We lost to Crespi. I had a protest to file. We had another ballgame in less than 24 hours. We needed three outs against Crespi and could have been celebrating…..instead, the game we would be playing against Chatworth was going to be an elimination game.
Who was going to pitch? I wasn’t even aware that Yves injured his ankle on the last play against Crespi. He showed up Sunday morning with his ankle wrapped up and wearing sandals. He couldn’t play. We were still waiting for Evans to get his cast taken off and get cleared to play. He was suiting up for every game but was unavailable for “about another week”……….
Before the game against Crespi, I was wandering around out in the outfield just doing my usual thing. BS-ing with the players as they got loose. All of a sudden I heard Fielder say “AHHHH SHHHHHIT” I looked over at him and he said “He’s here”…..
I looked over into the stands and noticed it as well. The CV Baseball coach was there at the game. He was not only there….but he was there early.
I don’t think it had an effect on everybody. But the sentiment I got from the team as a whole was they weren’t happy about it. And let’s not kid ourselves, it had an effect.
We didn’t have as much fun as we normally did. Body language was a little uptight. The “Quick! Pantherlike’s” were hollow or non-existent. The “AHHHH’s” as we fired it around were low key….or missing. Guys seemed to be pressing. It definitely had an effect.
Still, we were able to overcome that distraction and play a good game. The way we fought back and took the lead in the bottom-of-the-eighth on Fielder’s double was unbelievably clutch. We just didn’t close it out.
Personally, it didn’t matter to me one way or another if he was there or not. But I knew it would have an effect on the players, or at least some of the players. I probably should have addressed that matter with the team before the first pitch was even thrown. I didn’t. That’s on me. I know what I would have said, but I downplayed it. Again, my bad.
I think if I would have said what I wanted to say it would have been a “party atmosphere” in the Verdugo dugout and on the field. We wouldn’t have changed a thing.
We (obviously) lost the protest I filed. I asked “why?” and they didn’t really give me an answer other than “we can’t do anything about it”……
We had gone from the penthouse to the shithouse in about 13-14 hours. I kinda felt like Cheech and Chong…..after they had smoked too much weed, and one of them said “Everything’s spinning, man”
I say this not from experience…..but….uhhhh….I watched the movie. You know what I’m sayin???
But we still got NINE innings to play! Our pitching was depleted. Our pitching staff was kinda held together by band-aids and rubber bands at this point. I’m giving the ball to either Wiley Jackson….or Gabe….I decided to give the ball to Jackson…. and said to myself “come whatever may”……
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