Curveball by Rich Wallace

Author:Rich Wallace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2007-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

Memorial was also in the running for the playoffs, so the game was hotly contested from the start. First the Hornets scored, then Memorial got two runs of their own. The lead seemed to change every inning.

“What do you think, Miguel?” Coach Wimmer said as the Hornets came off the field after five innings. Hudson City was protecting a 5–4 lead, but Miguel had walked two batters in the fifth. “How’s the arm?”

“Arm’s good,” Miguel said.

“You seem to be losing some of your control.”

“Been pitching a lot lately.” Miguel looked toward home plate, where Spencer was taking a few practice cuts. “Whoa, I’m on deck!” He leaped up and grabbed a bat, heading out of the dugout.

Coach Wimmer shook his head. “His arm’s turning to spaghetti,” he said aloud to no one in particular. “He’ll walk everybody in the ballpark if I leave him in there.”

Coach looked toward the bench, and his eyes settled on Eddie. “Ventura, you bat ninth this inning. Take Flem out behind the dugout and warm him up.”

Jimmy Fleming picked up a baseball and said, “Let’s go!” A relief pitcher, he’d been the forgotten man in the lineup lately as David and Miguel had thrown a couple of complete games. It looked like he’d be taking over for Miguel this afternoon.

So Eddie and Flem threw the ball back and forth outside the fence.

“Not so hard yet,” Eddie said. “Give your arm time to get warm.”

“My arm is on fire!” Flem replied. “I haven’t pitched in almost two weeks.”

“Still,” Eddie said. “Get loose. You’ve got time.”

Fleming was a newcomer to Hudson City; he was just getting to know the guys. Like Eddie, he was a left-hander. And, like Eddie, he was usually pretty quiet.

“You ready, Flem?” Coach Wimmer called a few minutes later.

“Definitely.”

“Go ahead in.”

So Flem and Eddie jogged onto the field together. Bottom of the sixth, Hudson City still ahead by a run.

Miguel had shifted to third base, sending Ryan Grimes out of the lineup.

“Heavy phlegm alert!” Spencer called as he noticed that Flem had taken the mound. “Preserve that W, man! Shut ’em down.”

At first base, Eddie took a deep breath and focused on the batter, ready to react to a line drive or a grounder. A one-run lead was thin as can be.

Lots of tension on that field right now, came the play-by-play voice in his head. This is where the experience of guys like Ventura and Lewis really makes a difference. The standouts always react well to the pressure.

Flem was fresh. That was obvious from his first two pitches, which blazed by the batter for strikes.

He’s got his stuff today. Smooth and fast.

Eddie relaxed a little. Maybe Flem did, too, because his next pitch was a gift to the batter. Straight down the middle, nothing on it, and the Memorial hitter lined it deep into left-center. It bounced hard just before the fence and smacked back onto the field, sending Willie and David scrambling.

The batter had rounded second before Willie finally came up with the ball.

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