verdugo288

No, they didn’t throw Jeff Suppan at us. But I’m not sure it would have mattered if they did. We pounded out 17 hits in the victory.

Once again, everybody played. Honestly, I didn’t have any plans to use Parque at all unless it was out of the pen but he played the last few innings in right field after Robb Turner was ejected in the bottom of the sixth inning. It was actually pretty funny what happened and I’ll get to that later.

Bull was on a roll and had a shutout going after five innings. They scored a run against him in the sixth.

All said and done The Bull went eight innings and gave up one run, and struck out nine while picking up his second victory of the year for us.

Lance Evans pitched the ninth and gave up a couple of runs but it was mop-up time at that point. We knocked these guys around pretty hard …..

This game had a little bit of everything. Both teams throwing at each other’s hitters (and one coach denying it was intentional….and it wasn’t me)…..

Wild-ass base-running by both teams. Five double plays between the two teams. Overthrown cut-off men….guys getting called out for not touching bases…guys getting called out for stealing bases cleanly (Turner hahaha) and a lot of line-shots off the Verdugo bats.

We came out raking in the bottom of the first. The first four hitters – Workman, Moreno, Evans, and Canale all ripping base hits. Turner drove in a run on a fielders choice and while we could have scored more….we came out of the first with a 2-0 lead.

In the second inning Dave Fielder led-off with a base hit. Kasey Canale followed with a base-hit of his own (“The Calf” starting that night at second base….at age 14!!!!)……and Thunder eventually scored on a fielders choice making it 3-0.

The fourth inning we racked up six more hits. And six more runs. Haggs led off the inning with a base-hit. Thunder followed with a base-hit of his own. Calf drew a walk.

Up steps Hack with the bases loaded and he rips a GRAND SLAM to right-center. This was at Stengel Field. That ball was an absolute SHOT. 7-0 Verdugo.

Moreno singled….Turner ripped the first of his TWO doubles of the game ….and Haggs (who led off the inning with a base hit) singled yet again….the ball also was misplayed by their left fielder and ended up going all the way to the wall. The bases emptied and it was 9-0 when Haggs was thrown out at third trying to stretch it.

Can you blame me for waving him to third?

At this point of the game I will be honest. I wanted to ten-run-rule mercy these guys. Did I huddle all the players around me and tell them that? No. But was that what I was looking for? HELL YES.

The fewer innings we play the more gas in the tank I’ve got with our chuckers….it’s just that plain….it’s just that simple. I would never apologize for trying to do so either.

We added another in the bottom of the sixth, making it 10-1 at that point. Bull Oxen drove in Gabe….who had led off the inning with a base-hit when he came in to replace Moreno. In fact…..right now….if we score one more run and hold them scoreless in the top of the seventh….then this game is over.

After Canale’s double…..Their pitcher got the ball in his hand. Went into his stretch with Canale on second and picked over to first….claiming Bull hadn’t touched first base on the double. The umpire punched him out!!!!

Wtf? Really?? Honestly I didn’t even see the play. And with a 10-1 lead I was like …whatever. But on deck “The Reverend” (Robb Turner) was breathing FIRE!!!!

Turner steps up and cracks another shot up the gap for his second double of the night.

Then …..clearly…..for whatever reason…..their pitcher was not even remotely paying attention to anything. Turner WAS paying attention….and tried to steal third. He bounced out and got his lead and looked at me ….and bounced out a little further ….and a little more while their pitcher was reading a book or something and by the time he was about half way to third he looked at me as if to say “fuck it I’m taking it if they’re just gonna give it to me!” And off he went full bore!

And why not? He was three-quarters of the way to third before the Crespi dugout started yelling at their pitcher “heyyyyyy!!!!!” And then he fired to third. And this play? I had a front row seat. And he was safe!!!!

But no….the umpire not only called him out……he “wound-up” and called him out!!!!

I think the umpire was more fired up at calling him out than Crespi was. That umpire was strutting around big time ….kinda trying to rub it in. I don’t know what the hell his deal was. I looked at the guy as if to say “you’re kidding me right?” Anyways….soon after….Turner was launched for arguing the call.

That’s how Vo ended up in right field that night. Haha….

Hey….I’m good with it. I like my players taking what’s there if the other team doesn’t give a fuck what’s happening on the field. I say it was a heads-up play by Turner. He stole that base on THE PITCHER…..not their catcher. A pitch never was even thrown .

Yeah….he was already in scoring position with two outs ….but I still say if the pitcher has his head THAT FAR UP HIS ASS….you gotta take it……if only for the embarrassment factor.

And yeah….he was safe. If he was out I know Robb. He would’ve walked off and said “yeah they got me”

Maybe Crespi got a little hot and bothered we were even stealing bases with a 10-1 lead. It’s possible. But this wasn’t your conventional “stealing bases with a nine-run lead” either.

But I’m looking at the scorebook and we didn’t run a straight steal the whole night. Why would I when it was raining line-shots and gappers all over the place? Turner trying to steal third he did it because the pitcher had his head up his ass….not because I gave him the steal sign. He was thrown out by the pitcher….not the catcher. Look at the scorebook. 1-5…..

Maybe that’s why Canale got dosed in the ninth. Who knows?

