The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 352

352. End of the Season (9)

[Alexander McDowell!! Season 56, 57!! Multiple home runs after 47 days!!]

Anyway, there’s nothing to lose… right?

***

When you’re rushing forward with momentum, there’s something you don’t realize.

That’s fatigue.

So when do you realize that fatigue?

It’s the moment that momentum is briefly interrupted.

Let’s rewind a bit to the day after Alexander McDowell came to me for a consultation, or something like that. It wasn’t like we were moving somewhere, just a short day off between home games. It definitely helped conserve energy, but a day’s rest was too short to fully recover from the fatigue of the past few months of non-stop running.

Starting pitcher Dylan Lee wasn’t too bad.

He just pitched as usual, giving up about 3 runs in 5 innings, a performance that was slightly below average. The problem was the batting lineup. Our lineup, which had been storming like a tempest until the game before yesterday, suffered from an absurd drought.

Of course, the opposing starter wasn’t bad either.

– Whoosh!!

“Strike!! Out!!!”

[Rick Winters!! Amazing!! Already seven strikeouts in today’s game!! He’s completely tied up the Yankees’ powerful lineup. It’s hard to believe he’s a pitcher who came up on the expanded roster this fall!!]

[Ranked 3rd overall in BA [Batting Average]. He was originally a highly anticipated prospect, but still just a prospect. Who knew he’d cause such a major upset as soon as he came up to the big leagues?]

In a situation where things were going wrong more often than right. I didn’t know what would happen to this guy, whose debut season was brought forward by a year, but anyway, in the future I returned from, Rick Winters was a guy who would make a name for himself as the most dominant pitcher in the 2030s.

[Automatic intentional walk. It’s an automatic intentional walk.]

[Wow, what should I say about this. The Kansas City Royals’ dugout is really thorough. Even in a situation with two outs and no runners, they’re not giving Choi Soo-won a chance to bat at all.]

[They’re already leading by 3 points, so I think it’s a bit of an overreaction, but looking at the Yankees’ recent offense, Choi Soo-won’s hit has always been the one to break the deadlock when things seem *makmakhada* [hopeless/bleak in Korean]. They’re trying to cut that off at the source. That seems to be the intention.]

[Choi Soo-won lowers his stance at first base. Good. He knows how to read the atmosphere. Right now, that’s more than just getting into scoring position with a steal to score a point, it’s conveying a message to his teammates like, ‘We can definitely come back. So let’s cheer up.’]

– Thud!!!

“Safe!!!”

[Ah, pickoff attempt. Quite sharp.]

Brushing the dirt off his chest, he took another three steps. Of course, this time he leaned his body a little more towards second base. It was already close just now, so you might think this is more dangerous, but I had something in mind.

According to the pitch clock system, a pitcher is only allowed two pickoff attempts per runner. Since he’s already used one, the remaining one has to be more cautious.

P pitcher set position.

The guy threw the ball.

– Whoosh!!!

Tyler’s big swing.

And just before Rick Winters threw the ball.

I started at a timing that was amazing even for me.

[Choi Soo-won is running!!]

The debate over whether the pitcher or the catcher is more important in stopping a steal is over. The most important thing in a steal is the pitcher’s pitching timing. Now that he’s made it to the big leagues, there isn’t that much difference between a super-class catcher and a non-super-class catcher in terms of arm strength and smooth throwing motion.

“Safe!!!!”

So this steal is thanks to me perfectly stealing the timing of a relatively honest pitcher, rather than the catcher’s throwing problem. He’s still a bit young, so it’s obvious that his slide step isn’t perfect.

[Bottom of the 5th, two outs, runner on 2nd. The count is 0-1. The score is still 3:0. Can the Yankees break the deadlock here!! Pitcher winds up!!]

– Bang!!!!

Tyler Beat swung his bat powerfully.

The batted ball stretched out. The angle of the batted ball wasn’t too bad either. But the ball didn’t have enough power.

Center left.

The batted ball was caught in front of the warning track.

The batter himself seemed to have expected a home run, so he even watched the batted ball for about 2 seconds, creating a rather embarrassing scene.

[Ah, that’s a little disappointing.]

[Yes, the batted ball was a little *meogeosseoyo* [weak/didn’t connect well in Korean]. It’s a shame for the Yankees.]

A slight difference.

If he had been in a little better condition, he could have easily cleared it.

“That was close.”

“······.”

It was an unlucky number.

29 consecutive wins.

Our winning streak, which had lasted for more than a month, ended there.

[Yankees!! The winning streak that lasted for a month and two days has finally been broken!!]

[Shocking shutout loss!! Yankees, will they be okay like this?]

The trash-like media guys in New York started to swarm like piranhas, thinking this was their chance.

“Donald, do you know why the New York media liked it when we were on a winning streak?”

“Hmm? Because people like it when we win, so it’s good to write about?”

“Tsk, no. Those guys always look beyond that.”

“Then what is it?”

“Because it’s good to stir up *eogeuro* [aggression/antagonism in Korean, referring to clickbait] when our winning streak is broken like now.”

“Ah······.”

Josh’s joke felt so real that all day long, from the internet to everywhere else, *akdam* [malicious comments in Korean] disguised as concerns about our defeat poured out like crazy.

