Warnings: profanity, the usual jargon ...
Updates: 4/28/2013
12. Trick Pitch
Playoffs.
The Vikings were the strongest team they'd faced since … well, since they'd last faced the Vikings. Despite the happy mood of team, everybody took a more serious approach to their game preparations.
The rotation had been adjusted so that Jack could pitch the first game of the series. That way he could pitch two games if necessary. Everyone hoped that it wouldn't come to that because they wanted him fresh for the series. But what good is he for the series if you don't even make it there?
Yusei opened his locker to dress for the first game and found an envelope inside. He smiled as he opened it.
Inside was a card showing a little kid holding a bat. The sentiment on the inside was simply, Thinking of you. A handwritten message had been added below:
Thanks for backing me up! —J
He smiled to himself, and peered down the line of lockers, where Jack was getting dressed.
Rua trotted into the locker room and up to Jack. "Hey, a package arrived for you today," he said, handing a smallish box to Jack. "Can I see?"
"Sure," he said, pulling out a pocketknife and piercing the bindings.
"This is …" Jack said with a little surprise when he pulled out a jewelry box.
"Wow!" said Rua.
"Ha, someone knows what you like," said Bruno, who was tying his shoes nearby.
Jack pulled out the bracelet and fastened it around his wrist. "I don't see a return address," he said.
"It must be from Carly," Bruno said.
Jack glanced down the line of lockers, his eyes meeting Yusei's for a moment. "You think?" he murmured.
"Who else could it be from? It has to be from your honey."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's from my honey," he said softly, running a fingertip along the shape, the corners of this lips curling ever so slightly. "I'll bet it's for good luck."
It's a down payment, thought Yusei, turning away to hide the slight blush that he felt coloring his cheeks.
"You know," said Ushio, walking by, "Real men don't wear tons of jewelry."
"I'll put my contributions to this team up against yours any day."
"If you played every day, you might have a point."
Yusei smiled at the banter. It was good-natured now. Not like it was at first. It was strange that he felt the team's support for Jack so personally, but … it made him feel invincible.
He stood up and turned toward the door only to have a paper thrust into his chest.
"Did you see this?!" exclaimed an irate redhead.
Yusei unrolled the offending wad of paper on the bench and took a look. "What?!∙!" screeched the shortstop. "Jack—!"
"Guess not."
"What's up?"
Yusei pointed to the sports page headline, speechless.
Dragan Alleges Atlas Spitter
"Jack Atlas does not resort to cheating!∙!∙!" Jack shouted, snatching the paper off the bench. "Has he gone insane?!"
Yusei gently extracted the paper and read, "'Ever since our loss last loss to the Dragons, I couldn't get over it' Dragan told this reporter in an exclusive interview. 'That breaking ball couldn't have been a normal pitch.' Dragan says that he has it from an unnamed but unimpeachable source close to Jack Atlas that the pitch was, indeed, the illegal spitball. He promises that, should he see it during the playoffs, he won't stand for it. 'If I see that pitch again, he's going to hear from me. Immediately. I won't wait until after the game.'"
"I did not throw a spitball. That was a sinker. A sink … er. That's my money pitch."
"We believe you, Jack," Crow said soothingly.
But Jack was ranting on. "That damn reporter didn't even bother calling me! Doesn't he even know his business?!"
"Jack, he wants to stir up controversy, make you mad, and then get you to say something stupid in anger," said Yusei. "Probably call Dragan some name."
Jack tossed himself down onto the bench. "Yeah … you're right. This just … things were going so well."
"Just don't let it get to you. He's just … this just shows that everyone thinks you're unstoppable. They wouldn't even try to get to you if they weren't scared shitless to face you in the first place."
Jack looked up. "… You're right." He got up and headed in the direction of the training rooms, growling, "Bring it on, suckers."
Crow nudged Yusei and said, "Are you sure you haven't created a monster?"
"He'll be fine. … But, what concerns me is who Dragan's 'unimpeachable source' is."
"You think it's somebody from the Immortals?"
"Could be … but, why? As far as I know, Jack got along pretty well with the Immortals. He was a fan before he was a player and he and Kiryu are tight, so he has at least one strong supporter there still. Of course that doesn't mean there couldn't be someone who's two-faced on the team. It just doesn't seem logical though."
"Could it be someone on this team?"
