Yadier Molina's POV
I frowned, lifting off my helmet and walking towards the mound. Carpenter had been doing great in this game until the sixth inning. We were still winning, but if he kept this up, we wouldn't be for long. In just one inning, the score had gone from eight to three all the way to eight to six!
"Hey, what are you trying to do out there?" I said, concerned.
"Oh gosh, I don't even know!" he said, pacing. Meanwhile, Dave Duncan, our pitching coach, came out for a talk.
"Do you need to come out, Chris?" he barked.
"No, I'll try a few more batters. I'm just need to focus more," Chris stated determinedly.
"Okay," Dave said suspiciously. "Any more runs and you're out though. I've got Adam warming up."
"Got it coach," he replied nervously.
"Come on, Chris. I know you've got it! Is something bothering you?" I asked. We were in New York, and all the Met fans were booing at our extended pep talk session.
"What? Um, no. I'm just unfocused today. Nothing's wrong. Seriously. Why would you think that? I'm fine. Promise. We should probably get on with the game. Go Cards! Let's win it!" he babbled, a trait he had when nervous or hiding something. I rolled my eyes, holding my hand for a high five, and I speed whispered, "Meet me after in World Fair Marina Restaurant. I know something's wrong," so only he could hear it.
"Come on Carpenter! Woo!!!!!" a fan yelled from the stadium. We looked up to see three people in the front row, dressed in Cardinal attire, two girls and a dad. They were the only Cardinal fans I'd seen here this whole series! I waved at them, and a brunette girl turned around and pointed to her back. She was wearing a Molina shirt! The other girl, a blonde, turned around and she was wearing an Eckstein shirt. I smiled in memory of my old teammate. The rest of the game went by quickly, and we unfortunately lost. I didn't hang out much after the game, after I had put everything away I sprinted onto the street to see if the Cardinal fans were still there. I caught them right before they were about to cross the street.
Out of breath, I called, "Hey!" The brunette turned around and her eyes widened.
"Molina?" she screamed. At this, the two others turned around. The blonde froze and then turned to the brunette.
"Mr. Molina! We're a huge fan of yours! We loved watching you play today!" the dad said.
"Hello, you can call me Yadi."
"Hi, Yadi!" the brunette said excitedly. I smiled.
"Hi! And you are…?" I asked.
"I'm Nadia Duncan and this is my best friend, Julia Bauman, and my dad," the brunette said.
"Nice to meet you," I said pleasantly, shaking hands with the dad.
"I'm Michael Duncan," he introduced.
"Since you guys traveled all the way to New York, I guess you're big Cards fans?" I asked, a smile playing on my face. They all nodded big.
"Definitely!" the one named Nadia agreed.
"Well, Chris Carpenter seems down, and I wanted to see if you all wanted to come to dinner with him and me. I think a few of his fans would cheer him up a bit!"
"Yes, of course! Dad, can we? Please?"
"Let's go!"