The Contract (9 page)

“Hey, Derek! Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Derek stopped taking grounders at second and jogged over to where Coach Kozlowski was standing by the bench. Two things were odd about this. First, the coach had gotten Derek's name right for a change. Second, he never took the time to speak one-on-one with kids—unless he was going to
bench
them.

That couldn't be it, could it? Derek had played a pretty flawless second base so far and had set his mind on making the most of the opportunity, even if it wasn't his first choice. He was hitting a team-leading .565, although he had had only one home run. So what could the coach possibly want with him?

“Derek,” said Coach Kozlowski, “I know this season hasn't been easy on you so far.”

Huh?
Now Derek was totally confused. Had his dad or his mom said something to the coach about Derek's hurt feelings? He sure hoped not!

Nah,
he thought.
They wouldn't do that.
They'd want him to find his own way through it. But then, what was this about?

“I want to shake things up a little,” the coach was saying. “So I've decided to make some changes in the infield. Pete's going to be pitching today. So I'm putting you at short.”

“What!?” Derek blurted out, dumbstruck.

Now it was the coach's turn to look confused. “Funny. I thought you'd be pleased. It's where you wanted to play, isn't it?”

“Yeah!” Derek was quick to agree. “Yeah, I'm pleased, Coach. Thanks! But . . . who's going to play second?”

“Ryan. And then Pete, when I put Ryan in to pitch.”

“You mean . . .”

“That's right. You're at short from now on. We need to shore up our fielding.”

Neither of them said another word. They both knew what Coach was getting at. Pete had been making lots of errors at the most important position in the infield.

Coach Kozlowski had made a change to help the team win. But Derek knew it would cost the coach dearly. Pete had to be steaming mad about this!

Sure enough, he didn't look happy. Pete was standing on the mound firing fastballs so hard that his father said, “Hey, save your arm for the game.” But that didn't stop Pete from trying to throw the ball right through Isaiah's catcher's mitt.

He couldn't throw a tantrum in front of everyone, of course. Besides, being made the starting pitcher wasn't exactly a demotion. The pitcher had the game in his hands, after all. Still, Pete looked far from happy, especially when he saw Derek take his position at shortstop.

The Tigers were 4–4, and if they won this game, they had a legitimate shot at the upcoming play-offs. That had to be why Coach Kozlowski had decided to make his move now. The trouble was, today they were playing the Orioles, who were in second place behind the Yankees, at 7–1. In fact, their only loss was to the Yankees, by one run.

“Those kids look huge!” said Sims, coming up alongside Derek.

“Yeah, they do,” said Derek. “Wonder what they're eating.”

That cracked Sims up. Then he said, “Hey, glad you're at short.”

“Thanks.”

“Let's make some plays, huh?”

“Yup.” Derek high-fived Sims and got ready for the game to start.

It was hard to concentrate in the beginning, since he was so excited. Here he was, at short! He could scarcely believe it. He hadn't said a word. He'd just let his play in the field speak for him, and the coach had noticed!

It was a lesson Derek promised himself he would never forget. If he'd gone to the coach and complained—or even mouthed off to his teammates about it—this would probably never have happened.

But if he'd made it to his first goal this fast, it had to be possible for him to reach higher, more difficult goals—including his ultimate dream!

Derek forced himself back into the present moment. He'd gotten here by playing well, and if he meant to stay at shortstop for the rest of the season, he had to show he could handle the job.

Pete turned out to be a pretty good pitcher. He had the strongest arm of anyone on the Tigers, for sure. His only problem was the same one he'd had that first day, when he and Derek had pitched to each other on the sidelines. Pete couldn't get it over the plate to save his life.

He struck out the first Orioles hitter, who swung at balls in the dirt and over his head. But the other Orioles, watching from the bench and the on-deck circle, quickly saw that Pete was wild. And if they hadn't noticed, their coach sure had. “Take two strikes!” he told his team, loud enough for Pete to hear.

Soon there were two men on base. Each had walked on four pitches. Coach Kozlowski paid a tense visit to his son on the mound. After that, Pete hit the next batter square in the backside.

