81 – The Third Inning

81 – The Third Inning

By Aramis Thorn

Here is the third installment of the short story as promised, Enjoy

THIRD INNING

Warm Up

Jack was on deck when Brewer grounded out to third.  He notices while swinging the bat that his catching hand is a bit tender.  He will work through the third and then ice it while waiting for the top of the fourth.  For now he rushes to put on his catcher’s gear.  He has always felt that this was the least understood part of the game.  If the catcher is on deck he has to go in and dress to take the field. 

Joe waits for Morris as if the day were as long as the whole summer.  It is September and the slightest chill has caressed the moist evening air.  The shadows are long earlier and a haze hangs above the blossoming stadium lights. 

Crackerjack trots to his place and the battery fires off a quick eight tosses.  Nothing fancy or forced is wasted here.  To Jack’s delight the kid gets the purpose of the eight and uses them well. 

Pitch 19

Wholesome Mathews may be the only person on the field more southern than Garner Patch.  As the stout second baseman makes his way to home plate Garner cleans it as if to welcome him. 

“Evening Mr. Patch,” offers the second baseman from Yazoo City, Mississippi. 

“Evening Wholesome,” replies the umpire.

“Evening Jack,” says Wholesome.

“Evening Wholesome, are you ready,” asks Jack?

The batter sets up in the box and Jack signals to Joe.  Mathews is a wise hitter with a good eye for the strike zone.  Jack calls for the curve moving outside to in.  He calls for a fast one.  Joe obliges.

The pitch flows from hand to air with ease.  It rolls off the fingers and begins to spin a tale of deceit.  It flies along a path that promises it is a harmless outside fast ball, a little high, and not worth chasing.  Wholesome rests on his heels.  As if knowing that the batter has believed the lie the ball catches up to its own physics and arcs down and across the plate.

“Steeerike  one Wholesome,” calls Patch

Jack tosses the ball back to Joe.  92 mph blinks the red watcher of pitches.

 Pitch 20

Jack wonders if the same pitch will work again on Mathews.  He chooses instead the more noble deception.  He signals for changeup and outside.  Joe understands Jack’s intent and sets up exactly as he did on the last pitch.  Jack sets up at center plate knowing he will have to move outside quickly.  Wholesome looks back at Jack’s position.  He nods and grunts.  He raises his shoulders.

Joe winds and deals.  A casual observer could not see the difference between this delivery and the last.  Wholesome is not casual.  He reads fastball outside but does not trust it to break in. He reaches.  He reaches too early.

The ball stays wide but is moving more slowly than it looks.  The sound is swoosh slap.  The next sound is what matters.

“Steeerike  two Wholesome,” barks Patch.

“That man is a deceiver Jack,” observes Wholesome.

“He is even fooling me friend,” answers the catcher. 

Pitch 21

Wholesome Mathews shakes his head in shame.  He chased a pitch.  He chased a rube.  He made a rookie mistake.  Angry at his own failure he pounds the plate and takes his stance.  Jack signals for a curve to finish him; the same pitch as the first.  Joe shakes it off.  Jack wants to insist but the kid needs the confidence.  He signals breaking ball, down.  Joe nods.

The batter knows enough to think twice when a pitcher shakes off a sign.  He calls time and steps out of the box.  Anything that breaks a pitcher’s rhythm works to his benefit.  He walks over to the on deck circle and grabs a towel pretending to dry the bat handle.  Wholesome makes his way slowly back to the box.

“Let’s go Wholesome,” calls Garner Patch, “I have to fly to Chicago after this game.  I hate having to hurry at airports.”

“Apologies Patch,” returns the batter.  He sets and watches.

Jack signals again: Same pitch as the first one in the same place.  Joe nods, stretches, and pitches.  The ball flies directly toward the center of the plate and the strike zone.  It breaks at about the same instant that Wholesome pulls the trigger.  Swoosh then slap.  

“Steeerike Three, you’re out Wholesome,” offers Garner Patch.

“Evening Wholesome,” offers Jack.

As the ball goes round the horn Jack smiles at the pitch clock.  The pitch clock offers only numbers: 99 mph.

Pitch 22

 The lanky shortstop, Jackson Daniels is still in the league because of his arm not his bat.  His timing went bad just two seasons ago.  He went from batting second to batting eighth.  He is faster on the field that most people and can throw a runner out at first base from behind third.  Crackerjack Morris knows better than to discount him.  He does see the value of trying to rattle him right from the start.  Jack signals fastball, inside corner, low heat.

Joe grins, winds, and fires.

Daniels leans back slightly thinking ball.

“Steeerike one,” calls Garner Patch.

Jack winces painfully as he tosses back the ball and reads the clock: 101 mph.

