Mike Lawson was a ball player. He had been for 30 of his 36 years on earth. He had only ever considered giving it all up once, as he packed his clothes the night he caught his wife in bed with another man. Then the doctors said it wasn't up to him anymore. He never thought phase two would be ushered in by a girl with soft eyes and a hard heart.
When Oscar showed up on the field, he knew something was up. He was running pitches with Miller, but he still saw the way hr flinched when Oscar approached. Her posture was sudden ram rod straight. She was in full robot mode.
He expected them to exchange words. He didn't expect for her the follow Oscar off the field.
"What's that about?" He asked, not really directing it at anyone, but still hoping someone would answer.
"No idea, maybe they are sending her back where she belongs," Miller joked.
"And where exactly would that be, Miler?"
"Come on Lawson, we all know she is a publicity stunt. You said it yourself. Chicks don't belong in the big leagues. She had her 5 minutes of fame and now she's going back to triple A to ride out her days as a has been."
Mike wanted to say that it was fear of his own career status that made him react, but deep down he knew there was more to it. He threw the ball at Miller, pegging him in the shoulder. Then marched up to the little weasel.
"I hope to god you're wrong, Miller, because that chic is the only pitcher on this team who has what it takes to get us a pennant this year!" That said, Mike left the field. Practice was lost over. Skip wouldn't say anything to him about missing the last 15 minutes.
After an ice bath and an hour with the physical therapist, the only things he wanted to do were eat and sleep, in that order. He picked up take out on the way home. His phone pinged a few times, but he ignored it in favor of getting home.
Once on the couch, several Chinese containers laid out on the coffee table, he flipped on ESPN. To his surprise, it was live coverage of Ginny at a press conference. He could tell just from her face that something was very wrong. Her eyes were completely dead. Her voice didn't hold a hint of its usual playfulness. He could tell the words she read weren't her own. The text beneath her read 'Ginny Baker, First woman in MLB: addresses leaked photos.'
Immediately he pulled out his phone. Thirty google alerts read variations of the same thing. So, he had her on his google alerts. He had the whole team on alert. As captain it was his job to know what was going on in their lives and how it would affect them on the field.
Clicking on a link, he was almost immediately looking at a photo of her sitting on Davis's lap. They weren't particularly racy, but he still felt sick as he continued to scroll. The pictures weren't that bad by his standards. In fact, if pressed, he would have to say his Rookie looked pretty damn good, but he as he read the comments his fists clenched. Narrow-minded hypocrites with the anonymity of the internet to protect them were the worst.
He looked back t the coverage of the press conference, but it was already over. Commentators were already picking apart everything she had said, and showing blurred versions of the pictures. He turned off the television and looked at his dinner, suddenly he had lost his appetite.
He thought about calling her. Just checking in. He had been there after he left Rachel. He knew what it was like to be in the middle of a media shit storm, but he wasn't sure what he could say. He figured she had people she would rather talk to, namely a certain Cardinals catcher.
Instead, he downed a shot of whiskey and then another, before slowly making his way up the stairs to his bed. He lay there for a long time, trying not to think about a certain rookie before he fell into a fitful night's sleep.
The next morning he had an appointment with a knee specialists. He was really hoping this one would tell him something different, but no such luck. He could finish the season, maybe one more, but a major reconstructive surgery was in his near future.
Coming out of the appointment his phone chimed yet another google alert. This time he read both his rookie and his ex-wife's name in the same line. That couldn't be a good thing. He clicked on the linked and his jaw tightened as he heard the harsh questions Rachel was hurling at his Rookie. Baker maintained a zen like calm as she answered. He was proud of her. Half the guys on the team would have broken by then, but not Baker. She kept her chin up, even as he could see she was hurting, he doubted anyone else would. Robot Baker was in full force.
He pulled up to petco, not at all surprised by the media circus. Skip knew he would be late, so he wasn't worried. He just wanted to hurry up and find Baker. See with his own eyes how she was handling with this whole mess.
As he walked into the clubhouse, something was off. Jimmy wouldn't meet his eye. Once he was in the tunnel to the locker room, he could hear the skip yelling and started to run. The door to the locker room was open and the sight that met his eyes was sadly not at all surprising, though he was throughly disappointed.
"If I ever hear about one of you pulling a stunt like this again, you will be on the first bus back to whatever hellhole we found you in faster than you can say TMZ," Al screamed, his face was blotchy and he was shaking his clipboard rather menacingly at Miller. "Baker is a part of this team and anyone who doesn't like it, can… well… can get traded, because she's not going anywhere!" That said Al turned and stormed out of the locker room, tossing a, "Get a hold on your guys, Lawson!" As he passed.
Lawson could have strangled that punk Miller. Talk was bad enough, but this was something more. He should have come in early to make sure nothing like this happened. He wondered what she had said when she saw it. Maybe, she was still doing press. He hoped she was still doing press.
"Get this off my walls before Baker shows up," Mike growled, heading for his own locker.
"She… a…already… I mean…" Stubs sputtered.
"She already saw it," Mike signed, rolling his shoulders. "And?"
"And she a… she…" Shrek started to answer, but it seemed he couldn't find the words. Instead, he looked away, clearly ashamed.
"She what?" Mike asked, starting to worry.
"She started taking her clothes off like a total lunatic. She was coming at me like went after the Mountain the other day and then just said she was here to play and she would be on the field," Miller shrugged, trying to sound like he wasn't just as ashamed of himself.
Lawson glared at him. How could they do this after everything Ginny had done to be a part of this team? She had thrown that damn pitch right at Falcone for Miller and this was how he repaid her loyalty. And yet he was proud that she hadn't broken, even in the face of so much, she had stayed strong. She just kept blowing him away.
"Just get it off my walls before you come out," Lawson grumbled. As he walked out onto the field he could see her and Sanders in left field running and he jogged up to join them.
"I think the old man still has some tricks up his sleeve," she said unaware that he could hear her. He grinned at her confidence in him.
"I felt my ears burning, Baker, you sayin' nice things about me" he teased.
"Never! Where you been old man? Did you fall outa bed and have to use your life alert?" She joked, even as she picked up speed.
"Na, I swung by the preschool to pick you up, but they said you got a ride." If she could laugh in the middle of this shit storm, then so could he.
The rest of the team came trickling in. Some tried to apologize, but she wouldn't hear it. She just wanted to practice, and he was happy to go along with her. If, in the back of his mind, he thought about inviting her over for beers that night, it was only in a purely team captain sort of way. Not at all because he to make her laugh again.