Flawed Red Silk 12 linked stories
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A Flawed DiamondChapter 86 free porn video
Brock was sitting at his locker talking on the phone with Meredith when the players started to file in to the room. He had told Meredith things went just as she thought they might – that the apparent focus on the piece was on the damage to property values and not the damage to human lives and that the network wanted the "scoop" on what really happened regardless of how intrusive it was.
He hung up when the first group of players, the ones who required some sort of medical treatment, came in.
Udo Jergens was with the group despite the fact he had no medical malady. He just wanted to make sure he was loose. There was a lot riding on Game 4 and he knew it. He took a seat beside Brock while Al, Wade and a few others went into the training room.
"We looked for you in the lobby," Udo said.
"I had some TV stuff to do," Brock said with a smile. "They let me cover those five blocks all on my lonesome – with only two members of the security team to hold my hand and to make sure I looked both ways before I crossed the street."
He gave Udo a playful punch on his left (non-throwing) shoulder.
Udo looked at his arm for a moment before returning Brock's smile. It seemed that Meredith was right again. The team was going to let his mood set the tone for the day.
"How'd you sleep?" Brock asked.
"OK, I guess," Udo said. "I'm a little nervous. I think I'm more nervous today than I was for Game 1."
"Why don't you go into the trainer's room and take a nap," Brock suggested. "You know, Al's knees don't really hurt. It just gives him a chance to steal some sleep without Esmi calling him lazy."
"I might do that," Udo said, nodding. The more he thought of it, the more a few minutes of rest might do him some good. It would also give him a chance to give Al the lowdown on how loose Brock seemed to be.
He wandered off to the training room just as Jim LaCross came in. He saw Brock and waved him over.
"The team said it's OK for me to comment on that shit that happened to you a few years ago," he said without preamble. "I told them I'd wait until I heard it from you before I said anything."
"I talked to them this morning," Brock told his manager.
"Cocksuckers couldn't leave it alone," LaCross mumbled. "Well, put it behind you."
"I have," Brock confirmed. "I didn't sit down with the woman who's been bothering everyone. I told the network it would be Mike Carver or no one. It went OK. Honestly, I think he was ashamed of where he worked by the time I left him."
"He should be," LaCross declared. "Well, I'm going across to give them a few minutes of my time. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being sandbagged. Why did you change your mind?"
As Brock explained his rationale, LaCross' face got angrier with each syllable.
"You know, as sad as it sounds, you're right," he said. "You were going to have to answer questions about it after the fact or before. I guess it's good you're out in front of it. I just wish they'd let it go."
"You and me both, Skip," Brock agreed. "You and me both."
The sellout crowd in Cleveland was excited for Game 4. They had been heartbroken by their team twice in the 1990s, when the Indians had reached the World Series only to stumble. Now their boys had a 2-1 lead and their ace on the hill. They had every reason to expect to leave the park with a 3-1 lead – and the inside track on the city's first claim to a title of any sort since the Browns won the NFL title game with Otto Graham at quarterback in 1964 (or four years before the Super Bowl era began). The NBA Cavaliers had gone to the finals once and were swept in four games by San Antonio.
The Indians had almost a decade of success in 1990s but had never reached the pinnacle. The city was starved for a champion and had jumped firmly on the Indians bandwagon after years of sub-standard attendance and support when the team faltered in the mid-2000s.
Brock spotted his entourage sitting in the family section during batting practice and veered over to say hi. He had already been at the stadium when they had arrived the day before and he had been in a foul mood after the game. He hadn't bothered to even acknowledge the people who had flown in from Los Angeles to support the team and him.
He greeted the females with kisses on the cheek and shook hands with Chris and Sam. Both men were enjoying the pageantry of the World Series – and they were all pleased that Brock appeared to be over the error from the night before.
When Brock had moved away from the group, J.C. paid a visit to greet people he considered close friends. He chatted for a few minutes before making his way down the line to the bullpen. J.C. and Udo both made sure to take time to loosen up completely. Neither had pitched on short rest since he was in high school. But both expected the same sort of results as Game 1 had produced.
The Dodgers, as the visitors, batted first. The Dodgers hitters abandoned the philosophy from the night before. With J.C. Michaels on the hill, a team couldn't wait for a mistake. Taking pitches from J.C. would cause a batter to find himself in a hole pretty quickly.
John Milton swung at the first pitch J.C. offered and drove it down the third-base line. The Indians third baseman made a diving stop but he had no chance to get the speedy Milton at first. Milton had stolen 38 bases in 43 tries during the regular season and was seven-for-seven in the postseason. Fred Hartman stepped in determined to take a pitch or two to give Milton a chance to swipe second.
J.C.'s first pitch changed Fred's plan completely. The pitcher had been Milton's teammate for five seasons. He knew what sort of skills the leftfielder possessed so he paid close attention. When J.C. turned his attention to the plate, his first pitch found itself in Hartman's "hot zone" or where the player's statistics said he had the ability to drive a ball.
Fred saw Milton take off from first but he swung anyway. The second baseman had shifted to cover second and the hard grounder went through the hole in the infield he created. Milton didn't hesitate at second and coasted into third, bringing the Dodgers' RBI guys to the plate.
Wade Watson worked the count to 2-and-2 before swinging over top of a slider. The ball bounced to the shortstop who flipped the ball to the second baseman for the first out. The second baseman relayed the throw to first for a double play – but Milton had raced home as soon as he saw the shortstop's intention.