Pitch 23

Jack does not want to give the batter time to recover or think.  He signals fastball, same place, and medium speed.  Joe grins again.  He winds again.  He delivers.

Daniels swings too late.  Slap then swoosh are the sounds.

“Steeerike two, batter,” barks the umpire.

The red clock reads 103 mph and Jack’s hand hurts.  This time the pain takes measurably longer to fade.

 Pitch 24

 Clearly agitated but trying to focus Daniels sets in the box.  Jack knows he has him.  Jack calls for fastball, outside, and full heat.  Joe grins as if the entire world were just offered him.  He stretches and fires.

Daniels is sure the ball is too far outside but does not want to be called on strikes.   His timing is his doom.  He swings even later this time.

“Steeerike three, you’re out,” calls Patch.

“Ouch,” says Jack.

The pitch clock reads 105 mph.  Joe Zander has just tied the record for the fastest recorded pitch in baseball.  It is not the last time tonight Jack will think about baseball records.  The knowledgeable in the crowd know they have just seen something special.  All he is thinking of right now is an ice bucket for his hand.

 Pitch 25

 Andy Vine from Vinings, Georgia feels at home in the cool southern evening.  So far the game is even in the run column and at the end of things that is all that matters.  The seasoned pitcher faces off against his younger counterpart.  Andy, better than anyone, will be able to report to his team the nuances of Joe Zander. 

Jack is aware of this danger and decides to play it safe.  He calls for the inside curve.  Every good curve ball pitcher knows this pitch.  It is hard to hit and it asks the batter politely to move back from the plate.

Joe pitches and the ball sails straight toward the plate.  At the right moment it tails in toward the batter but catches the corner of the plate.  Andy thinks it is a ball.  Garner Patch thinks differently.

“Steeerike one,” assures Patch.

Jack’s hand stings from the 89 mph pitch. 

 Pitch 26

Jack winces as he tosses back the ball.  His glove hand is throbbing ever so slightly.  He crouches down and signals the second pitch to Andy.  He calls for the changeup.  He both knows that Andy will expect heat and that his hand may not handle it.  Joe nods, winds, and deals.

Andy Vine has used this same pitch to deceive many batters.  One might think his resultant early swing justice.

“Steeerike two,” calls Patch.

78 mph. reads the clock.

 Pitch 27

Jack can tell that the throb in his hand matches his pulse.  His mitt feels tighter.  He will get some help with his gear so he can ice his hand.  He calls for the changeup again.  His hand can take it and Andy will expect heat.  Jack signals, Joe fires, and Andy goes down swinging.

“Steeerike three, you’re out” calls the umpire.

The stands come alive with unusually loud cheers.  It will be a few minutes before Jack catches on to what has them going.  He is so focused on the kid and his hand that for a moment his head is not truly in the game.

Jack hustles back to the dugout and asks the batboy for help with his gear.  He tosses his mitt on the bench and plunges his hand in the icy water kept there for pitchers.  He knows that Joe does not need it but thanks to Joe he does.  The cold quells the throbbing.  The manager, Wayne Jones reminds Jack that he is up to bat.

Crackerjack pulls his hand from the bucket and dries it on a towel.  As he pulls on his leather batting glove he notices that the bottom quarters of his palm are red and slightly swollen.  He ignores it and grabs his favorite bat.  He figures it is time to help his own cause.  He strides to the plate and squares off.  The third base coach gives him the sign to swing away.

Andy Vine’s first pitch is outside and high for a ball.  The second is low but over the plate.  Jack takes a tentative swing at it sending it looping to right field.  The opposite field hit surprises the right fielder who has to chase it to the dark corner by the foul pole. 

By the time the ball is thrown in to the second baseman Jack is standing at second with an easy double.  Time is called and Jack makes his way back toward first base.  As he passes his batting helmet to the first base coach he notices that a fan has honored a decades old tradition.  Hanging on the railing behind home plate are squares of paper with large black “K”s on them.  Each has Joe’s number, 81on it in the corner. 

Still standing between first and second Jack counts the squares of paper not once but three times.  He is sure there are nine.  The distant voice of the first base umpire reminds him to return to second base.  He does but he has to count the K’s one more time on his way.  “Nine strikeouts in three innings,” ponders Jack Morris.  No one has touched the ball.  The record in a game for consecutive strike outs is ten.  No one in baseball has ever thrown two consecutive immaculate innings.  Joe has thrown three.

The veteran catcher forces his thoughts back to the current moments of the game.  Jack is stranded at second and does not score.  Joe walks and then Parson Hamilton strikes out.  JJ Clover hits into a four, six, three double play.  While he trots back to put on his gear Jack can only think about strike outs.  The rest of the truth is slow to interrupt the catcher’s thinking on this matter but it will come.