With the bases loaded and a gigantic kid coming to the plate, Derek knew the Tigers were in trouble. He also knew that Coach couldn't come to the mound again without changing pitchers.

Derek quickly jogged to the mound, realizing that Pete needed help. “Hey,” he said, ignoring the look Pete was giving him. “Don't worry about letting them swing at a strike. They can't hit you.” He could have yelled at Pete and told him to throw it over the plate but he knew that wouldn't have helped. So he pretended to think Pete was throwing wild on purpose.

Pete seemed startled to get encouragement from Derek, but he didn't say anything. He just nodded, took a deep breath, and blew it out. “Go get 'em!” Derek said, clapping him on the back with his mitt and heading back to short.

Pete composed himself. He blew two fastballs right by the hitter, right down the middle of the plate.

By the third pitch, though, the hitter was ready for another fastball. Now was the time for Pete to change up and throw a slow pitch, to confuse the hitter. But Pete hadn't been practicing pitching all season, and Derek knew he probably didn't have a slow pitch.

Derek shifted a little to his left. If Pete threw a fastball, the hitter probably wouldn't be able to pull the pitch. He was more likely to hit it up the middle.

Sure enough, that was just what happened. The batter hit a line drive right over Pete's head. Pete ducked, but Derek reacted in a flash, running to his left and leaping to make the grab.

“THIRD! THIRD!” he heard Sims yelling.

Derek wheeled and threw to third base. The runner, having assumed that the batter had gotten a hit, was already halfway to home plate. The throw beat him back to third, and Sims applied the tag to complete the double play, ending the top of the inning with the score still 0–0!

The Tigers came over to high-five Derek and Sims as they jogged off the field, and even Pete chimed in with, “Nice going, guys.”

The Tigers had dodged a bullet, but that didn't mean it was going to be an easy battle from here on in. The Orioles' pitcher had an even better fastball than Pete's, and he got it over the plate more than half the time.

He blew Chris away, but Derek had gotten a good look at those fastballs from the on-deck circle. He came to the plate ready and jumped on the first pitch to lace a liner to right.

Too bad it was straight at the right fielder for the second out. And too bad Pete struck out behind him to end the inning.

From that point on, the game was a fierce pitchers' duel. Pete seemed to have found the plate and kept his focus on throwing strikes instead of wildly trying to blow people away.

When an Orioles hitter did make contact, it was either a feeble grounder or a pop-up. Derek made a great play on a dribbler in the third, grabbing it bare-handed and firing to first across his body, nipping a very fast runner by a hair.

On the other side, the Orioles pitcher did not allow a run through the end of the fifth. Not even Derek could catch up with his blazing heater. And so the game remained scoreless going into the top of the sixth.

Pete was still on the mound. Derek was sort of surprised that Coach hadn't brought Ryan in, but not
that
surprised. Pete, after all, was mowing down the mighty Orioles like no Tigers pitcher had done to any team all season. And he hadn't looked a bit tired doing it either.

Now, though, all that throwing seemed to start taking its toll. Pete went 3–0 on the leadoff hitter before getting him on a sizzling grounder to Derek's left. Derek dove for it, snagged it in the webbing of his mitt, popped to his feet, and fired a bullet to first for the out. That made three key hits he'd stolen from the Orioles that day!

But after striking out the next hitter with bad pitches, Pete hit the following batter on the arm. Now there was a runner on first with two outs. Pete started the next hitter off with a sizzling fastball for a strike. But just as the catcher threw the ball back to Pete, the runner on first took off for second, trying to get into scoring position.

“Second base!” Derek yelled. He had seen the runner go before anyone else. Ryan at second was caught off guard and didn't cover the base, so Derek sped over to take the throw.

Pete wheeled and fired, but he misjudged the timing, and the ball almost went into the outfield, which would have sent the runner to third at least! Luckily, Derek was able to knock the errant throw down and keep the ball near enough to hold the runner.

