野球で使う表現（３） ― walk

今日取り上げる単語も、野球用語としては基本中の基本ですが、英単語としてもごく基本的なものなので、なじみがあり、またそれ故に、知らないと読めない表現と言えるでしょう。


Walking Tony Gwynn on four pitches with the bases loaded would've been bad enough. Walking Tony Gwynn Jr. on four pitches with the bases loaded?

Oh, my.

It was that kind of day for the Braves' Jair Jurrjens and Jo-Jo Reyes, who got rocked in a 10-run fourth inning that sent the San Diego Padres to a startling 17-2 win in Monday's series opener at Petco Park.

"Today was just a bad day; I was horrible," said Jurrjens, charged with eight runs and eight hits in 3-1/3 innings, the worst start of his young career. "Everything I threw up there was like a ‘hit-me' ball, I guess – it was big, and everything was up. They're professional hitters, a professional team, and they're going to make me pay if I keep making mistakes like that."

Said manager Bobby Cox, "That's the worst game I've ever seen him pitch."
(David O'Brien. Jurrjens, Reyes rocked in 17-2 Braves loss. The Atlanta Journal Constitution. April 13, 2010.)


ここで出てくる、"walk"は他動詞です。

（投手がフォアボールを与えた結果、）打者を一塁へ進めさせる

という意味です。目的語が打者の名前になっていることに着目します。

満塁で（with bases loaded）フォアボールを与えてしまったということで、このピッチャーには辛い一日だったことでしょう。