Prime Time Pitcher (7 page)

Tug called for time. “What’re you doing, man?” he asked furiously when he reached the mound.

“I’m calling the pitches myself, that’s what. All good pitchers do.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, maybe
their
catchers don’t mind not knowing what the pitcher is going to throw at them, but I do. Besides, I know these batters! Now,
let me call the pitches, would you?”

“I know what I’m doing,” Koby said stubbornly.

“C’mon, play ball!” screamed the ump from behind home plate. Tug shot Koby one last angry look, then trotted back to his position.
He didn’t even bother to signal this time. He just held up the Hummer and waited.

Now, that’s more like it, Koby thought, trying to feel satisfied. He reared back and let loose with a fastball.

Jethro connected for a towering pop fly deep into right. Luckily, K.O. got a good jump on it and made a hard play look easy.
One out.

Despite Jethro’s solid connection, Koby continued to call his own pitches. Tug didn’t signal once.

The batters made a few hits, but Beechie and Billy handled them and the side went down without scoring a run.

The Greenview pitcher struggled in the bottom of the second. With one out, he walked Scoop, then Prez singled, and Billy hit
an RBI double that sent Scoop home and Prez to third. The Cardinals were first on the scoreboard but couldn’t add to their
lead that time at bat.

The third inning was uneventful for both sides. Taking his 1-0 lead into the fourth, Koby unleashed two solid fastballs, then
a sidearm pitch for a third strike on the first batter. But the last pitch skipped past Tug to the backstop.

Oh, no! Koby’s mind screamed. Tug scrambled for the ball but, per the “drop-third-strike rule,” the batter took off for first
and beat Tug’s throw by half a step.

Tug was charged with the error. As he returned to his position, he slapped the Hummer hard against his thigh.

A twang of guilt tugged at Koby. If you had let Tug call the pitch, a little voice inside him murmured, he would have been
prepared for the
sidearm, and maybe the ball wouldn’t have gotten away from him.

Koby shook himself. Tug should be prepared for all my pitches, he argued silently. That’s why the error was charged to him,
not me.

But for some reason, Koby couldn’t judge which pitch to throw to which batter after that. Cap Wilinski hit a long fly ball
deep into left that Scoop couldn’t get to in time. Cap stood up grinning on second.

No outs, runner on second.

“OK, you guys, play it hard! You can do it!” yelled Coach Tomashiro from the sidelines.

Koby reared back and threw a fastball. The Greenview batter clobbered it toward Beechie in center. Beechie misjudged it, allowing
the ball to sail over his head for an RBI double. Cap Wilinski was greeted by cheers from his teammates as he crossed the
plate, tying the game up at 1-1. The next batter took the sacrifice, advancing the runner to third. Next up was Jethro. He
hit a hard grounder to short. Papo stopped it with a dive down on one knee. Papo held the runner at third, then made the play
to first for the second out.

With two down, a lefty batter hit a full-count pitch that bounced through Billy’s legs at third. Another run scored. Koby
glared at Billy as Billy smoothed out the dirt where the ball had taken it’s fatal bounce.

Koby finally finished off the inning with a strikeout, but the damage had been done. Greenview 2, Monticello 1.

That’s the way the score stayed until the fifth inning.

With one out, Cap Wilinski sliced a ball between first and second that Sandy got a piece of but couldn’t get a handle on.
Cap advanced on Jethro’s sacrifice.

The next batter smacked a one-hopper to Sandy, who fumbled again. Sandy made a late throw to Prez, putting runners on first
and third. A fly ball to K.O. advanced the runners, and another run scored. Koby got out of the team tailspin by relying on
his fastball and striking out the final batter. Green Jackets 3, Cardinals 1.

The Cardinals’ bats remained mute. Koby bet they couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, no matter how hard they tried. They
went into the last inning still down by two runs.

Greenview threatened when Papo overthrew to Prez at first.

Jeez, is this whole team falling apart? Koby thought disgustedly. Who hasn’t made an error today? And they talk about me getting
camera jitters.

He tried not to think about the number of hits Greenview had scored off him, nor the number of balls he had thrown. Compared
to the previous games, those numbers were much higher than usual.

In the final Greenview at bat, Koby struck out two and forced a ground-out.

But the Cardinals couldn’t rise to the occasion as the top of the order — Beechie, Koby, and K.O. — went down 1-2-3. Final
score: Greenview 3, Monticello 1.

