Villain On The Mound [EN]: Chapter 108

Mound Villain – Episode 108

Many people were saying:

– Jung Ha-sung needs to be careful in his second game.

– Agreed.

– The game after a perfect game is dangerous.

– If he gets hit hard, his confidence could be shaken.

– Will his velocity be normal?

– It will probably drop a bit.

– It can’t be helped.

– He must have used a lot of stamina in the perfect game.

He would be sluggish after throwing a perfect game.

That was the consensus of experts and the public alike.

[Jung Ha-sung carefully goes through the signs with his catcher.]

[The first pitch is important, as it’s his first game after the perfect game.]

[Many pitchers who have thrown a perfect game or no-hitter have shown sluggish performances in their subsequent games, right?]

[It’s not a certainty, but that tendency has been observed.]

[What kind of performance will Jung Ha-sung deliver in today’s game? He finishes going through the signs and begins his windup!]

Contrary to people’s worries, Ha-sung wasn’t particularly concerned.

‘My condition is good.’

He knows his body best.

His condition was good today as well.

‘If you can hit it…….’

Crack!!

He rotated his body with a stride.

‘Try to hit it!!’

Whoosh!!

He increased the speed of the rotation and transferred the power to his fingertips.

And he unleashed that power in an instant.

“Hmph!!”

Swaaaaaaash-!!

[He throws the first pitch!]

The ball flew towards the batter.

As the batter swung his bat halfway.

Thwack!!

The ball was caught in the mitt.

“Strike!!”

With the umpire’s call, the batter looked dumbfounded.

‘It’s faster than last year?’

It arrived a beat faster than he had anticipated.

His gaze turned to the scoreboard.

[100mph]

The number 100 mph was displayed on the scoreboard.

[Jung Ha-sung throws a fastball for his first pitch!! He gets a strike with a sharp ball that surprises the batter!]

[I thought there would be aftereffects from the perfect game, but at least for the first pitch, there’s no sign of that.]

Ha-sung had the same thought.

‘My body condition is very good.’

A smile spread across his lips.

* * *

1st inning.

Thwack-!!

“Strike! Batter out!!”

[He strikes out the batter with a strong pitch on the low outside corner! Jung Ha-sung strikes out all three batters!]

[His strikeout ability is really amazing. He’s already struck out two in the first inning!]

Ha-sung started the inning with a three-up, three-down, adding two strikeouts.

The number of pitches was only 14.

It was a very small number compared to the two strikeouts he had recorded.

Ha-sung, who returned to the dugout, checked his physical condition.

‘There’s no problem with my shoulder. The overall balance of my body is good. The ball is going exactly where I want it to.’

Everything was perfect.

‘I can dominate again today.’

After finishing the check, Ha-sung confidently threw his ball in the 2nd inning as well.

Clang-!!

[He hit it! The second baseman catches it and throws it to first base!]

Thud!!

“Out!!”

[Jung Ha-sung gets the first out with just two pitches!]

[The batter aimed for the slider but couldn’t adjust to the break and got jammed.]

[Jung Ha-sung’s slider is almost a magic pitch.]

[The ball comes close to the body and then suddenly moves to the outside, so it’s like magic to the batters.]

The image that comes to mind when you think of Jung Ha-sung is his tremendous fastball.

His fastball, which easily clocks 100 mph, is strongly imprinted in the minds of fans.

So, it’s often forgotten that his slider is better than the major league average.

[There are no signs of the slump in condition that I was worried about due to the perfect game.]

[That’s right. Maybe it’s because he’s young, but his recovery is remarkable.]

Ha-sung continued his excellent pitching, surprising the viewers.

* * *

Thwack-!!

“Strike! Batter out!!”

[Strikeout! Jung Ha-sung, who gave up a hit in the 7th inning, records his 13th strikeout while getting the last batter!]

7 innings, no runs allowed, 13 strikeouts, 1 hit.

With a total of 99 pitches, Ha-sung came down from the mound.

Perfect game in the first game.

