interim pitching coach, so his compliment meant more to me than I thought it would.
“He’s not wrong,” Darryl said later that night at his place. The four of us were sitting around the pool with a case of beer. “I wish you had kicked my ass weeks ago, too.”
“If she had tried it weeks ago, it wouldn’t have worked,” Rafael pointed out. He was the only one not drinking beer since he had pitched that day. “You would’ve rolled your eyes and said you don’t have to listen to a woman.”
I raised an eyebrow at Darryl to see what he would say.
“Maybe so,” he admitted begrudgingly. He scratched at the dark scruff on his jaw. “I’ll admit that like most of the guys on the team, it took me a while to appreciate that you’re good at your job. But I’m a believer now. Joel’s the best closer the Rangers have ever seen.”
“Woah woah woah, buddy,” Joel protested. “I haven’t been the closer very long. Let’s simmer down with all the high expectations.”
“My point is you’d probably be down at Nashville if not for Natalie. And since you’re not, it means this can work.” Darryl spun his finger in a circle, encompassing the four of us.
“I’m glad you’re on board,” I said. “And I’m glad to be part of it. Now for the big question: who gets me tonight? All three of you had a pretty awesome day today. Eight shutout innings from Rafa, a three-run home run from Darryl, and another save from Joel…”
I was hinting at something. After having a threesome with Rafael and Joel, I was interested in the idea of all three of them taking me at the same time. A gang bang. The idea made me nervous… and very intrigued.
But Rafael said, “I’m exhausted after today. You two can have her tonight.”
I pouted playfully. “Aww.”
Before leaving, Rafael bent down to give me a goodnight kiss. But the kiss didn’t end, and his tongue swirled with mine until I wondered if he had changed his mind. When he finally pulled away I was gasping for breath.
“Okay, now you two can have her.” He grinned at me. “Goodnight.”
As he left and I turned to the other two men, I thought to myself: this is going to be a fun season.
23
Natalie
My suspicions about Darryl’s slump proved correct. He went on a huge tear for the rest of May, and continued crushing the ball in June. That brought his batting average up to two-seventy, with a respectable nineteen home runs. His slump was definitely over.
Darryl liked to joke that it was my pussy that broke him out of the slump rather than my angry coaching. I didn’t disagree. Sometimes a guy just needed to take their mind off things with a little sex.
Rafael was incredible over the same stretch. He performed like an ace, pitching deep into games and allowing the bullpen to rest. Everyone looked confident when he was on the mound, because they knew they were probably going to win the game.
But aside from that…
The rest of the lineup around Darryl struggled. Nobody could get on base ahead of him, which meant he hit a lot of solo home runs. As time went on teams started intentionally walking Darryl more and more. Better to put him on base and get the next batter to strike out.
Things weren’t much better in my neck of the woods—the pitching staff. Outside of Rafael, we couldn’t rely on anyone. Jake Miner, our number two starting pitcher, was slightly below average. Age was catching up to him. His fastball was a little bit slower and his breaking pitches didn’t have as much bite to them.
The three rookies on the back end of the rotation were even worse. They were inconsistent—one day they would pitch like an ace, then the next day they couldn’t find the plate if you gave them a map and compass. It was alright to have one pitcher like that in the number five slot, but three of them? They were too young and too inexperienced, and the team suffered because of it.
The result was a team with a record of 40-41 at the halfway point in the season. One game under five hundred, and nine games behind the first-place Astros.
This was especially frustrating because fan support was so strong. The crowds were good every day of the week, and cheered loudly even when the Rangers were losing. It was frustrating for them to come out and support a