verdugo288

There were two forces at work in Verdugo landing Lance Evans.  Number One….Robb Turner and BullOxen just going out and flat-out stealing him from the Glendale program.  The other force was our short two-year HISTORY.  It was the efforts of the 1990 and 1991 Teams.

The effort we had made and the strides we were making made our Program the one to play for.  There was going to be a NEW bully on the block.  And it WASN’T going to be the Glendale Team anymore.  Landing Evans was the first of a series of unanswered SHOTS from our Program to theirs.  By the end of the ’92 season…the Glendale program had basically been dismantled.  Even their coaches quit.  We took over their field.  And we stripped their Roster again in 1993 by bringing in Gantt, Greenberg, Lister, and Barrett.  They were done!!!!

Turner, Bull, 1990, and 1991.  That’s how we got him.  And it was so great to see the smiling faces of Hank, Weap, General and the rest of our club when we had officially inked him in.  But this is what happens when you underestimate Verdugo….

I want to right here THANK the 1990 and 1991 Teams for helping us land Lance Evans.   1990 and 1991 gave us such an identity that the players from GLENDALE HIGH wanted to play for US!!!!  And I want to thank Bull and Turner for selling it.  Sure, Evans was just one player in the big scheme of things.  And he knew that.  We never had any “stars” or egos at Verdugo.  Evans included.  He just wanted to win, and he felt Verdugo was the best place to do it.  That’s another thing that made us special.  No egos….No stars…ever.  Period.  All four years.

But this was BIG.  And the Verdugo Train kept-a-rollin down the tracks….we were all wondering who would get on board with us next!!!

Well, well, well.  That’s about all I can say about this Post.  Those three words describe it all.  And we owe it all to Bull and Turner.  They came over to my little pad in Montrose known as “The Dome.”  They had somebody else with them.  I said “who’s this.”  It was LANCE EVANS.  Yeah, LANCE EVANS.  Turner and Bull had already closed him.  He wanted to play for VERDUGO.

Evans was probably the best player returning to the Glendale Legion squad for ’92.  I was speechless. 

“He can’t play for us until they sign him over to us and they’ll never do that” I said to Turner and Bull. 

“Oh yes they will” piped in Evans.

The meeting was short.  The three guys left “The Dome” and I just kind of sat there for about ten minutes saying to myself “well, well, well.”  This would be the biggest THEFT in the history of Legion if we pulled this off….

“Don’t worry…it’ll get done” Evans promised before he left.

There were no qualifying questions.  We already knew ALL about Evans and his commitment to and love for the game. 

I wondered HOW we had gotten to the point of having a player of his caliber wanting to jump ship and be a part of what we were doing.

“We’ve already laid the groundwork”  Bull told me on the phone later. 

I really didn’t understand how far “The Many Tales of Verdugo” had traveled at this point.  But it was starting to sink in.

And it was exciting that so many people wanted to get on board our Train. 

I made a phone call to check the enrollment numbers at Glendale High.  I needed to see if the current combination of enrollments were do-able.  Guess what?  They were!

Yes, Lance Evans wanted to play for us.  But he still had to get signed over by the Glendale coaches.  And if I was coaching the Glendale team, I would have told him to pound sand. 

As it turned out….Evans told them to pound sand….and they signed him over!

Enjoying every moment of the “theft of the century,” I spent the next few weeks just kind of smiling and saying the words “well, well, well” EVERY CHANCE I HAD!!!!

Turner and Bull orchestrated this whole thing.  Just incredible….

We still had a few open seats left on our Train….and things were staring to get very, very interesting for 1992!!!!

I had quit my deal at CV.  And I gotta tell you….I felt really, really, good about it.  I never looked back.  It was cleansing.  That deal was over.  I was going to get back to having one season.  I didn’t have to kind of “pace” myself anymore.  I could go full throttle with one ballclub.  So I enjoyed the winter off….wandering around that desert.  It was like driving a car without a rear-view mirror. 

I did plenty of thinking.  The chains that were inhibiting me from creating the most feared Team in the 20th District had been broken.  Damn I was jacked up!  I started thinking about all the possibilities with the Roster for the ’92 season.  I went into it with a totally open mind. 

We had a GREAT group of guys coming back for ’92.  BullOxen, Turner, Moreno, HACK, Yves, and Cowsill.  This would be our final season with Bull, Turner and Yvan.  Moreno had torn it up for us in ’91.  Bull had posted his usual dominant numbers.  Turner was ready to have a break-through year.   

