Dugout Rivals (7 page)

J
ake looked down the Red Sox bench. Coach Sanders and Jake’s dad were checking the game stats and talking.

Ryan sat down between Jake and Adam. “We’ve got it made,” he said, slapping Adam on the shoulder. “You’re pitching great.”

“Shut up!” Jake said, slamming his glove into the dugout dirt.

“What’s with you?” Ryan asked.

“Adam has only two more pitches left,” Jake snapped.

“Are you kidding?” Ryan said. “He can throw a hundred more pitches.”

“Sorry, Ryan,” Adam said softly. “Jake’s right.”

“What?”

“It’s the seventy-five-pitch rule, remember?” Jake explained. “A pitcher can’t throw more than seventy-five pitches in a game. Adam’s already thrown seventy-three.”

Jake stood up and began to pace. “Even Adam can’t get three outs on two pitches.”

“All right, everybody, listen up,” Coach Sanders called. He motioned for the team to gather around him. “Great game, Adam, but I have to take you out. You’re almost at the seventy-five-pitch limit.”

The circle of Red Sox stirred at the news. The coach kept talking. “Isaiah, warm up. You’ll go in for Adam. Throw strikes, no free passes. Adam, you go to shortstop. Jake, you’re at second. Michael, switch to third base.”

No one on the Red Sox bench said a word. They knew what they had to do.

Coach Sanders clapped his hands. “We’re only up by one run,” he said, holding up one finger. “Let’s get some more.”

But the Red Sox could only get one hit in the top of the sixth inning and no runs.
They were still 1–0 when the team ran out to their positions.

“Come on, Isaiah,” Jake called from second base. “Nothing but strikes. Let’s have a 1-2-3 inning.”

Isaiah got the first out as the leadoff batter popped up to first base. The second batter pulled a hard line drive down the left-field line and cruised into second base with a double. Runner on second, one out. The Red Sox one-run lead was hanging by a thread.

Isaiah reared back and got a little extra on his fastball to strike out the next Dodgers batter. “Two outs,” Jake called to the outfielders. Then he turned back to the infield, pounded his glove, and pleaded, “Just one more, Isaiah.”

The next batter chopped a hard, high hopper over Isaiah’s head. Jake and Adam ran toward second base, trying desperately to cut off the bouncing ball. But it skipped between the two infielders and into the outfield as the Dodgers runner on second raced home.

Standing helplessly at second base, Jake and Adam looked at each other without saying a word. The score was tied.

The inning ended as Hannah made a running catch of a fly ball in left field. The crowd stood and cheered as the Red Sox came running in and the Dodgers went back out on the field. The championship game was going into extra innings.

Neither team could push across a run in the seventh or eighth innings. Chris made a diving catch in center field and Michael snagged a screaming line drive at third base to keep the Dodgers scoreless.

“Jake, Adam, Isaiah, Evan!” Mr. Daley called out as the Red Sox got ready to bat in the top of the ninth. “Let’s get some hits.”

Jake gave his team hope as he smacked a clean single to center to start the inning.

“Come on, Adam!” Jake cheered, standing on first base and clapping his hands. “Knock it out of the park.”

Adam swung hard and lifted a pitch high into left field.

“All right!” Jake yelled, punching the air as he jogged to second base.

But the Dodgers left fielder drifted back and caught the ball a foot from the fence. Adam kicked the dirt. Jake scrambled back to first base. One out.

“Come on, Isaiah!” Jake yelled. “We need a hit.”

Isaiah came through, slashing a single to right center field. Jake was off at the crack of the bat, sprinting around second base and sliding into third. The Red Sox had runners at the corners, first and third, with one out.

Coach Sanders stepped away from the Red Sox bench and looked directly at Jake. “Make sure a line drive gets past the infield. Be ready to run,” the coach said.

Evan got into his batter’s stance and snuck a quick glance at Coach Sanders. The coach wiped his right hand across his chest and grabbed the bill of his cap with both hands.

The bunt signal,
Jake thought, standing on third.
Coach is going to try to win the game on a squeeze play!

Jake checked the Dodgers third baseman. He was standing several steps behind
third base.
This just might work,
Jake told himself.

The Dodgers pitcher wound up and threw hard. At the last moment, Evan squared around and knocked a slow roller down the third-base line.

Jake was off, sprinting toward home.

“First base, first base!” the Dodgers pitcher called as the third baseman fielded the ball. The Dodgers didn’t even try to get Jake at home. Instead, they threw the ball to first.

