verdugo288

I know…I know.  I said I needed a breather.  Well…I lied, I guess.  The bottom line is this…I’m ADDICTED to this Blog!!!!  Ahh!!!!  Every time I want to take a rest from it….. yet another great story comes to mind and I know if I don’t write it down I will forget it.   Now, we all know how much we loved getting in everyone’s head.  Well, General and I had a cool thing going that we would pull out of the hat every once in a while to get in the other COACHES heads.  It’s called “Now That’s What I’m Talking About!!!”

What we would do is wait.  And wait.  And wait.  And finally it would happen.  A play would happen on the field that there is no way in hell we EVER talked about to you guys.  I’m talking about a play that would happen once every five years or something like that.  Preferably some kind of play that no one had EVER seen.  A spectacular play where there is no way our player EVER could have received ANY instructions from us.  This is when we would bark out….”Now That’s What I’m Talkin’ Bout!!!!!”….making it APPEAR as though we had PLANNED what had just happened on the field, or that we had been working on it. 

Let’s say Fielder is catching and the batter hits a weak foul ball over by the first base dugout…just high enough for Fielder to sprint for and make a sliding catch to avoid crashing into the fence.  You know, one of those sliding catches a catcher makes right in front of the other coaches near their dugout opening.  “Now that’s what I’m Talkin’ Bout!!!!” we would roar out loud enough for the opposing coaches to hear.  Almost making it appear as though we had actually spent time with Fielder WORKING on that play!!  God that would piss the other coaches off!!!  They would just look at us like “Fuck you”………

Or how about a hooking line drive towards the left field corner that our left fielder get horizontal to the ground diving for and he comes up with the ball and a mouthful of grass…and then he shows the ball to the umps to let them know it was a clean play.  “Now That’s What I’m Talkin’ About!” we would yell….more stares from the opposing coaches. 

Or how about when we run a squeeze play and our batter doesn’t get the sign and takes a swing at it…misses the pitch…the guy on third gets in a rundown and somehow SCORES!!!  “Now That’s What I’m Talkin’ Bout!!”

The crazier the play, the louder we would yell it.  It just gave fits to the other guys.  But you know, General and I were always just kind of looking to get our fair advantage against the other coaches.  And Speaking of Fielder……How about when (like a fool) I sent him home on an overthrow?  The Crespi third baseman picked it up and had Fielder thrown out by about 15 feet…yet Fielder stops, waits for the catcher to leap forward to tag him…..and then Fielder simply leaps over the catcher who is now lying face down in the dirt for the walk-off, winning run!!  “Now That’s What I’m Talkin’ About!!!!”  Of course you guys know we spent HOURS working on that play, right??? 

I really didn’t care how we got things done on the field.  As long as we did it….pretty or ugly…..there’s really only one thing to say…….”NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ BOUT!!!!!!”  It always used to amuse me with these other coaches around the league who had to win pretty, and make everything look all pretty to give the impression that they had something to do with whatever success their team was having.  Me?  Winning ugly is fine.  I never tried to take myself too seriously out there.  I took the job seriously, but I didn’t take myself too seriously.  I made all kinds of mistakes.  You guys made the plays…I was just along for the ride.  Really, the more I got out of the way of our Team the better we played.  Go figure.  All I know is this:  Our players played the game harder and with more fire than anyone else in the league……and THAT is ALL I’m talkin’ bout!!!  That’s part of the reason we would bark that shit out like that.  Because you guys were out their busting your asses and running through brick walls for us and it got General and myself TOTALLY fired up!!!!!!

Winning ugly?  I have no problem with that.  As long as we won, I really didn’t care what it looked like.  And it never mattered when we lost, because you guys ALWAYS played hard.  All I know is this…if a crazy play happened, and the result was in OUR favor, there’s only ONE thing you’re gonna hear from me and General:  “Now That’s What I’m Talkin’ Bout!!!!!!”