As the Cardinals gathered up their gear, Koby couldn’t contain his frustration. “Well, that game sure is going to look lousy
on film,” he sneered as Tug passed him, lugging his catcher’s equipment.

“I thought our goal was to play our hardest as a team, not look good for your big prime-time debut!” Tug shot back. “And by
the way, I can’t say
that you were looking that good yourself. But, hey, forget teamwork. Forget your friends.”

Koby’s frustration was fueled by the anger in Tug’s voice. “Yeah, well, maybe I will!”

Koby glanced up — and balked when he saw Buck and Dan standing there. Buck’s camera was still rolling.

Koby turned away, and saw Sara talking with Tug. As he watched, she shook her head and jotted something in her notebook, then
gathered her belongings and left without a backward glance.

That’s when Koby noticed the last person sitting in the stands. The person stood up and walked down the bleachers toward Koby
with his hand outstretched and a mile-wide smile on his face. When Koby saw who it was, his jaw dropped.

C
huck!” Koby yelled.

“Hey, little brother! Quite a surprise, huh?” Chuck said as he gave Koby a big bear hug.

“I’ll say! What are you doing here?”

“I got a call from Mom because the Channel 5 guys wanted to film a brief segment with you and me together. You know, sort
of a ‘how the medium-good older brother athlete inspired his superstar brother’ kind of thing.”

“Cut it out, man! You were the best!”

“Well, I did have a lot of fun hanging with my Cardinal buddies, that’s for sure.” He looked around as if he expected to see
a crowd of Koby’s teammates surrounding Koby, too. “Anyway, I wish my college was closer so I could catch more of your
games, but being almost a three-hour drive away makes it tough.”

“I know, but you’re here now, and that’s great!”

“The pleasure is all mine, little brother. Mom and Dad have been telling me how you’ve been tearing up the Meadowbrook Conference.
Must have been all those games of catch we played in the driveway.”

“Not hardly!” Koby said with a big laugh. “I think it’s from eating the famous triple-decker peanut butter and marshmallow
sandwiches you taught me to make!”

“Ugh, do you still eat those?” Chuck groaned, holding his stomach. “Great food for an athlete! Now, come on, let’s get home.
I understand the camera crew is going to show up, and I’m sure you want to get a shower so you can be all pretty for them!”

An hour later, Koby was clean and dressed in his best casual clothes.

“Boys, Dan and Buck are here!” Koby’s mom yelled from the downstairs hallway. “I’m sending them up!”

“OK, Mom!” Koby yelled back as he and Chuck
headed to the hallway at the top of the stairs. “Come on up, you guys!”

Dan and Buck walked up the stairs. Koby introduced them to Chuck.

“Thanks for throwing this opportunity to Koby,” Chuck said. “I bet he’s enjoying all the attention and being filmed by you
guys.”

“I don’t think we’re going to win an Oscar, but we sure are learning a lot about middle school athletics,” Buck answered.
“Hopefully we’ll get some good stuff tonight that we can use for our promo ads. Those are going to start to run soon. The
documentary is scheduled to air on Friday of the week after the last game, against Runkle.”

“Cool,” Koby said, beaming.

Koby started to lead them down the narrow hallway to his room. Dan peeked into the open doorway of Chuck’s room.

“This must be your room, right, Chuck?” asked Dan. “Forgive me for nosing my head in there.”

“That’s OK,” said Chuck. “Although I think it’s been cleaned up a bit since I’ve been away at school. I can’t find my favorite
dirty T-shirts hidden under the bed anymore!”

Dan chuckled.

“Mind if we start in here with the trophy shelf in the background?” Dan asked.

“Go right ahead,” Chuck said. “I’m pretty proud of what’s up there.”

“Sounds good to me,” Koby said, trying to get a word in.

“Great, then let’s get started. Buck, get a shot of the trophy case, OK? Then if you two will sit here, we can get the best
angle,” Dan said as he directed Buck where to set up.

Koby and Chuck sat down and stared directly into the camera.

“Hey, relax, you guys. It looks like you’re sitting on a bed of nails!” Dan said.

Koby and Chuck grinned at each other.

“Good, now that you’re smiling a bit for the camera, we can get started. Chuck, let’s begin with you. I know that you also
played for Monticello. What was the most memorable thing about playing for MMS, if you can think that far back?” Dan asked
with a twinkle in his eye.

