verdugo288

Our old buddies from Woodland Hills East rolled into Stengel Field on a Sunday morning for a twin bill.  When I first got our schedule for the ’91 season and I saw we had a double-header at Stengel against them…….I didn’t care if we went 2-20.  I just wanted BOTH of our wins to be against these idiots.  See my earlier Post “One Time in 94 Games” if you don’t know WHY I wanted BOTH of these games…..

But I’ve always said this about double-headers…..”They’re HARD to sweep, and EASY to get swept.”

So “Why” you may ask….if I wanted to win BOTH of these games….would I start BullOxen the day before against Agoura?  Because ‘Ol Bull was going hunting or fishing that day and had told me he wouldn’t be there for this game before the season started!  I think this may have even been Father’s Day……..it was June the 25th.

So we knew Bull wasn’t going to be there.  I still felt we would have “enough” guys there who would “remember” what had happened the previous summer.  We had Hank, Weap, and General there coaching for us.  We had Turner, Sammy, and Rogers on the field for us that day as well.  We were all still TOTALLY pissed about that game.  In fact, I’m STILL pissed about that GD game TODAY!

So here they come in with their RED and White Jerseys.  It didn’t take long for most of us who were on the field that day they beat us a year ago to get sick to our stomach.  We were TRYING to tell the new guys on the Team about what had happened last summer.  For whatever reason…they didn’t really understand.  I guess you “had to be there.” 

They came out and trounced us 9-2 in the opener.  I guess you could say I was “Seeing RED” again……….

We had nine hits in the first game.  Turner…two hits.  Rogers…two hits and two RBI.  Sammy…one hit.  Five of our nine hits were by the three guys who were on the field that day a year ago.  I was proud that they, too, had “remembered.”  But it was a hard sell to the rest of the guys to get ’em to totally step up for this game. Yves, Yvan Moreno, Mike Parker, and Brett Miller all singled in the first game.

But there’s always a silver-lining to any Verdugo defeat.  We beat ’em in the second game 10-0 on a mercy rule and dominated them in ’92 in a BIG game.  By the time we had finished all four seasons in 20th District play…there was only ONE team that had a winning record against us…and it WASN’T Notre Dame.  And it WASN’T Woodland Hills East.  We were still building our program in ’91…..and by the time the building was done and it was time to just kind of go out and PLAY…..nobody touched us.  And I’ll TAKE THAT.

BIG BRECK came out in the second game and had a complete-game shutout victory.  A tight little three-hitter.  Ahh Big Breck!!!

Offensively, we banged out a dozen hits.  And pretty much everyone contributed to the blowout.

John Rogers got us on the board in the first inning with a big RBI-double.  He had two hits on the day. 

Robb Turner picked up another couple of hits in the second game.

Brett Miller had two hits.

ELMO had two hits and an RBI.

Cadena singled twice and drove in three runs!

HACK singled, drew a walk, and had two RBI.

We were actually starting to hit the ball pretty well at this point of the season.  33 hits in the last three games.  While the ’91 Team had GREAT pitching, we also had the lowest Team batting average in Verdugo history at .286.  It wasn’t BAD….but the ’90 Team outhit ’em.  But as I said in an earlier Post…..everybody now knew who we were and adjusted their pitching rotation(s) to make sure we were seeing one of their better guys, if not their BEST guy. 

We didn’t sweep….but we didn’t get swept either. 

We were still AT or very near the top of our Division at 7-4.  Next up on our schedule was “Valley E.T.”………a team we had swept in a double-header towards the end of the ’90 season.

Every game is a BIG game in Legion.  We came into this one 5-3….on a little bit of a roll with a two-game winning streak and were playing another HOME game at Stengel.  Agoura had a decent ball club that year and while I was always worried about every game we played, we had BullOxen going for us. 

Bull already had struck out 33 in 18 innings on the year for us.  He had TWO nine-inning complete game victories and had pretty much defined himself around the League as the guy to watch.  Hell, he struck out 20 in one game….some pitchers don’t even do that in a SEASON!

But the ’91 Team had one thing going for it…we could strike guys out!  The ’91 pitching staff set an all-time record for Verdugo with 158 strikeouts in one season.  Between Bull, Breck and Chili it was downright SICK! 

