verdugo288

AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!  VIC!!!!!!!!!

VIC’S IN!!!!!!

We’re bringing ’em in from all over the world for the VERDUGO BASH!

This thing is coming together like a miracle!!!!!

But everyone…and I mean EVERYONE…….ALWAYS underestimated Verdugo!

And that’s a pretty BIG mistake to make!

It’s starting to become clear with all the people coming to this thing……..that after all of these years………..we still have ONE MORE MIRACLE in us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHH  VERDUGO!!!!!!!!

The KINGS of American Legion Baseball !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And by the way…….we’re closing in on 4,000 HITS on this BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!

Special Thanks to Moose for 1.) having Vic’s number and 2.) Giving me that number

Ahhh Moose!

We found another guy last night.  Where was he?  Exactly where you’d find any former Verdugo tough-guy.  At a PARTY!

I got his number from Moose.

Do I call or do I text?  That was the question.

I’m calling.  It rings.  All I hear is really, really LOUD music and a bunch of people talking.  I could then barely hear his voice.  “Hello?”

“C’mon VIC!” I barked.  Just like the days from 1990.  “C’mon now VIC!”

What does VIC do?  He hangs up on me!

I’m thinking….”Ya know?”

Ok.  Plan B.  Text!

TEXT NUMBER ONE:  “C’mon now Vic you’re gonna hang up on Gee after all of the great ink I’m giving you on the Verdugo Blog?  Damn That hurts!”

No response.

TEXT NUMBER TWO:  “Don’t make us come find you and drag you to that reunion!  We can’t have it without you!”

No response.

TEXT NUMBER THREE:  “Even Ernie Diaz wants to be there and he didn’t even play for us!  Same with Shane Cowsill!  Now let’s go!”

I wait about five minutes.  My phone makes that “Incoming Text” noise…….It’s VIC!

“Sup coach?!!!  At a party…don’t have your number in my phone!  Love the Blog!  Boys of summer!  Makes me think of why I played the game!  Give you a shout!”

AHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Let’s Go VIC!!!!!!  We need to hear just a couple of words from you……..the words are “I’m IN.”

And we’re still trying to make contact with a few others out there.  We never give up at Verdugo!!  I have a feeling this is going to end up being a pretty big event by the time we’re done.  We got guys who didn’t even play for us that want to go to this thing. 

Yes-sir-ree…………..Word is getting round……that Verdugo’s coming to town!!!!!!

Yeah Buddy.  We got another confirmation just the other day.  Brancheau…..He’s IN for the Verdugo Bash. 

AHHHH Yves!!

Yves live down in the San Diego area now.  He’s one of quite a few Verdugo alumni who will making “The Road Trip Home.”

Yves was one of only FIVE players we had who played three seasons for us.  The others?  BullOxen, Hack, “B”, and TURNER.

Ahhh Yves!

I made a couple of changes in the lineup for this game.  “B” came into the season as a rookie and had played most of the season at CV as a shortstop.  He started for us at shortstop as well in the early part of the season.  But I liked “B” as a third baseman.  He had a cannon of an arm.  I moved him over to third.  Not because he was a bad shortstop.  But because I thought he would be a GREAT…and I’m talking GREAT third baseman.

I moved Yves to shortstop for this ballgame.  Yves had a damn good arm as well.  I moved Rogers over to second base, and Robb Turner played first.  That’s what was so great about the Verdugo Teams.  Interchangeable players who you could mix in at different positions on the diamond.  Rogers could play ANYWHERE for you.  In fact, in both ’90 AND ’91, he played EVERY position on the diamond for us. 

One of the few regrets I had about ’90 and ’91 was not giving Rogers an opportunity to play all nine positions on the diamond in the SAME GAME.  I always told him I was going to do it…but it never happened.

So a well-rested BullOxen was going to get the start against a new team in the league Las Virgenes.  It was quite a drive over to the Calabasas area for this one.  But this new team made me look GREAT.  How so?  Well, I remembered all the ragging our players gave me about our uniforms in 1990.  These guys from Las Virgenes showed up in basically Plain-White Tee Shirts!!  It was pretty bad.  But they had a nice facility and the field was in great shape.

BullOxen was coming off the magnificent 20 strikeout performance against Palmdale.  So what did he do?  He went out and struck out six guys in the first two innings!  Think about that one….26 whiffs in the first 11 innings of the season!  By the time this game had ended he had blown down a total of 13.  

Las Virgenes came out raking in the third and jumped out to a 4-0 lead. 

Yves led off the fourth with a base hit.  BullOxen reached base on an error and Moose stepped up and ripped a base-hit to score Yves.  We trailed 4-1.

In the fifth, ‘B” led off with a single.  Sammy reached base on an error.  Cadena sacrificed them over.  Yves then grounded out for an RBI.  Then Yvan Moreno came up and roped a base-hit to score Sammy, closing the gap to 4-3. 

