Storymania - 2007 World Cup Of Baseball by Winson Thai

2007 World Cup Of Baseball
Winson Thai

On July 13, 2007, the World Cup of Baseball and Softball starts in New York City. At the opening ceremony at Yankee Stadium, all participating teams go into the field from the tunnels. One is the national baseball team of USA. All players appear ready and proud to play except for one, left fielder Jamie Wang. Being only 17, he is their youngest player ever and is their first Asian American also, thus he feels uneasy.

Wang is heavily criticized as many believe he is too young and inexperienced to be with the team, though his amazing record in high school baseball is why he got accepted. He is known to lose his temper, cry or act immature when things do not go his way and usually dubbed �little man� due to his tiny built as opposed to his teammates, but he was taller than most players on his high school team. He is just 5�7� and 120 pounds while everyone else is in their 20s, at least 5�10�, and weighs over 170 pounds. Even some of the women on the USA softball team are bigger and stronger than him, albeit they seem to love him more.

In Game One against Puerto Rico, Wang makes two errors (one of which leads to an unearned run in the sixth) and goes 0 for 4 including hitting into an inning-ending double play on a 3-0 pitch in his final at-bat in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded, dashing a potential rally for USA, who trailed 3-2 at that time. Wang angrily strolls into the dugout as the fans boo out loud and is comforted by Head Coach Ann Lowery. USA in the ninth scores three runs off of Shelley Gonzalez. The crowd cheers as all of Team USA players and coaches celebrate at home plate, but Jamie remains in the dugout feeling like a bad loser.

In their locker room after the game, Jamie�s teammates, unhappy with his performance despite the win, gang up on him wanting to inflict bodily harm, but first baseman Leonard Putin and catcher Kenneth House order them to leave him alone. They comfort him, then take him to the Plaza Hotel, where the USA teams are staying during the cup. For the next two days, Leonard and Kenneth keep Jamie company in his room as he has no roommate. On the news, USA fans make unfriendly comments about Jamie, as they are not happy too at the way he played in Round One. Leonard and Kenneth get along with him as the former has known him for four years since his girlfriend Alla Morozova is a close friend of his and the latter went to the middle school with him. He is just five months older, making him U.S.A.�s second youngest player, but still much bigger in size at 6�2� and 225 pounds. Jamie calls his family in Brooklyn one day and being the strict Asian type, they tell him he is bad and they will be furious unless he wins it all. At this stage, the pressure is too much for him, but when he visits the USA softball girls, they tell him not to quit since they really believe in him, finding him adorable due to his small nature. He is unaware of this, however, or that he will do something in the next game that will be voted as one of the best moments in World Cup history.

It starts just one hour after Mikey�s dramatic shot in the Little League Cup. Lowery sits Wang out to the joy of his teammates and their fans. USA faces China, who is up 7-3 in the bottom of the eighth, but House homers off of reliever Fang Lieu after two hit-by-pitches. That score is still 7-6. Putin hits a leadoff single in the ninth, but Chin Xiao retires the next two men to put Team USA only an out from elimination, albeit Ted Husain walks on a full count and Jacky Martinez gets hit by a pitch. Sean Lorenzo is next in the lineup, but he was one of the two players hit in the eighth and is now experiencing pain on his right ankle. Coach Lowery takes him out and being the final player left, Wang must pinch hit for him. Like Mikey, the fans boo him as he enters the field and he does not want to let his team down. As he returns to the dugout, Alla and Mikey go to the field, then the former convinces him to bat by threatening to slap him in front of everyone at the stadium if he does not (she may be small, but she is tough) and having Mikey cry since he looked up to him after he got him into Little League. Third base umpire Spencer Gild tries to tell Alla that she and Mikey cannot be on the field, but his first base counterpart, Dorothy Rossi, a former co-worker of their mother, orders him to leave them alone. They return to their seats and Wang comes to the plate. Like Mikey�s team, U.S.A. is down to its final strike when Wang sends the 1-2 pitch into the unoccupied center field seats for a game-winning, walk-off grand slam, lifting his team to a miraculous win. Fireworks erupt with the fans and Wang rounds the bases and jumps into home plate, knocking down his teammates there. USA is outhit 9-6, leads 2-1 after the first, allows two shots and trails 7-2 before scoring one in the fourth.

Jamie�s home run makes sports� headlines on every major newspaper across America for the next few days. His teammates praise him and say it is ironic he beat his native country in such a dramatic way.

Team USA clobbers South Korea 17-1 in Game Three at Keyspan Park. Lorenzo drills a three-run shot before Wang hits his tournament grand slam in the top of the fifth. After gracefully circling the bases, Coach Lowery tells Wang that he has been replaced for the rest of the game, as his mom called telling him to head home now due to a family emergency. Embarrassed, he leaves, but fans obliviously applause him. South Korea scores its only run on an RBI single in the seventh, behind 14-0, and its few fans there cheer.

When Jamie returns to the Plaza Hotel, his teammates and Alla give him with a congratulate party at the lounge. They turn to the local news on TV and people say nice things about him. Jamie thanks them for their support and time and is determined to win the cup for his team, but sadly, that would not happen.

In Game Four versus Russia, Team USA is up 3-2 when reliever Nick Goryachev in the bottom of the seventh allows a grand slam to his former teammate Oleg Levitskiy, silencing the stadium. USA in the ninth scores once and puts runners on second and third with no outs, but Russian reliever Dmitriy Berman strikes out Vladimir Volkodav, also Russian, and Putin swinging and just like in U.S.A. Game Two is only an out from elimination. Wang comes to bat, but cannot be a hero this time. Berman gets him out after ten pitches looking to end US�s championship hopes. Once again, the fans boo Wang, but he is too shocked to move even after they begin to throw garbage onto the field. Seeing this and that his teammates are in their dugout just staring at him angrily, US softball players Cathy Ohms and Lucy Jung leave their seats and go to Wang. Cathy clutches him as the pair escort him off the field. When they reach his team�s dugout, Lucy orders everyone back. The two take Wang into US�s locker room, then leave for their night match at Shea.

