来源: The USA Today
网址: https://tinyurl.com/ybglphxy
Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel was tipping his pitches. Eric Gagne let Boston
know.
红袜守护神Craig Kimbrel投球动作被破解。Eric Gagne通知红袜球团
BOSTON — He is the greatest closer in Los Angeles Dodgers’ history, revered
in Los Angeles for his magnificence, and considered one of their all-time
legends.
他是洛杉矶躲人球团最伟大的守护神，他的伟大在洛杉矶备受尊崇，被认为是他们有史以
来几个伟大传奇人物之一。
Now, Eric Gagne might be as welcome as an I-5 freeway pileup in Los Angeles
if the Dodgers’ don’t win their first World Series championship since 1988.
但是现在，若是躲人今年没拿下自1988年以来的第一座世界大赛冠军，Eric Gagne的受欢
迎程度大概会变得跟洛杉矶的高速公路大塞车差不多。
Gagne, 42, became the most welcome snitch in Boston since Whitey Bulger,
secretly informing his good friend, Red Sox manager Alex Cora, that his
closer, Craig Kimbrel, was tipping his pitches.
42岁的Gagne，成为了自Whitey Bulger之后最受波士顿人喜爱的报马仔，他偷偷的通知了
他的好朋友，红袜总教练Alex Cora，跟他说红袜守护神Craig Kimbrel的投球动作被破解
了。
Cora jumped on the information, passed it along to his pitching coach and
video staff, and voila! his struggling closer is now fixed.
Cora得到消息后大惊，赶紧把这消息通知投球教练跟摄影组，然后当当当，他挣扎不已的
守护神就修好了。
“We feel confident that he’s back," Cora said, “and that he’s going to
dominate.”
“我们很有信心的说他回来了，”Cora说。“他会将会主宰这次系列战。”
Yep, just in time for the World Series when the Red Sox host the Dodgers in
Game 1 beginning Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
是的，刚好来得及在世界大赛第一战星期二在芬威主场开战。
Pardon the Dodgers for not getting nostalgic and enlisting Gagne to throw out
a ceremonial first pitch when the series shifts to Dodger Stadium, wishing he
simply would have kept his thoughts to himself.
原谅躲人没有请Gagne来替躲人主场的世界大赛开球，希望Gagne就把他的想法藏在心里。
“I’ve got a lot of friends around the league," Cora said, “the network is
a big one. People are always paying attention. They always text or call and
we run it through the coaching staff."
“我在联盟里有很多朋友，”Cora说。“这人际网络很大，这些人都很注意，他们会传简
讯或是打电话，然后我们会把这些讯息传给教练团。”
Cora didn’t want to publicly identify Gagne for fear of the backlash in Los
Angeles, but when asked to identify the area code that originated the text
message, the one that could be responsible for the Red Sox’s fourth World
Series title in 15 years, he broke under the pressure.
Cora没在公开场合把Gagne讲出来，怕这会在洛杉矶引起反冲，但是被问到那个讯息的电话
区域码是多少的时候，那个有可能事关红袜在15年以来的第四冠的讯息，他在备受压力下
讲出来了。
“Montreal."
“蒙特娄。”
Ah, yes, the hometown of one Eric Serge Gagne, who was a teammate with Cora
for seven seasons, six in Los Angeles, and one in Boston.
对啦，那是Eric Serge Gagne的家乡，他跟Cora一起打球七年，六年在洛杉矶，一年在波
士顿。
“Sometimes," Cora said, “you get so focused on mechanics that you forget
about the simple stuff. He was tipping his pitches for two weeks."
“有时候，”Cora说，“有时候太过注意在投球机制上，却忘记最基本的东西。他在过去
两周的投球动作都被人破解。”
And, sometimes, it pays to have great friends.
有时候，有好朋友真的是有好处。
Cora and the Red Sox staff knew something strange was going on during the
postseason. Kimbrel was getting his saves, but getting clobbered at the same
time. The Yankees and Astros were laying off his slider, and whacking his
fastball all over the ballpark.
Cora跟教练团知道在季后赛有些事情怪怪的，Kimbrel有拿下救援，但是同时间也常常被砲
轰，洋基跟太色放掉他的滑球，抓他的快速球打得满场飞。
They just couldn’t figure out why.
他们只是不知道到底发生了什么。
It turned out, Gagne detected, that Kimbrel’s glove was pulled tighter to
his beard when he threw his breaking ball than his fastball. He was also
turning his head toward home plate and picking up the catcher’s target
earlier on the fastball than the breaking ball.
事实是，Gagne发现，Kimbrel在要丢变化球的时候会把手套靠着他的胡子比丢速球来得更
靠近。他在转头看本垒板看捕手暗号的时候，若是要投快速球，这些动作会比较要丢变化
球来的快。
“You could see the difference in the swings they were taking, that’s for
sure," Red Sox starter Rick Porcello told USA TODAY Sports. “They weren’t
swinging at everything, and taking good hacks. Once he found out he was
tipping his pitches, all of a sudden the fastball was getting on them, and
they were swinging and missing at the breaking ball."
