verdugo288

I was pretty geared up for this game.  We arrived at the park nice and early.  14 guys were in uniform for us that day.  When I got to the Yard I saw something I had never seen before and never saw again before one of our games.  The other team was there taking BP!!  They had the backstop on rollers out by the plate.  Yeah, they were getting READY for this game and wanted it bad…..

I have to give them credit.  We had broke their hearts twice already and they were going to do whatever they could to see to it that it didn’t happen again.  Looking back on it, it really was quite a compliment.  They knew the only chance they had against Verdugo was to be as prepared as they possibly could be.  They were out of the playoff picture and this game was probably “their season.”

I still liked our chances.  BP, long drive, hometown Umpires and all.  I still liked our chances.

We didn’t score the first two innings. They came out and hit the ball pretty hard.  By the time we came up in the top-of-the-fifth we were down 8-1.  The problem was….six of the runs were unearned.  We had only made a couple of errors but they both opened up the floodgates.  And I gotta give them credit for taking advantage of what we gave them that day.  We pulled Chili after three innings.  Chili threw well.  He K’d five guys in three innings of work….the unearned runs hurt us.  HACK came in to relieve Chili.

But there was still plenty of Baseball to be played and the Verdugo bats were starting to make some noise around the fifth inning. 

Yves drew a walk.  Brett Miller was hit by a pitch.  HACK had earned his way into the number two hole in the lineup that day, and had already singled his first plate appearance.  HACK hit into a fielder’s choice. 

With runners at the corners….Big Robb Turner laced a base-hit to right and it was 8-2.  BullOxen singled up the middle, scoring HACK and it was 8-3.

They added a run in the bottom-half of the frame to make it 9-3.  

In the top-of-the-sixth with one out, John Rogers doubled to left.  ELMO stepped up and Doubled to right to make it 9-4.  Yves drew another walk. 

Brett Miller then ripped a double to left, scoring both ELMO and Yves.  9-6.  All of a sudden, we were back in it.

Their leadoff  hitter in the sixth bombed a homerun.  We DOSED the next hitter!  Ahhh HACK!!!!  That was all they got that inning.

Trailing 10-6 in the seventh with one out….Moose clocked a double into the left field corner.  Parker and Rogers both walked.  ELMO stepped in and drew a clutch bases-loaded walk to make it 10-7.  There was still only one out and the bases were jacked.  But they pitched their way out of it.  10-7 it remained.

The added another in the seventh to make it 11-7.  This game was starting to remind me of the one we played here a year ago.  Another frickin’ shootout!

HACK led off the eighth with a walk.  Turner doubled to right.  Ahh Turner!!  Second and third Nobody out!!  BullOxen walked to load ’em up. 

Up stepped Moose.  Moose hit into a fielder’s choice and Hack SCORED.  11-8.

Mike Parker then sent a deep drive to left but the guy flagged it down.  Sacrifice fly.  11-9.  That was all we got.

It was a little disappointing.  We had the bases loaded in the seventh with one out…and the bases loaded in the eighth with no out and all we came out of it with was three runs……

We definitely had our chances to finish ’em off….we had our foot on their necks….

They pushed across another run in the eighth to make it 12-9. 

They retired the side on us 1-2-3 in the ninth and beat us. 

While they did beat us on the field….they were worn out.  I opened up the floodgates before the game with the rags and they walked off the field like wounded animals.  I’ve never seen a team endure the rags we gave them that day!  It was brutal.  This was (really) the birth of the phrase “They’ve DONE IT!!!”

As we were mounting our comeback we just barraged them with this phrase.  It was so bad at one point I remember coming off of the field from the third base coaching box….walking along and crossing paths with one of their outfielders.  He just looked at me like a beaten dog and said “They’ve DONE IT!!!” as he shrugged his shoulders and moped his way off of the field!!  Yes-sir-ree….even when Verdugo loses….They’ve DONE IT!!!!  Yes-sir-ree…that outfielder for Quartz Hill became a believer that day!!

However, they did beat us on the field.  But they didn’t ruin our season.  We could still win the division with a sweep of San Fernando. 

Sure, we wanted this game…..but it wasn’t the end of the world.  We were still in it.

I was proud of the way we battled back from the 8-1 deficit.  We had to hit our way out of that hole we dug.  And that we did.

Brett Miller singled and doubled.

HACK singled and scored twice.

Robb Turner doubled, singled, and drove in a run.

BullOxen singled and drove in a run.

Moose doubled, singled and drove in a run.

ELMO doubled and drove in two.

Rogers doubled.

Yves reached base three times and scored three runs.

It was a disppointing loss….but we did battle.  And even though we lost that game….Quartz Hill went home that day knowing one thing….that we had “DONE IT!!!!”

Yes-sir-ree….even when Verdugo loses….they WIN!!!!