsil Stadium? Let’s find out right away!”

The screen immediately switched, and the scene showed Bae Joon-hyuk, the third starting pitcher of Wonha Challengers, practicing pitching, followed by Koo Ja-hwan, the third starting pitcher of KP Stars, practicing pitching.

Kwon Myung-hoon, the flagship caster of MBS [broadcasting station], briefly explained the flow of the first and second games and then immediately moved on to the situation in the top of the 3rd inning.

Bae Joon-hyuk struck out the 9th, 1st, and 2nd batters after Lee Kyung-mo, the 8th batter, got on base with a walk. Then, the attack in the bottom of the 3rd inning was the same as the top of the 3rd inning. Moon Gyu-hak, the 8th batter, got on base with a walk, followed by three consecutive strikeouts from the 9th, 1st, and 2nd batters.

The first run was scored in the top of the 5th inning. Once again, Lee Kyung-mo, the 8th batter, came out as the lead batter and walked, then advanced with a sacrifice bunt by Ha Eun-min, the 9th batter, and the runner on second tagged up with a right fielder’s fly ball by Ahn Byung-guk, the 1st batter, and the runner on third went straight home due to a ridiculous wild pitch.

After that, Ryu Seung-hoon, the 2nd batter, hit a hit and got on base, followed by consecutive hits by Kim Ki-yoon, the 3rd batter, and a 2-RBI double by Kim Seong-soo, the 4th batter. After giving up a total of 3 points, Bae Joon-hyuk’s pitching ended.

After the starting pitchers went down, Wonha’s bullpen was miserable. During the remaining four innings, they gave up a whopping 12 points, and the pitchers suffered the humiliation of giving up a total of 15 points. They only scored 3 points in the attack, resulting in a complete defeat.

Winning pitcher Koo Ja-hwan, losing pitcher Bae Joon-hyuk.

“Wonha must be having a headache.”

As soon as the VCR ended, commentator Kim Hyung-cheol opened his mouth first.

“If the first game was a game where Wonha perfectly demonstrated their strengths, the second game can be said to be a game where they revealed their weaknesses. And this third game goes beyond that, and I can only say that it was a game where they perfectly showed their shortcomings.”

As soon as the introduction ended, the screen switched to VCR. After Bae Joon-hyuk gave up 3 runs but still finished the inning and went down, the situation after the team’s bullpen was activated was replayed.

“Well, Bae Joon-hyuk gave up 3 runs, but he still pitched for 5 innings and went down. The problem was what came next. They had to drag the remaining 4 innings, but what is Wonha’s weakness? It’s the bullpen.”

Hits, walks, doubles, home runs. A crazy party.

“Wonha has one or two strong bullpen cards that can definitely suppress the opposing lineup. That’s Kim Han-wool and Lee Hyo-jae. But it’s a waste to use those two players in this situation.”

He took a sip of water, perhaps thirsty from the long speech, and continued.

“Inevitably, other players were put in to save the two players, but the results were as you saw. If the already weak bullpen met the league’s strongest lineup? I think it ended with this much loss because of Wonha’s defense.”

“I also agree with commentator Kim Hyung-cheol’s words. But I want you to look at this part.”

As soon as the VCR ended, commentator Kim Hyung-cheol’s remarks ended. Immediately after, Choi Soo-hyun, the commentator next to him, took the words.

He was a commentator who mainly commentated from the perspective of a pitcher, as he was a former pitcher. The VCR continued again.

“Everyone knows that Wonha’s weakness is the bullpen. But should Kim Han-wool and Lee Hyo-jae have been saved even in this situation? I don’t know. If this is the regular season, it’s understandable, but isn’t this the post-season?”

The VCR showed Kim Han-wool watching the team get hit.

“First of all, I think Kim Han-wool or Lee Hyo-jae should have been put in right away in the 6th inning to somehow drag it along. Should we give up the 3rd game by saving Kim Han-wool and Lee Hyo-jae, or should we try to drag the 3rd game along by using Kim Han-wool and Lee Hyo-jae? I think it would have been right to choose the latter.”

Following that, there was an interview about the MVP of the 3rd game, the main points in the 3rd game, and a preview of the 4th game. Among them, the most talked about was the starting pitchers of both teams, which were announced for the 4th game.

“Am I seeing this wrong right now?”

The announcer laughed at commentator Choi Soo-hyun’s good reaction.

“I think commentator Kim Soo-chan showed a similar reaction around the beginning of this season. Yes, you are seeing it right.”

This was also a story that was naturally scheduled.

“For the starting pitchers of the 4th game of the series, KP Stars has announced Kim Moo-joong, and Wonha Challengers has announced Kim Han-wool.”

“Was saving Kim Han-wool, which commentator Choi Soo-hyun mentioned earlier, for this?”

“Well, the appearance in the 2nd game is a bit concerning if that’s the case.”

“If it’s coach Lee Han-joo’s big picture, the appearance in the 2nd game can be passed off as a bullpen session. If you force it.”

“What do you two think about Kim Han-wool’s starting appearance?”

“I understand it to some extent.”

The topic was focused only on Wonha, especially Kim Han-wool, which may be a bit dissatisfying for KP fans, but that was the story of light fans, and slightly hardcore fans were more interested in this story and listened more carefully.

“I think the content that commentator Choi Soo-hyun talked about is also included to some extent. If they lose in the 4th game after giving up to the 3rd game, the series ends as it is, right? I think coach Lee Han-joo has put himself in a desperate situation. This is not an unreasonable story.”

The VCR switched to show Kim Han-wool’s appearances against KP Stars in the regular season.

“Kim Han-wool has started in three games this year, and he pitched well in all of them, with 5 innings of no runs, 6 innings of 2 runs, and 6 innings of 1 run, respectively. First of all, I think Kim Han-wool has to start and pitch well to somehow create a flow, and then there will be a next step.”

“I think this is an overreach. If they wanted to use Kim Han-wool importantly, they should have put him in right away in the 6th inning of the 3rd game, or if the starter in the 4th game could somehow block only 5 innings, they should have entrusted the remaining 4 innings to him. If this happens, the thoughts on the 5th game will be……”

The baseball review and preview program was heating up with the story of one player’s surprise appearance.