In ’90…John Rogers was my “GM.”  He was instrumental in getting us most of the guys who played for us that summer.

In ’91…it was BullOxen.  He helped us land Yvan.

As we prepared for ’92, Bull was right there in the thick of it.  But there was another guy who had red-shirted at Glendale CC who stepped up.  Robb Turner.

It turns out Bull and Turner had spent most of the off-season spreading the good word about Verdugo.   They had sent their message far and wide.  They had kind of become the ambassadors for Verdugo.  And the nice thing about it was this…..they had that attitude.

All of a sudden we had a lot of guys knocking on our door to play for us.  Guys who probably never would have considered coming to Verdugo.  It made my life a lot easier.  When it came time to start to seriously look at who we were going to be in ’92 we had to kind of take a time-out and move very, very slowly. 

The first two years we had the Team we either had too many guys at the games or not enough.  With Bull and Turner out on the pavement selling our Program…shaking a few hands here and there (or cracking a beer or two here and there with possible recruits),  I realized we could put together the ultimate squad of about 13-14 guys who were totally committed to play every game for the summer. 

I had never seen Turner so fired up.  It really was nice to see that both Bull and Turner were upset about our shortcomings the first couple of seasons.  They had experienced first-hand how close we had come.  They had felt the pain of the gut-wrenching defeats.  I knew after speaking with both of them that these guys really, really wanted it for the ’92 squad.

There are three steps to SELLING.  You qualify, you glorify, and then you CLOSE.  Well, Turner and Bull had already done the glorification of our Program to everyone under the sun.  All the people knocking on our door to play for us were already closed on the idea of playing for Verdugo.  So my job was simple…..I got to do the qualifying.

And my qualifying process was going to be simple for ’92.  Come to every frickin’ game or get the hell outta here.  If there is a game or game(s) that a player couldn’t make….I wanted to know about it.  RIGHT NOW!

Thanks to Bull and Turner, we could be selective.  We turned away plenty of people.  Many who were turned away are probably still to this very day shocked that we told them “thanks, but no thanks.”

But that was the way it was going to be.  I wanted 13 or 14 guys on that Roster for ’92.  I know it sounded crazy, but if we had 13 or 14 guys that would COMMIT we would be fine.  They didn’t have to be the most talented guys in the world either.  We already had plenty of talent coming back to the Team.  We needed guys that were YOUNG with awesome potential and who had a little chip on their shoulder.  Guys that we could build our future around. And we needed a couple of gutty-veteran guys with no egos who could fulfill specific ROLES for the Team. 

And I had no qualms about telling someone that they may not get a lot of time on the field. 

So as I went through the qualifying process….my line of questioning was simple.  Basically I would say “Look, we have a lot of guys who want to be a part of this thing….we’re going with a down-sized Roster this season….whoever we decide to bring on board needs to be at EVERY GAME….so why should we give the Roster slot to you?”

Thanks to Turner and Bull pounding the pavement for us and selling our Program….I could actually ASK that question to a potential recruit…..and keep a straight face.

Yeah….things were going to be different in ’92, I could already tell. 

I was going to a few games here and there and watching some guys we had our eye on.  It was going to be interesting to see who we got on board for ’92.

Out in that desert I was wandering in I stumbled upon our new “ride.”  It was an old, beat-to-shit TRAIN.  I was always afraid of heights, anyways.  I just couldn’t get on another airplane.  No, we needed to get grounded.  We were going to have some new faces, a new attitude, and a new RIDE.

Gee, General, Hank, Weap, Bull, Turner, HACK, Moreno, Yves, and Cowsill were the first guys to board that train. We stopped in a few cities here and there and asked a few questions to the people who wanted to get on that train with us.  There were a SHITLOAD of people who wanted on that train. 

But to most of them, we said….”nah, nah.”

Whoever was going to board this train with us needed to understand a few things.  Number one, it’s a ONE-WAY RIDE.  Number two, we don’t know where we’re going….but we know we’re going to get “there.”  And number three…..this train has NO REAR VIEW MIRROR. 

Yes-sir-ree….230 tons of cold-blue steel was leaving the depot.  We had the right guys on it.  And we had plenty of open seats.  And while we had many, many people who wanted to get on that train with us, ’92 was going to be different.  We weren’t going to make room for everybody this time….

I like the airplane metaphor that I used to describe the ’90 and ’91 Teams.  The first two seasons were kind of like an airplane ride.  We took off on that thing in ’90.  It was quite a flight.  That plane did some pretty crazy shit.  We soared to unbelievable heights, dogpiling four times in one season!  Sometimes we looped in that plane.  It was quite an airshow we put on for all of the fans.  Sometimes that plane would run out of gas and we’d have to emergency land it on a freeway!  You never knew what that plane was gonna do!

