verdugo288

Yeah…this was The Big Day indeed.  It was Saturday, June 30th, 1990.  And I was going to get married this day at 5:00 PM.  You think that stopped me from managing a Verdugo game?  HELL NO!!!!!  The game was scheduled to start at 10:00 AM….and I was nervous as hell anyways.  At the very least, I figured it would kind of take my mind off of everything.  As long as the game DIDN’T go into extra innings……

The problem was…..the umpires were about an hour and a half late!

The game was over at Poly High against Sun Valley.  Sun Valley had a good record, a good ballclub, and they ultimately reached the playoffs .  But that still didn’t stop myself and the rest of the Verdugo crew from wanting to go out and ruin Sun Valley’s day!!!  Actually, we were all talking about the wedding before the game.  I got to admit I was “moved” by how the guys were vowing to play their best for me that day.  And that they did!  And the way we played that day meant a lot to me.  We came up short, but we played one hell of a great game (again).

Like I said in an earlier post, BullOxen was really starting to find his groove on the mound.  Bull got the start.  And he threw a great five innings.  Bull kept ’em off-balance that day with that nasty yellow hammer of his, and we played some great defense. 

We pulled off a great play in a first-and-third situation in the first inning where we caught one of their runners leaning a little too far off third base.  We made a great sale on the play, Canale intercepted the “throwdown” to second, and back-picked to third to end one of their threats. 

We turned a double play in the second inning.  We trailed going into the bottom of the fifth 2-0, but we weren’t giving anything away. 

Hank drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth and stole second.  Rogers came up and ripped a base hit to left to score Hank.  The left-fielder misplayed the ball and Rogers wound up at second base.  Turner then bunted Rogers over to third, and Sammy squeezed him in.  Clutch inning.  Great execution.  Tie game now.

Hank came in to relieve Bull and threw four great innings.  He gave up three hits and an earned run.  He picked off two guys.  They took the lead on us in the top of the ninth on a clean base hit.  We gave up three runs and they were all earned.  We certainly pitched and played defense that day well enough to win.  

However, at the plate we struggled.  Sun Valley threw that Fat Bitch at us.  To read more about him check out my earlier post “Fat Bitch Gets His Bra Knocked Off…Twice.”

I still don’t know how this guy shut us down.  We only had three hits.  He only struck out two guys.  It wasn’t like he was dominating us or anything but for some reason we just couldn’t hit this guy.

We started a rally in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t close the deal.  It was another tough loss.  But we gave another playoff team another great fight.  When we left the field that day, we had their respect.  The final score: 3-2.

So here we were with this depleted pitching staff that was STILL giving us great innings…even in the biggest of games, and the biggest of days.  I want to thank everyone for the effort you guys gave that day.

It seemed like everyone was more down about the loss than I was.  I can honestly say that The Team really DID want to win one for ‘Ol Gee that day.  I couldn’t be down about the loss.  It was (again) the gutsy effort we gave on the field that meant so much to me.  Here we were short-handed after losing a couple of players from the Roster but we were as united as ever.  We left everything we had on the field that day.  And I appreciated it.

This dropped us to 7-7…….

You know, when you get married, you get all kinds of gifts from people.  All kinds of well-wishes from everyone.  Do you know what was the BEST GIFT I received on the day I got married?  The GREAT GAME you guys played for me that day.  And I mean that.  Thanks…..

I had a great Ceremony later that day and Hank, Weapon and General were all there to see it.

Most people I tell this story to say “What?……….You coached a game on the DAY YOU GOT MARRIED?”

“Damn right I did……….it wasn’t just a GAME……….it was VERDUGO!”

Most people can’t even believe it. 

And for those of you reading this who don’t believe it….here’s what the L.A. Times said about it……….