The count went to 1–2 on the hitter, and the next pitch was a ball. But Derek saw that the runner was trying a second time to sneak a steal on the throw back from the catcher. Quickly, Derek dashed back to the base ahead of the runner and yelled, “Pete!”

Pete, who had just caught the ball from the catcher, saw that there was daylight between Derek and the runner, and fired the ball to second. Derek was set to make the tag, and the ball got there before the runner. Unfortunately, Pete's throw was in the dirt, and the ball got by Derek and skipped into the outfield.

The runner, who had slid back into second, saw the ball get by Derek and ran for all he was worth. Vijay caught up with it and threw it in, but the Oriole runner scored easily, and the Tigers were down, 1–0.

“You idiot!” Pete yelled at Derek. “You let that throw get right by you!”

“Hey, Pete! Knock it off!”

It was the coach's voice, and Pete seemed stunned to hear it. Derek was surprised too. Never before had Coach Kozlowski told his son to hold his tongue!

Pete kicked the dirt of the mound as his dad came out to take the ball from him and give it to Ryan. Then, to Derek's shock, Coach sent his son to the bench and brought out Elliott to play second!

Jeez!
thought Derek. He had never thought he'd see that happen. He just hoped having Elliott, who'd never played in the infield, at second for one more out didn't come back to cost the Tigers.

Luckily, Ryan got the kid at bat to ground out to first, ending the inning. Now the Tigers had three outs to get a run and save their play-off hopes.

Derek grabbed a bat and was headed out to the on-deck circle when he heard Pete mutter something as he passed by. “What did you say?” Derek asked him, turning.

“I said I heard that you think you're gonna be shortstop for the New York Yankees someday.”

“So?”

“You stink at shortstop, Jeter. You'll never play in the pros at any position, let alone short.”

Derek had heard worse, but he still felt a wave of rage go through him, followed by another wave of doubt. Was Pete just doing a “sour grapes” thing? Or had that error really been Derek's, not Pete's?

Was he kidding himself about being the Yankees' shortstop someday? Or was he just letting somebody else's bitterness throw him off track? Derek forced himself to shake off all the negative thoughts and turn his attention back to the game.

The Orioles' starter was still pitching, and he struck out Chris for the third time that day. Then Derek came to the plate, expecting a fastball, and was amazed when he swung right through the first slow pitch of the day!

“He should have saved that for strike three,” Derek muttered under his breath, getting back into the batter's box. He rapped the next pitch up the third baseline. The third baseman made an incredible play, but his throw was wild, and Derek wound up safe at first with one out.

Pete came to the plate, and Derek had a decision to make. If he tried to steal second and failed, Pete would never let him hear the end of it. On the other hand, the Tigers hadn't made much contact today. If Derek didn't get himself into scoring position, they probably had no chance to score.

Derek wanted to run on the first pitch, but that nagging sliver of doubt froze him, and he never made his move. The same thing happened on the next pitch. And then Pete hit a soft liner that the pitcher snagged. Derek found himself still at first, and now there were two outs!

He took off on the very next pitch, determined to give his team at least a shot at scoring a run. He slid in just ahead of the throw, and was about to start clapping his hands when he heard the ump say, “OUT!”

“What?”
Derek couldn't believe it. “I was safe, Ump!” he pleaded. “Safe by a mile!”

“No, you weren't,” the ump insisted, although Derek
knew
he'd been safe. He'd tried to get them a run and had wound up making the last out of the game!

“NO!” he shouted. “No! I was safe! Aw, man . . .”

As he made his way back to the bench, eyes on the ground, he heard Pete calling his name. “Nice work, Jeter,” he said bitterly. “You just cost us our entire season.”

• • •

Derek's family was waiting for him in the bleachers, and they looked concerned.

“I was
safe
!” he told them. “Did you see how badly the ump missed that play?”

His mom put a hand on his shoulder. “Never mind, old man,” she said. “You played a great game against a really tough team.”

“Dad, you saw it, didn't you?”

“I saw it,” his dad confirmed. “Derek, I'm not the umpire, and neither are you.”