The highlight of it was an article that said, ‘It’s okay. The Yankees still have a lot of wins saved up. Even if they finish the season 103-59, they still have a very high chance of advancing to the postseason as the top wild card team. What they’re worried about now is what happens after that. Momentum is like inertia, once you start riding it, it’s not easy to break. I wish the Yankees the best of luck,’ but this wasn’t wishing them the best of luck, it was *akdam* telling the team that was overwhelmingly in first place to lose all 20 of their remaining games and fall out of the wild card.

– Thud!!!

“Good!!”

Oswald gave a thumbs up.

Ah, today’s starting catcher is Oswald Wells. Jose has been hitless for four consecutive games, finally breaking the 9 *pun* [a Korean unit, here referring to a batting average below .100] wall and dropping his batting average to the .180s. In particular, he completely poured cold water on a situation where we could have scored a point in yesterday’s game, and he himself seemed to be very discouraged.

Well, he wasn’t a good hitter to begin with, but when you look at his entire career, his batting average in scoring position was significantly higher, so it seemed like he was a little disappointed in himself for blowing those opportunities a few times.

“Next curve.”

Oswald Wells wasn’t yet the player I remembered.

Rick Winters, who came up a year earlier in yesterday’s game, shut us out for 7 innings against our lineup, but why is this guy hitting .230? I felt like I was seeing the law of shonen manga [Japanese comics aimed at a young male audience], where our side is always weak and strong enemies become weak when they’re on our side, but still, .230 is something.

– Thud!

“Nice!!”

The guy’s mitt work to catch the curve felt a little clumsy. But since the comparison was Jose, a catcher with two platinum gloves and three gold gloves, it was clear that Oswald was a usable catcher from an objective point of view.

Game 2 of the series against the Kansas City Royals.

Top of the 1st inning.

– Bang!!!

I cleanly gave up 1 point and started the game.

I won’t bother making excuses that aren’t suitable for a man, such as the fact that Oswald, who was catching the ball today, felt a little awkward, so the power of the ball was weakened, or that my command was a little off because my mind wasn’t settled.

Originally, you pay back for something like this by *ttaseo* [winning back in Korean]······

[Ah, the Kansas City Royals. They’re really *dokhaneyo* [merciless/vicious in Korean]. Automatic intentional walk. It’s an automatic intentional walk.]

[The jeers are really *eomcheongnayo* [tremendous/intense in Korean] at Yankee Stadium right now.]

[Anyway, Choi Soo-won is renewing his streak of 112 consecutive games with an appearance. Ah, despite this tremendous record, Choi Soo-won’s face doesn’t look so bright as he goes to first base.]

Damn it, I forgot for a moment.

These guys are really determined to give me intentional walks with a straight face.

[The Kansas City Royals’ manager Johnson is also great at *ttuksim* [stubbornness/determination in Korean]. It’s not easy to give this many automatic intentional walks.]

[That’s right. There was an interesting phrase in an article I read yesterday. ‘Kansas City’s manager Johnson has finally found a way to attack Choi Soo-won. The method that everyone knew but couldn’t bring themselves to do was to be *ppeonppeonhaejineun* [shameless/brazen in Korean].’ That was the phrase.]

[Ah, you’re talking about that article that was posted on the MLB.com main page. I remember seeing it too. Anyway, I think Johnson’s choice is really great. Right now, the American League Central Division has the lowest winning percentage of the three divisions. If they don’t win the division somehow, they won’t be able to advance to the postseason at all. In that situation, they have to choose the best way to win.]

“Aren’t you running today?”

“I’m the starter. The starter.”

A *meojeori* [idiot/fool in Korean] at first base was talking nonsense. He was so full of energy because we won yesterday’s game, and I didn’t like the look of it. It’s definitely not because he got a hit in the top of the 1st inning that I didn’t like the look of it.

“Besides, is there any need to run?”

“What?”

Yeah.

We definitely showed a bit of a slump and hesitation yesterday. The media was also making a fuss about how we were shut out for 7 innings by a rookie pitcher who had just come up from the minors.

But at least I know.

That rookie pitcher who just came up from the minors is an all-time pitcher who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame even if he plays for 10 years and retires.

– Bang!!!!!

And no matter how much our hitters’ momentum has waned and their fatigue has increased, their basic skills are good enough to crush a lower-ranked team like this.

Game 2 of the series.

Although I gave up 4 runs in 5.1 innings, our lineup was good enough to make me the winning pitcher.

Yeah, there was no losing streak that the media was worried about. I picked up my twelfth win of the season.

That’s how our team, which had taken a break, started up again.

The destination wasn’t just advancing to the fall classic [World Series]. Or being the team with the best overall winning percentage.

117 wins.

The uncharted territory that no team has ever set foot in in the 150-year history of Major League Baseball.

We were rushing towards that place at a crazy speed. Of course, the crazy pace we had during the 29-game winning streak wasn’t maintained. But even so, we won far more than we lost, and just when our fans were about to forget what losing was like, we reminded them once in a while that this is what losing is like.

[New York Yankees!! Just five games away from the most wins in history!!]

[Just eight games left until Choi Soo-won appears in every game!!]

[Choi Soo-won wins Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month simultaneously in September!!]