In the second game, Ha-sung, who recorded a quality start plus [a pitching performance of at least six innings with three or fewer earned runs], showed an overwhelming start.

But he didn’t get the win in the second game.

‘No score.’

His team couldn’t score any runs.

No matter how well you pitch, you can’t win the game if you don’t score.

Even in the first game, when the perfect game was in progress, his team couldn’t score.

It was the same in the second game.

Even while Ha-sung was pitching well, his team couldn’t score.

It’s not that there weren’t any chances.

Jack and Arnold even reached scoring position with consecutive hits.

But the follow-up hit didn’t happen.

‘The batting lineup is a mess.’

It was obvious to anyone.

The Athletics had clearly failed to bolster their batting lineup this season.

‘I guess it can’t be helped since they don’t have money.’

He expected it to some extent.

Small market teams often have difficulties in fixing problems even if they know about them.

You need money to buy players and make up for weaknesses.

Since that’s not possible, there were cases where they knew about the weaknesses but left them alone.

The Athletics were exactly like that.

‘Well, it won’t affect my evaluation.’

Ha-sung wasn’t obsessed with winning.

In the future, other stats will be considered more important than wins.

Since the win is something that the pitcher can’t control, it has begun to be gradually excluded from the evaluation of pitchers.

‘It can’t be helped.’

Ha-sung watched the game, letting go of his lingering feelings about winning.

* * *

[Jung Ha-sung records his second quality start plus! But he didn’t get the win.]

[Jung Ha-sung recorded 7 innings, 13 strikeouts, 1 walk, 1 hit, and no runs allowed!]

[Despite his tremendous pitching, there was no help from the batting lineup.]

[There were no aftereffects from the perfect game. It’s just that the batting lineup didn’t provide any support.]

Praise poured out on Ha-sung, who pitched well in his second appearance as well.

The only regret was that he didn’t get the win.

But it was just one game, so there wasn’t great concern.

And as time passed, Ha-sung took the mound at home against the Angels.

“Jung! Jung! Jung!!”

As Ha-sung took the mound, tremendous cheers erupted.

The cheers were so great that Ha-sung, who was standing on the mound, could feel the vibrations.

[Oakland fans are sending tremendous cheers to Jung Ha-sung’s appearance.]

[It’s like the cheering when they advanced to the World Series.]

[It’s a scene that shows how popular Jung Ha-sung is in Oakland.]

Ha-sung’s popularity was soaring.

Ha-sung was more popular than any other sports star based in Oakland.

The performances that Ha-sung showed this season were shocking.

[Jung Ha-sung throws the first pitch with the enthusiastic support of the fans!]

As popularity increases, pressure increases.

So, there were cases where mistakes happened.

But that wasn’t the case for Ha-sung.

Thwack-!

“Strike!!”

[The first pitch is a 99 mph fastball that hits the strike zone perfectly!]

[It’s exquisite control. Velocity is important, but what makes Jung Ha-sung shine even more is his control!]

Ha-sung’s control was as good as his velocity.

[Jung Ha-sung, who got the first pitch strike, throws the second pitch!]

Ha-sung’s ball, which he threw with a windup, flew towards the outside of the batter.

‘It’s going to be a ball.’

The batter, judging that it was going to be a ball, stopped his swing.

At that moment.

Whoosh!!

The trajectory of the ball changed and moved from the outside to the inside.

Thwack!!

The ball was caught in the mitt, and the umpire’s hand went up without fail.

“Strike! Two!!”

“No, how is that a strike? It was outside!”

“It came back in at the end.”

“It came in?”

The batter looked at home plate with a bewildered face.

[He’s complaining to the umpire, perhaps dissatisfied with the call.]

[The ball thrown this time looked like a sinker. On the screen, the ball came in while slightly straddling the edge of the strike zone.]

[From the batter’s point of view, it must have felt far away, right?]

[That’s right. It can be said to be really exquisite control.]

[Jung Ha-sung, who has a favorable count with two strikes, will he finish him off here! He throws the third pitch!!]