Meanwhile, BullOxen was rolling along.  He shut them off in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings…increasing his strikeout total to eleven.

We opened it up in the seventh.  Sammy reached base on an error.  Brett Miller came up and laid down a bunt that the pitcher couldn’t handle.  First and second no out.

Yves ripped a base hit to tie the score at four.  Moreno singled to give us a 5-4 lead.  Then BullOxen came up and BOMBED a three-run HOMER!!!!

Ahhhh Verdugo!!  8-4 just like that!

They scored an unearned run in the 7th but Bull was just too much for them. 

They mounted a little threat in the bottom-of-the-ninth.  Runners were at first and third with one out.  The batter hit a ball up the middle and Yves turned a 6u-3 DOUBLE PLAY to end it. 

And once again….They’ve DONE IT!!

Yves had a great game.  Two hits, two RBI.  Yvan Moreno picked up a couple of hits.  Bull Homered.  Moose had two hits.  “B” had two hits and a sting. 

Great win.  This put us at 4-3.  And three of those W’s were come-from-behind victories.

But a BIG test awaited us.  Montclair Prep was next on the schedule…and they were 6-0.  And it was a road game. 

But we had an old friend coming back to join us.  A guy who got pulled from our ’90 Roster.  And he was coming back to play with us (this time) for the REST OF THE SEASON.  All the paperwork had been finalized.  CHILI was coming home to Verdugo….just in time for Montclair Prep!

Yeah, that’s a stat you always want to keep an eye on.  Left On Base.  NOT!  At Verdugo, we never really had to keep track of that stat.  It was never a problem for us.  I don’t ever remember a game where on the drive home I actually sought out the scorebook and counted them.  15.  I couldn’t believe it……

We rolled into Granada Hills to play the squad from Kennedy High School.  We got a GREAT outing from Big Breck, who was making his first start of the year for us.  Big Breck was “dealing” that day.  Six and a third innings, scattered six hits, three walks, six K’s.  He gave up five runs…..ALL UNEARNED.  Josh Willis came in to relieve Big Breck in the seventh and threw an inning and a third of shutout ball.

Yvan Moreno singled, as did Moose, BullOxen, and Rogers.  The rookie Brendan “B” Cowsill rocked a triple.  Just a couple of problems in this game.  We made six errors defensively and were 0-17 at the plate with runners in scoring position.  We left 15 guys on base.  We got beat by a weaker team 5-4. 

John Rogers had a great game from left field gunning down two runners at the plate.  He also “drove” in a run for us when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. 

I got tossed from the game around the seventh inning.  We threw a guy out at third base from the outfield by about five feet and the Blue called him safe.

I just sat there.  I said “what did you call that guy?”

The Blue walked all the way over to our dugout and said “I said SAFE!”

He was really hamming it up…trying to show me up and the whole bit.  Whatever, dude.  I just looked at him and turned my hat sideways.

“You’re outta here!” he said.

Okay now I’m pissed.  I didn’t say shit.  Never left my seat in the dugout.  I asked him what the call was and turned my hat sideways. So what?

I get up and start following his ass towards home plate.  I’m thinking “Oh you don’t like the shit I do with my hat?”

I had this move I always worked on every time I walked into my apartment those days.  The hat would come off…and I would “frisbee it” across the room and try to land it on top of a coat rack that was about 12 feet away.  Through the years I had gotten pretty good at what I called “The Hat Trick.”  I usually could land it right on top of that pole at the top of that coat rack about five out of every seven attempts (you know how I love to keep stats on EVERYTHING!).

I’m thinking as I’m following him towards home plate…”Do it Gee, DO IT…HAT TRICK HIM!”

Why the hell not?  He just ran me.  I mean, what’s he gonna do?  Throw me out TWICE?  So I did it…… I frisbeed that hat….and it landed RIGHT ON TOP OF HIS HEAD!

The fans were all laughing now.  He was walking around in circles trying to see what they were laughing at.  Finally, it fell off of his head.   The base ump came in and picked it up off of the ground.

“Keep it” I told the guy.  “Since it bothers you so much, you can have it.”

I don’t know whatever happened to that hat.  But I got that Blue GOOD.  I was putting on a show that day…..

After all….I had earlier in the game BRANDED BullOxen.  Bull had scored a between-inning-hockey goal on Hank and the ball came within inches of ripping off my face and then rattled around the inside of our dugout.  So I picked up a ball from the ball bag, and from a seated position in the dugout drilled ‘Ol Bull in the ass with a perfect throw!  See our earlier Post “BullOxen gets Branded.”

Then the Granada Hills coach got thrown out.  We were both standing in the parking lot together, watching the game.  Like two guys from different Hockey teams that had been thrown into the same penalty box!

