“You think I could borrow him sometime?”
“What you want a mean cat like that for?”
“There's this guy …” I started to tell Peaches about Rocky, but then I changed my mind. “I guess I don't want to borrow him.”
“TJ.” Peaches stopped outside my door. “Some of us are like Four Times Seven, we a little like the animals. We good at fighting and scratching our way through life. Some of us ain't. Some of us is gentle and kind and worried about other people more than we worried about ourselves. They the best kind of people, boy. Don't let anybody tell you anything different, either. Me, I was always good at fighting and scratching. It ain't done me a whole lot of good, is it?”
“You're okay,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess I am.” Peaches had a big grin on his face. “I sure had me a good day today!”
“So did I,” I said. “So did I.”
t's official. Maria is now head coach of the Elks. Mr. Kennedy had to leave for two weeks to do some kind of aerospace work in California and he gave up the team to Maria. Everybody was sorry to see him go, but we weren't too sorry to see his angles go. We all liked Maria, anyway. Mr. Treaster came around to our practice and asked Maria if she wanted one of the men from the Elks Club to take over the team.
“No, sir.” Maria smiled. “I think I can handle the team nicely, thank you.”
Mr. Treaster didn't say anything, but he gave her that smile he does sometimes and you could see that he was thinking a lot.
“What we have,” Maria was saying after Mr. Treaster left, “is a pretty good team. We've lost some games we could have won, but we're not that bad. What we need is a pitcher for the big games. Also, we have to make a lot fewer errors.”
“Hope you're not going to make a whole bunch of stupid changes,” Brian said.
“What makes you think I might?” Maria asked him.
“Mr. Treaster said so,” Brian said. “He said that you're probably going to try to make the girls the stars of the team or something.”
“Is that so terrible?” Maria asked.
“It is,” Brian said, “when they stink!”
Mop went after Brian and tackled him around the stomach. They went flying down to the ground and started rolling around the pitching mound.
“Punch her out!” Evans started hopping around them in a circle. “Punch her out!”
“Use your knuckles!” Chrissie was holding her fist up and tapping on her knuckles as if either Mop or Brian could see her.
They couldn't. They were still on the ground in a cloud of dust, Every once in a while you could see a fist come up and go back into the dust. They were both kicking, too.
Maria tried to stick her leg between theirs to pry them apart and a moment later she was on the ground too. Mop and Brian were swinging away and Maria was on top of them.
Some kids from the Pumas came over and asked us what was going on.
“It's a fight, stupid!” Evans said.
“Hey, don't call me stupid, stupid!” the guy said.
That's how the second fight started.
The third fight didn't start over any thing, Joey DeLea just punched one of the kids who was standing watching the first two fights. Then everybody was fighting and then some cops came over and broke it all up.
“You kids are a disgrace to Little League baseball!” It was the coach of the Pumas, “Where's your coach?”
“There she is.” Chrissie pointed to Maria, who was still sitting on Brian. Her face was red and covered with dust and her hair was matted down on her forehead.
“You're the coach of the Elks?” The Pumas’ coach looked down at Maria. “And you're fighting with them?”
“No,” Maria said, getting to her feet. “I'm teaching them how to slide, okay?”
“I can't see how you're teaching them how to slide like that,” the Pumas’ coach said. “That doesn't make a bit of sense.”
But Maria had already started off the field, and the rest of the Elks were following her.
Maria did make some changes. Jim used to tell us not to swing unless the ball was right over the plate. He always said that a walk was just as good as a hit.
“A walk is just as good as a hit,” Maria said, “but it's not nearly as much fun. I want everybody up there trying to get a hit.”
Everybody started swinging like crazy, and some of us even started hitting like crazy. Brian hit two home runs our next game, Mike got four hits and almost five but a guy made a lucky catch on him. Mop was hitting like crazy.
Moondance was hitting pretty good too. I wasn't. Maria said I wasn't swinging level. You know what I think happened? Jim had told us so much about hitting at the right angle that I was swinging at an angle instead of level. That's why I was missing the ball.
“Are you looking at the ball at all?” Maria asked me when I struck out for the third time against the Hawks.
“Sure,” I said.
“Maybe your bat's a little heavy,” she said.
I hadn't thought of that. That would make two problems at one time. The first problem is that I couldn't swing at the right angle if the bat was too heavy, and the second was that maybe since I was using the same bat that I was using when Jim was the coach it kept reminding me of swinging at an angle.
I changed bats. I think the one I switched to might have been too light because I struck out again, but I struck out over the ball instead of under it. The way I figure it, sooner or later I'll get just the right bat and then wham¡ I'll probably be knocking them over the fence all the way to second base of the next field ¡
Anyway, we won three games in a row¡ Not only that but the Eagles lost another game. Everybody was talking about us meeting the Eagles in the play-offs. Taisha said she was going to get herself a regular cheerleading outfit.
“How can you have just one cheerleader?” Brian asked.
“Because only one guy gets up at a time, stupid,” Taisha said.
“We're lucky to have even one cheerleader,” Maria said, stepping in between them. “But what we really need is a strong pitcher. The Eagles do very well when they face a weak pitcher, but not that good against the good pitchers in the league.”