The Dodgers had a one-run lead and were getting in J.C.'s head. Al Perez added to it with a solo homer to straightaway center field. Josh doubled to the left field gap and Brock walked up from the on-deck circle.
Brock saw his friend was frustrated by the way the inning had gone. He dug into the batter's box and J.C. stared at his catcher. After a long moment, J.C. gestured for the catcher to come to the mound for a quick conference. Whatever J.C. told his catcher caused the signal-caller to gesture to the dugout for the pitching coach.
The coach trotted out to the mound and listened for a moment before nodding his head and returning to the dugout. Brock took his stance again and waited for the delivery. When it came, he turned his head in surprise. The catcher had remained standing and had shifted two feet to the outside to catch the pitch. J.C. had decided to give Brock an intentional walk to bring the right-handed hitting Cesar Davis to the plate.
Brock handed off his bat and trotted to first.
"That's odd," the first baseman remarked. "He hates intentional walks. Says they show fear."
"Yep," Brock agreed with a chuckle. "He's probably afraid I'd sit down on the plate and break into tears when he struck me out."
J.C. got out of the inning by inducing a fly ball from Cesar so whatever J.C.'s rationale, it appeared to work.
Brock glanced into the Indians dugout when he took his position and saw the first baseman sitting next to J.C. The pitcher shook his head and smiled slightly but soon went back to looking at pitch selections from the inning before.
Udo did a good job of keeping the ball low in the strike zone but the Indians were able to make solid contact twice. The first was a scorcher down the first base line that Watson snagged and flipped to Jergens for the out. The second one eluded DeLeon in centerfield and bounced off the wall for a double.
Udo got the last out on a grounder to third that Josh gloved and tossed across the diamond. J.C. had no trouble with the bottom of the order: Danys Sanchez struck out and DeLeon grounded back to the mound. But Milton notched his second hit of the night – and this one actually made it out of the infield.
Hartman walked on a close full-count pitch but Wade couldn't bring the run across. He popped out in foul ground to the third baseman.
The Dodgers carried their two-run lead to the fourth. Brock led off the inning by working J.C. for a walk. Again, the payoff pitch was just slightly off the plate – and J.C. had probably gotten the nod on the pitch numerous times during the regular season.
The pitcher slapped his glove against his thigh but focused on Cesar. The right fielder connected on a 1-2 pitch and sent the ball into the right field corner. Brock was off with contact but put on the brakes when he saw the third base coach give him the stop sign but he was safe at third and Cesar coasted into second with no one out.
J.C. had first base open again but he went right after Danys Sanchez instead. The young catcher delivered a sacrifice fly to right with Brock racing home with the third Dodgers run. The right fielder made a mistake and threw toward the plate which allowed Cesar to run to third. J.C. wore a look of anger on his face when he glared in at DeLeon, the ninth hitter in the lineup. Part of his emotion was because the mental mistake had allowed a runner to advance to third with only one out. Another part was because he had issued a walk to open the inning – which always seemed to come back and hurt a pitcher.
DeLeon wasn't a power threat but he lifted a fly ball to deep centerfield. It was deep enough to bring in Cesar Davis and to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning. J.C. finally figured out Milton to end the inning but Udo had a lead he could work with.
The crafty youngster used all of his tricks to keep the Indians at bay but ran out of steam in the sixth. He gave up a long fly ball to right that Cesar managed to track down in the corner for the first out but consecutive singles followed.
LaCross hurriedly got a relief pitcher – Kevin Adams – up in the pen but decided to give Udo one more batter, hoping his best starter could induce an inning-ending double play. Instead, the Indians catcher delivered a three-run homer to left just inches inside the foul pole (which is actually in fair territory). Udo hung his head as soon as the ball left the bat but turned around and tried to will the ball foul. It didn't work and he carried only a one-run lead when Jim LaCross came to get the ball from him.
He gave Udo a pat on the back when he arrived. As was the Dodgers' way, the starting pitcher stayed on the mound until the reliever arrived. The pitching coach said it built camaraderie for the relief pitcher to see what he was coming in to protect.
"Those are on me," LaCross said. "I fucked it up."
"You didn't throw the God-damned pitch," Udo grumbled. "Fuck!"
"Hey," Brock said as Kevin Adams completed his sprint in from the pen. "We still have the lead. Kevin is going to close them out. We'll add some runs and you'll be 2-0 in the World Series."
Udo gave a nod and headed toward the dugout. There were only a few Dodgers fans in the crowd but the ones who were there cheered their starter until he disappeared down the steps.
"Don't make me a liar," Brock said with a grin as he patted Adams on the butt with his glove before heading back to his position while the reliever completed his warm-ups.
"You got it, Brock," Kevin said seriously. "I got this."
He did have it.
He got a strikeout and a soft roller to the shortstop to close out the home half of the sixth inning.
The Dodgers clung to their one-run lead through the seventh and eighth, getting only two base runners in their turn with the bat and watching first Trujillo and then Jeffcoat keep the Indians' lumber silent.
The ninth opened with a Milton pop fly but Fred continued his hot hitting with a solid single up the middle. Wade walked against the Indians shaky bullpen but Al grounded into a fielder's choice. Another walk loaded the bases for Brock.
The reliever threw a quick strike then tried to slip a curveball through the backdoor. Brock saw it coming the moment it left the pitcher's hand. He extended his arms and the bat arced through the air, connecting with the ball just as it reached the outside edge of home plate.
Trisha
- 23.02.2022
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