The squeeze play had worked!

“Great job, Evan! Way to go!” Coach Sanders was grinning from ear to ear. The Red Sox were ahead, 2–1!

The team flew onto the field after the third out, filling the infield with chatter.

“One-two-three inning.”

“Nothing but strikes.”

“Tight defense.”

The leadoff hitter for the Dodgers rapped a hard grounder to shortstop. Adam fielded it cleanly, but threw low to first base. Khalil, the Red Sox first baseman, scooped the throw out of the dirt. One out.

Everybody is making plays,
Jake thought as Khalil tossed the ball back to Sam, the new Red Sox pitcher.
Chris, Hannah, Michael, Khalil. The whole team.

Two straight singles wiped the smile off Jake’s face. Suddenly the Dodgers had runners at first and third, with one out. Coach Sanders called time-out and walked slowly to the pitcher’s mound. The Red Sox infielders gathered around.

“All right, here’s what we’ll do,” he said as he eyed the base runner. “Isaiah and Khalil play in front of the bags at first and third. I don’t want them trying a bunt like we did.”

“What about Jake and me?” Adam asked.

“You guys play back. If the ball comes to you, try for the double play, just like we practiced.”

Coach Sanders put his hand on Sam’s pitching shoulder. “Try to keep your pitches low in the strike zone,” he instructed. “Maybe we can get a ground ball.”

Sam threw a low fastball. The Dodgers hitter smashed a hard grounder up the middle. Adam quickly raced over, snapped the
ball up in his glove, and flipped the ball to second base.

Jake was ready. He caught Adam’s throw, touched second base with his left foot, and, just like in practice, pivoted toward first base. Jake knew his throw would have to be hard and quick. He gave it all he had. The ball smacked into Khalil’s mitt just before the runner flashed across the bag.

“You’re out!” the umpire called.

A double play. The game was over. The Red Sox had won the championship, 2–1!

A wild celebration erupted in the middle of the field. All the Red Sox raced to the pitcher’s mound, jumping up and down and throwing their hats and mitts into the air. Jake saw Adam laughing and smiling with all of their teammates, just like before.

Then it suddenly hit him: This might be Adam’s last game for the Red Sox.

J
ake sat on the edge of his bed. The other bed was stripped of its blanket and sheets. The mattress was bare.

Earlier in the day, Jake’s father had taken Adam back home on his way to a meeting. Now Jake’s house seemed empty and quiet without his “big brother.” He looked over at the Red Sox schedule where Adam had penciled in the team’s 2–1 win in nine innings in the championship game. Then he heard a car pull into the driveway and a car door shut. Jake bounced off the bed and ran downstairs. His father came through the front door and dropped his car keys on the hall table.

“Did you talk to Adam’s mom?” Jake asked as he jumped down the last few stairs.

“Only for a minute or two,” his father said. “I really just dropped him off.”

“Well, did she get the job?” Jake asked. “Does Adam have to move?”

Mr. Daley shrugged. “I’m not sure. She didn’t say. My guess is that she wants to talk to Adam and Chad first.”

Jake walked over to the living room window and gazed out. His father sat down in the living room and looked at Jake. “I guess if Adam moves,” he said, “you’ll probably play shortstop all the time in the fall.”

“I know,” Jake said, still looking out the window. “But we won’t be as good without Adam.”

Mr. Daley nodded silently. Jake turned and looked back at his dad. “You know, I wouldn’t mind being Lou Gehrig,” he said.

“Or Bernie Williams.” His father smiled.

“Or Scottie Pippen,” Jake said.

“We’ll see,” Mr. Daley said.

Jake grabbed his glove and a tennis ball
and went into the backyard. He threw the ball hard against the back of the house and fielded grounder after grounder.

“Nice play,” a familiar voice called. “For a second baseman.”

Jake turned and saw Adam standing at the corner of the yard as he had so many times before. “Did your mom get the job?” The words almost jumped out of Jake’s mouth.

“Yep,” Adam said.

Jake felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. So it was true. Adam was leaving. “When do you move?” he asked.

“We’re not gonna move,” Adam said. He held his hands open and motioned for the ball.

“Not gonna move?” Jake repeated as he tossed the ball to his friend. “I thought you said that your mom got the job.”

“She did.” Adam tossed the ball back and forth between his hands. “But when she told her boss at her job here, they decided to give her a big raise …” Adam paused and tossed the ball into the air.

“Yeah, so what happened?” Jake asked.

