the pitchers met with the pitching coaches before the game to review Arizona’s lineup, but what they knew on paper could change at any time. A hitter might slide into a slump or suddenly get into the zone and start connecting with every pitch. Pitchers had to be able to adapt their strategy as the game wore on. It was tedious and necessary, to Will’s thinking.
His teammates clearly didn’t agree with the “necessary” part. They loved to rib him for his note taking. Despite him pointing out that they all had issues with their consistency and could surely benefit from some note taking of their own, they ignored him.
That was why their bullpen was struggling so much, Will thought. It was a point of contention among the team. The starters were staying in the games longer than they should to avoid using the relief pitchers. It was taking a toll on them. When the coaches mentioned it to the relief pitchers, the relievers pointed out that they had to be ready to pitch in every game as opposed to the starters who only pitched every four or five games, and they needed to get off their backs. Will imagined it was only a matter of time before the team’s owner called a Come to Jesus meeting with all of them if they didn’t figure out a way to gel and improve as a unit.
He couldn’t understand the bullpen’s resistance to putting forth some effort to win more games. He took his role as the closer seriously, and that meant giving every game his full attention. After all, he was called in when the rest of the team had been busting their asses to win the game. One bad pitch could blow all the work they had done. It was arguably the role with the most pressure to perform perfectly every time.
Which was why when he heard Eddie say, “Who knew plumbers charged so fucking much?” he almost turned and snapped at him.
His dad’s voice in his head stopped him. They’d had numerous conversations about the bullpen situation.
“You need to lead by example,” Frank had said.
“They throw their middle fingers up at my example, Dad.”
“That’s because they don’t respect you yet. You need to connect with them. Let them see you’re someone worth respecting and following.”
So far, Will hadn’t found a way to do that. He was still in the No Man’s Land between the young, childless rookies and the older married players. Their conversations rarely touched on anything he felt he could contribute to.
Plumbing, however, was another matter.
Tamping down on his irritation, he turned to Eddie. “What problem are you having?”
Eddie looked around before pointing to himself. “You talkin’ to me?”
“Yeah. Why do you need a plumber?”
“You’re missing a pitch, Campbell,” pointed out Duane Fry, one of the more seasoned relievers.
“Uh-oh,” Tony Descalso said. He clutched at his chest as though his heart had stopped.
Will ignored them and kept his focus on Eddie until the catcher answered.
“Downstairs toilet won’t stop running,” he said. “My water bill was twice what it should’ve been last month.”
“What kind of toilet?”
Eddie’s shoulders lifted. “I don’t know, man. A toilet’s a toilet.”
That wasn’t true, but Will saw no reason to get into it. If Eddie had anything but a standard toilet, he wouldn’t have said that.
“You probably just need to adjust the float,” he said. Seeing Eddie’s blank stare, he explained, “It’s in the toilet tank. It controls the water level. If it’s set too high, the water will spill into the overflow tube and the valve won’t shut off.”
Silence descended on the bullpen. Everyone stopped and paused to look at Will with expressions ranging from interested to confused.
“It sounded like English,” Tony said to Duane, “but I didn’t understand a word Campbell just said.”
Duane shook his head.
“Look, it’s an easy fix,” Will said. “In the worst-case scenario, you need to buy a replacement valve. You can change it yourself in fifteen minutes.”
Once again pointing at himself, Eddie said, “I can?”
“Yeah.”
“No shit?”
Will nodded.
“How’d you learn all that?” asked Carlos. “Your old man a plumber or somethin’?”
“General contractor,” Will replied, lifting his binoculars to watch Cole’s next pitch. “We renovate and flip properties together.”
Tony scooted his chair closer to Will’s. “You know how to do any electrical work?”
“Some.” Will lowered the binoculars and made a note to pitch Freddy Cassetta low and outside. The guy couldn’t lay off them. “Why?”
“My kid brother thought it’d be hilarious to record himself swinging like Tarzan from my ceiling fan.