“Now, wait a sec,” Chuck protested. “It wasn’t
that
far back! But, to answer your question, I do
remember one thing above everything else. It was getting this award.”

Chuck turned around and picked up his team spirit trophy. Holding it proudly, he said, “This trophy, given for demonstrating
the most team spirit, meant a lot to me. It was a great honor to get. Now, I certainly wasn’t the greatest player — you can
ask Coach T. about that—but I gave it all I had. That’s what it was all about for me.”

The camera zoomed in on the trophy and then closed in on Koby’s face as he watched and listened to Chuck talk.

“How much of an influence has your brother been on your ball playing?” Dan asked Koby

“A lot! I remember watching him play at MMS when I was a little kid. They sure didn’t win many games, and—”

“You can say that again!” Chuck agreed. “When I was in the seventh grade, I think we won only two games and one was from a
forfeit. The other team’s bus broke down, and they couldn’t make it to the field. Their coach wasn’t able to reschedule, so
we got the win. I think that was my best game!” He patted his trophy, then put it back up on the shelf.

“Keep going, Chuck — this is great stuff! You’re on a roll!” Dan said.

“But what about me?” Koby interrupted. “I didn’t finish what I had to say about Chuck’s influence on me.”

“We’ll get back to you, Koby,” Dan answered. “Just sit tight.”

So Koby sat back and let Chuck do most of the talking. Almost all of what he said had to do with teamwork, sportsmanship,
and playing one’s hardest for the sake of the common goal.

“Winning?” Dan guessed.

Chuck gave a meaningful smile. “No. The common goal was to leave the field satisfied that we’d played our best and helped
our teammates play their best, too. At the end of the day, we couldn’t have done any better than that. I think that’s why,
unlike a lot of losing teams, no one on our squad ever got on anyone else’s case. We were a tight-knit, loyal bunch,” he concluded,
“and that’s why that trophy means so much to me.”

After the interview, at Mrs. Caplin’s request, Dan and Buck stayed for dinner.

“That was a mighty fine meal,” Buck said. “It was better than a four-star restaurant.”

“Mmmm, it just stuck to my ribs,” Dan added. “I better move my belt buckle over a notch or two. But now we should get to the
station for an editing session. Before we go, though, Koby, I want to get a few shots of you and your brother playing some
catch in the driveway, if that’s OK.”

“Fine with me,” Koby’s mother said, “as long as Koby and Chuck can help me clean up here first.”

“We’ll help, too,” Buck volunteered. “C’mon, Dan, prove to everyone here that Channel 5 has manners.”

“I’m on it,” Dan said with a smile. “Big appetites and manners — that’s us!”

They all helped to clean up and do the dishes. When everything was done, Koby went to the back porch to get two gloves and
a ball while Dan and Buck set up in the driveway.

The camera began rolling again.

“Hey, Chuck, let’s go into the driveway and play some catch, you know, like the olden days when you were a lot younger,” Koby
said with a smirk.

“I still don’t think you can catch my fastball,” Chuck answered. “You never could!”

“Just watch!”

Chuck went into an exaggerated windup and unleashed a fastball.

Phwap!

“Pretty good, big brother, pretty good!” Koby yelled as he pretended to fall back from the impact.

“Now let me see yours, little brother. Just ‘chuck’ it over!”

“ ‘Chuck’ it, huh? No prob, fasten your seat belt!” Koby said. He imitated Chuck’s delivery exactly and sent a smoker down
the middle of the strike zone.

Phwap!

“Ow!” Chuck cried. “That pitch is a lethal weapon. Now I can understand why you’re having such a great year.”

Koby grinned. “Yeah, thanks to pitches like that, Monticello should win the Meadowbrook Conference. I must say, it’s been
a long time coming. I’m just glad I was able to turn this team around and give Monticello a winning season for once. The team
just needed a superstar like me to light a fire under them, that’s all!”

Chuck balked in mid-throw and stared openmouthed at his brother.

Koby laughed. “What’s the matter, Chuck? Forget how to pitch?”

Chuck slowly shook his head. “No. But I think you’re forgetting something.”

Koby looked mystified. “What’re you talking about?”

“If you have to ask, then I doubt you’ll figure it out. But maybe you will. Hopefully you will. And in time to be the player
I think you are.”