The narrator laments the fact that the first-year team has its first runner on base. He feels bad for the runner, because the other first-years are so fired up that they don't want to give him a chance to advance. The narrator feels bad because he's been trying to steal a few times, but he can't figure out how to do it because the team doesn't have any coaches or anything to signal for a runner. The coach comes in and tells the narrator that it's time for him to realize that his performance in the middle school is not going to help him in the long run. He suggests that the team pitch a ball outside to see what happens, since the kid is from a school outside of the city.