"Three outs, ga over!"
With the main umpire's announcent, the first match of the 2014 Japan-Arica Exchange Gas concluded — the ho team, Japan National Team, defeated the visiting Major League Stars team 6-4, securing a victory to start off the series.
Among them, Lin Guanglai pitched as the starting pitcher for six innings, allowing only one hit; before being forced to exit due to pitch count, he struck out a total of seven Major League batters, including super rookies and legendary players such as Bryce Harper, Jose Altuve, and Albert Pujols.
Although the ga was over, fans and players on the field didn't imdiately leave as usual; on Japan Team's side, several selected players took this chance to head towards Pujols' direction, hoping to capture a mont with one of the greatest hitters in history.
Lin Guanglai, however, did not go; he stayed in the player's area on the first base side, chatting leisurely with Yamada Tetsuro: "Brother Zhe Ren, do you rember the sumr of 2010 when we went to the United States for exchange gas?"
Yamada Tetsuro imdiately responded, "Of course I rember, why bring it up now?"
Lin Guanglai motioned towards Harper's direction and said, "Do you rember the 'legendary genius' Kelly talked about when we were in the United States — look, that's him."
Compared to Lin Guanglai who always rembered this, Yamada Tetsuro took quite a while to recall it; with these mories, looking towards Bryce Harper not far away, Yamada Tetsuro couldn't help but express:
"Co to think of it, it's quite a coincidence — four years ago we were still high schoolers, while he was already a Major League first draft pick; now we've beco the main players of our respective Nippon Professional Baseball teams, and he can hold his own in the Major League... Ti really flies!"
"Huh? Why is he getting closer to us?" As he looked again towards Harper's direction, Lin Guanglai saw Bryce Harper striding towards him until he stopped right in front of him.
The two looked at each other for a good while, eyes wide open, until Harper, standing there, broke the silence first: "You... pitched well."
Though Lin Guanglai had focused on baseball since junior high, resulting in mostly just passing grades in various subjects, he never gave up studying English, which now allowed him to communicate smoothly with others.
"Thanks for the complint." Lin Guanglai accepted the praise from his rival straightforwardly, because he truly believed he pitched well; of course, he didn't forget to return the politeness to this Major League talent, "You batted well too, Major League hitters are indeed impressive."
In this ga, Harper, as the lead-off hitter, had two hits in four at-bats, including a solo ho run towards the end of the ga, showing a great performance indeed.
"No, I didn't bat well at all; or in other words, my performance today was like crap." Harper shook his head repeatedly, bluntly expressing his dissatisfaction with his own performance — this hot-tempered genius always had clear love and hatred whether it was towards others or himself, his standard remained consistent.
"You really pitched well..." Harper praised Lin Guanglai again for today's performance, but quickly continued, "But if there's another chance to compete, I'll definitely hit the ball off your pitches next ti!"
After finishing, he didn't forget to confirm with Lin Guanglai: "You're going to the Major League, right?"
"Of course, who wouldn't want to play in the Major League?" Lin Guanglai shrugged, implicitly agreeing with this notion, "But not now, maybe in a year, maybe two; anyway, I'll try my best to get to the Major League as soon as possible."
"One or two more years..." Harper frowned, clearly dissatisfied with this answer, "With your current ability, winning 3A-level gas should be a piece of cake? Is staying here crushing lesser teams that interesting?"
"Of course not," Lin Guanglai denied Harper's suggestion, "Mr. Harper, there's sothing called a contract, do you understand contracts? Oftentis, it's not just about wanting to leave, and I don't think Nippon Professional Baseball is that inferior either — at least, less than half an hour ago, you just lost to a team entirely composed of Nippon Professional Baseball players, didn't you?"
Being forcefully countered by Lin Guanglai, Harper's face turned a bit sour, he refuted Lin Guanglai's argunt with so frustration: "Just call Bryce. And I didn't lose to this team, I just simply lost the personal duel between us!"
"Baseball is a team sport, when losing in the Nationals, do you tell the dia that it's the team that lost, not you, bla your teammates NPB-style or what? That's not the quality a baseball player should possess!" Lin Guanglai imdiately retorted.
Harper fell silent, just fixating on Lin Guanglai with slightly resentful eyes; after a mont, when his expression returned to normal, he took off the Washington Nationals jersey with number 34 he was wearing and handed it to Lin Guanglai: "In any case, it's nice to et you, let's exchange jerseys — hope to see you in the Major League soon."
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