The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 233

233. The Aftermath of Victory (6)

Even before Lim Gwang-hyung left for the United States, the Phoenix’s ‘Happy Defense’ was already quite famous. Actually, this year’s Phoenix defense was mild compared to those earlier days. At least this year, the Phoenix pitchers weren’t pitching in constant fear of errors from their own team’s defense.

[Ah, bottom of the 4th, two outs. A rare error from shortstop Oh Min-yeop, who usually displays such solid defense! This is a disappointing moment for Phoenix fans.]

[Oh Min-yeop seems to have rushed the throw a bit because the batter is so fast. If you look closely, the ball is still spinning in his glove. There was a lot of spin on that hit.]

‘Still, it’s especially tough today.’

It wasn’t that my pitches were bad today. On the contrary, they were quite good. I wasn’t racking up many strikeouts, but there weren’t many hard line drives either, and I was inducing ground balls pretty effectively.

But this is already the third time.

Yes, it’s only the 4th inning, and it’s already the third time an error has cost me.

[Bottom of the 4th, two outs, runner on 1st. Choi Soo-won steps up to the plate. He’s 2-for-2 with a home run today. He currently has 71 home runs this season.]

And the pitch count is also becoming a burden.

I haven’t even finished 4 innings yet, and I’m already at 76 pitches.

‘At least it’s fortunate that we’re still winning…’

In fact, while the Phoenix’s defense is infamous for being a ‘Happy Defense’ (prone to errors), the Collings also have a reputation for equally chaotic defense. And the result of that combination is the current situation where the game time is already over 1 hour and 15 minutes, even though it’s only the bottom of the 4th with two outs and there hasn’t been a single pitching change.

Choi Soo-won, at the plate, gets into his batting stance.

‘It’s a shame. If only I were just 5 years younger.’

That’s what a senior player told me 17 years ago. It’s a cliché to say this now, but I kind of understand what he meant after 17 years.

The quick preparation for his swing seems to be urging me on. Choi Soo-won’s batting stance now puts a lot of pressure on the opposing pitcher, just like the ace Lim Gwang-hyung in his prime put pressure on other batters just with his name.

Before him, Lim Gwang-hyung always did his best.

Yes, he did his best, just like all the legendary hitters who faced Lim Gwang-hyung did their best.

Ball count 2-2.

And Lim Gwang-hyung’s deciding pitch.

Once ranked #1 in Major League Baseball’s pitch value changeup category, and even when considering all pitches, he was ranked #6. That changeup, perfectly controlled to the outside low corner, was supposed to break slightly outside the zone in the end.

But it was no use.

– Whack!!!

Choi Soo-won’s bat, coming out a little early, hammered Lim Gwang-hyung’s best effort.

“Ha, that bastard. He really doesn’t show any mercy.”

Right into the center of Sajik Stadium’s left-field stands.

Choi Soo-won’s 72nd home run of the season landed.

***

In many ways, I was lucky.

At the beginning of the season, I could distinguish Lim Gwang-hyung’s two-seam fastball and changeup just by looking at his motion. But not anymore. Of course, it wasn’t easy to correct such subtle form during the season. But Lim Gwang-hyung was losing his prime form as he got older, but he was still a genius pitcher, and among his genius traits was his exquisite body balance.

But despite it being an important game that would determine 3rd and 4th place in the season, the game was a mess. And perhaps it was thanks to the rising pitch count, already over 80 in just the bottom of the 4th, and Oh Min-yeop’s error, who had been the most reliable player in the infield?

Maybe Lim Gwang-hyung had a desire to throw an even better changeup, giving it his all. The angle of his pitching elbow dropped slightly.

Of course, it wasn’t like I was paying particular attention to Lim Gwang-hyung’s elbow. I just felt a slight sense of unease. Well, looking back, even that unease might have been a feint. But in that brief moment, an instinctive choice was much faster than a rational one.

The result was excellent. And thanks to Jo Yu-jin being on base, the score was tied 5:5.

[The 72nd home run of the season! Choi Soo-won. He records another multi-homer game against Lim Gwang-hyung.]

[Should we say they have good chemistry? The Phoenix will continue without a pitching change.]

The Phoenix dugout trusted Lim Gwang-hyung. Well, it wasn’t strange to trust him since only 2 of the 5 runs allowed were earned runs.

And then –

– Whack!!!

A hard-hit ball flying between 2nd and 3rd base. Oh Min-yeop handled the difficult ball very cleanly, as if to make up for his previous mistake.

The game continued.

Han Myung-hoon did his best for his seventh win.

But was the third time through the lineup a little different after all? Or was it because the saying that good defense is followed by good offense was true?

– Whack!!

Oh Min-yeop recorded a hit that slightly passed over the second baseman’s head.

And with Jung Byung-chul’s hit, there were runners on 1st and 3rd.

The Phoenix’s cleanup hitter, Chae Gwang-min, stepped up to the plate.

***

Chae Gwang-min thought he was among the top 10% of cultured people among baseball players. The reason was simple.

Hobby: Reading.

In this world full of ballplayers who would struggle to get a perfect score on an elementary school dictation test, reading was a truly rare hobby. Of course, the fact that his reading material wasn’t scholarly books but martial arts novels wasn’t that important. What was important was that he was a cultured person who read ‘text’.