Somehow that beat-up plane got us to our final destination.  For both of our first two seasons!  Right to the brink of the playoffs.  We just couldn’t close the deal.  In ’91 we were riding high and trying to bring it in and our landing gear got tangled up in some power lines and we crashed.  But it was a hell of a run in that plane, let me tell you.

In ’90 we proved we could play with ANYBODY.  In ’91 we proved we could win with everybody coming after us, and even still flirt with winning a Division Title.  One thing was for sure after two seasons.  We could WIN at this level.  But it wasn’t enough.  And we had a core group of guys that wanted to take it to the next level.  I’ll tell you something….winning a Division Title or even just reaching the playoffs in The 20th District is an incredible accomplishment.  And I had put my heart and soul into pulling it off, but the bottom line was….I still hadn’t done it. 

Our plane had crashed, right there in a remote desert.  We sifted through the wreckage, made sure everybody was okay (which we were), then we all shook hands and left to go fishing for the winter.  But I decided to stay in that desert after the crash.  I wanted to kind of wander around a bit…..and try to figure out what I really wanted to do.  I guess you could say it was time for me to do a little soul-searching.  And let me tell you….it was a lonely winter for me out in that desert…..

I had coached at Burbank High in ’90 and CV in ’91.  And the bottom line is this…. I wasn’t happy. 

For me, coaching at CV was great.  I had made good on my prediction to Coach Seibert in 1976 that “one day I’ll be coaching here.”

It was awesome to be able to “have done it.”…..

But life is kind of like the Wizard of Oz.  We all have ideas of where we want to go or what we want to do in this world….and then you arrive at that destination….and then you meet him….the man behind the curtain. 

“The Man Behind The Curtain” doesn’t neccessarily have to be a person.  It could be the job itself.  Or the environment.  Or whatever.  And I found that for me….coaching at the High School level wasn’t ME.  I wasn’t too impressed with “The Man Behind The Curtain.”

So who is ME?  I’m a cigarette-smoking, trash-talking, fierce-ass COMPETITOR FROM HELL!!!  That’s all I was before I ever coached at the High School level, and that’s all I’ll ever be.  And now that I had “arrived”….I couldn’t smoke….I couldn’t trash-talk….I couldn’t be competitive….and as a JV coach, I had no say as to WHO was on my GD Roster!  Hell, I couldn’t even ENJOY winning a game!!!!  The very things about me that GOT ME hired to coach at that level were stripped from me!!!!

The 1990 Team was fun because I had no ties with CV at the time.  The ’91 Team was not as fun because I HAD ties to CV.  And I’m sure I would have been a hell of a lot more fun to be around if I could just light up a smoke every once-in-a-while.  I managed around 40 games in ’91 and didn’t light up ONCE!!! 

That’s what I always loved about John Madden when he coached the Raiders.  A big, wound-up, red-haired guy smoking cigs on the sideline and kickin’ the shit out of everybody!!  I loved it!! 

Jim Leyland….cupping that cig in the dugout….calm as can be!!  I loved it!!!!

I certainly could have continued on that road if I wanted to.  But the bottom line is this….Coaching High School Baseball wasn’t fun for me.  Baseball is a game.  GAMES are meant to be fun.  I wanted to get back to the attitude we had in ’90 and have some GD FUN out there and kick some ass and not have to apologize to anyone for it!!!!!

THAT….my dear friends….is ME!!!!

All I really cared about was The Legion Team.  It was something that I could say was mine.  I couldn’t say that at the High School.  I felt I could do more for the guys we DID have on The Legion Team in terms of exposure to Scouts and the like.  And the High School had started to take an interest into WHO was playing on MY Legion Team.  I wasn’t with that.  I wanted to build the most feared Team in the 20th District.  And THAT was NEVER going to happen if I stayed at the High School.

I thought long and hard about it.  I never wanted to be a coaches coach.  I never was, and never would be.  Most of the “coaches” I hung out with at the time weren’t really my kind of people anyway.  So why was I seeking  their accolades?

I always was (with the exception of the entire year of 1991) a players coach.  The players always ran through brick walls for me.  And I honestly missed having that kind of relationship with my players.  I can’t kick people when they’re down.  That’s when I pat ’em on the back.  If I ever get in a dig with a guy I like to do it when they’re kind of “riding high.”  That was always my style.  And the High School didn’t like that about me.  It was time to get back to being ME.