"That makes even less sense to me. It would have to be after our winning streak started, and who would want to undermine our chances like that? It would just be stupid. Would someone on the team want to shoot our series odds to hell just to get back at Jack? I don't get it."
"Yeah, that's …"
"But anything else …" Yusei sighed. "But … I'll have to figure it out later. We've got work to do."
"Yeah, I guess."
Yusei was on his way to the training area when he saw Jack and Jaeger in animated conversation near the door.
Make that an argument.
"… not allowed to talk to the press at all until after the game, and that's final," said Jaeger. "Our opposition wants to distract and upset you. And look! So far it's working."
"Are you going to at least issue a statement?"
"Of course! But you're too busy preparing for the game and don't have time to talk to the press about meritless accusations. Which is exactly what these are, right? Meritless?"
"Yes …"
"So? Prepare."
Jack sighed. "I do want to get batting practice in."
"There. Go. Get training in so you'll have time for batting practice. A press conference will ensure you can't fit it in." Jaeger turned and, seeing Yusei standing there, said, "What are you looking at? Don't you have a game to play?"
"Uh, yeah." Yusei scurried over to where Jack was standing. "He's in a huff."
"Me too," Jack said.
"Wish I could do something about it," Yusei said.
"You already have," Jack said, briefly touching the silver bracelet he'd fastened around his right wrist. Suddenly his cell rang. Jack pulled it from his pocket, motioning to Yusei to stick around. "Hello? … Yes, I saw it. You think no one would tell me about that? … No! Don't even— … It's not necessary, believe me you'd just be conf— … Yes, right. Let me handle it. There's no reason to respond at all. I don't throw that stuff. Let them examine me. Yes. … Right. … Unless the press specifically asks … Right. Thanks, Godwin. Goodbye."
Jack sighed. "Like I needed that."
"What did Godwin want?"
"He offered to launch a whole investigation into what started this whole thing."
"B-but that's exactly what the Vikes are aiming for! Thank goodness you told him to let you handle it."
"I just … Something tells me not to trust him."
"I can't say about Godwin, but Jaeger's right, you know. They're just trying to mess with you. I don't think they believe what they're saying at all."
"I'm not so sure. Dragan's pretty honest, don't you think?"
"Oh are you saying that your sinker's that good, then? Well, I've got to hand it to you, that's a pretty conceited way to look at it."
"Con—" Jack just stopped and stared at Yusei, then laughed outright. He shook his head and gave Yusei a shove. "Yusei, you … I just don't know about you. Whatever … I'm late. I have to get to therapy."
"Yeah … and I have to see Dr Schmidt."
Aside from the usual playoff hubbub, the game began ordinarily enough. If the competition thought that accusations were the way to put Jack off-balance, they were mistaken. If anything, it seemed to motivate him.
Yusei stood in his shortstop crouch in high readiness, watching Jack out of the corner of his eye. Jack usually put on a very serious, expressionless face when he pitched, but tonight he seemed to have doubled his intensity. His eyes had narrowed, bearing down on the plate like twin violet lasers. The batters seemed to sense it, taking a little extra time, as though working through some nerves.
Jack managed to get through the batting order in order one time.
As they hit the bench for the bottom of the third, Yusei nudged him and said, "Looks like you're making a statement."
"Huh, I hope so." He looked grim.
But Halldor was hanging tough as well and the Dragons had only managed to scratch a single run out so far.
Jack was slated as the second man up and headed out to the on-deck circle with grim determination.
"What do you think?" asked Crow. "Too serious?"
Yusei thought it over. "I think Jack is better off serious than jokey."
"Yeah, guess you're right."
They turned their attention to the field, where Jack was now striding up to the batter's box. Bommer returned to the dugout to calls of "Better luck next time."
Jack wasted no time digging in and tapping the plate before pulling into his batter's crouch.
Halldor went into his windup and let loose. Jack responded with a mighty rip which met the ball with a loud crack. The resulting liner tore right past Halldor, barely missing his planted shin and sped in between the diving shortstop and second baseman into center field.
Jack rounded first, but had to retreat back to the base as the center fielder, Brave, caught up to the ball.
"Great!" said Yusei, heading out to the on-deck circle. As Jack shrugged on his vivid red warm-up jacket, he shouted, "Move him on, Crow!"
Crow stepped in and quickly laid down a perfect dead bunt. Jack was almost to second before Halldor could handle it, so his only choice was to go to first.
Crow headed to the dugout to cries of approval.