In martial arts novels, what he liked most was that, unlike in reality, the masters of the martial arts world didn’t weaken as they got older; they only got stronger. But recently, he often wondered if reality might be better than martial arts.

Jung Byung-chul on first base was talking to Lee Gyu-man. And Chae Gwang-min’s gaze as he watched them was quite complex.

For the long time that Chae Gwang-min had been a player, many people had called him Lee Gyu-man’s strongest rival. Well, he didn’t dislike it. Lee Gyu-man was such a great hitter that he could be discussed as the best of all time in KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) history.

But you know how it is? In the year that Chae Gwang-min recorded his career high, articles would appear saying, ‘Chae Gwang-min finally surpasses Lee Gyu-man.’ And comments on those articles, like ‘His career high was similar to Lee Gyu-man’s sixth-best year,’ would make it to the top, making it difficult to accept happily.

There was a story like this in one of his favorite martial arts novels.

The protagonist advised someone who wanted revenge that the best revenge was to eat well, stay healthy, and live a long life.

Eat good things for your body, avoid bad things diligently, never overdo it, and exercise consistently.

10 years, and 20 years. And another year, and another year, and another year.

Chae Gwang-min was still Lee Gyu-man’s rival. So, he was about half a step behind, but still the second-best player of the same era who could compete with Lee Gyu-man, the best hitter of all time. If you counted all-time, he was a hitter who could go back and forth around the top five.

And what if Lee Gyu-man retired this year and more time passed?

Baseball is a very interesting sport. Unlike other sports, it’s a daily sport with games every day, so durability is as important as impact. That’s why they value accumulation more than any other sport.

Whether you hit 400 home runs in 20 years or 25 years is certainly important. But they sometimes see a hitter who hit 420 home runs in 25 years as greater than a hitter who hit 400 home runs in 20 years.

That’s baseball. They say that someone who walks a little slower but goes further is great.

Top of the 5th.

No outs, runners on 1st and 3rd.

Chae Gwang-min, who was a little less great than Lee Gyu-man, took another step, slowly but steadily.

– Whack!!!

His 20th home run of the season.

It was the moment when Chae Gwang-min achieved his 10th 20+ home run season and Han Myung-hoon’s seventh win of the season flew far away.

[The Marines are changing pitchers. Kwak Jae-young. Kwak Jae-young is coming to the mound.]

[Kwak Jae-young, who spent quite a long time in the minor league this season. He has been showing quite a good performance since being called up to the major league with the September expanded roster.]

[Yes, he started in 2 games and appeared in 3 games as a long reliever, pitching 9.1 innings. An ERA (Earned Run Average) of 3.64. He was a perfect piece for a team that could be creaking at the end of the season.]

Of course, the Marines weren’t the only ones who changed pitchers.

Unlike Han Myung-hoon, Lim Gwang-hyung wasn’t beaten badly. But his pitch count had already exceeded 100 in the 5th inning. The Phoenix manager boldly activated the must-win relief pitchers. The calculation was that if they won today’s game, they could rest for three days and start fall baseball in the semi-playoffs.

8:5

Of course, the shaky defense of both teams didn’t dramatically change just because the pitchers were changed. The pitchers threw a lot, and the hitters got a lot of opportunities. As much as that, the score kept going up. But the Phoenix barely avoided allowing a comeback.

And it was Choi Soo-won’s 2-run home run in the bottom of the 7th with two outs that brought the balance of the game back to square one.

He had a flyout in his previous fourth at-bat.

And finally, in his fifth at-bat, a two-run shot against the changed left-hander.

73.

The crowd roared with tremendous cheers. But that was it. Despite reaching a number that modern baseball thought would never be possible again, the atmosphere in the stadium was more subdued than expected. Ah, of course, it was only more subdued than expected. So, it didn’t rise to the level of ‘frenzy’.

There were several reasons, but the biggest reason was probably the atmosphere of the man circling the ground right now. Choi Soo-won circled the ground slowly and calmly.

Yes, with a face as if there was a ‘next time’.

And the cheering fans quickly began to calculate something.

“Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let’s figure out the number of cases for the King [Choi Soo-won’s nickname].”

“Wow, I really didn’t think I’d be calculating the number of cases for the King here. And that’s based on whether the hitter will come up to bat next time or not.”

“Hey, be quiet, it’s confusing.”

“What’s confusing? So, it’s the bottom of the 7th with two outs. There are seven outs left. Looking at the Marines’ batting atmosphere right now, they’ll definitely come around at least once.”

“No, you idiot. This is a home game. So, there might not be a bottom of the 9th.”

“Ah…”

With the 2-run home run just now, the score is now 11:11.

It was a mess of a score worthy of the Chick-Collingsico [a portmanteau of the names of the two teams, implying a chaotic game], but the people doing the calculations were very serious.

“So, if we go to the bottom of the 9th with two or more on-base situations without additional points, or if the hitters have 5 or more on-base situations by the bottom of the 8th.”

A truly bizarre condition.

The Marines fans filling Sajik Stadium. No, all the KBO fans watching this game were starting a type of cheering they had never experienced before.

“Marines!! Don’t hit any long balls!! Don’t even come back!! Just try to stay alive as much as possible.”

“Phoenix!! What are you doing? Huh? Can’t you swing your bats properly?”

It was a 환장의 대잔치 (hwanjangui daechanchi, a festival of madness) worthy of the Chick-Collingsico’s reputation.