It was time to grow my hair out a little bit again.  Get a little pony-tail going and shove it through that cap adjuster strap in the back of the hat.  Light-up in the dugout.  Kick the shit outta someone on the field and make no apologies about it.  Do the things I had ALWAYS done before being (literally) poisoned with the mentality of being a “High School Coach.”  I knew this….I didn’t want to be some dork standing around with a stopwatch and Oakley’s….

Yeah, the “Man Behind the Curtain” just wasn’t to my liking.

No….I wanted the most FEARED TEAM in the 20th District.  And I wasn’t about to give up my dream that easily. 

It COULD be done!!!!

I had thought long and hard about it all.   The winter was coming to a close.  It was time to decide what to do. 

I quit my Post at the High School.  I was very comfortable with my decision.

I wasn’t done, though.  It was time to bring back the magic of 1990.  Or the RAGE of 1990.  Whatever you want to call it, we still had a little “Unfinished Business” with the 20th District.

And ‘Ol Gee still had a few tricks up his sleeve…..

Enjoy the fireworks tonight!!!  Join our Nation as they celebrate our sweep over The Glendale Legion Team on the 4th of July 1992.

These two victories moved us closer to our first playoff berth and destroyed Glendale’s season!!

Ahhh!!!! Verdugo!!!!  I never knew that they actually turned our victory over Glendale into a National Holiday!!!  So join in with the rest of the Nation tonight as we ALL celebrate our destruction of the Glendale Team!!!  It will be quite a celebration tonight!!  I wonder how big it will be next year on the 20th Anniversary!!!

It happened only ONE TIME.  Only One time in fifteen double-headers in our four-year history did we ever get swept.  That’s a pretty awesome accomplishment.  I’ve always said this about double-headers:  “They are hard to sweep and easy to get swept in.”  San Fernando swept us at their yard and our great run came to an end.

We made it pretty easy for San Fernando that day.  We didn’t score any runs in either game.  Our bats went silent. 

I still thought we played a GREAT first game.  Big Breck threw a gem.  He allowed only two earned runs in six innings…walking one and striking out nine.  We got beat 4-0.  We just couldn’t get anything going offensively all day.  San Fernando deserved it.  They just flat-out beat us.  All we had to do was land that plane we were riding….we just couldn’t bring it in.  Our plane crashed….

The ’91 season was over.  I will be getting the stats posted up here soon.  I will also be writing one or two more stories about that team before we move on to the Greatest Chapter(s) in our history.  To the guys from the ’90 and ’91 Teams…….Thank You!!  I cannot WAIT to see you guys at The Bash!!!!

These were the guys who really LAID the foundation for Verdugo’s great history.  What AWESOME Warriors they were!!!!

I also want to thank the guys who played for the ’92 and ’93 Teams (that went 38-5) for reading so much about the original members of Verdugo on this Blog!!!  Thanks for taking an interest in the Team’s history!!  I hope the ’90 and ’91 members continue to follow this Blog.  You see, once you play for Verdugo….it’s always YOUR TEAM!!  So as we chronicle the trail of carnage left behind by the ’92 and ’93 Teams….I hope you guys take ownership of it as well!!  Their successes belong to you….and vice versa!!!!

We made a hell of a run in ’91!!!!

Sure, it could have been better.  But it was important for us as a Team to endure the drought so that we could truly enjoy and appreciate the rains of victory that were about to pour down upon us for the next two seasons!!!!  I loved every Team.  I loved every game.  Win or lose it we were still Verdugo!!!!  I cannot thank everyone enough for the sacrifices and the EFFORT you guys gave for our ballclub!!!! 

The ’91 Season was over.  We survived that plane crash.  And out on a train track somewhere was an abandoned train.  Nobody wanted that train.  It had alot of paint missing and was pretty banged up.  Yeah, Verdugo Hills found that train.  There was nothing pretty about it, but we cleaned it up and kind of made it our own.  And just before the ’92 season….we all boarded that Train and we all agreed to stay on it, wherever it would lead us.  We didn’t really know where it was going.  Nor did we care.  We just got it running, put in on full steam and started partying on it!!!!

Nobody was driving it.  It was a runaway train!!!!  And let me tell you something….that was a train you DEFINITELY wanted to be riding!!!  And nobody got off of it!!!!

That Train crashed into everything that got in it’s way.  And as it careened and wound it’s way through canyons and cliffs it never got off-track!!!!  It’s a good thing we never looked out the windows to see what we were about to run into!!!!  That Train just kept bullying it’s way through EVERYTHING!!!!