In fact….it was CRESPI running the straight-steals that night. Once in the fourth inning (and the guy trying to steal second got MOWED DOWN by Fielder) and they ran a straight steal in the eighth when they trailed 10-1. So it’s okay for them to play hard when they trail and we’re supposed to just lay down when we have the lead and let them back in it right?

Wrong. At least not in LEGION.

But after the game I felt a conversation needed to happen between myself and Coach Muckey.

So I told him after the game. This is not verbatim…..but these are the basic thoughts I voiced to him: “This isn’t the major leagues. You and I? We don’t have a farm-team in Albuquerque where we can pull a guy up for a couple of weeks and then send him back down to get us through a tough stretch of the schedule. I’ll be honest with you coach … I was trying to ten-run you….because to be honest with you any innings I can save this summer along the way I will try and save them when they are there….and I’m sure you’d have done the same. I understand one of the ‘unwritten rules of baseball’ says you don’t steal bases with a nine run lead. I get it. But again….this isn’t the major leagues….let’s not pretend that it is ….and if you think I’m gonna lay back and stop playing when my team has a lead you better think again. Now….I’ve been honest with you….and with that being said ….certainly you can be honest enough to admit you threw at one of my guys right?” I said with a big smile.

I said this in a conversational tone with him in front of several of his players. I smiled and I remember his players smiling too. I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t lecturing. And I don’t think he was mad. But I made my point and I confessed. I asked him to confess….but I also knew he COULDN’T have confessed ….at least not to that……so I think that made the whole thing a lot more humorous for us both.

Coach Muckey may not have liked what I said ….and just like me….he never would have admitted he threw at one of my hitters. I’ll never forget the look on his face when I asked him that and smiled. But I think Coach Muckey had a little better understanding of me after this game. Respect? Maybe not. But I think he understood at that point that I was just like he was at the end of the day. And that was the point I had hoped to make with him.

The point? That yeah….I’m just a guy like you coach who’s looking to kick your ass. Just like you’re looking to kick our ass. Neither of us is getting paid to be here. We push it when we can and yeah we can be “righteously indignant” too when we’re down and one of the unwritten rules of the game gets violated……to put on a little show for our players as well….it gets everybody all jacked-up….I get it……I do that too Coach from time-to-time…..just like you.

I’ve gone off on a little tangent here so forgive me but I think it needs to be said. Coach Muckey (Scott) ran the Crespi Legion Team and was also the Head Coach at Crespi High.

I always thought ‘Ol Muck was a pretty cool dude. And probably the only Manager in the 20th district I genuinely liked. We all loved Spiro from the Glendale Team…but Spiro wasn’t managing that ball club. Coach Muckey’s assistant coach Craig Sherwood (who is now the head coach at Burbank high school and runs a great program) had long hair at the time just like me….and Coach Muck more than a few times could be found in the dugout enjoying a dip.

He ran his Legion program with all of his underclassmen. So if you were a senior at Crespi high ….you won’t be playing any Legion ball that summer (at least not for coach Muckey). And honestly, if I was a high school Head Coach I would have run my program the same way.

I will also say this. If I had a kid and could have hand-picked what high school I wanted him to play baseball at and the coach I would have wanted coaching him….I would have sent my kid to play for Coach Muckey.

He was THAT good.

Coach Muckey also was a very funny guy. I remember being at the pre-season coaching meetings we would have for the 20th district and he would always arrive just before the meeting would begin. I think he would wait until the room was full intentionally before making his entrance. He would enter the door….then back up….make eye contact with a few of us and instead of saying “hi” he went into “Coach Muckey-mode”…standing in the door opening and pretending he was giving signs to (who knows? Haha) from his imaginary third base-coaching box while we all either smiled or laughed out loud.

Many of the coaches gave signs BACK to him after he did this…..and a few of the signs sent back in his direction from some of the other coaches had only ONE finger on them for some reason…..

We all got a kick out of that.

He LOVED the game.

And he turned out some great kids. Not just great players…..great people.

He kept things in perspective. He knew he had a young team out there every season in Legion. He could go 5-18 or 18-5 and regardless he maintained his sense of humor.

If they went 18-5 it was due to his “brilliant managerial effort” he would say…..obviously tongue-in-cheek.

And if he went 5-18 he would say “yeah I remember that team I had ….I think the greatest offensive weapon we had that season was the TAKE SIGN”

Coach Muckey passed away a year or two ago. He was in his early sixties. He won the Southern Section CIF championship at least TWICE. It’s hard enough to win that even once…..

He won over 500 games as Crespi’s head baseball coach in his 27 year career there.

So while at the end of this game there may have been some “friction” between Coach Muckey and myself…..it was on the surface level only. He knew the game. He knew people. And I won’t tell ya now….but he did something even funnier before the game we had against them later in ’92 in the playoffs. He was a quiet man….but quite a character.

I have to say he handled that situation exactly the way I would have …and I’m sure he would agree that I handled it from my end exactly the way he would have. What could be better than that? Huh?

Two baseball guys just trying to get their “fair” advantage over the other guy…right? Hahaha

Rest In Peace Coach. You were GREAT!!!! Thanks for the epic battles…..

Scott Muckey ….RIP Coach….loved ya!!!!