We’re down to the final week of the season.
We got FIVE games to play.
We’re either a half game ahead or we’re tied with Notre Dame for first place….I didn’t know and I didn’t care that much about that.
The fact that we were 16-2 at this stage was nothing short of heroic….
And we weren’t the only team playing five games this week. Just about everybody who was in the playoff hunt had to as well.
Here’s the schedule….
Monday: Notre Dame at Notre Dame (7)
Wednesday: Road game in Lancaster (7)
Friday: Sun Valley at Glendale High (7)
Saturday: Panorama City at Glendale High (9) *but I’m expecting to mercy rule them
Sunday: Newhall-Saugus at Saugus High (7) *the other coach and I agreed to play 7 instead of 9 innings on a Sunday. All weekend games (not including double-headers) are supposed to be NINE inning games. Both coaches cleared to play 7 through Mel Swerdling the Commissioner.
You guys are probably thinking “Gee what are you doing?”
It’s all right gentlemen…everything is gonna be just fine.
I love all the plate appearances our hitters are gonna get this week. If we get into the playoffs it will pay huge dividends.
The goal right now….and the number one goal for sure is getting us IN to the playoffs.
We needed two wins to do it. I felt VERY CONFIDENT we would beat both Lancaster and Panorama City….I could still throw Cowsill or Wiley or Gabe at either of those teams…..
I had Vo penciled in for Friday night against Sun Valley….but with five games in seven days ….anything could happen.
We still could Win the Division Outright. But I felt we would need to run the table to do it. And as it turned out, that’s what we would have had to do.
Even if we lost to Notre Dame though….we could have still won the division and I will discuss HOW we could have done that later.
My goal was this: Get us IN…and juggle the pitching so that Bull would be throwing game one of the playoffs on one week’s rest. That was the MAIN GOAL.
Anything that happened over and above that obviously we would take. But I wasn’t going to blow out all our arms trying to be the number one seed in the tournament, or to win the division.
Did I want to win the division?
HELL YEAH I did….
But it wasn’t that important.
If we were at full-strength and had Evans I would have played things differently….but he was out….and it was looking like he was going to be out for ALL the playoff’s as well.
I felt we could play with anybody at this stage anyways, regardless of our seeding in the playoff tournament.
This was a fun, fun week.
So Bull’s getting the ball Monday against Jody. His last appearance was against Glendale. He will be throwing on nine days rest.
We’re good….
I got Bull chuckin’ against Jody. Then we got four more games where EVERYBODY will be throwing their number one at us and I still don’t know who the hell is getting the ball for us in any of the other games.
But that’s what ya want? Right?
If everybody’s throwing their top dog at you….that’s gotta mean something.
Some people might call it respect….in my book….I think it’s FEAR.
But with all the uncertainty, I’m feeling good. We’re all starting to figure out it doesn’t matter WHO they throw at us….
Because somehow….this magical group of players ….they always seem to find a way….
verdugo288 