Adam smiled. “So my mom decided to stay. She said it was important for me and Chad to be close to our dad. Besides, I’m already on a team and everything.”

The boys started to throw the ball back and forth as they talked. “That’s great,” Jake said. “We’ll be on the Red Sox together again next season.”

“Yeah,” Adam said. “We’ll turn a million double plays.” He caught the ball and turned toward the back of the house. “And we can keep playing for the Outs championship.” He held up the ball and said, “I’m up first.”

Jake scrambled back to his fielding position.

Thwack!
The tennis ball hit the house and cruised high in the summer sky. Jake raced back to the fence and leaped higher than he had ever leaped. But this time the ball sailed over his outstretched glove and over the fence. “I almost had it!” Jake shouted.

“Better watch out,” Adam said. “I’m
gonna be the Babe Ruth of Outs from now on.”

Jake thought back on the Red Sox season, what his father had said about the importance of teammates, and all he and Adam had been through together. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll be Lou Gehrig.”

“Who’s that?” Adam asked.

Jake laughed. “I’ll tell you later. Come on,” he said. “Let’s keep playing.”

J
ake’s father was right. In team sports there is no such thing as a one-man or one-woman team. Even the greatest players need help. They need good teammates.

In baseball, many people say that Babe Ruth was the greatest player ever. Ruth won six World Series championships during his career with the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. But even the Great Bambino, as Ruth was called, didn’t win those championships by himself.

Lou Gehrig was the Yanks’ first baseman and cleanup hitter for three of the four championship Yankee teams Ruth played
on. Gehrig was called the Iron Horse because he appeared in 2,130 consecutive games during the 1920s and 30s and, like Ruth, was one of baseball’s greatest players. Gehrig had a career batting average of .340, with a walloping 493 home runs.

Gehrig was at his very best during the 1932 World Series. He batted .529 with three home runs and eight runs batted in (RBI) to lead the Yankees in a four-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs.

After Ruth retired, Gehrig helped the Yankees win three more World Series (1936, 1937, and 1938). But Gehrig didn’t win those championships alone. A marvelous young center fielder named Joe DiMaggio began playing with the Yankees in 1936. Joltin’ Joe batted over .320 and belted more than 125 RBIs in each of his first three seasons.

Michael Jordan won ten National Basketball Association (NBA) scoring titles and six NBA titles while playing with the Chicago Bulls. But Jordan never won an NBA championship without Scottie Pippen.
Pippen was not well known at first because he had attended a small college (the University of Central Arkansas). But in the pros, Pippen proved that he was a versatile forward who could score, rebound, and pass with the best of them. For example, in the Bulls first championship season (1991), Pippen averaged more than 21 points per game during the playoffs while grabbing almost nine rebounds and dealing out almost six assists. The Bulls also had other terrific players to help Jordan, such as forwards Horace Grant and Tony Kukoc, as well as guards Steve Kerr and B. J. Armstrong.

In fact, Jordan’s Chicago teammates were so good that when he took time off to play baseball, the Bulls still won 55 games without him. That was only two games fewer than they had won the year before
with
Jordan.

A star player’s teammates are important in all team sports. Many people believe that Joe Montana was the best quarterback in the history of professional football. Montana led the San Francisco 49ers to four Super
Bowl championships and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in three of those Super Bowls. But any quarterback needs receivers who can get open and catch their passes.

In fact, Montana had one of the best of those receivers for many of his years with the 49ers. Jerry Rice owns the records for most career receptions, touchdowns, and yards gained from catching passes in the history of the National Football League. For years, Rice and Montana made a great team for the 49ers.

And no quarterback, not even a great one like Montana, can complete passes and throw touchdowns unless he has time to set up and find his receivers. He has to have great offensive linemen blocking for him too.

Soccer star Mia Hamm scored more goals (158) in international competition than any other player, male or female. Hamm’s U.S. national teams won the World Cup in 1991 and 1999 and the Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2004.

But again, Hamm was not alone out there on the field. No scorer in international soccer can dribble through an entire team. She needs teammates who can get her the ball when she has a chance to score. Hamm played with such American soccer standouts as Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly, and Abby Wambach. Hamm herself insisted that Lilly was the best all-around player on the legendary 1999 World Cup team.

In baseball or any other team sport, every player must do his or her best to help the team win. Teams need the Babe Ruths and the Michael Jordans. But as Jake learned, they also need the Lou Gehrigs and the Scottie Pippens.