The Heart Of The Game by Pamela Aares Read Free Book Online Page B

family.”
    “Not in a million ,” Zoe said, using the American phrase she’d picked up from Alex. “I like the behind-the-scenes.” And, if she were to be honest, she liked being up, away from the crowd. She’d never understood it, but being closed in by crowds, being closed in by anything, made her throat constrict and anxiety grip her. Not something she was proud of.
    At first the umpire’s calls about balls and strikes seemed arbitrary. But as Sabrina coached her and Zoe studied the pitches through the binoculars, she began to see the patterns and to recognize the strike zone. But her binoculars often wandered from the ball’s path and tracked over to Cody Bond. And stayed there for longer than she’d dare admit. In the second inning, when he jumped up and said something to the umpire, something anger-filled from the look of them both, Jackie sucked in a breath.
    “ Not a good thing to do so early in the game,” she said. “But Cody’s probably on edge. It’s only his tenth big league game and his first start. It can’t be easy being a rookie called up during the playoffs.”
    “Jansen’s a fair ump,” Alana said, leaning closer to the window. “He’ll cut Cody slack. But only once.”
    “Better pour me another of those magical cocktails you made, Jackie.” Chloe waved an arm behind her. “Scotty’s razzed.”
    When the Giants scored three men across the home plate in the third inning, the atmosphere in the room relaxed. For everyone except Chloe.
    Chloe shook her head as the first batter from the other team stood ready to hit in the next inning. “Scotty’s shaking off Cody’s signs.”
    The next pitch bounced and hit Cody in the mask of his helmet. He tore it off and crouched, unmoving. Zoe held her breath.
    “Is he okay?” she finally asked when no one said anything.
    “He won’t rub at it, if that’s what you’re asking,” Chloe said. “Catchers get used to taking hits. But Scotty’s throwing hard, maybe ninety-nine miles an hour or better. That hurt.”
    The umpire bent over, apparently checking in with Cody. Cody shook him off and donned his helmet. The umpire handed Cody a ball and he threw it back to Scotty.
    Scotty pulled the ball in, lined up his body and threw a blazing pitch.
    “Scotty looks like he’s surfing when he releases the ball,” Zoe said. “Pure effortless motion in that one moment.”
    “Good eye, Zoe. Surfers and pitchers have a similar stance before a pitch release,” Jackie said. “A stacked stance. All great athletes, no matter what their sport, have that balanced stance. Stacked and balanced.”
    Jackie’s brother was a champion surfer and although Zoe had only seen him surf once—when Alex had invited her and her sisters to a tournament in Hawaii—she recognized the stance in Scotty. Stacked was taking on a whole new meaning.
    “Watch Cody throw when he returns a pitch,” Chloe said. “Watch his head. Where the head goes, the body will follow.”
    “I always found it to be the other way around,” Brigitte purred in her soft French accent. “At least with my body.”
    Chloe laughed, but snapped her attention back to the field. She laid a hand on Zoe’s arm. “See how when Cody’s in a full-on squat his back is straight and the glove is level? That’s the most efficient catching position. Catchers are defensive and in many ways, one of the most strategic players on the team.”
    Zoe admired the ease that Chloe had in talking about baseball. Zoe knew polo, knew it well, and could talk about it with the same sort of ease. It struck her that balls played key roles in the games that fascinated people. The baseball and the polo ball were nearly the same size and traveled at similar speeds. But in polo, a ninety-mile-an-hour ball wasn’t usually flying only inches from an undefended player’s face.
    As Cody snatched Scotty’s next pitch out of the air, a strange worry flooded her. Now she was the one being ridiculous—she didn’t even know