Later, in the clubhouse, Jim Scanlon, pitching coach, takes me aside. “How you planning to face Knox?”
My first thought is, Christ, he knows. Why I think this I have no idea, but I quickly recover. “Inside,” I say. “Hit him, if need be.”
“That hasn’t worked too well,” Jim notes. “Maybe start him with a changeup, then turn loose a wicked slider. Keep him off balance. He didn’t do squat against Dan. Take advantage of that.”
When the game gets underway, I find Tommy hitting fourth, as I predicted. He’ll know I’m getting a kick out of that. There’s a man on second when he comes up. I do as Jim said, changeup, slider, adding a split. I do get him off balance and he strikes out, which undoes me enough to need a walk behind the mound, a fiddle with the rosen bag, never looking Tommy’s way. Soo