BullOxen and Brett Miller combined on a one-hitter and we won our third straight 9-3.  Bull struck out 11 in seven innings.  Agoura scored their only run against Bull in the fifth on three walks and a hit batter!  Funny enough….all three outs recorded that inning were K’s!!!  Miller gave up a couple of unearned runs in the ninth but threw very well that day.

Offensively, Yvan Moreno had three hits.  Sammy had two hits and blasted a two-RBI double in the sixth when we broke the game open.  “B” Cowsill had a couple of hits and stole two bases.  Yves, Turner, Parker, and Bull all singled.  Moose got us off to a 2-0 lead with a big two-RBI double in the fourth inning.

Several guys came off of the bench later in the game and contributed as well.  Elmo reached base on an error and stole a base for us.  Cadena came in and drove in a run on a groundout.  Hack came in and was spotted roaming the tundra in right field, spelling Turner, who had singled and scored a couple of runs.

Also….we had a first appearance from one of my catchers on the JV team that year at CV by the name of Larry Kimbell!   That’s right…my boy Larry Kimbell!  Kimbell was given a role for the ’91 Team as “bullpen catcher.”  He knew he wasn’t going to see much time.  And he certainly didn’t help his cause in the ninth inning that day when he had TWO passed balls.  But it was all good.  Everybody seemed to take a liking to Kimbell.  Even BullOxen…who liked him so much that when Kimbell caught him in the bullpen before a game BullOxen would grab a ball…..and throw it as far as he could and say to Kimbell “go get it!”

You gotta love Kimbell!  Kimbell would go “fetch” BullOxen’s “feed”…….and return to his spot in the bullpen.  Then BullOxen would follow-up his first throw to Kimbell with a crow-hop that went even farther.  And Kimbell would go get that one as well.  You gotta Love Kimbell!

Three-in-a-row for Verdugo.  Now all of a sudden we’re 6-3.  And for all of you Verdugo fans out there who remember that gut-wrenching loss we had to Woodland Hills East in 1990 (see previous Post “One Time in 94 Games”)….well, THEY were NEXT on our schedule.  A twin-bill at Stengel!!!!!!!!

Done.  The Bash is going to air LIVE on the WEB!!  And once again….They’ve DONE IT!!!

Ahhhh Verdugo!!!

I’m sure there’s a bunch of our enemies out there reading this shit every day all green-eyed with envy.  Just goes to show that 20 years later…nothing has changed!  Ahhh!

They’re probably out there crying about the fact that this Blog and This Reunion Bash once again is living proof of our dominance over them.  Yes-sir-ree…..they’re all out there CRYING!!!

Well, we at Verdugo…we’re crying, too.  The difference is that OUR TEARS are TEARS OF JOY!!!

Ahhh Verdugo!

And you can add a couple of more names to the miracle.  MORENO and TURNER!!!  They’re IN!!!

Turner is flying in from New Orleans!  Is that as CLUTCH as it gets?!?!?!?!?!

We got Hack flying in….We got Gabe flying in….We got Turner flying in.  If that doesn’t get the TEARS OF JOY flowing nothing will!!!!

Even Lance Evans tried to tell me this week he won’t be there.  Shit………he’ll be there!  He knows what he’s gotta do!  I didn’t buy it.  All I said was “we’ll see you there!”  And you watch…he’s gonna show up!  Somebody doesn’t just pitch for a Team with a broken arm and not show up for a Reunion. He even roped a one-handed base-hit for Verdugo in that game because he had a damn cast on his left arm!  He’ll be there…….. 

I can’t believe how awesome this is……… the way it’s all coming together.  But actually, it doesn’t surprise me a bit!!

Everybody is making HUGE sacrifices for this thing.  And I thank ALL of you for it!!!

Everybody knows Verdugo never fucked around and this Bash is no different!  Once a KING…ALWAYS a KING!!!!  And The KINGS shall soon gather.  

But let me tell you this.  EVERYONE is important to this BASH!!  If you think these guys are just going to magically show up without ONE FINAL PUSH from everybody you’re crazy!!  We gotta keep calling people….keep texting people….whatever it takes.  I’m talkin’ bout five minutes before the damn BASH we should still be calling people up and telling ’em….”hey brother….just a friendly reminder.”  Even if we KNOW they’re gonna be there…keep calling ’em up and doing it Verdugo-style.

Hell, by the time The Bash hits we should just about be sick of each other calling up all the time!  We only get one shot at this!!! Let’s do it!  Verdugo-style!!!

