这篇有够长，所以我把它拆成三篇。 来源: The Bleacher Report 网址: https://tinyurl.com/y9gj2byh HOW KATE UPTON SAVED JUSTIN VERLANDER'S CAREER Kate Upton如何拯救Verlander的事业(上) He arrives at the ballpark driving a gray muscle car. A replica, modeled after a famous car from a movie. There’s some 700 horsepower under the hood, and it is one fun, badass ride. Her name is Eleanor. He just got her this past spring. One more for the collection. He’s up to about a dozen, including five Ferraris—two of which are fully customized, he says. He hand-selected every part of the cars from the inside out. 他开着一台灰色肌肉车到达球场，这是一台复制品，跟一部有名电影里的车子一样，有着 700匹马力，一台充满乐趣也是有点坏坏的车子。这车有个名字，叫Eleanor，他这个春天 才入手这台，在他已经众多的收集中再加上这一台。他已经有十几台车，他有五台法拉 利，根据他的说法，有两台还是客制车，由里到外，他亲手挑选每个零件。 He loves cars because his father loved cars. Growing up in Goochland County, Virginia, he saw his father bring one old sports car after another through the family garage and fix them up, have some fun with them, then sell them to make extra money. As the boy grew up, his love grew with him. He became obsessed with racing video games like Gran Turismo, playing for hours at a time. He dreamed of one day building a collection of his own. It would feature the coolest, fastest cars the world had to offer—some of them modified to his specifications. 他喜欢车子的原因是因为他爸。在Virginia的Goochland郡长大，他看着他爸爸拿着一些旧 的跑车零件在车库里修理，修好後享受了一阵子，就把车子卖掉赚些外快。而当这个小男 孩长大了，这样的喜爱也跟随着他。他对赛车电玩，像是Gran Turismo，非常的沉迷，一 次可以玩好几个小时。他梦想着有一天可以完成他自己的收集，里面会有这世上最酷最快 的车子--有些车子更要按照他所想要的条件而做。 “Now,” Justin Verlander says, “I do that in real life.” 「现在，」Justin Verlander说，「我真的做到了。」 He parks Eleanor in the garage then makes for the clubhouse, wearing black loafers, light blue jeans, a white T-shirt and black trucker hat on backward. At his locker, he changes into shorts and a tight, sleeveless shirt, then settles into a leather chair so he can talk about what it means to build. Something happens between a man and a car when he has put it together himself. “I feel like you’re more connected to the car that way,” he says. 他把Eleanor停在球团车库，穿着黑色平底鞋，浅蓝色牛仔裤，白色T恤，反戴着一顶黑色 卡车司机帽。在置物柜前，他换穿短裤跟一件紧身无袖上衣後，坐进一张皮椅，然後开始 说着打造车子的理由。他觉得，当一个男人在造车的过程中，车跟人之间会有火花。「我 觉得这样更有人车一体的FU，」他说。 Verlander probably didn’t mean all the car talk as metaphor, but the way his life’s gone the last few years, the metaphors just write themselves. Since entering the league as rookie in 2006, he was known for having an “explosive arm with electric stuff,” says former slugger-turned-analyst Alex Rodriguez. In 2011, Verlander won a Cy Young Award and became the first starting pitcher since 1986 to be named league MVP. He could throw 100 miles per hour well into the late innings and made it look easy, even after 100 pitches. “I was built to do it,” he says. “A lot of people that do throw that hard maybe aren’t meant to. No wonder they break.” Verlander这番跟车子有关的谈话或许不全然都是在打比方人生，但是以他过去这几年的人 生历练，这是不用比方就可以看得出来的。2006年进入MLB，他就以A-Rod称呼Verlander有 着"爆裂手臂"闻名。2011年拿下赛扬，也成为自1986年以来第一位以先发投手身分拿下联 盟MVP。轻轻松松就可以飙出100mile的火球，即使是球赛末端，已经投了100+球数的状况 下。「我的身体就是为投球特制的，」他说。「有些人可以那样用力投，但是他们的身体 并不是可以负担的，所以他们後来就坏掉了。」 He calls it “a gift.” He has a natural knowledge of how to throw things with unnatural force. That’s still true. Even at 35, his arm remains explosive, his stuff electric. “I’m just glad I don’t have to face him anymore,” Rodriguez says. “Best part of being in the booth.” This year, Verlander was an All-Star for the first time since 2013. His stats—156.1 innings in 24 starts, 11-6 record, 2.19 ERA, 204 strikeouts—are all close to if not the best in the league. Houston has the best pitching rotation in baseball and maybe one of the best of all time. 