Read Online Las Vegas Gold by Jim Newell - Free Book Online Page A

Mahaffy, the umpiring crew chief, ambled out from behind the plate, “here’s a guy who calls himself an umpire and doesn’t know what Rule 701 says. You want to tell him?”
    â€œArchie, you dummy, the rule says a runner is safe when he touches the base before he’s tagged out.”
    â€œOh, that one. Well, I say exactly what the rule says.”
    â€œArchie,” Molly said, “you missed one. Digger clearly touched the base before the short stop even caught the ball, let alone tagged him. TV will show it that way, and we tape every game.”
    â€œNow Molly,” drawled Sam, “you can’t use TV replays to make calls like that. You know that, surely.”
    â€œSam, we’re not using the TV for making calls. We’re using it as evidence in protests. This game is now officially under protest.” She turned to leave.
    â€œMolly, wait, wait. You don’t really mean that, do you?” Sam was clearly distressed. Protests caused reams of paper work and a trip to the league president’s office.
    â€œI mean exactly what I said,” Molly retorted, and she stomped back to the dugout. There was considerable noise among the fans when the protest was announced.
    On the bench, every eye turned to Molly. “That will set the cat among the pigeons,” she said. “I intend to shake up the umpires all over the league with protests until we start getting some real attention to the rules.”
    Some of the veterans on the bench just shook their heads, but most of the players and coaches were grinning. This red-haired woman didn’t lose her temper often, but when she did, look out! This looked like a great season.
    The score remained at 3-0 until the seventh. Tabby O’Hara was throwing well, mixing all his pitches, and finding they all worked. In seven innings, he limited the Mariners to one scratch single in the fifth. Then the Seattle first baseman caught a fast ball and belted it high into the left field stands, making the score 3-1.
    When Tabby returned to the dugout, Molly asked, “Had about enough, Tabby? You’re looking tired when you walk.”
    â€œYeah, I guess that’s enough. Sorry about that fastball.”
    â€œDon’t worry about it.” Willie Fontana had already called the bullpen, and when the Gold went out in order, southpaw Kenny Sykes took the mound. Sykes was a side-armer with plenty of zip on his fastball, and he set the side down in order. Both Quincey O’Donnell and Mac Driscoll were up and throwing in the bullpen. Molly said to Fontana, sitting beside her, “Might as well see how O’Donnell works under pressure.” So the second of the set up pitchers got a chance to show his stuff in the opening game.
    O’Donnell got the first two batters on pop flies, but the third slammed a double into right field. Molly told Fontana, “Get him out of there and bring in Mac.” She had already told Willie he, not she, would make pitching changes during the game. When they had talked about it during spring training, her comment was, “When I go out on the field, I want both players and umpires to know it’s really important.” She had proved that this afternoon.
    The rookie closer ran from the bullpen to the mound as though he was in a race. He tossed his warm-up jacket to the bat-boy, took the ball, threw his warm-up pitches and promptly struck out the batter on three straight 95 mile an hour fastballs. He struck out the side in the ninth, and the Gold had their first win in the new season. Tabby also had his first AL win, and young Mac Driscoll his first Major League save.
    The media divided their post-game interviews among the two who had made the biggest impact, Tabby O’Hara and Molly Malone. Tabby made news in another way: this was his first post-game interview, and he handled himself as though he had been talking to the press all his life. Molly refused to talk about the change