We all have a lot of work to do this week getting ready for this thing.  We’re trying to Broadcast it LIVE on the Web….we got music, microphones, TV Sets, SNK games to coordinate. 

General is in the movie racket these days.  He operates a crane.  He’s talking about bringing in one of those cranes of his INTO the damn place where we’re holding the bash!!  Well, think about it…if we’re bringing a camera crew….then we need one of those camera guys UP in the air.  Crane Time!!!  We’ll see if we can pull it off.

I got the phone number for someone who just might let us get on a Baseball Field at 2:00 AM that night.  If I pull this off…you guys will be playing “Drunken Flip” out there and we plan on filming it. 

Of course….if we make that a reality then we’ll need about a forty-foot LIMO to drive us there.  NO DUI’s that night!  No exceptions!  Verdugo NEVER gets caught for anything….so let’s keep that streak alive 20 years later!!!

VERDUGO!  Bigger than life!!  Ask yourself….what can I do in this final week to make this Bash the most COMMANDING  Bash of All-Time?

That’s right.  TEARS OF JOY!!  That’s all we ever cry at Verdugo…..Tears of Joy!!  And frankly, to all of the bitches out there who tried to stop us all of those years who are reading this shit now….go CRY in your Beer!!  Cuz’ WE OWN YOU!!!

Ahh Verdugo!!!

I was talking to General last night.  It turns out General called in to Verdugo headquarters to tell me he was “going to be a few hours late” for THE BASH.  WTF?  This is VERDUGO here!  Nobody’s late for the Verdugo Bash….especially one of the guys who saw every game we ever played!!!  General could tell I wasn’t too happy with this phone call.  He called me again tonight.  Well…as it turns out…..General and I weren’t even talking about the SAME DATE!!!

I guess there was some confusion.  The Reunion is July 9th!  And the 10th, for that matter.  We had a good laugh about it.  I told him…”here you were within INCHES of being tarred and feathered!”  I liked what Weap had to say about the prospect of someone not showing up at the Verdugo BASH.  He said…..”you shun….you’re done!”

That’s it! 

So what’s all of this talk about “LIVE from La Crescenta?”  Well, there’s some things moving around backstage here at Verdugo that SHOULD enable us to broadcast The Bash LIVE on the Internet!  That’s right!  LIVE on the Internet!!!

Everybody knows we never fucked around at Verdugo and this Bash is no exception!  We are doing everything we can to make The Bash exactly like Verdugo….LARGER THAN LIFE ITSELF!!!!!

Ahhhh Verdugo!!!!!!

What better way to say to THE WORLD “Like a nightmare…WE’RE BACK” than to broadcast this thing LIVE on the Web?

So get out your sunglasses.  Because if we can pull this off it will be further proof that we at Verdugo have ONE MORE MIRACLE in us!!!  Instead of just having the pink slip on everything and everyone that challenged us through the years…I guess you could now say all of those pink slips are officially LAMINATED!!!!

Yeah, buddy…..I’m talkin’ LIVE from La Crescenta!!!!!!!!!  Verdugo…for the WORLD to see……in all of our GLORY!!!!!

Ahhhhh!!!!!!!!

4,000 Hits in this Blog!

Now that’s what I’m Tawkin’ ’bout!!!!

I think this whole “Dr.  Jules Rush” deal has created quite a surge in hits the past couple of days.

My next move is to knock his website out of commission!

I got a three day weekend coming up here.  And for those of you who have lost faith in ‘Ol Gee’s ability to produce, just WATCH how many new Posts I have come this time Tuesday morning!!

4,000 Hits!!!  And once again, they’ve done it!

Everybody knows VERDUGO is, was, and always will be The undisputed, outright, absolute KINGS of American Legion Baseball!

We were 230 tons of Cold Blue Steel barrelling down the train tracks.  That Train kept-a-rollin”……until we decided to let it crash!  And then we all walked away from that crash unscathed!  We exited from the carnage of that crash….shook hands….and we all went fishing for the winter!!  Ahhh Verdugo!!!!!

It was amazing how even back in ’93……before the advent of the Internet……we were already talking about doing a Reunion Blog back then!!!

