Heat

When Mr. Minaya drops Michael off after their game, Mr. Lima and Mrs. Cora wait for him in front of his building. Usually, on the sidewalk in front of the building, the residents sat comfortably and “[watched] the world go by” (73). Seeing Mr. Lima there, though, makes “his heart [race] inside him” (73).

As Mrs. Cora enthusiastically greets him with hugs and kisses, she whispers to him that he should “say as little as possible” (74). Mr. Lima explains who he is and makes a big deal out of Michael’s heroic throw, although Michael explains that he “just got lucky” (74).

When Mr. Lima explains that he had trouble “[tracking Michael] down,” Michael avoids him by claiming that he “was running after [his] girlfriend” (75), which surprises Mrs. Cora. Michael is aware that all of his neighbors are quiet and that he can only hear the radio broadcast around him. Suddenly, he yawns, like he does on the mound when he wants to seem relaxed. This time, though, he uses the yawn to tell Mr. Lima that he is too tired to talk.

Mr. Lima explains his mission, to invite Michael and his family and Mrs. Cora to the precinct, but Michael tries to skirt the issue humbly. Mr. Lima insists that they really want to “shine a spotlight on a crimestopper” (76) and urges Michael to speak to his father, then reach out via the numbers on Mr. Lima’s card to set up a time. Michael, worried, turns to Mrs. Cora and asks her what they will do. For Mrs. Cora, “eat[ting]” is the thing to do: “Mrs. C thought food could cure just about anything” (77).

Carlos and Michael decide not to do anything about Mr. Lima’s request. Still, Manny comes up with a plan to ask Mr. Ruiz, Michael’s superintendent, to pretend to be his father for the meeting. Michael doesn’t like the plan, though, because he says that “[they] lie enough already” (80). Michael senses they know about his family whenever someone says that “your father must be soooo proud” (80).

After Michael, worrying about Carlos’ ability to pay for all the snacks he and Manny eat, jabs at his friend for snacking, the two shift their attention to their next game. “Maybe Ellie would be there” (80), Michael thinks, and the two set out for Macombs Dam Park.

Michael starts the game. The Clippers’ opponent, Grand Concourse, lacked their three best players the last time they played the Clippers, and the Clippers won 14-0 in the fourth inning under the “slaughter rule” (81). Mr. Minaya encourages the boys to take the game seriously, as both teams are close to the playoffs and no one knows what to expect.

After the first inning, the Clippers are ahead 7-0. Mr. Minaya announces that he will let Michael pitch one more inning, then let Maria pitch “for the first time all season” (82). In the second inning, Michael spots Ellie far away. He loses his focus when he “[kicks] his right leg even higher than usual, El Grande high” (82), and falls, laughing, to the ground. When he looks to see if Ellie noticed, he sees her imitating him, also laughing, out beyond the outfield.

The team wins, and even though Maria lets in some runs, she pitches “better than some of the guys” (84). But the mood dampens when Mr. Gibbs, the Grand Concourse coach, calls Mr. Minaya over to talk. Mr. Minaya relays to Michael the information he learns, that the Westchester South team had demanded a copy of Michael’s birth certificate.

Michael’s father had only given the league Michael’s baptism certificate, and “nobody had ever questioned the authenticity of one of those baptism certificates until now” (85). Since Danny Almonte, the overage Little League player, “everything was different” (85). Until the commissioners saw a birth certificate, Michael would not be eligible to play.