>>> [BBS THREAD: Opening Day: they pulled him in the fourth. Was it a fix?]
[THREAD STARTED BY: /Seventh_Stretch] 2075-04-09

/S7nth_Stretch

Eleven years working the upper concourse, scorecards and a hat with a sponsor's name on it. Not a runner, not a decker. I'm posting because I saw something Thursday, and my supervisor told me to stop talking about it, which is the second-best reason to talk about it.

Starter got pulled with one out in the fourth. Trainer out, forty seconds looking at his hand, walk-off. Fine, it happens. But before the inning was even over, four men in the lower boxes stood up and went for the parking tunnel. One of them left a full beer on the rail. Nobody at that park leaves a full beer. I've worked there eleven years and I've never seen it.

Then the in-park betting screens went dark for six minutes.

/Ledger

Corrections. Opening Day was Thursday the 4th, first pitch 1:20 p.m. The starter left with one out in the fourth after 52 pitches. The club's statement cites a blister. I have video from the second inning of him shaking out his hand, so the blister is plausible, and that makes the whole thing harder to read, not easier.

The licensed books never listed a prop on early exit. The unlicensed ones did, at long odds. Somebody made a great deal of money on a blister.

/RubyRose

I MADE A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY ON A BLISTER

/Ledger

I'm sorry. Say that again, slowly.

/RubyRose

i put a few hundred on "starter out before five" on a feeling!! his hair looked tired!! HIS HAIR, LEDGER. that's called reading a room

/Abuela_Diesel

Since Ruby's going to be insufferable, let me put a stop to it.

Six regulars from section 141 (the same six for nineteen years, they have a group chat and a cooler, yes, they are that dedicated to install a cooler) also bet the early exit. Reason: Marisol, 68, brings her knitting to every game and watched him warm up in the bullpen before first pitch. She said he kept flexing the hand and looking at his glove like it owed him money. So they put a few nuyen down. They won. They're delighted. They've been happy for four days.

Now it's Tuesday, and two men in good jackets have been to Marisol's building. Polite, no threats. They wanted to know who told her to bet.

/RubyRose

...i'm going to need everyone to stop looking at me

/Abuela_Diesel

Nobody's looking at you, mija. That's the problem. Somebody's looking for you and hasn't found the right hair yet.

/Ghost_Lake

I keep trying to make the two halves fit. An injury is an accident. A fix is a plan. If they're both true, someone planned around an accident, or the accident got planned around. Either way, it means somebody knew what would happen before the trainer walked out.

The people I feel worst for are the ones who ran the book. Not because I like them, but because there's nothing worse for a bookie than a coincidence he can't disprove. If it was a fix, he can find the man he paid. If it was a blister, he paid off for nothing, and he can't tell his bosses that. Either way, he can't say it out loud.

/Ledger

Unsupported. Though I'll concede it's an unpleasant theory.

/Ghost_Lake

The unpleasant ones tend to stay true.

/Abuela_Diesel

Two small things, both from the neighborhood.

The head trainer put in for "family leave" Friday morning. Nobody I know remembers him having a family.

And the little office on 26th, the one with the back room everyone pretends not to know about, where you can get paid in cash, has had a hand-lettered sign in the window since Friday: "CLOSED FOR AUDIT." Nobody has audited anything in that neighborhood in living memory.

/RubyRose

I ALREADY GOT PAID SUCKERSSSS

/Half_Past

Late, sorry. Marisol's daughter contacted me through a friend. Her mom is fine, she says, "just tired and a little famous." But she wanted to know if there's someone who can find out who's asking, and who they work for.