“He’s just about ready for the showers,” gibed one.
“Up in the air for fair,” called out another.
“We’ve just been stalling so far,” declared the first. “Now watch our smoke!”
In the natural order, Reis would have been the next to bat, but Thompson took him out and sent in Hines, his pinch hitter, in his place. But the jockeying for advantage did no good, for the first two balls that Joe sent over were so mystifying and bewildering that Hines, though he offered at them, missed them by inches and in despair of lining it out tried a baby bunt on the next ball pitched.
Joe had guessed his intention by the way he shortened his hold on the bat, and by an imperceptible signal had called in his infield. So when Hines laid down his bunt Renton ran in on it, gathered it in and sent it down to Burkett like a flash for an out.
Trench, the shortstop of the Dodgers, refused to bite at the first two that Joe sent up, and as they were outside the plate they went as balls. Encouraged by this, Trench decided to wait, in the hope that Joe would pass him. Guessing his intention, Joe split the plate with a beauty that Trench let pass for a strike. The next one followed, just cutting the corner of the plate for strike two.
The waiting for balls did not seem so good to Trench then, and he stooped to rub his hands in the dirt so that he might take a firmer hold of the stick. Before he could get fairly straightened out Joe whizzed across his hop ball. Trench, flurried, made a desperate stab at it, but Mylert’s hands closed on the ball even as he swung.
It was classy pitching, head and arm working in perfect unison, and the Giant rooters split the welkin with their cheers as Joe pulled off his glove and walked in to the bench.
“That’s what you call choking a rally before it has fairly got started,” chuckled Robbie.
“Trust Joe to clap the kibosh on them when they get too frisky,” said McRae, with a sigh of relief. “That doesn’t alter the fact though that those gazabos have tied the score, thanks to those sandlot throws of Renton and Burkett. Now, when we ought to be running to the clubhouse with the game chalked up to our credit, we’re just where we were when we started.”