[謠言] Visiting pitchers can be a hoot
原文: https://goo.gl/kEd4Kp
Mounds of fun: Visiting pitchers can be a hoot
by Susan Slusser of San Francisco Chronicle
Always looking to whittle away at game times, Major League Baseball next year
might cut down or even do away with one of the more under-the-radar but
fascinating aspects of baseball: the mound visit.
為了縮短比賽的時間，MLB明年可能會開始把棒球其中最不起眼但卻很有趣的地方給減少或
直接拿掉: 教練或捕手走上投手丘。
Fans often don't notice the interactions between the pitching coach and pitcher
, or the catcher and pitcher, but there is an art to trotting out for a chat
when the opponent is threatening. And most have some good stories about
particularly bad visits or ones that went awry.
球迷通常沒在鳥投手教練、捕手跟投手之間的互動。不過當敵方壓境時，出去跟投手講講
話是相當有藝術性的。而且大部分的內容都是有好故事，尤其是那種看起來很糟的。
"You're thinking, 'This guy is all over the place, and I've got to make a trip
because he's not throwing strikes,' " A's pitching coach Scott Emerson said.
"But the worst thing to do is to go out there and say, 'Just throw a fastball
down the middle and let them hit it.'
運動家的投教: 你會想，這傢伙有夠XX的...我必須走出去跟他講講話，連個好球都丟不
出來。但是你出去後最不該跟投手講的就是: 幹，就把你的速球投到紅中給他們打阿。
"I did that once, to (former A's minor-leaguer) Travis Banwart, and before I
hit the top step, the guy hit a homer. So I told myself, 'I'm never doing that
again.' He did throw it right where I told him. I was like, 'Well, I didn't
really mean that, but I guess I told you.' I took that as a learning
experience."
我有這樣幹過一次，對Travis Banwart(前綠衫小聯盟投手)。在我走出去要把他換下來之
前，他被尻了一支全壘打。所以我當下就跟我自己講，不要在這樣做了。那位投手當下投
出我跟他講的要怎麼丟的球路。我在內心想: 不是真的要你這樣，不過是我跟你講要怎麼
投。我把那次事件當作學習的經驗。
A lot goes into the psychology of the mound visit — when to go, how to handle
the pitcher, what knowledge to impart. Sometimes a visit is simply to slow the
pace of the game, interrupt an opponent's momentum or allow time for a reliever
to warm up.
在投手丘跟投手對話需要很多的心理技巧，什麼時候要上去講話?要怎麼安穩下投手?要給
投手怎樣的資訊? 不過有時候上去投手丘就只是拖延比賽時間、擾亂敵軍、不然就是給牛
棚投手更多時間暖身。
Sometimes, though, mound visits can create confusion they are intending to
clear up.
A's manager Bob Melvin recalled a time when he was catching Mark Grant with the
Giants, and manager Roger Craig called for a pitchout against the Phillies with
a 3-2 count and a runner at third.
運動家總仔: 我還在當選手的時候，有一次我跟巨人投手Mark Grant接捕。那時候的總仔
Roger Craig下達指令要我們pitchout，而那時已經是在3-2的而且3壘有人的情況下。
"I looked over at Roger, sat there for a moment, looked over again," Melvin
said. "Now Roger is fuming. I went to the mound, and said, "Hey, Mud, correct
me if I'm wrong, but isn't a 3-2 pitchout a walk?' And Roger was going
ballistic — because he was just looking for the squeeze bunt.
綠衫總仔: 我回頭看了一下Roger，想了一下，再回頭看了一次。結果他開始有點火了。我
走上投手丘跟投手講: Mud，假如我哪裡有錯跟我講，不過2好3壞之後pitchout不是就保送
了嗎? 不知道Roger那時後是不是腦袋拍起，因為他認為對方就是要點。
"I was a young catcher at the time, so it was the blind leading the blind.
Roger is throwing stuff around the dugout, like, 'These two freaking idiots.'"
我那時候還很年輕，所以事情就有點像瞎的導盲犬領導盲人怎麼走。然後Roger在休息室發
飆，亂丟東西。就像在講: X，兩個智障。
Grant, now a Padres broadcaster, said, "Bob's all confused, he's in his crouch,
puts up his hand, comes out and gets right in my grill, still has his mask on
and says, 'Mud, what's the count?' I said, 'It's 3-2.' He said, 'That's what I
thought.' It broke the rhythm so much, Roger took the pitchout off — and I
wound up walking the guy anyway."
現在在教士當播報員的Grant說: Bob那時候很困惑，他起身喊個暫停直接朝我這走過來，
他的面罩甚至沒拿下來。然後他跟我講: Mud，先在球數是怎樣? 我回答滿球數。然後他跟
我講，跟我想得一樣。這個過程擾亂我當下的投球節奏，然後Roger取消他的指令。不過我
最後還是保送了那個傢伙。
Coaches and catchers have to know the personalities they're dealing with. Sonny
Gray is famously intense. "Most of the time when they come out, you're not
doing well, so you're not in a good mood," said Gray, who was recently traded
by the A's to the Yankees. So Melvin used to handle many of the mound visits
during Gray's first few seasons. That led to one memorable trip by Melvin at
Anaheim.
