~ Chapter Forty ~

The Mariners continued their perfect playoff streak into the League Championship Series against New York, winning the first two games at home.  The hype was building as they headed to New York for at least two, possibly three games. 

It wasn't just the fact the Mariners were unbeaten in the playoffs - the New York sporting world was positively dizzy that Nick Carter was coming back to play his former team in a playoff atmosphere.  He had been their rising star, until he had demanded to leave, and now there was nothing Yankees fans would like to see more than Nick Carter lose a shot at the World Series at the hands of their team.  The irony would be too great. 

The Mariners knew what they were up against, especially Nick.  He knew everyone in the Big Apple was just waiting for him to crack.  He knew the fan reaction would be ten times worse than the other two trips to New York.  Most of all, he knew this was something his father was taking very seriously.

Once the playoffs started, Fox Sports employed Bob Carter as a color commentator for their exclusive telecasts of all major league baseball playoff games.  Working for a national TV network, Carter was supposed to be unbiased in his calling of the games, but anyone and everyone knew that Bob was a Yankee, and he was rooting for the Yankees.  The fact that his son was playing on the opposing team was creating controversy that the New York media was lapping up.

Nick had seen his father on TV when the Mariners arrived in New York.  The host was asking Bob if he had a choice, would he prefer to see the Yankees in the World Series, or Nick in the World Series, and Bob had answered instantly, without even thinking about it, "The Yankees." 

It wasn't a friendly competition.  Nick had every intention of going to the World Series, just to prove his father wrong.  It wasn't about beating the Yankees - it was about beating one former Yankee.

~*~

"Wow..." Howie craned his neck and peered out of the dugout at the sold out stadium of Yankees fans, all of them booing Nick as loudly as they could.  "It's nice to know when someone hates you, huh?"  He was just glad it wasn't him.  Even though he knew it was more of a compliment when the road fans booed, he didn't like the feeling.  He wondered briefly if it bothered Nick at all.  Some players enjoyed being booed on the road.  Howie wasn't one of them.

"Dang, I wish people would boo me on the road."  Brian complained laughingly. 

Kevin smirked slightly - a major achievement, given the mood he had been in the last few days.  It was the fifth inning and the Mariners were losing 4-0.  When Howie took that into account, suddenly Kevin's mood looked pretty good.  It could be a lot worse.

Nick swung wildly at the pitch at home plate, missing it completely.

"Yeah, that's the way to show ‘em, buddy."  Brian said dryly.

"You just shut up, Mr. ‘I'm hitting .700.'" Kevin retorted.  "We don't need your goody two shoes-ness right now."

Brian batted his eyelashes.  "Goody two shoes-ness?  What's with that - jet lag?  You're makin' up words, Kevin."  His gaze traveled from the dugout up to the field as Nick's bat and the ball connected loudly enough that it was heard through the crowd noise, and Brian jumped from the dugout bench onto the littered floor, arms flying, yelling at the top of his lungs.  "Good hit!  Good hit!"

The rest of the dugout rose to their feet as well, watching the ball sail out towards the left field wall, finally landing in the bleachers.  The crowd booed even louder, if that was possible, and assorted garbage, programs and beer cups began to fly onto the field as Nick rounded the bases, high fiving Luis Alicea at home plate.

"Awesome!"  Brian couldn't just greet Nick with the standard high five - he had to body slam him in the chest as hard as he could. 

Nick stepped back in surprise, then patted Brian on the shoulder.  "Okay... calm down now."

Kevin reached up for his high five.  "What kind of pitch was that?"

Howie sighed.  Kevin always had to know what kind of pitch it was.  There was such a thing as over-analyzing and Kevin had reached that point long ago.

Nick shrugged and sprawled across the dugout bench next to Kevin.  "I don't know.  Some kind of breaking pitch that didn't break, I guess."

"Do you think it was a slider?"  Kevin said with great interest.

"Yeah."  Nick leaned back and rolled his eyes at Howie from behind Kevin's head.  "It must have been, Kevin."

"That's funny..."  Kevin pondered.  "Cause Weber's never thrown a slider before..."

Brian snickered.  "Lighten up, Kevin."

~*~

"We go to the top of the ninth - the Yankees are still leading 4-2."  Niehaus started off the ninth inning.  "First up for the Mariners is catcher Kevin Richardson.  He's 0 for 3 tonight, and 0 for 13 in the series.  Here's the pitch, and it's low and outside, ball one. 

"The big story of tonight's game is Nick Carter.  Coming back to New York, against his former team, he's 3 for 4 tonight with a home run and a double, and both RBI's.  The pitch to Richardson - swung on and fouled down the first baseline.

"Second baseman Brian Littrell is on deck.  If the Mariners win this series, Littrell has to be the strongest candidate for MVP.  Here's the pitch - Richardson sends a ground ball to shortstop, Gaines throws him out easily, one out. 

"Littrell steps up to the plate, and that's exactly what he's done for the Mariners in both the division series and the LCS.  That's the beauty of the playoffs - it's not always the superstars that get to be the heroes.  Given everything else Brian's going through right now, I'm completely amazed that he's playing the way he is.  One would think it would distract him from the game, but he's back stronger than ever. 

"Here's the pitch, and... that one got away from Weber!  Littrell leaps back out of the way, ending up on his backside in the batters box, and the ball skips back into that large foul area behind the plate.  Brian's okay, the Mariners bench is giving him a bad time about his... rather ungraceful bail out."  Niehaus chuckled.  "He'll hear about that one for a while.

"He's back up at the plate again.  The 1-0 pitch... lined into right field, and Littrell racks up another hit."