I invite all of you now to board that Train with us as we chronicle our “Reign of Terror.”

Please step in my friends….and get ready for….THE RIDE OF YOUR LIFE!!!!

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!!!!

I told that coach at Palmdale after we beat them earlier in the season that he better be prepared to play us next time.  Oh, he was prepared all right.  They beat us 4-1. 

But something wasn’t right.  They had a pitcher that day who wasn’t just good…..he was damn good.

I was always into stats.  I loved reading them when they printed all of the stats in the LA Times and The Daily News.  I could see which teams had guys who were putting up some numbers.  I sure hadn’t seen any impressive numbers from any of their pitchers that year.  None of their pitchers were ever even listed.

So just who was this guy?

Well, it didn’t take much “research” on my part to find out that about six guys on the field that day for them weren’t even at the first game.  I just opened up the scorebook and looked.  I got home…called the Commissioner of the League.  It turns out a couple of those guys were like 20 years old!

What a loser that coach was.  He wrote the REAL names of illegal players in the scorebook!  This guy doesn’t even know how to cheat!!

And the fact that they only beat us 4-1 says a LOT about what a great team we had.

BIG BRECK……..YOU THREW A HELL OF A GAME against a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds!!  Ahh Big Breck!!!

The line on Big Breck? 

Six innings.  Three hits.  TEN strikeouts!!  And only TWO earned runs.

That’s right….I like the fact that teams were now resorting to “ringers” to deal with Verdugo.  It was the only way!!!

I wonder how many other teams tried that shit and I just didn’t catch it!!!!

So here’s a message to Palmdale!  Verdugo OWNS you!!!  Thanks for the “W”……..We probably should have had Big Breck glove-flicking on your sorry-asses as well!!!

Five-in-a-row!!  13-6.  Ahhh Verdugo!!!!

Next up………..Quartz Hill.

Up next on our schedule was a team that had made the playoffs in 1990.  A double-header against Newhall-Saugus.  But wait a minute!  They changed their name! They were now called “Santa Clarita.”  But it was the same group.  In fact, the next season (1992), they changed their name back to “Newhall-Saugus.”

Well, whatever you want to call ’em…Verdugo ALWAYS had their number!  We beat them in ’90 at the infamous “Saugus 500″…..swept ’em in ’92 (including a first-round playoff victory)…..and swept ’em on this day as well.  They probably kept changing their name around to make it look like we didn’t beat ’em as often as we did!

This was a huge sweep.  It moved us to 12-6.  In Legion, every year there are a couple of teams that can get into the playoffs as a “wild-card team.”  Usually, a wild-card team will finish in second place in their Division with a very strong won-loss record (as we did in ’92 when we went 20-3 and came in second place).

However, the teams in our Division were kind of bunched up and it was clear that there was not going to be a wild-card team from our Division.  We had to win the Division or we were out!  San Fernando was making a nice run and had a slight lead on us, but we were still right in the thick of it.  We also had a double-header scheduled with them on the last day of the season.  I just wanted to still be in the hunt when that day came, and ultimately DID get my wish.

The first game was all Chili.  Chili threw a three-hit shutout with no walks and four strikeouts.  He threw only 74 pitches. 

BullOxen led off the fourth with a double, and Moose doubled him in.  Moose moved to third on John Rogers’ base-hit, and then scored when Chili reached base on an error.  Robb Turner doubled and Mike Parker chipped in a single.  We only had five hits but we didn’t need much the way Chili was throwing that day.  The final score was 2-0.

In the second game BullOxen got the start.  Our bats came alive in the second game.  We sprayed it around pretty good.  We won 10-5.

We drew 10 walks at the plate….had eight singles….and took advantage of several errors by the Santa Clarita defense.

Bull was getting tired.  He threw a good four innings.  So who came in to throw the final three innings?  CHILI!!!

That’s right.  Chili came in to throw the last three innings for us. 

John Rogers and Brett Miller led the offense with two hits apiece. 

Bull, Moose, Parker, and Chili all had base-hits.

I give our guys credit.  We had those two blowout losses.  It was gutcheck time and we dug down and grinded out four-in-a-row.  There were four games left and we were right there. 

We had a BIG game coming up in Palmdale.  Bull had mowed down 20 of their hitters the first time we played and I had exchanged words with their coach.  Now we were going up to their yard.  Anything could happen.  And quite a few things did happen that day.  Stay tuned!