He had played Pro Ball…one of the Tagliaferri brothers.  I think he played in the Detroit Tigers system but his playing days were over.

We were standing out there and he says…..”Man, I’ve seen a lotta shit in my days..but I’ve NEVER seen a guy get tossed for turning his hat sideways.  And by the way, I saw that throw you made the bench.  Nice!  Were you aiming for his ass?”

“Of course I was” I said…….lying through my teeth. “What did he throw you out for?”

“For looking at him.” 

I believe that was the ONLY time I ever coached a game where I was spotted laughing my ass off with the enemy!

This was a tough loss…….dropped us to 3-3.  If there was ONE game I’d have to pick in ’91 that I can say we should have won, THIS would be the game.

The Burbank Team was disintegrating.  We had a game scheduled against them and we won on a forfeit.  We were now over .500 again at 3-2.  About a week later, the Burbank Team Forfeited all of their remaining games.  They threw in the towel and quit the League.

This was huge.  Not the win on the forfeit…..but it opened up an opportunity.  I had a chance to get CHILI free and clear and this time….NO ONE had to sign a waiver to release him over to Verdugo.  If I could pull it off we would be DEEP on the mound.  I started the groundwork for CHILI’s return “home” to Verdugo!

And within just a couple of games I had pulled it off….CHILI was coming BACK to Verdugo!!!!!!

AHH Chili!!!!!

I’ll never forget this trip up the 14 Freeway on a Wednesday night to play Lancaster.  Everything was rolling beautifully.  We left early, everybody showed up at CV park to get directions….we had all of the horses we needed……and promptly got THUMPED.  We had planned to get to the field about an hour early.  As it turned out….we got there about 15 minutes before the game started.  Fuck I was pissed.

I just remember this bumper-to-bumper traffic jam up at the top of the 14.  How bad was it?  Well, let me put it to you this way.  There was a time span of about fifteen minutes where the car I was in had moved about a total of TWO FEET.  I couldn’t take it anymore.  It was like a parking lot.  We actually GOT OUT of our cars and started walking around the 14 Freeway and bullshitting with people. 

Finally, the traffic jam broke.  It’s a good thing we left so early that day or we would have forfeited the game.  We hurriedly tried to get loose and went through a hasty pre-game.  I’ll explain how late we were…..there were guys still playing catch and stretching on the sideline trying to get loose as we were hitting in the top-of-the-first inning.  We just didn’t have enough time to get ready that day.

We weren’t ready to go.  I gave the ball to JR.  He had only thrown 46 pitches on Sunday.  They came out and rolled nine on us in the first inning.  Six of the runs were unearned. 

God damn that traffic.

After the first inning we beat ’em 6-1.  But that nine in the first killed us and they prevailed 10-6. 

We out hit them 11-9.  It was a tough loss.  We always had trouble at that park.  And yeah…..it was still there that evening.  A year later.  About a 300 pound sheep in the left field “bullpen” area.  It looked like it hadn’t moved an inch since we had been there a year earlier.  I hated that place………That stupid looking sheep or goat or whatever it was….just standing there…existing.  What a bizarre place that was.  And in the summer of ’92…we saw that damn thing again.  Hell, it’s probably STILL standing there today as I write this. 

Yves went 3-4.  BullOxen doubled and singled, and had 2 RBI.  Moose, Rogers, Cowsill, Brett Miller, and Sammy all had base hits.

I also remember after this game getting into it with the Editor at the Glendale News Press.  All the writers down there were cool and we all got along.  But this guy was a little unreasonable.  He called me that night about 10:00 and wanted to know what happened at the game.  I told him if he wanted to know what was happening at ANY of our games then he needs to send a reporter to the game.  I was the Coach of the Team…not a reporter for him.  I set the guy straight.  He didn’t like me much after that….but I didn’t give a shit.  Oh…and by the way………the Glendale News Press/Foothill Leader ALWAYS sent a reporter to every game after I went off on that guy.  Ahhhh!  Verdugo!!!

I told the guy that I reserved the right to have “no comment” after any game we play.  I explained to him that if he had sent a reporter to the game he would have had a story to write for the paper.  And I would have declined the interview after the game…because I was PISSED! 

He got the message.  He didn’t like it, but he got the message. 

It’s all good.  Here it is like 20 years later and I’m finally commenting on it.  And if he’s reading this Post….he still has plenty of time to get it into tomorrow’s Newspaper! 

Have I got that guy’s back or what?

Yes-sir-ree.  Our old friends from Quartz Hill were next on the schedule.  But guess what?  This was a HOME GAME at STENGEL!  The first home game we played at Stengel Field in Verdugo history.  In ’90…we drove up to play Quartz Hill and we ruined their day with a 13-12 victory.  See our earlier post “Hey 2-3 Your BARN’S ON FIRE!”

