Although his heart was with Mabel, Joe’s mind was once more thoroughly alert. Two runs at the very beginning of a game is not much, to be sure, under ordinary circumstances. But it did not take him long to see that the team was not running right. Something was decidedly wrong even though he could not put his finger on just what that something was.
From the way the second inning began it looked as though the Giants were going to have their work cut out for them simply to keep the opposing team from scoring further, let alone the making up of those two runs.
Joe felt something of the old fighting spirit rising within him again and then, at thought of Mabel, his heart sank. He wondered, as he had wondered before, how, with every moment a torment of apprehension to him, he was going to play ball.
“Go to it, Joe,” McRae ordered brusquely. “Get out there and see if you can’t pull this team together. Looks as if this game was lost before it began. Go in and give ’em a sample of pitching that’ll open their eyes.”
Joe tried his best to smile his old joyful smile as he started for the box, but it was hard work. His muscles felt drawn and tight and the best he could manage was a rather sickly grin.
Then his gaze met Reddy Hupft’s and he was suddenly conscious of a wave of dislike and disgust that made his former resentment of the fellow seem a lukewarm emotion. There was more than malice in Reddy’s eyes too—this time Joe was sure of it. Instinctively he threw back his shoulders and his head went up.
“If Hupft and McCarney think they can put one over on me they’ll soon find out their mistake.”
He wound up deliberately, then sent over a ball so swift that it seemed but the barest second from the time it left his hand till it dropped with a thud in the catcher’s glove. Three men he struck out in swift succession and the crowd was in an uproar.
“At a boy, Joe, don’t let ’em sass you!” shrilled a voice Joe thought he recognized, and he grinned in the direction of the grandstand.
Thereafter followed some of the most brilliant work Joe had ever given the fans to marvel at, and though the Giants failed to score, he at least kept the opposing team from scoring.