I was happy to see our team play a damn near perfect game in Game One of the playoffs. I mention this because we were about to play three more playoff games that were “less-than perfect” and you know what? We won one of those games and the other two games could have gone either way.
Going into the playoffs we had the second best record in the 20th District at 20-3. Now we are 21-3. Now we get a showdown against a Notre Dame team that was now 22-2. We split the regular season games against them, so this win against Notre Dame was (in my mind) Verdugo’s “finest hour”……EVEN IF WE WOUND UP WINNING THE DISTRICT. This game was THE showdown that really put us on the map and accomplished my own personal goal of Verdugo becoming the “most feared team” in the 20th District.
And taking two out of three from the eventual 20th District Champs was special. Yeah….Jody won the District….but I always wondered if he ever told the tale about one team in particular he just couldn’t handle.
By the time this matchup had ended…..Everybody knew who Verdugo was and what we had accomplished. Obviously, I’d have liked to see the team go further.
Josh admitted to me after the season that he felt something “pop’ in his arm/shoulder when he pitched the playoff game against Newhall-Saugus.
He never would have come off the field (or the mound) for us…because he probably never would have said a word……………he was an incredibly strong-willed dude. But as to how far we would have gone if we advanced, our chances would have been dwindled with him not being able to pitch. But I know he still could have hit…and we were going to get Evans back from his broken arm the next week. But it would have been a challenging road ahead for us.
The Legion playoffs were played under (what was then) National League Rules. No DH. As you now know, all of MLB can use a DH. So we were going to see how Jim Parque and (unbelievably) Lance Evans could swing the bats. Evans in particular….as he was sporting a fucking CAST on his left arm. Hell….Evans wasn’t even supposed to play until he got his cast removed. The effort you guys put forth in these playoffs was nothing short of magnificent.
I’m into victories. Moral victories don’t mean much to me. But the things I saw in the four games DID make me realize there’s more to life than baseball. I kind of felt like the guy in the movie as things were slipping away….the cameras zooming in on his face where some kind of epiphany dawns on him and he sees something no one else can see….or maybe he is seeing for the first time what was hidden in plain sight….something hidden to him….something he was blinded by……because of his “ambitions”…………
My epiphany was “Jesus Christ look at the fucking EFFORT these guys are giving me!!!!”
Not that all of you hadn’t been doing that all season long. All of you had…..
It was just unreal the way you guys gave it up for Verdugo….and I want to thank you all for that. You guys played your fucking guts out….
Hack got hit hard in the Notre Dame game. Wiley got hit hard in the Chatsworth game. Big fucking deal. In both games our bats brought us back into the games….taking the lead in BOTH of those games, and closing it out against Fat Jody. A couple of plays going our way in the Chatsworth game and we may have beat them as well…..
I made some questionable decisions as well…..particularly in the Encino-Crespi game…..and I will be pointing them out as I write about that game.
You’ve heard me say “Here at Verdugo whatever you did….you’re forgiven for”
I say it jokingly (and I mean it yet it’s funny) but as you know “there’s truth in humor”….
We were all in this thing together. And I guess it’s my way of saying…..”hey guys I made a lot of mistakes too”
So maybe you guys will forgive me for my blunders as well…………
Come whatever may…..let’s get to the final three games of the ’92 season.
verdugo288 