That Train was barrelling through anything that crossed its path.  That was one hell of a party on that Train!  I was talking to Weap last night and Weap said “We didn’t even know that we were doing shots with the guy who was supposed to be driving that Train!  We thought it was just some Verdugo-fan who had stolen the Engineer’s hat!”

That’s right….230 tons of Cold, Blue Steel.  Bashing and Buffalo-ing its way through anything that got in its path!!!

Ahhh Verdugo!!!  Once again………They’ve DONE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We never wanted it to come down to this.  But I have no choice.  The fans of Verdugo out there reading this Blog are now going to get a chance to see the kind of ragging skills we bring to the table!

Hey Dr. Rush…I’m unleashing the hounds on you!

And mark my words..Your Blog will be out-of-commission by the time The Reunion hits!

I encourage all of you to show “Dr.” Rush and the rest of the world of what we’re REALLY capable of!

COMMENT ON HIS BLOG and let’s send HIM to the nuthouse while we’re at it!

Ahhhh Verdugo!

Okay Guys……GO GET HIM!!!!!

www.verdugocrimes.blog.com

Yeah I was all jacked up this evening to write about “Heart.”  And I will get around to it….

It seems like there’s someone out there who’s not real happy with Verdugo and this Blog!

Some guy by the name of Dr. Jules Rush.

Hey “Dr.” Rush……you can kiss my ass!

Check this shit out www.verdugocrimes.blog.com

I’ve thought about a THEME for this BASH for many months now.  The word “HEART” is the one word that just won’t go away.  It is the only single-word I can think of that embodies what Verdugo was all about……..

Check-in later tonight to this Blog…….I’ll be discussing that one word.  HEART. 

That’s what Hank was saying the whole game to the Montclair Prep players or coaches.  You gotta love Hank.  Hank was like the “WWF” character for Verdugo.  Hasbro should have made and sold “action figures” of Hank (like G.I. Joe) featuring Hank in various poses….Taunting the crowd…..clinging to a chain-link fence as he bellowed-out the words “fuck-yeah!!”, or maybe even one where he would be posing in his “Between-inning-hockey” stance…all complete with goggles and game face!  They would have made Millions!!!

But for this game…Hank was in the dugout coaching with us instead of on the field.  And we had a new guy in the dugout that day for Verdugo.  CHILI.  Chili was back in a Verdugo uniform, this time to stay!  He was well rested and ready to go.  But we gave the ball to the high leg-kickin’ BIG BRECK for this BIG GAME.  Montclair Prep had a few names on their roster that later became “household names.”  Russell Ortiz.  Brad Fullmer.  Yeah, these guys were good…and coming into this one…they were 6-0.

And of course, on the way to the field in Encino that day….one of the cars got lost.  Sammy, Turner, and Chili were in that car.  Sammy and Turner were scheduled to start, and Chili was going to pitch at some point that day, so I was a little worried.  I was thinking at this point how cool it would be if we all had those “Gordon Gekko” cell phones from the movie “Wallstreet.”  I had also decided that as soon as the game ended I was going to go home and invent this thing called “The Internet” and open up a website called “Mapquest.”  Unfortunately, I never got around to that…..Too busy coaching Verdugo!!!

So now I’m all stressed out about the missing car.  The umps basically told me to pound sand.  “Too Bad” they said.  “The game will start on time as scheduled.”

So I’m making out the lineup.  We only got like NINE guys there.  NANCE then comes up behind me and says “J.R. can play shortstop.”

“Are you kidding me?” I asked.

“He can hit, too.”

Well, it wasn’t like I had any choice.  J.R was going to play shortstop that day….or at least until the other car arrived.

And, just for the record……..this was the LAST day we ever called him “J.R.” again.  Let’s just say that “someone else” was born that day….a guy that breathed quite a bit of life into our Program for the next three seasons.

That’s right.  His name was no longer “J.R.”  His New name was “HACK.”

Ahhh Hack!!!

Even though this game was played at their yard….for some reason or another we ended up being the Home Team that day.

The first two batters got base hits, but Brett Miller gunned the leadoff hitter down at SECOND BASE.  Moose then blew down the guy on first trying to steal second.  Let’s just say that sent a little message to the boys over at Montclair Prep.  Dont’ even try to run on Moose.  They didn’t try to steal a base on us the rest of the game!  Bases were now empty.  “Cheeseburger” Shaw came up and flied to right to end the inning.  Ahh!

