Reading difficulty

Question

I'm reading a novel titled ' The New York Trilogy', in it, these expressions came up which never I could understand.

Please could you rewrite these sentences very plainly?

The story goes: "First two times up, Kingman hits solo shots. Boom, boom. Big mothers-all the way to the moon. Jones is pitching good for once and things don't look too bad. It's two to one, bottom of the ninth. Pittsburg gets men on second and third, one out, so the Mets go to the bullpen for Allen. He walks the next guy to load them up. The Mets bring the corners in for a force at home, or maybe they can get the double play if it's hit up the middle. Pena comes up and chicken-*** a little grounder to first and the *** goes through Kingman's legs. Two men score, and that's it, bye-bye New York."

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

leobrounPlease could you rewrite these sentences very plainly?

That's baseball talk.

leobrounFirst two times up, Kingman hits solo shots

Kingman bats twice and hits a home run each time. These were his first two at-bats of the game, and there was no one on base either time he homered.

leobrounBig mothers

"Mothers" here is a euphemism for the extremely vulgar "mother ******s", those who have been incestuously intimate with their mothers. "Mothers" is quite a lot less vulgar then the full term, but vulgar is in the ear of the listener. Avoid using it.

leobrounall the way to the moon

Exaggeration. He hit the ball so hard that it left earth's atmosphere and landed on the moon.

leobrounthe Mets go to the bullpen for Allen

The bullpen is an area in the stadium, often behind the left-field fence, where pitchers warm up. The Mets had recourse to a relief pitcher whose name was Allen.

leobrounHe walks the next guy to load them up.

If the pitcher throws four ***** to a batter, that is, if any four of his pitches are not within the strike zone over home plate, and the batter does not swing at them, the batter walks. To walk is to end your at-bat by occupying first base, tossing your bat on the ground and simply trotting there.

To "load them up" is to create the situation known as "bases loaded", one man on each of the three bases. This sets things up for a force play at any base.

leobrounThe Mets bring the corners in for a force at home

The defensive players at first and third, the first baseman and the third baseman, the corners, move closer to home plate hoping to be able to field a hit ball and force the runner out at home, preventing the runner from scoring. It is called a force because by the rules, a baserunner cannot stay on a base that needs to be vacated for the runner behind him. If the defensive player tags the runner with the ball or with a glove holding the ball, or if while in possession of the ball he touches the base the forced runner is heading for before he gets there, the baserunner is out.

leobrounget the double play if it's hit up the middle

A double play is when two baserunners are put out in a single play, usually at second and first. A ball hit up the middle can be fielded by the second baseman or the shortstop who then can flip it to the other one who has his foot on second base by this time. This happens so quickly that the runner coming from first base is out, and the ball can be thrown to first in time to force the batter out. Because there is already one out, two more will end both the inning and the game. The team with more runs when the game ends wins.

leobrounPena comes up

Pena is the next batter after the walk. A batter is said to be up when it is his turn to bat.

leobrounchicken-***

"Chicken ****" is vulgar slang for something insignificant, picayune. It is used as an adjective here. Pena does not make good contact with the ball, and it rolls rather weakly toward first base.

leobrounthe *** goes through Kingman's legs.

"The ****" is a vulgar way of saying simply "the thing", in this case, the grounder hit by Pena.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

It seems like you need to study the game of baseball and the special jargon that is used.

Also, if you are not familiar with obscenities, profanity, or other words that should not be used in polite society, I can appreciate why you do not understand them. These rather odious words are replaced with asterisks.

Reading difficulty

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions