CHAPTER VI
GETTING THE JUMP
Neale, the heavy hitting center fielder of the Bostons, who led off inthe batting order, came to the plate, swinging three bats. He discardedtwo of them and took up his position, after having tapped his heel forluck.
Joe looked him over for a moment. Then he wound up and whipped oneover the plate. It was a high fast one, and Neale swung at it, his batmissing the ball by fully three inches.
"Strike one!" called the umpire, and the crowd roared in approval. Itwas an auspicious beginning.
The next one was wide, and Neale refused to "bite." Again Joe temptedhim with a bad one, and again Neale was too wary. The next ballwas a swift incurve that broke so suddenly that it buffaloed Nealecompletely. The lunge he made at it swung him round so that he almostlost his balance, and he looked rather sheepish as Mylert, the burlycatcher of the Giants, grinned at him.
"Had that in my mitt before you swung at it," taunted Mylert. "Gee, butyou're slow."
Neale glared at him, but made no reply and tightened his grip on thebat.
This time Joe floated up a slow teaser that looked as big as a balloonas it sailed lazily for the plate. Neale, who was all set for a fastone, nearly broke his back reaching for it.
"You're out," declared the umpire, while shouts and laughter came fromthe crowded stands, as Neale, flinging down his bat disgustedly, wentback to the dugout.
Kopf, the next man up, dribbled a slow one to the box that Joe had notrouble in getting to first on time. Mitchell lifted a towering flythat Iredell gobbled up without moving in his tracks.
"Classy work, old man!" cried out Robbie, his face glowing withsatisfaction, as Joe drew off his glove and came in to the bench. "Theold wing seems to be working as well as ever."
The Giants did a little better in the first inning, though not wellenough to chalk up a run. Curry started well by lining to center for asingle, the ball just escaping Warner's fingers, as he leaped into theair for it. Iredell tried to sacrifice, but the ball went too quicklyto the pitcher, who turned and caught Curry at second. Iredell tried toget down on the first ball pitched, but Menken showed that his throwingarm was right and nipped him by three feet. Burkett lifted one betweenright and center that had all the earmarks of a home run, but Mitchell,by a great run, got to it with one hand and froze on to it. It was aremarkable catch, and the sportsmanlike New York crowd applauded it asheartily as though it had been made by one of their favorites.
"Highway robbery," growled Burkett, who had almost reached secondbefore the ball was caught, and was cherishing hopes of having knockedout the first home run of the season.
It seemed clear that the Bostons were not to be trifled with, at leastas far as their fielding was concerned, and the crowd settled down inexpectation of a close struggle.
The second inning for the Bostons was short. Douglas sent up a pop flyto Willis at third. Barber fouled to Mylert. Warner tapped a little onein front of the plate that Mylert heaved to first. Each had offered atthe first ball pitched, so that only three balls had been thrown forthe entire inning.
The hard hitting that the Giants had done in the first session hadresulted in nothing, but it had shown them that Albaugh could be hit,and they faced him with confidence when they next went to the bat.
But Albaugh had braced in his short breathing spell, and he set theGiants down in short order. The best that Wheeler could do was to lifta high fly behind second that nestled comfortably in Douglas' hands.Willis got to first base on an error by Warner, but Denton hit into adouble play, Ellis to Douglas to Kopf, and the inning was over.
In the third inning, the Bostons swung their bats in vain. Joe struckout Ellis, Menken and Albaugh, one after the other. His fast ball shotover the plate as though propelled by a gun. It came so swiftly thatthe Boston batsmen either winced and drew back, or struck at it afterthe ball had passed. His outcurve had a tremendous break, and Mylerthad all he could do to get it. It was a superb example of pitching, andJoe had to remove his cap in response to the thunderous applause of thestands.
"Isn't that boy a wonder, Mac?" asked Robbie in exultation. "He'ssimply standing those fellows on their heads. They just can't touchhim."
"He's the goods all right," agreed the less demonstrative McRae. "Butdon't let's crow too loud. The game isn't over yet by a long shot, andanything can happen in baseball."
Allen was the first man up in the Giants' half, and he went out on agrasser to Warner, who got him at first by yards. It was Joe's turnnext.
"Win your own game now, Joe," said Jim, as his chum left the bench forthe plate. "None of the other boys seem to be doing much. Show themone of the clouts you made at the training camp."
Joe grinned in reply and went to the plate. Albaugh looked at him andthought he sensed an easy victim. He seldom had much trouble withpitchers.
The first ball was wide and Joe let it go by. The second and third alsowent as balls.
"Good eye, Joe," sang out Robbie, who was coaching at third. "Make himput it over."
Albaugh now was "in a hole." Three balls had been called on him, and hehad to get the next one over the plate. He wound up carefully and sentover a swift straight one about waist high.
Joe timed it perfectly and caught it near the end of his bat. The ballwent on a line straight toward the right field stands. On and on itwent, still almost in a line. Neale and Barber had both started for itfrom the crack of the bat, but it stayed so low and went so fast thatit eluded them and struck just at the foot of the right field bleachers.