The third pitch was a high fastball.

The batter’s bat came out halfway and stopped precariously.

Thwack-!!

“Ball!!”

“Check!!”

Almost simultaneously with the umpire’s call, Trevor checked the swing with the first base umpire.

But the first base umpire spread his arms from side to side, confirming that the swing did not turn.

[Ah-! The swing didn’t turn!]

[The bat head didn’t cross the plate.]

[He threw a good ball, but it’s called a ball, and the count becomes two strikes and one ball.]

Ha-sung didn’t care much.

The count was still in his favor.

That said, he had no intention of dragging out the at-bat for long.

‘Let’s finish this quickly.’

And Trevor had the same thought as Ha-sung.

‘He’s been aggressive recently.’

Ha-sung liked Trevor’s sign.

It was like he was reading his mind.

‘There’s nothing as reassuring as knowing that the catcher knows what I’m thinking.’

Ha-sung, who wound up, threw the 4th pitch.

“Hmph!!”

Swaaaaaaash-!!

The ball flew towards the batter.

‘I won’t miss it this time!’

It was the second ball coming in the same location.

This wasn’t a neighborhood baseball game, and there was no way a major league batter wouldn’t react.

Whoosh!!

The bat swung with a heavy sound.

At that time, the trajectory of the ball changed.

Whoosh!!

‘Damn it! It was a slider?!’

The surprised batter tried to hit the ball somehow while pulling back.

But it was impossible to adjust to the break of the ball.

Thud!!

“Swing! Out!!”

[Strikeout! Jung Ha-sung gets the batter to swing with a high-speed slider as the deciding pitch! He easily strikes out the first batter!]

[Ah-! This pitch is a work of art. Even if he had held up his swing, it would have entered the zone and been called a strike.]

[You’re saying he would have been out either way.]

[That’s right.]

Enthusiastic cheers poured out from the fans for Ha-sung, who got the first out.

* * *

Clang!!

[The batted ball goes high in the air!]

Bottom of the 7th inning.

The batter hit the 104th ball thrown by Ha-sung, who was still on the mound.

The left fielder ran forward and positioned himself for the high-flying ball.

Thud!!

“Out!!”

[Caught it! With the third out, Jung Ha-sung records a quality start plus in today’s game as well!!]

[It’s really amazing! Jung Ha-sung records Q.S plus in three consecutive games! I’m really proud!]

[In addition, in today’s game, there is also a scoring support of 2 points, and he comes down from the mound, meeting the requirements for a winning pitcher!]

Ha-sung, who had met all the requirements for 2 wins, headed to the dugout.

Oakland fans all stood up and applauded Ha-sung.

“You’re the best!!”

“Our ace, you worked hard!!”

In response to the fans’ cheers, Ha-sung took off his hat and bowed.

Then, even louder cheers erupted, and the fans showed their appreciation for his good pitching.

Only 3 games.

The time it took for Ha-sung to win the hearts of Oakland residents was less than a month.

* * *

Ha-sung, who earned his 2nd win of the season, entered the clubhouse.

Reporters flocked to him, who had once again pitched like an ace.

“Jung Ha-sung, you have been continuing a 23-inning scoreless streak. How far do you think this record will continue?”

“You struck out 11 today and have already struck out 42 this season. What is your goal for this season?”

The reporters poured out questions without rest.

That’s how outstanding Ha-sung’s performance was this season.

No pitcher had a better start to the season than Ha-sung.

Ha-sung answered the reporters casually and returned to the locker room.

‘I pitched well again today. I should go back and get some rest.’

It was a satisfactory outing.

He was already in a good mood at the thought of going back and relaxing.

However, that mood soured the moment he looked at his smartphone.

[This is Lee Jin-cheol, head of the KBO [Korea Baseball Organization]. We need to schedule a meeting regarding the national team, so please contact us after the game.]

His face contorted when he saw the text.

“Those association [referring to the KBO] guys always think they’re the boss.”

He didn’t like it.

Ha-sung left his smartphone in the locker room and headed to the shower room.