他称那个叫"上天给饭吃"。他天生就知道要怎样用非自然方式丢东西，即使现在35岁了， 他的手臂仍就可以投出爆裂火球。「我真的很高兴我不用再面对他了，」A-Rod说。「可以 当球评真的太爽惹。」今年是自2013後，Verlander再次入选全明星，24次先发，156.1 局，11-6，ERA 2.19，204次三振，不是联盟最佳也是接近联盟最佳。太色目前先发轮值是 联盟最强，或许也是史上最强之一。 “I’d say it’s impossible, what he’s doing,” Houston manager AJ Hinch says, “but we’re all sitting here watching him do it.” 「我会说他所做到的是不可能办得到的，」太色总教练AJ Hinch说，「但是我们现在正在 目睹这一切。」 Thing is, you can’t see impossible; you can only see signs that what is happening shouldn’t be. From up close, you can see clues that suggest what Verlander is doing should not, in fact, be possible at all. As he sits half-dressed in the clubhouse, he shows the expected signs of aging. Balding on the crown. Salty gray hairs peppered through the temples and beard. Lines around the eyes. Time has left its marks. More, too, counting ones you can’t see. Anger that smolders like hungry embers. Surgical scars on his hips. Mementos from paths taken in the past. 实情是，我们不能看到"不可能"；我们只可能看到不应该发生的事情的徵兆。仔细观察， 你可以看到Verlander所做的，是实际上不可能做到的。当他坐在球队休息室里，可以看到 他有老化的样子。头顶开始有点秃了，头发两边跟胡子开始有白毛，眼睛周围也有了细 纹，时间也是在他身上留下了痕迹，有些看不到的可能更多。霸气像是燃烧殆尽的余火， 他的髋部有着开刀的痕迹，这一路以来的荣光也已过去。 You wouldn’t know, watching him on the mound this season, that Verlander was one of the broken ones. Four years ago, three years after his MVP season, his fastball barely touched 90 at its low point. He gave up more runs than any other pitcher in the American League. His shoulder hurt. He felt weak. “It was so emotional,” says Kate Upton, the supermodel and, as of last November, Verlander’s wife. “He was in so much pain, and he was just trying to find the best path back.” 看着这一季的Verlander，谁会知道他也曾经是坏掉的投手。四年前，也就是在拿下MVP的 三年後，他的速球在他最糟的时候几乎投不到90mile，他丢掉的分数比美联任何一个投手 都多，他的肩膀受伤，他觉得弱到极点。「那真的很让人情绪就上来，」超模Kate Upton 说，去年11月她嫁给了Verlander。「他很痛苦，他试着找到最好的方式回归。」 The path he found from there to here wasn’t easy. He had to suffer new pain before he could rid himself of the old. Trust new people; a new process. To become great again he had to unlearn the techniques that made him great in the first place. He’d been harming himself unknowingly, making little mistakes that he could not see. 他找到的回归方式并不轻松。他得先要忍受新的痛苦，才能摆脱旧的。信任新的人，信任 这新的过程。要再次伟大前，他得要先忘记之前让他伟大的技巧，他以前在他没有察觉到 的状况下其实在伤害他的身体，他持续犯着他没看到的小错误。 Upton helped show him the way. “Who knows,” Verlander says, “if I’m even here if it wasn’t for her?” Upton帮助他找到回归的方式。「谁知道呢？」Verlander说。「如果没有她，我还会在回 到这里吗？」 They met in early 2012 while shooting a commercial. The first time they hung out, Verlander and Upton realized that whatever happened between them would happen with the outside world watching. They went to an Aerosmith concert in Detroit and afterward to a bar, where a random woman took pictures of them with her phone. They appeared online. Reporters called. Bar sources confirmed canoodling. Gossip ensued. 他们俩是在2012年拍广告的时候相遇，当他们第一次约会，他们就了解到他们之间的发展 是全世界都在看的。当他们一起在底特律看完史密斯飞船演唱会後去一个酒吧，一个路人 用手机拍下他们两个的照片，很快就上了网路，记者开始打电话，酒吧里的人证实他们两 个很亲密，然後八卦就爆开了。 They kept their relationship light and fun through the next year—“just friendly,” Verlander says—until a day cruise with some friends on a yacht off the coast of Southern California deepened their bond. “It felt like the first time we really got to know the other person,” Upton says. “It felt...like finding a friend. A real friend.” 他们之後那一整年维持着平稳但是有趣的关系--「就只是朋友，」Verlander说--直到有一 天他们跟着一些朋友坐着游艇在南加州海岸航行时，这关系开始加温。「就像是忽然第一 次我们真正了解对方，」Upton说。「那像是找到了一个朋友，一个真正的朋友。」 