8. The First Inning

8 The First Inning Even though Dirk was the home team, they said we could bat first or take the field first. Mr. Ott said we should take the field first. He gathered us around him. "Okay, kids," he said. "We came to play. Stay focused. Get it done. You

虽然德克队是主队，但他们说我们可以先击球或先上场。 奥特先生说我们应该先上场。 他把我们聚集在他周围。 “好吧，孩子们，”他说。“我们是来玩的。 保持专注。完成它。 你

know how to win. Stay in the moment. Play your game. Take care of business. Give it a hundred and ten percent. There's no tomorrow." Boy, he sure knows a lot of sports clichés. "Who's on first?" I asked Ryan. "I don't know," he replied. Andrea was our best turtle tosser, so Mr. Ott said she would be our pitcher. He told Emily to be the catcher. He told me to play first base, Ryan to play second, and Michael to play third. Alexia was our shortstop.* Neil went out to center field. There was nobody to play left field or right field, so Mayor Hubble said two grown-ups could play for each team. Mr. Cooper and Mr. Klutz ran out to the outfield. Andrea threw a couple of warm-up pitches.

知道如何获胜。活在当下。 玩你的游戏。把事情办好。 全力以赴。 没有明天。”天啊，他知道很多体育方面的陈词滥调。 “谁在一垒？”我问瑞恩。 “我不知道，”他回答说。 安德里亚是我们最擅长扔乌龟的人，所以奥特先生说她是我们的投手。 他让艾米丽当接球手。 他让我打一垒，瑞安打二垒，迈克尔打三垒。 亚历克西亚是我们的游击手。尼尔跑到外野。 没有人打左外场或右外场，所以哈勃市长说每个队可以有两个成年人打。 库珀先生和克鲁茨先生跑到外场。 安德里亚投了几个热身球。

Morgan Brocklebank was the leadoff batter for Dirk. She looked mean, and she looked like she knew how to hit. "Strike her out, Andrea!" Neil shouted. "No batter. No batter!" hollered Alexia. "We want a pitcher," somebody yelled from the Dirk bench, "not a glass of water!" Andrea threw hard, but Morgan Brocklebank smashed the first pitch into the outfield. Neil chased it down, but by the time he got to the ball, Morgan was standing on third base. A triple! Tommy the Nosepicker was up next. He took his finger out of his nose long enough to hit a single. Morgan Brocklebank scored easily from third.

摩根·布罗克班克是德克的第一击球手。 她看起来很刻薄，而且她看起来很会打人。 “把她击出局，安德烈！”尼尔喊道。 “没有面糊。没有击球手！”亚历克西娅喊道。 “我们要的是投手，”替补席上有人喊道，“不是一杯水！”安德里亚用力投球，但摩根·布罗克班克把第一球打到了外场。 尼尔追了下来，但当他拿到球时，摩根已经站在三垒了。 三倍!下一个上场的是抠鼻子的汤米。 他把手指从鼻子里伸出来，长得足以打到一根。 摩根·布罗克班克从第三名轻松得分。

Dirk was leading 1–0. Andrea struck out the next three Dirk kids, and it was our turn to bat. We all put on batting helmets. The Dirk pitcher was Morgan, of course. The Dirk dorks started chanting again.

德克1-0领先。安德里亚三振了接下来的三个德克孩子，轮到我们击球了。 我们都戴上了棒球头盔。 德克队的投手当然是摩根。 德克的笨蛋们又开始念叨起来。

We know karate! We know kung fu! But we're playing softball, And we're gonna mess with you! "Hey, our team needs a chant," said Alexia. "Yeah," everybody agreed. "You're good at writing poems, Arlo," said Andrea. "Why don't you make up a chant?" Well, she was right about that. I make up cool raps all the time. That's how I got into the gifted and talented program. I stood up and started rapping. Cotton candy! Cracker jacks! Hey there, pitcher! Yack, yack, yack!

我们会空手道！我们懂功夫！但我们在玩垒球，我们要跟你过不去！“嘿，我们队需要一个口号。”亚历克西娅说。 “是啊，”大家都同意。“你很擅长写诗，阿乐，”安德烈说。 “你为什么不编一首圣歌呢？”嗯，她说得对。 我一直在创作很酷的说唱。 我就是这样进入天才项目的。 我站起来开始说唱。 棉花糖!饼干!嘿，投手！呱，呱，呱！

Oh, boy, Morgan sure looks mean! Her arm is like a washing machine! I thought everybody was going to stand up and chant with me. But nobody stood up. Nobody chanted. Everybody was looking at me. I hate when that happens. I sat back down. "That chant was lame, dude," Ryan told me. There was no time to come up with a better chant. Alexia, our lead-off batter, stepped up to the plate. "You're in the driver's seat, Alexia!" hollered Mr. Ott. Huh? That made no sense at all. We're too young to drive. Morgan went into her windup, and Alexia swung at the first pitch. She hit a grounder to second. It looked like an

天啊，摩根看起来真卑鄙！她的手臂就像一台洗衣机！我以为每个人都会站起来和我一起唱圣歌。 但是没有人站起来。没有人高喊。 每个人都看着我。 我讨厌这种事发生。我又坐了下来。 “那首歌太逊了，伙计，”瑞恩告诉我。 没有时间想出一个更好的口号。 亚历克西娅，我们的击球手，走上了本垒板。 “你坐在驾驶座上，亚历克西娅！”奥特先生喊道。 嗯?这完全说不通。 我们还太小，不能开车。摩根开始上弦，亚历克西娅一投就挥棒。 她打了一个滚地球到二垒。 它看起来像一个