Joe in the meantime was running like a deer around the bases, while hiscomrades leaped about and howled, and the crowds in the stands wereon their feet and shouting like madmen. He had rounded second and waswell on toward third before Neale retrieved the ball. He relayed it toDouglas like a shot. By this time Joe had turned third and was dashingtoward the plate. It was a race between him and the ball, but he beatthe sphere by an eyelash, sliding into the rubber in a cloud of dust.
For a few moments pandemonium reigned, as Joe, flushed and smiling,rose from the ground and dusted himself off while his mates mauled andpounded him and the multitude roared approval.
"Jumping jiminy!" cried Jim, "that was a lallapaloozer! It was a longerhit than you made off of me this spring, and that's going some. And ona line too. I thought it was never going to drop."
"It was a dandy, Joe," commended McRae, clapping him on the shoulder."It's only a pity that there weren't men on bases at the time for youto bring in ahead of you. But we've broken the ice now, and perhaps therest of the boys will get busy."
Albaugh was rather shaken by the blow, and gave Mylert his base onballs. Curry too was passed to first, advancing Mylert to second. Thestage seemed set for more Giant runs, but Iredell hit a liner to Elliswho took it at his shoe tops and made a smart double play by getting itto second before Mylert could scramble back.
Still the Giants were a run to the good, and as the fourth and fifthinnings went by without a score that run began to look as big as ameeting house. Albaugh had stiffened up and was pitching superbly,while his mates were giving him splendid support. He mowed down theheavy batters of the Giants one after another, and McRae began tofidget about uneasily on the bench. One run was a slender margin, andhe was intensely eager to win this first game, not only because of theenormous crowd that had turned out to see their favorites win, butbecause of the moral effect on his players of "getting the jump" on atleast four of the other teams by winning the first game of the season.
When Joe came to the bat for the second time, there was a shortconsultation between Albaugh and his catcher, in which the astutemanager of the Braves, Sutton, joined. Then Albaugh deliberatelypitched four wild balls, and Joe trotted down to first.
There was a chorus of jeers and catcalls from the crowds.
"Got you rattled by that homer, did he?"
"You're a sport--I don't think!"
"Don't blame you for being afraid to let him hit it!"
"He'll lose the
ball next time!"
"Crawl into a hole and pull the hole in after you!"
But although it was not exactly sportsmanlike, it was within the rulesof the game, and when Mylert went out on a fly a moment later, makingthe third out and leaving Joe stranded at first, Albaugh took off hisglove and waved it mockingly at his tormentors.
In the sixth inning the Bostons took their turn at scoring. Kopf sentan easy grounder to Iredell, who ordinarily would have eaten it up.This time, however, he fumbled it for a moment, and then in his hasteto make up for the mishap threw wild to first. Burkett made a greatjump for it, but it went high over his head to the right field fence,and before Burkett could regain it Kopf was on third. Mitchell tried tobring him home, but his efforts resulted in a weak grounder along thethird base line. It looked as though the ball would roll over the foulline, and Willis waited too long. It proved to be fair, and by thistime Mitchell was legging it for second. Willis threw low and the ballhit the bag, bounding out into center field. Wheeler ran in and got it,making a superb throw to the plate. But it was too late, and both Kopfand Mitchell had scored, putting Boston in the lead by two runs to one.
Joe put on steam and struck out the next three batters. But themischief had been done. Two miserable errors had given them as manyunearned runs. Now all they had to do was to keep the Giants scorelessand the game would be won.
Poor Iredell and Willis were disconsolate as they came in to the benchand their discomfiture was not lessened by the tongue lashing thatMcRae gave them. Joe, too, might naturally have been angered at thewretched support accorded to him in a game where he was showing suchairtight pitching, but he was too fair and generous to find fault withcomrades for a blunder that all athletes make more or less often.
"Never mind, boys," he said to them in an undertone, as he sat besidethem on the bench. "Just get busy with your bats and we'll pull thegame out of the fire yet."
Although the Giants made a desperate rally and in each of the nexttwo innings got men on second and third, the score was unchanged andthe game still "in the fire" when the eighth inning ended. Joe in themeantime had pitched with such effect that in the two innings not a manreached first.
The ninth inning came, and the Giants took the field for the last time.
"Now Joe," said McRae, as the former picked up his glove to walk outto the box, "hold them down just for one more inning, and we'll have achance either to tie or win, if our boobs can wake up enough to do alittle batting. The head of their batting order is coming up, but theway you've been pitching up to now they all look alike to you."
"I'll pitch my head off if necessary," Joe assured him.
The twirling that Joe did in that last inning was phenomenal. Hiscontrol of the ball was almost uncanny. It writhed and twisted aboutthe bats like a snake. Neale, the slugger of the Braves, struck outon the first three balls pitched. Kopf lifted a foul that came downstraight over the plate, where Mylert gathered it in. Mitchell drovethe ball straight over Joe's head, but the latter leaped high in theair and speared it with his gloved hand, while the stands rocked withapplause.
McRae gathered the Giants about him as they came in from the field.
"Now you fellows listen to me," he commanded. "You've got to cop thisgame. No excuses. You've got to. Show these bean-eaters where they getoff. Make them look like thirty cents. Knock the cover off the ball. Goin and win!"