“你可以看到他们在挥击上的差别，那是可以确定的，”红袜先发Porcello跟记者说。
“他们不是每一球都打。当他发现他的投球动作被识破，很快的快速球就又抓到他们了，
然后他们会挥击变化球然后挥空。”
Kimbrel is one of the greatest closers in the game, with the second-highest
career save percentage in Major League Baseball history, (90.7%, 333 saves in
367 opportunities). He yielded the third-lowest opponent’s batting average
(.146) and was fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (13.66).
Kimbrel是棒球里几位伟大守护神之一，史上救援成功率第二(367次上场，333救援成功，
90.7趴)，对手打击率第三低(.146)，每九局三振次数排第五位(13.66次)
Suddenly, the Yankees and Astros were treating him like a human piñata. He
didn’t blow a save, but he gave up at least one run in each of his first
four postseason appearances against the Yankees and Astros, yielding six
hits, five earned runs and five walks in 5⅓ innings. He threw 41 breaking
balls, and only nine times did anyone bother to swing. Just five missed.
突然间，洋基跟太色把Kimbrel打的跟人体糖果包一样，他没失掉救援点，但是在前四次季
后赛上场他都至少掉一分，总计5⅓局，被打六支安打，掉了5分，5次保送。总共丢了41个
变化球，只有九次有人挥击，里面只有5个是挥空。
“It happens," Porcello said. “You’re getting hit around, and you don’t
even know why. It could be anything from you taking two deep breaths before a
fastball, and one deep breath before a breaking ball.
“这种事情会发生，”Porcello说。“被打得晕头转向，但是不知道为什么。有时候有可
能就是要投快速球前会深呼吸两次，然后投变化球是深呼吸一次这种小动作。”
“Tipping is one of those things that can be tough to figure out. When you’
re in the heat of a moment, your body is doing certain things for a reason,
and you don’t always feel it."
“投球动作被识破是几件棒球里很难去发觉原因的，当在紧张的时候，身体会因为某些原
因做了某些事，但是自己不会察觉。”
Cora and the Red Sox staff never saw it either. It took Gagne, sitting on his
couch pulling for Cora, to discover the flaw. He sent a text message to Cora
immediately after Game 4. Cora had Gagne and Kimbrel exchange text messages.
Soon, Red Sox pitching coach Dana LeVangie and the video staff got involved.
Cora跟红袜教练团也没看到，是Gagne坐在沙发上看才发现这个问题，他马上在第四战后传
短信给Cora。Cora，Gagne跟Kimbrel开始互传短信，很快的红袜投手教练Dana LeVangie跟
影像同仁也开始参予。
They moved Kimbrel’s hands towards his belt to start his delivery, and just
like that, the Astros had no idea what was coming.
他们把Kimbrel要投球前的手拉到皮带的位置，然后就这样，太色球员完全不知道接下来发
生了什么。
“When he was warming up and he had his hands at the belt,” Cora said, “I
looked at the [Houston] dugout and there was a lot of looking around. I was
like, ‘yeah. All of a sudden they were taking fastballs right down the
middle. They took some bad swings on sliders.
“当他开始热身然后把手放在皮带位置时，”Cora说。“我看着太色休息区，看到很多人
在看来看去，我那时候是想，‘哈~没错！’然后他们开始打快速球，他们开始被滑球骗
到。”
“We just played two of the most clever teams in the big leagues. He’s
probably been doing it for a while. Too bad that it took us so long to figure
it out."
“我们刚跟联盟里两支最聪明的队伍比赛，他可能这样子做有一段时间了，花了我们这么
长的时间才发现真的很糟糕。”
Now, Kimbrel doesn’t have any fear about espionage, or worry that he became
hittable overnight. He can relax now, letting his sheer talent take over in
the World Series.
现在，Kimbrel不用担心是不是有内奸，或是担心他一夜之间就变成喂球手，他现在可以
轻松一下，就让他的天赋主宰世界大赛。
“I've been battling it for a while and couldn't find a good place to not
hide it," Kimbrel said. “I was getting a little frustrated, mad at myself
just because I couldn’t get out of some things.
“我已经挣扎好一段时间，找不到好的方式，”Kimbrel说。“我有点沮丧，对我自己很
生气，因为我找不出原因。”
“It just feels good to throw some pitches and have them not know what was
coming."
“现在可以投一些球让他们抓不到，不知道我要投什么球真的很爽。”
Just in the nick of time.
刚好来的及。
“I’m sorry Boston that I gave quite a few of you heart attacks the last few
days," Kimbrel said.
“我对于红袜粉很抱歉，我让大家过去几天心脏病发很多次，”Kimbrel说。
“But we’re all good now."
“但是我们现在很好了。”
And for Eric Gagne, well, he’s never been more popular in Boston.
至于对Eric Gagne呢? 他在波士顿已经受欢迎到不行了。