Yusei dug in with the crowd roaring for him to live up to his batting average. He was dying to move Jack across the plate.
Bat, don't fail me now …
Patience, he thought. We might have been having a little success this inning, but Halldor hasn't thrown a lot of pitches yet. Let's wait for the right pitch. He settled in. He didn't want to keep Jack waiting, but on the other hand, keeping Halldor waiting wasn't such a bad idea.
Yusei worked to a full count, then saw exactly the pitch he wanted and drove it into the left-field corner. He took off running and kept up until he was stopped at second for a double. Jack made it home easily.
That was it for inning, but Yusei felt great. Helping Jack always gave him a boost.
What could go wrong?
Top of the fourth. The first two Vike batters went down swinging. Then Dragan stepped up.
"You see the paper this morning, Atlas?" he shouted as he stepped in.
Jack said nothing, but simply continued to rub down the ball, his glove under his arm.
"You heard me. I stand by what I said. Better watch yourself."
If Jack heard him, you wouldn't have known it. However, the next pitch was a fastball, high and tight. Very fast. Very tight.
Dragan jumped back.
Did the corners of Jack's lips twitch upwards just a hair?
"You—!" Dragan shouted, taking a step toward the mound. Then he thought better of it and stepped back into the box.
Jack reared back and let fly … his sinker. Strike one.
Yusei thought about it, seeing the movement he got on it. Yeah, he could see why Dragan thought it might be a spitter. A normal sinker just didn't move like that. He glanced at Jack. If anything, his intensity had gone up. A shiver crept up Yusei's spine as he forced his attention back to the batter.
Damn, he'd love to watch Jack right now.
The pitch was coming again and damn if it wasn't even higher and tighter than the first pitch. Dragan leapt sideways, awkwardly swinging the bat out with one arm to keep his balance.
Then he dropped the bat and charged the mound. "That's it!" he screamed. "You're dead, Atlas!"
"What, can't you listen to a little chin music?" The infield quickly converged on the mound to protect their pitcher.
"You're getting a little too close!" Dragan got there and tried to peel Yusei and Crow off Jack so that he could get a punch in.
"Did you say you were going to kill me?" Jack called, laughing. "Your fighting is as pathetic as your spurious accusations!"
"Cool it, Jack," advised Yusei. The Vikings were beginning to emerge from their dugout and he was afraid that they might end up with a full-blown rhubarb on their hands.
The umpires were finally getting there, as were both managers. The Vikings' manager yanked Dragan out of the fray, telling him in profanity-laden terms to let the umpires handle it before he got himself ejected from the game.
Meanwhile, Corky settled Jack down. O'Hara, the plate umpire warned Jack to cut out the brush backs or face ejection himself. "You aren't fooling anyone, Jack," O'Hara said. "We all know you have close to pinpoint control. So don't try to tell me that you slipped."
Jack shrugged. "I made my point. Look, you said it yourself. I have pinpoint control. If I wanted to nail Dragan, I would have. If he gets hit by a pitch, it'll be because he steps in front of it. Don't worry about me."
"That's a good boy," said Corky. "See, O'Hara? Problem solved."
Yusei took a good look at Jack before resuming his position. He looked perfectly satisfied … well, almost. He still had Dragan's at-bat to close out. One more pitch and a pop-up.
That did it.
Yusei shook his head. If Jack had been set off-balance by Dragan's accusation, he'd completely regained his balance and pushed Dragan back on his heels.
The rest of the game was fairly uneventful, if tight. In fact, it was a bit boring … for those who don't enjoy tense pitching battles. It ticked down without further scoring to a final of two – zero, yet another win for Jack.
Jean swatted Jack on the butt on the way into the clubhouse and said, "You didn't give the herd a whole lot of business tonight, but you can bore me any day, Jack!"
"Heh," laughed Crow. "Took a while, but the Unicorn herd sure has warmed up to you."
"Winning will do that."
Winning …
"Aren't you coming with us?" Crow asked. "We're going to celebrate the win."
"Oh, I had a few things to square away here. I wanted to check with Dr Schmidt about a little twinge I'm feeling."
"Oh, I bet I know where you're feeling that twinge," said Crow giving him a poke in the ribs.
Yusei scowled back at him and said, "Tell them I'll be along in a few minutes."
"No problem." Crow grinned and headed off after the rest of the team.
