"Benny The Jet Rodriguez." Benny read before thrusting the slip of paper back at me. "You can't put that on the line up."

"Why not?" I asked taking it back.

"They'll announce me as that, and I don't want to give those guys anymore reason to hate me."

"They've been a lot nicer." And it was true ever since I showed up yesterday with the sling and a hard to swallow explanation they had been very nice to Benny at practice, accepting him as one of their own. Benny's girlfriend was no longer a threat to their positions.

"For a day, and they'll just go back to hating me if you put this on here." he said tapping the lineup in my hand.

I rolled my eyes and stuffed it into my pocket. "You know Greg made me put his nickname on here." He gave me a quizzical look. "The Great."

"Who calls him that?"

"No one."

Benny's first game on a team other than the Sandlot was in two hours and I could tell that he was nervous, heck, I was nervous for him. Baseball was what Benny did, it was who he was but he hadn't played against anyone good before, you couldn't say that playing 4 on 5 was a real game, and Phillips team sucked, it was his real first challenge.

I knew he would do well, but the look in his eyes left me wondering if he knew it as well. Benny was a humble person, he and been humble since we were kids, always knowing there was room for improvement and that worried me a little bit.

Baseball was about confidence, I mean look at Smalls, he couldn't catch until it was proved that he could, and then his baseball skills made a complete 180.

He needed to go out there knowing how good he was, and knowing that he could hit off any pitcher.

"You know." Benny started touching the material of my sling. "I really wish you were playing today."

"Me too." I said jiggling my arm around in its cage.

Benny smiled. "No I mean, not just today, you're an amazing ball player and it freaking kills me to know that you're on the sidelines because you're a girl."

"There's nothing we can do about that Benny, I know I'm a good player and I don't think less of myself because of my gender, there's no point in dwelling on it."

Benny smiled but I knew he was only doing it to make me feel more comfortable, he was upset that I wasn't playing ball but I knew that was the deal when I took the job with this team.

I think that Benny's anger about the situation came more from the fact that he wasn't playing with the sandlot boys. All he had left was Kenny, and I was here but not playing and I think it

really got to him. He had to play ball with these boys he didn't know and didn't really like all that much, and here I was on the sidelines rather than enjoying the game with him.

The first 2 innings went fast. Too fast, the team we were playing were called the Hurricane's and it was obvious that they had their team complete because they were good, really good. They went three up three down, and shut us down quickly. The fortunate part for us was that we still had the excuse that we were still making cuts. O'Niall had done his best to make a lineup that would benefit us as well as it could but he had chosen someone who was not a leader off hitter as lead off and it sent to tone for the rest of the game.

Benny was placed 7th in the order, something I didn't agree with because he was a clean up hitter, and he needed to be placed where there was a possibility of someone being put on base to bring in.

"Rodriguez, you're up." I called as the boys came running back into the dugout. He knew he was up because he already had his helmet on since he sat the last inning.

Benny went to the plate and took his stance waiting for the pitcher to receive his signal.

I watched the pitcher, he was an excellent pitcher, but he had a tell sign, some pitcher had them but his was obvious to someone who was paying attention. When he was going to throw a fastball his pause was shorter than usual. When he was going to throw a change up, his glove was placed completely against his face as if trying to hide the way he was changing his grip.

Fastball was his first call, and I smirked knowing he didn't know who he was up against.

But something happened, Benny swung and missed.

It was all in my head but the world seemed to grow silent around me. Anyone who grew up with Benny knew that he crushed fastballs, it didn't matter who threw it, or how fast, he crushed them which is why he demanded that we rarely threw them to him.

But he missed. And by the time I was able to recognize what happened the second strike had been called on him.

I stood not knowing what was going on, thinking that if I stood at the fence then I would be able to see whatever magic the catcher had placed on Benny but there was nothing to see.

The third pitch came and I let my breath out when I heard the crack of his bat as he hit the ball. He took off running, letting everyone know why he was called the Jet, he rounded first ready to take second and we cheered. He was the first one to have actually made it on base and I was happy that his first at bat was going to be a double.

But something happened, Benny neared second and he slid into the dirt as the ball came flying to the second basemen, dust flew into the air creating a shield of the action from anyone watching.

"You're out!"

I had been assigned the task of scorekeeping, a stupid task since there was an official score keeper at each game that gave us the sheets at the end of the game to track our improvement but I assume it was just something for me to do while my arm was in a sling.

My pen nearly slipped from my grip as Benny came jogging back into the dugout covered in dust, and a look of defeat on his face.

"It's alright Benny." some of his teammates said as he walked past them to reclaim his spot on the bench.

Benny the Jet Rodriguez had been tagged out.

I had seen Benny get out before of course, but no one ever tagged him out. He was too fast, he was The Jet for a reason.

No one else seemed to understand the situation, there everyone was acting like it was no big deal and just telling him to shake it off. But there I was standing in the dugout, mouth hanging open in shock like a complete idiot.

It suddenly came to me, here Benny wasn't The Jet, he was just another kid playing baseball, in the Valley he was a legend, here he wasn't anything.

Yet.