投手和教練之間的互動是需要了解對方的個性。Sonny Gray就是出名的機動派。前綠衫王
牌說: 當教練走出來的時候，通常是你沒投好，然後心情又低落。所以前幾個球季Gray的
探丘都是由Bob Melvin來處理。也導致那時在安納罕比賽時，發生件值得紀念的事。
"We were winning pretty handily, two outs in the eighth inning, I'm right at
100 pitches and BoMel comes out, and there are times if he comes out, I know
I'm not necessarily coming out of the game," Gray said last month.
Sonny在上個月講到: 那時候我們幾乎勝卷在握，在8局下2出局，那時候已經快投到100球
了。總教練Bob Melvin走出來，不過在當下我知道他出來不一定意謂者我會下場休息。
"I thought it was one of those times, and I wanted to stay in the game so bad.
I heard him say, 'Are you good?' or something, and I said, 'Yeah, I'm good.'
那場是我記得少數很想很想繼續投下去的比賽，然後我聽到Bob講: 你good?，然後我回答
說，是的，我good。
"And then he pointed to the bullpen and I looked up at him as he's pointing and
I said, 'What?' And he said, 'I just told you, 'That's going to be good,' and
you said, 'Yeah,' I said, 'No! I thought you said, 'Are you good?' I walked off
the mound like, 'What just happened?'"
然後他把手指向牛棚向他們示意。我抬頭看了他然後說: 蝦米阿? 他跟我講: 我剛不是告
訴你了，這場比賽我們要good，然後你講yeahhh。我馬上跟他反駁: 沒有我以為你問我妳
good? 然後我走下投手丘，心裡想著: 三小啦...。
Making a trip to visit A's starter Chris Smith, however, is quite an opposite
experience. He's quick with a joke even when in massive trouble.
不過跟老將Chris Smith探丘倒是另一種感覺。幾使是在很trouble的情況下他也是笑笑。
"He's about the goofiest guy I've ever caught," Bruce Maxwell said. "He'll go,
"Yeah, they're hitting me hard, aren't they? Hey, let's not do that again.' He
has a comeback for everything. It's awesome."
運仔的捕手Bruce Maxwell: 他真的是我接捕過最蠢的人。他會跟你講: 靠杯對手把我打好
慘阿，我們試著不要在這樣子了。他的情緒好像很容易就回來了，這真的很屌。
Smith said the standard line most pitching coaches provide is, "I'm just giving
you a breather."
運動家的老投手Chris Smith說大部分投手教練都只會跟你講，我只是給你喘你一下而已。
"You know what, I don't need a breather — I need Billy Wagner's fastball or
Trevor Hoffman's changeup right now," Smith said with a cackle. "Or it's, 'Hey,
what's going on out here?' 'Well, I'm obviously in some trouble. You're out
here for a reason. You're not checking to see where I'm going to dinner.'
Mr.Smith笑者講到: 你知道嗎，我才不要休息呢。我現在需要的是他媽的Wagner的百mph火
球，或著喪鐘的變態變速球。不然就是嘴砲: 現在是怎樣? 很明顯的，我有些trouble，然
後你上來投手丘這這裡是有原因的，你不是想知道我晚餐吃哪嗎?
"I like having a pitching coach give you something to do. 'If you give me your
best fastball down and away, your best slider, we'll get out of this.' So the
last thing you hear is a little bit of confidence and you have a task at hand,
and you have to execute.
我喜歡有投手教練丟東西給我做。像是，你給我你丟出最好的速球搭配你最好的滑球，我
們就可以度過這關。所以他們會給你一點信心，讓你有責任感，必須達成。
Emerson appreciates an amusing moment or two now and then himself.
"One time in the minors, I was going out to talk to Ben Fritz, I hit the foul
line and he said, 'I love you, Emo!'" Emerson said. "It just took out the sting
of what I was going to say. It was pretty funny. I was like, 'Oh... All right,
Ben, let's go get 'em!' and turned around and went back."
Recently released A's reliever John Axford said that pitchers also have to
learn their coaches' quirks. Some pitching coaches always want to stand higher
on the mound than the pitcher, for instance.
"Others engage contact. They want to hold your shoulder and talk to you and
discuss things that way, I don't know, maybe to gauge if you're trembling a lot
," Axford said, adding that former A's pitching coach Rick Peterson, Axford's
coach in Milwaukee, "was a big toucher. My favorite thing was when guys would
touch him back, so they'd be embracing each other."
While baseball officials discuss the fate of mound visits, one thing is clear:
Players would prefer to skip the routine altogether by pitching well in the
first place.
"The best-case scenario, you don't get a mound visit," Gray said. "That means
you haven't had a long inning, you're not in trouble. The best games involve
no mound visits."
Sonny: 沒有教練參與的比賽最讚了
--
"Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering,
These are noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life."
"But Poetry, Beauty, Romance, Love,
These are what we stay alive for."
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