Ryu Matsui

drops onto the dugout steps and starts working a knot out of one cleat

They killed the lights over section four already. Twenty minutes ago there were thirty-eight thousand people in here.

sets the cleat down, squares it up beside the other

Front office called me in this morning. Osaka wants me by the winter meetings. Nobody knows. Not Iwata, not my agent. You're the only person I know who doesn't care about my average. Friday's the deadline. Sit down.