Mike was a pitcher. Lo Vinh pitched sometimes, Brian pitched sometimes, and Moondance did too. Lo Vinh was real serious about the games. Whenever anyone made a mistake, he would start yelling at them in Vietnamese. Everybody hated that because nobody knew what he was talking about. He even talked to himself when he made a mistake.
But you know who threw the hardest? Moondance. He even threw harder than Brian, but he didn't throw the ball that straight.
So we won the three games and everybody is getting kind of happy with the team. Brian really wasn't too happy. He wanted everyone to be more serious about the game. Especially Chrissie. She keeps the same smile on her face no matter what happens.
“When you miss a ball you're not supposed to be smiling, dummy!” Brian yelled at Chrissie.
Chrissie looked at him and smiled.
We were supposed to play the Pumas for the last time that Saturday. If we beat them, we would have second place wrapped up for sure and then we would be in the play-offs. That's why we were having an extra practice.
Maria had Mike pitching to us. He could throw the ball over the plate better than anybody. She made Chrissie, who tried to bunt every time she got up (which also made Brian mad) practice her bunting.
You could tell Chrissie to swing away, but she never would. She would always bunt. Most of the time the other team would throw her out. But sometimes their third baseman would make an error and throw the ball wrong or the first baseman would miss it. Then Chrissie would get on base, take the bobby pins from her hair, put them in her mouth, and then fix her hair. Meanwhile everybody would be yelling at her to get ready in case the next guy, who was Moondance, got a hit or something. It never bothered her though. She would just smile that little smile and go on fixing her hair until she was ready.
I got up after Chris
sie and Maria told me to practice bunting too. I didn't want to. I told Maria I didn't think I should practice bunting.
“You have to help the team any way you can, T.J.,” she said. “And bunting might be the way you can help best.”
I didn't do it. It made me feel a little bad to bunt. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because the only other person on the team who bunted was Chrissie. I don't know. I just sat down. I didn't want to do that either because I knew everybody was looking at me. But I just did.
“If you don't practice,” Maria said in a voice that sounded like a teacher's, “you don't play.”
I stood at the plate. When Mike threw the ball I just moved the bat a little. I didn't really bunt at it. I did that twice and then Maria told me to go into the outfield. I could tell Maria was mad at me because I didn't bunt. But that was okay because she was just starting to be the real coach of the Elks and didn't know how good I could hit.
aturday was the day of the Pumas’ game and I was ^^ really excited. Dad asked three times when the game was going to start. I was in a good mood, but it didn't last too long. When me and Moondance got to the Academy to pick up Mop, we got some bad news about Taffy. The zoo didn't want her after all.
“What will they do with her?” Moondance asked.
Sister Carmelita shrugged. “Maybe we can find a farm that will take her,” she said. “There are a lot of llama farms out west.”
“Let's get to the game,” Mop said. “We'll talk about Taffy later.”
We had to play the Pumas, and then we had to play the Hawks. If we beat the Pumas, then we would have second place and be in the play-offs against the first-place team which we knew already was going to be the Eagles. If we lost to the Pumas, we could still get into the play-offs by beating the Hawks.
“We want to beat the Pumas,” Maria said when we got to the field. “If we do, then we can relax a little bit for the last game before the play-offs.”
“We're not going to win the play-offs against no Eagles,” Evans said. “They too good.”
“We have a chance in a short series,” Maria said. “We just have to win two games out of the three.”
“How we gonna win two games when we ain't never won once against them?” Evans said.
“We're better than we were when we first played them,” Maria said. “And we'll prove it.”
Mike pitched for us and the Pumas scored five runs in the first inning. I wasn't playing. Maria had Lo Vinh playing third base instead of me.
“Why aren't you playing third base?” Dad had shown up shortly after the game started. “That kid they have out there now doesn't look that good.”
“I don't know,” I said. “Maybe Maria just wants to let him play for a while.”
Dad's jaw tightened a little. And then he went up into the stands to watch the game.
By the third inning the score was 15 to 3 and I knew we were going to lose. Dad was right about Lo Vinh not being too good at third base. But then he hurt his hand and Maria brought in Jennifer¡ You ever see Jennifer play? If the ball goes two feet away from her, she won't even go for it.
Brian got mad and threw his glove down and Maria told him if he did that again, he would come out of the game.
“Hey, Maria, you got a great squad there!” Joe Treaster had shown up and was leaning against the fence. “I hope they make the play-offs!”
“So do I,” Maria said.
A guy came down to the field and said he thought Maria should put Moondance on third base and put Jennifer in the outfield.
“You go back into the stands and I will run this team!” Maria said in this real loud voice.
“Tell him, baby!” Mr. Treaster yelled again.
In the fifth inning we scored two runs and everybody got happy again. Maria switched Brian from short to pitcher and put Mike on shortstop. We were still way behind though.
In the top of the sixth Brian struck out the first Puma and Mop made a diving catch of a pop foul for the second out. The next two batters bunted balls down the third base line toward Jennifer. She didn't even try to run in for them. Brian got so mad he threw his glove at her. That's when Maria took him out of the game.