After showering and changing, Jamie steps out to see his teammates being mauled by reporters as they head toward him. He runs off in shame and bumps into softball pitcher Jennifer Finley in the hall. He begs her to take him to the hotel and spotting the media nearby, they run out into her car at the parking lot.

Afraid for his safety, Jennifer has Jamie stay in her hotel room for the night despite his reluctance, as she is a married mom who is nine years older. After she finishes showering, Jamie says he wants to quit baseball. Angry, she says that just because he could not save his team does not mean he should do that. He says the real troubles are the constant pressure from his family, teammates and fans to win, lack of friends and tense criticism from the public. They cry as Jennifer holds him to her breasts. She says to not let what others say put him down and he does have friends, who are those that love him, her and her teammates. In fact, she sees him as her second child. It is why they encouraged and protected him the whole time despite the risks. Then she gets a call from Cathy on her cell, speak to her and tells Jamie she asked where he was and said USA has beaten Greece in the softball cup�s fourth round. They will host a party the next day at a Shea Stadium tavern. Jennifer, knowing this is a chance to prove herself, tells him she will take him there.

She orders him like a mom to prepare for bed, then leaves to talk to her head coach. At the tavern, the girls welcome the pair, but when Jamie tells them that he plans to quit his team, they get upset. Pitcher Maria Abraham nearly attacks him, but he explains why and the girls reply his reasons for wanting to quit are bad. He asks them if they really like him like Jennifer said and they say they do as he is nice, is just 17 and yet, a candidate for the cup�s MVP award for having a record nine RBIs and becoming the first player to hit two grand slams in a cup, making him one of the greatest they have ever met. The girls then say that they cannot play the championship match without his support and beg him to stay. A stunned Jamie thanks them for their nice comments, but then asks shortstop Natalie Wilson if they could talk in private. He asks if anyone made any racist or offensive remarks about her upon joining the team in 2001 as she is their one African American player. She says yes and Jamie says the same has been happening to him as he is USA�s first Asian American player. Natalie accepts his request to not tell this to anybody, then says racism is part of life and he has to deal with it until another Asian joins his team. Afterward, he again thanks the softball girls for encouraging him to stay, but says he wants to return to the Plaza and pitcher Allison Holiday says she wants to also and goes with him, as Maria apologizes to Jamie before they leave for losing her temper.

As they ride a 7 train for Manhattan, Allison and Jamie, both single, talk about themselves to each other. When he says he likes tall, tough ladies like her, Allison scares him by pinning him to the side door. Unknowingly to him, Alla, Mikey, and a few of their friends are in the car watching as Allison tries to kiss him and stick his hands up her dress. She says she loves young, small boys like him as unlike most ladies, she wants to be her man�s protector. She asks him if they can be lovers, but before he can reply, he notices Alla and her friends laughing at him. He introduces them to Allison and feels better after they say they are proud of his performance and he should be also. He has played well and it does not matter his team is out.

Everyone disembarks at Times Square, but Alla and her friends go to Brooklyn and separate from Jamie and Allison. At her hotel suite, Jamie asks Allison if he could stay with her for the rest of the cup as she allows it, but must finish what she began on the 7 train. In fact, he never answered her question, so he says they can be lovers. She kisses him and they begin making out. Allison sits on a table at a point. Jamie pulls off her panties to go down on her. She enjoys it, but he soon stops, feeling uncomfortable about what he just did. Allison sits by him still pantiless and holds him to her chest for comfort. She says it is okay, as most people feel this way when they have sex for the first time, then lays him down, as the pair kiss more.

USA two days later starts its game against Canada at RCB Ballpark. Holiday is their starter. Jamie is excited to see her pitching, especially after the way she dominated in U.S.A.�s Game Three 17-1 rout of North Korea. They score 12 runs in the first four innings and five in the sixth and give up one in the top of the fourth. This angered its people at the US since the baseball team beat their southern counterpart by the same score at the same round, but Holiday cannot make a repeat performance. With US up 2-1, she allows a two-run blast to Dylan Banks in the top of the fifth. Canada wins the game 7-3 and is the cup champion.

Jamie is suspicious of Allison�s bad pitching and confronts her in a stadium tunnel after the game. She admits to purposely playing poor as she thought he would be mad if her team won the cup and his did not. She too wanted to make him realize it is fine if one does not win it all. He says he wanted her team to win, so it did not matter his already lost. He knows he cannot always win, but his family does not. Allison apologizes for upsetting him, but says she talked to his parents before this game and they said they are not mad at him since they thought he would not make it to the top due to his age. In fact, they are proud of the way he played and care about him a lot, shocking him. Allison then proves her love for him by giving him a soft kiss and swearing to be with him for life. Jamie thanks her for her kindness and now knows how his parents feels about him. They both return to the field holding hands and congratulate Canada of their win. As they do, an announcement is made stating Russia has beaten Japan 9-7 in the baseball cup�s last game.

The next day, the cup�s closing ceremony is held at Yankee Stadium. A lot of awards and trophies are given and to his disbelief, Jamie is named cup MVP. In his acceptance speech, he cries in joy and says while his team did not win this tournament, he has a great family, terrific friends (his coaches, the softball girls, Alla, and Mikey), the perfect girlfriend, and this award, which he cannot have won without them all. All of this makes him �the luckiest man on the face of the earth� as quoted from Lou Gehrig. Both U.S.A. teams join him on stage and shout their victory chant and he and Allison kiss hard as the crowd applauses.