Our “ad-hoc” lineup came out and raked away.  Miller led off with a single.  Moreno moved him over on a groundout and BullOxen drove in Miller with a base hit.  Moose and Cowsill walked.  Up came ELMO Geoghegan with the bases jacked.  Elmo drew a walk and it was 2-0 Verdugo.  You could tell….this was the first time these guys had ever trailed in a game.

It remained 2-0 until they scored a run on a Sacrifice Fly in the third inning. 

We added to our lead in the fourth when Elmo led off with an infield single.  Parker sacrificed him over.  Up (now for the second time in the game) came HACK. 

Hack then proceeded to hit a foul ball that went about 400 feet.  DEEP into the weeds.  He kind of looked down at me a little wild-eyed after that one.  What was cracking me up about this guy was the RIP he would take at the ball. 

We even commented on it between innings.  “Did you see the ‘Hack” that guy takes at the ball?” we’d ask one another…laughing.

While Hack grounded out that particular at-bat, he moved Elmo to third.  Miller then came up and stroked a single and it was 3-1 Verdugo. 

And it stayed 3-1 until the top-of-the-fifth.  They scored a couple of runs to tie it.  It was a GREAT five innings by Big Breck.  Meanwhile…the lost car showed up.  Chili got loose in a hurry.  I watched him in the bullpen.  He was throwing frickin’ BB’s.

Big Breck had done exactly what we needed him to do.  He kept us in the game and didn’t give anything away.  Five innings….six hits….ONE walk…three K’s…and two earned runs.  He worked ’em pretty damn good.

In the bottom-of -the-fifth, BullOxen led off with a base hit.  Moose flew out DEEP.  Rogers sacrificed Bull over.  “B” was walked intentionally.  Yeah, they KNEW who “B” was and the damage he could inflict.  They wanted to get to Elmo.  So what does Elmo do?  He draws a walk. I thought Elmo put together a great at-bat for us right there.  He fouled some shit off, worked the count, and drew the walk.  It was clutch.

Mike Parker then came up and laced a single that scored two runs. 

Up came HACK.  By then, that was his name.  Everybody was saying it to him “Let’s go HACK.”

So HACK…feeding off of it all….rips a shot for a base hit and it’s 6-3 Verdugo. 

“No 7-0″……….”No 7-0″…….guess who was prowling around the sideline saying that?

Chili came out to throw the sixth.  They scored an unearned run off of him, but that was all they scored the rest of the day.  He owned ’em.

We added to the lead when BullOxen led off the bottom-of-the-sixth with a towering double.  Rogers walked.  “B” moved both guys over on a ground ball out.

Turner had come in for Elmo to take over the DH’ing duties.  Turner promptly ripped a SHOT for a base-hit that scored Bull, but Rogers got thrown out at the plate.

Usually there would be a momentum swing after a throw-out at the plate like that.  But these guys were unraveling.

All I kept hearing was “No 7-0″……..”No 7-0″……..

We never got to face Fullmer that day.  For some reason he never even entered the game until the bottom-of-the-seventh. 

Chili had it going.  Even BullOxen was telling me that he was having trouble at FIRST BASE catching the ball when Chili would pick-over.  That’s the sick kind of stuff Chili had.

They never really threatened the rest of the way.  We finished the game with a textbook 4-6-3 double-play, Rogers-to-Workman-to-BullOxen!

It was true.  “NO 7-0.”

And they weren’t happy about it.  The coach was over there arguing with his players and his little brother (who our guys were calling “Cheeseburger” all day) was pouting away.

And once again….They’ve DONE IT!

This team we just beat WON the 20th District that year, and advanced DEEP into the playoffs.  They won the State Title that year.  And we worked ’em right there in their own yard.

I was feeling better.  I’m thinking “Maybe we should lose a car before EVERY game.”

And I liked what I saw from HACK.  It seemed like the vibe on the field was different when he was out there.  In a good way.

And I was really happy to see Chili back in a Verdugo uniform, and the way he and BIG BRECK had worked ’em that day.

I went home…thought about that deal with The Internet and Mapquest and decided I was having WAY too much fun with Verdugo to waste my time with anything else!  I made a decision right then and there to let someone else steal my Internet idea.  “Screw it” I decided………”I’ll wait about 20 years and just do a BLOG about this Team.”

I liked us being 5-3………and over the next eleven games…..we were about to make a pretty impressive run.