Yusei's scowl immediately softened all the way to a smile of anticipation … but … there was an undercurrent of concern. Things had been going so well for Jack, maybe too well. And they didn't know who the "unnamed but unimpeachable source" could be. Could that person have it in for Jack and was he planning more trouble? Whatever, Yusei put it out of his mind. One way or another, he was going to steal a minute or two with Jack.
He looked around in the training area and discovered Jack had a couple of cold packs applied to his arm.
"Hey," he said, "I thought you'd be out celebrating by now."
"I thought I'd drop by before I left," he said.
"We can't really talk," he said.
"I know. I just wanted to tell you how great that game was."
"And?"
Yusei leaned in close so that only he could hear and breathed, "and I couldn't leave without seeing you."
Jack smiled. "That's what I wanted to hear. You know … there was an anonymous fan who sent me this really great bracelet. I wish I could thank that person … in person …"
"That would be really … wonderful."
"It's really great. It made me feel great to think someone thought about me like that."
Yusei smiled. "I'm glad. Are you going to be able to stop by the celebration?"
"Nah, by the time I'm done, Corky will have probably read you guys the riot act to get you to bed. You know him."
"I suppose so, but it's kind of too bad that you can't be there seeing that you're the reason we won."
Jack shrugged. He wasn't going to be modest.
Dr Schmidt poked his head in and said, "Time's up, Jack!"
Jack started to remove his packs.
Yusei sighed. The next few weeks weren't going to be easy. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said.
Author's notes:
4/28/2013: Corrections - italics; interrobangs; punctuation; changed "couple of few weeks" to "next few weeks" (seriously? sheesh ...); added warning.
Thanks once again to all of you who are supporting this story! Thanks to KaiFudo16 ... looks like I just might be able to get back to Where There's Fire in just a bit after all. So if you're interested in canon-ish stories, stay tuned. Thanks to those who reviewed! I find it very motivating. :) I'll admit, this story is turning out to be longer than I expected - serves me right for posting as I write, but (like I've said) I wanted to get this out during the baseball season. I feel like things are coming together very slowly, but I hope you're beginning to see the method to my madness. It will come together, I promise! It looks as though at least some folks are enjoying this, so I'm happy!
spitball, spitter: An illegal trick pitch which moves atypically because of the application of a foreign substance such as spit, petroleum jelly, mud, etc. Other banned pitches include the emery ball (a ball scuffed or cut by an object such as an emery board) and the shine ball (in which the pitcher rubs one area of the ball more than any other).
sinker: Note that there are a number of pitches that can drop suddenly over the plate.
Money pitch: A pitcher's best pitch or the one that he relies on at critical junctures of the game.
a perfect dead bunt: To bunt is to hit the ball weakly on purpose, usually as a sacrifice to move a base runner ahead. Most often, this involves the specific move of laying down a bunt by sliding one hand down the bat to the end to gain a great deal of control over the bat and placement of the batted ball.
worked to a full count: Three balls and two strikes, the maximum number of each that a batter can have without either earning a base on balls (walk) or striking out.
Jack made it home easily: In other words, scored a run.
Top of the fourth: As a reminder, each team takes turns batting in an inning. In the first half (top) of the inning, the visiting team bats while the home team fields, then in the second half (bottom), the home team bats while the visiting team fields. If the home team is leading after the top of the ninth, they win and they skip the bottom of the ninth (since they don't need to score to win).
high and tight/chin music/brushback: A pitch that is close to the batter and high; that is, close to his chin and dangerously close to hitting him in the face. A pitch designed to move the batter off the plate or intimidate him.
charged the mound: Ran toward the mound to attack the pitcher.
pinpoint control: Like it sounds, a pitcher who has pinpoint control has extraordinary ability to place the ball where he wants it in the strike zone. Nolan Ryan was noted for this ability.
pop-up: A ball hit very high and within the infield (short).
And now, a taste of chapter 13:
"I see," said Angela. "Bruno, I have a question for you. You used to be the top pitcher on the team before the K-King showed up. Did it bother you to become second banana?"
"Look, you might as well ask me whether it bothers me that we're headed for the Big Show. No, it doesn't bother me at all. I like the idea of pitching in the Series. I've learned a lot from Jack and I hope to learn more."
Angela looked a little miffed to have been unable to stir up any controversy. "Another question for Jack. You've heard Dragan's accusations about your throwing spitballs. Any comments?"
The team faces the press ... and other stuff.