The Hitting Zone
chapter-216

At the top of the third inning, with a runner on second base, Garret had to face the top of the lineup again. The first batter repeated his previous at bat by flying out to right field for the first out of the inning.

I thought getting an out after giving up a hit was a good thing, but Garret acted otherwise. He toed the rubber on the mound and said a few words to himself before facing the next batter, not looking happy. The proof came with the next batter as his pitches scattered and seemed to dance outside the strike zone. He walked the batter. Runners on first and second. I glanced at Noah, but he remained where he was.

The third batter, who was the first to get a hit off Garret in the game, stepped in the batter's box. Garret tried making a change by starting with his cutter, coming inside on the batter. Too bad it didn't work like it had against the other player. This batter seemed more than ready, opening his stance, and making a more compact swing, connecting with the ball with a 'bam'!

I gulped. That didn't sound good, nor did it look good coming off the bat. At least, not good for us. I watched as Garret didn't even look behind him, he just leaned over, hands on his knees and spat. He knew it was gone. By the time I turned my head to look, the ball was long gone.

The Redwood dugout was getting loud as they celebrated taking the lead, 3-2. Even the stands were making noise...noises of distress. This is our best pitcher and he's starting to crumble.

I looked at Noah and finally made eye contact. I tilted my head towards Garret to ask if we should do or say anything. Noah just shook his head and got back into position.

Garret straightened up, Jordan tossed him a new ball, and he got set on the mound. He went back to pitching fastballs all over the place, giving the batter a 3-0 count. When he finally threw a strike, the batter swung and hit a line drive just over my head. Sean came in, caught it on the bounce, and threw it to me, the cutoff man. I turned around, kind of wanting to make the throw so I could show off a little, but the batter remained at first. I sighed and looked at Noah, expressing my concern.

Noah held out his glove as if wanting the ball so I threw it to him. He jogged up to the mound and the rest of the infield started to as well, but he waved us off. We stayed put and he went up to Garret, handing over the ball. They both covered their mouths with their gloves and exchanged words we couldn't hear from even a few feet away.

They used the full ten seconds, making the ump come to the mound to end their discussion. Noah went back to his own position and Garret faced the next batter, determination in his eyes. I peeked over at Noah to see if it went well, yet his facial expression didn't change. For the first time, I could really see the similarities between him and Zeke.

Whatever was said, must have been effective as Garret was able to turn things around, getting the next two batters to fly out to right field to end the inning. We lost our lead, but not our hope. As soon as we got back to the dugout, Mahki, Garret and Julian grabbed their bats.

Noah and I sat by our bags in our usual spot, where Jason was. He didn't move since we left him.

I rubbed my chest trying to ease the stress the bruise was causing me. It didn't hurt too much this morning, but after the collision it started to ache as time passed.

Noah eyed me, but let it be. He focused on Jason to talk about his return to normal baseball activities and how he feels. Jason was adamant that he could have started today, yet Coach didn't want to start him right away. He was hoping he could get an at bat as a pinch hitter and then maybe take over at third.

"I really want to take the starting spot back before Chris joins us on Monday." Jason sighed. "Even if it was for a brief moment, I was happy to start a couple games."

"You'll be able to do it." Noah reassured. "He's been too hot headed and not able to find any success at the plate."

Jason smiled weakly. "I need to work on my batting too."

"I would invite you to join us at the cages this weekend, but I think we'll be out of town since we won't have any games until Monday." Noah said.

"Oh. Where are you all going?"

Noah shrugged. "It's up to Zeke. Mom and Dad want him to use up his five official visits. The idea is for him to visit the school and we'll get to sightsee."

"You think he'll stay local for college?"

"I, personally, think he'll enter the draft right away." Noah answered. "Zeke is just too good to be wasted at the college level."

"Yea, but that's been said about a bunch of people. Look at our own Billy Beane. He was great in high school and then sucked in the pros."

Noah's frown returned. "Yea, but now look at him! Still in baseball! About 20 years with the A's AND now he's the executive Vice President of baseball operations for the A's. That's not a bad life."

Jason glanced at Zeke, who stood on the other side of the dugout. "Yea, but that's not the same as actually playing."

Noah sighed and didn't reply, clearly understanding what that meant. However, I didn't get it. Baseball was baseball. But also..."Who's Billy Beane?"

Two pair of eyes turned to me and widened with disbelief.

"You don't know who Billy Beane is..?" Jason asked.

"Should I?" I asked.

"Of course you should! You're a baseball player now!" He shook his head in disappointment. "Noah, are you even teaching Jake anything about baseball?"

"There's so much though!" Noah fake cried. He looked me in the eye. "I've let you down, Jakey. Don't worry, I'll teach you all there is about the Major Leagues that you would possibly need to know. Starting with the A's. The Oakland A's are our favorite team around here okay?"

I nodded obediently.