Brian's father was yelling at Maria. Mr. Treaster was yelling at her and laughing. I looked around to see what my Dad was doing and I saw him talking to Sister Car-melita.
“Hey¡ T.J.¡ Wake up!”
I turned and saw that Maria was pointing at me. I got my glove and went over to her.
She switched Mike back to pitcher, brought Joey DeLea in to play shortstop and put me in right field.
“Come on, guys,” Maria said. “Let's prove we can stop them when we have to.”
Mike loaded the bases by walking the next batter. Then their best hitter got up. He swung at the first pitch.
I could hear the crack of the bat and saw the ball coming right out to me. It looked like it was growing bigger as it came.
I went running in for it. I knew I was going to catch it. It came down and down. I was banging my glove with my fist. I was all ready to catch it.
It was a little higher than I thought.
I went back two steps and reached up as far as I could. The ball flew just over my glove. It bounced over the fence for an automatic double.
Everybody in the infield was throwing their gloves down and looking at me. Everybody.
Even from where I was standing, way in the outfield, all by myself, I could see Dad shaking his head. I knew what he was thinking. He was wondering how come he had such a lousy kid playing ball.
They scored one more run and then we got up. When I went in, I saw Maria talking to everybody. Then when I got to the bench they all said things like “Nice try” and “You almost had it.” But nobody looked at me and I knew that Maria had told them to say that.
We didn't score that inning, but neither did the Pumas during the top of the sixth.
I got up in the last of the sixth. There were two outs and I missed the first two pitches. Then I bunted at the next ball and hit it but it went foul. Then the umpire called me out because of a rule about a foul bunt on the third strike being an out.
The Pumas won, 17 to 3.
After the game I didn't even want to go near Dad. He came over to where me and Jennifer were packing up the bases in the old blue duffel bag that we carried our stuff in and went up to Maria.
“Tough loss,” he said.
“They're all tough losses, Mr. Williams,” Maria said.
“Titi said that you might actually make the play-offs.” Dad shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I can't see how you're going to win.”
I pushed home plate as hard as I could down to the bottom of the bag.
“I don't know who this Titi is,” Maria said. “But he might have also told you that we scored some runs against this team. If we had another pitcher besides Brian, if Moondance could throw the ball over the plate, for example, we would have a chance of at least being respectable.”
“Why don't you let Titi help?” Dad said. “She used to be the best pitcher in our league.”
“In the first place, I don't know this Titi,” Maria said. “And I think it's a little late with the play-offs starting next week.”
“You don't know Sister Carmelita?” Dad asked.
“Sister Carmelita?”
“Yeah, way back before she was a nun she used to play Little League ball right here in Lincoln Park,” Dad said. “We used to call her Titi then. And she could pitch !”
Okay, so Sister Carmelita used to be a pitcher. But do you know who really helped Moondance turn out to be a good pitcher? Peaches¡ Okay, Peaches and Sister Carmelita.
Maria talked to Sister Carmelita and asked if she could help Moondance. Sister Carmelita said that she didn't know, but she would try. So we all went out to the playground the next day and Dad put the Sunday comics on the ground for the plate. Moondance started pitching to Mop.
Zip¡ Zip¡ Zip¡
He could throw that ball over the pl
ate so fast it wasn't even funny.
Zip¡ Zip¡ Zip¡
Maria shook her head.
“Let's see how you hold the ball, Moondance,” Sister Carmelita looked at how Moondance held the ball in his hand.
“Like this,” Moondance said, holding the ball up.
Sister Carmelita held his hand still and moved the ball a little. “Try it that way,” she said. “Don't let it touch your palm. It's a little trickier, but I think you can do it.”
The first ball that Moondance threw went right over Mop's head.
“Follow through!” Sister Carmelita called out. “Bring your arm all the way down.”
Zip¡ Whack¡
That's the way the ball went. It went even faster than it did the first time he was throwing.
Zip¡ Whack¡
The next ball went over Mop's head, but after that the ball was going right into the glove.
Zip¡ Whack¡
Zip¡ Whack¡
“T.J., stand at the plate.” Maria handed me a bat.
No way I wanted to stand there with the bat. I looked at Maria to see if she really meant for me to stand there, but she had already gone over to sit on one of the benches. Dad was leaning against the backstop and Sister Carmelita was standing near Moondance out at the mound. It was as if they were watching a show or something.
I looked at Moondance and he looked at me. He had his tongue out and was wiping offhis pitching hand. Mop got down on her knees and put one hand behind her back.
“Throw it past him, Moondance!” she yelled. “He can't hit!”
“Don't swing, T.J.,” Maria called out. “I just want to see his control.”
Zip¡
The ball went outside and against the backstop. Dad looked at Moondance and one eyebrow went up. Mop got the ball and threw it back to Moondance. Sister Car-melita was talking to him, but I couldn't hear what she was saying.
You know how I felt? A little nervous. Even though I didn't have to swing at the ball, you get a little nervous when Moondance throws it with all of his might.
Zip¡
The ball went outside and past Mop's glove again.
“Give him a target, Mop!”