照片: Verlander跟Upton连袂参加MLB今年七月活动一起走红毯 https://imgur.com/16ACad6.jpg As the couple’s relationship progressed, Verlander’s body began to show signs of wear. His arm started hurting during the 2013 season, and although he managed to perform at a high level—he earned an All-Star spot and pitched well throughout the playoffs—the pain steadily grew. Then, during the offseason—a time in which rest and training should render one renewed— Verlander hurt his groin while doing a squat. 而随着小俩口感情的加温，Verlander的身体开始出现的损伤的症状。2013球季，他的手臂 开始觉得疼痛，但是他还是维持着高档的演出--入选全明星，季後仍旧表现亮眼--但是手 臂的疼痛也是逐渐增加。然後，在休赛季的时候--休息跟训练应该是要让他恢复的-- Verlander在做蹲坐的时候伤了他的鼠蹊部。 It was a freak injury—one that can happen but typically does not without some sort of slow erosion or mounting pressure being put on the body. An MRI revealed that, in addition to separating the tendon from the bone, Verlander also had an undiagnosed core muscle injury in his rectus abdominis (abdominal muscles). His adductors (hip muscles), doctors explained, had finally given out after having compensated for a weakened core for some time. “It had slowly started peeling away,” Verlander says. “Something’s gotta take the brunt of it, right?” 那个伤势很奇特--通常是出现在缓慢的磨损或是身上持续背着重物的状况。核磁共振发 现，除了肌腱与骨头分离外，Verlander还有在他的腹直肌有未诊断出的核心肌群伤势， 医师解释，因为核心肌群的伤势，他的臀部内收肌群过度代偿最後就不行了。「整个状况 就是一个接着一个垮下去，」Verlander说。「总是要还的，是吧?!」 Verlander needed bilateral sports hernia repair surgery. So he went to a top surgeon in Philadelphia and afterward, recovered in a nearby hotel. Upton— living in New York at the time—was the first person to visit him. They watched TV and played board games in their pajamas. Lots of Yahtzee. Both Upton and Verlander, it turned out, were fiercely competitive; upon losing, they cursed and threw things. “That’s probably where I’m most comfortable, ” Upton says. “Playing board games and joking around and just hanging out is kind of what I love doing.” Verlander需要双侧运动疝气修复手术，所以他去了费城找了顶尖外科医师帮他，之後在那 附近的饭店恢复。那时候Upton住在纽约，是第一个去探视Verlander的人。他们那段时间 穿着睡衣，一起看电视，一起玩桌游，玩了很多快艇骰子(Yahtzee)。後来发现，Upton跟 Verlander其实都是极度有竞争性的人，当快输的时候，都会干谯跟丢东西。「那段时间大 概是我最舒服的时候了，」Upton说。「玩桌游，瞎扯淡，就是两个人相处，那就是我最爱 做的事情了。」 Richard and Kathy, Justin’s parents, also visited from time to time. They teased their son about his constipation—a common side effect of such surgery. How is your stomach? Does it hurt? As the jokes continued, Upton went to a store, bought everything that Google said could remedy such discomfort, and returned bearing bags of pills and “holistic movement solutions.” “His parents say that was the moment they knew they loved me,” she says. Verlander的双亲在那段时间偶而也会去探望他，他们会对Verlander的便秘问题--在手术 後的副作用--开起玩笑来。你的肚子好点没? 痛吗? 随着开玩笑，Upton则会去商店，找着 她Google来的秘方可以解除Verlander的不舒服，最後通常会买了一堆药丸或是"天然整肠 秘方"等。「他的爸妈说那就是他们爱上我的时刻了，」Upton说。 The 2014 season was full of more struggles. Verlander worked his way back onto the mound, but his shoulder still hurt. (“Just a hot fucking mess,” Verlander says.) The more games he pitched, the more pain he felt in his shoulder, and the more his performance declined. No other pitcher in the American League gave up more runs than he did that season. 2014年也是充满挣扎，Verlander还是努力的重回投手丘，但是他的肩膀还是很痛(「就是 他妈的糟，」Verlander说)。他投得越多，痛越来越明显，他的状况更是每况愈下。在那 一季，美联没有一个投手丢掉的分数比他多。 (待续) --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc), 来自: 61.222.1.181 ※ 文章网址: https://webptt.com/cn.aspx?n=bbs/MLB/M.1534837194.A.FDA.html 好喔 不是太确定muscle car要怎麽翻比较好 想说直接翻有点害羞 ※ 编辑: pneumo (61.222.1.181), 08/22/2018 10:15:45 好喔 已修 ※ 编辑: pneumo (61.222.1.181), 08/22/2018 13:23:12