The victory over Quartz Hill in ’90 was clutch.  They went 19-4 that year and made the playoffs, but when we left the field that day….well, let’s just say Quartz Hill HATED US!

And they definitely REMEMBERED what had happened the previous summer, and clearly wanted a piece of us.

The funny thing about this game was that the original guy we were ragging on about his “Barn being on Fire” was no longer number 23.  He was sporting a different jersey on this day.  They had the same uniforms they had worn the first time we saw them but this guy was wearing number 21 today.  It didn’t take us long to figure out who he was and in true Verdugo fashion BullOxen reminded him by saying “Hey 2-1….your BARN’S STILL ON FIRE!”  God these guys hated us.

J.R. Workman got the start on the mound for us.  We still have to call him J.R. at this point because we had not nicknamed him “Hack” yet.

Quartz Hill jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a couple of unearned runs.

In the bottom of the second, Big Moose ripped a double, and John Rogers sacrificed him over to third.  And here’s a blast-from-the-past name for you here….ELMO Geoghegan (who was our shortstop that day) grounded out to score Moose.  We trailed 2-1.

J.R. came out after four great innings.  He only threw 46 pitches.  We brought in BIG BRECK in the fifth.  Big Breck was breathing some fire that day as this was his first appearance of the season for us and he was well rested after throwing plenty of innings that season at the High School.

We made our move in the bottom of the fifth.

Brett Miller singled and stole second.  Eric Cadena walked.  Yves Brancheau laid down a beauty of a bunt single.  And Robb Turner hit a clutch double to right-center to drive in two and give us a 3-2 lead.  BullOxen then had a Sacrifice fly that scored Yves and we led 4-2.

Big Breck was totally breathin’ fire!  He had that big leg kick going and retired the first 10 hitters he faced, mowing down four of ’em on strikes.

They did score a run in the eighth, but that was all the noise they could muster against our pitching that day. 

Big Breck retired the side in order in the ninth….striking out the final two to seal the win.

AHHH Verdugo!

Workman and Breck had combined for a three-hitter…with NO walks!

We made the most of the six hits we got and were back above .500 at 2-1.

Yeah, no matter how hard that guy tried to NOT be number 23 that day we still knew who he was.  You just can’t hide from Verdugo.  And who knows?  By the time he got home after the long drive from Stengel Field………maybe his Barn actually WAS on fire!

Ahhhh!

I was quoted in the newspapers back in 1991 that I’d “probably never see someone strike out 20 hitters in a game again in my life.”  Well, 20 years later…..I still haven’t seen it.  In fact, I haven’t even HEARD about it happening.  I don’t care WHAT level it is….Pro, College, High School or Legion.  You strike out TWENTY guys in one game and you are LEGIT….the REAL DEAL. 

We always knew BullOxen was legit.  Like I said, the first time I saw him he had the nastiest yellow-hammer I’ve ever seen….and he also threw HARD.  When he had it all going…he was virtually untouchable.  And ’91 was only his second season with us……

My God……join me for a minute or two and just kind of reflect upon that staggering number.  I still can’t believe it. 

I knew he was dominating that day.  But I was a little bit wrapped up in the moment.  We needed that first win of the season.  Palmdale had come down to play us at Glendale High School that day.  We actually TRAILED after five innings 1-0.  They scored an unearned run in the third.

Bull drew a leadoff walk for us in the bottom of the fifth.  Moose reached base on an error.  Turner hit into a fielders choice. 

With two outs, John Rogers tied it up with a clutch base hit.  Josh Willis walked.  Then Bret Miller blew the game open with a bases-loaded triple. It was 5-1 Verdugo.

Palmdale was already done.  Bull had already struck out eight in the first four innings, including FOUR guys in the third (dropped third strike where the batter reached base).

Bull then basically took over. It was like he was “just getting loose” by the fifth inning.  He struck out five guys in a row.  Then he gave up a fly ball out leading off the seventh.  Then he struck out six guys in a row…..(an all-time Verdugo Record by the way). 

He was done as far as I was concerned.  He had already thrown 143 pitches.  Way too many…..

I told him he was done.  “Let me go see the scorebook and see how many strikeouts I have” he told me.

I didn’t really think much of it….until he came back and told me he had EIGHTEEN. 

We looked at each other.  Yeah, it was crazy.  But I had to keep him in.  He wanted to try for it.  Shit, I was thinking he had a chance to make some history.  He would have been okay with me yanking him…..but he was looking at a chance here at….well…..immortality. 

“On one condition”…I told him.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“That you ‘glove-flick’ for the 20th.”

You’ve seen it before at Baseball games.  The pitcher gives the sign to the catcher instead of the other way around.  They do this between innings.

Are you saying Gee that you wanted him to telegraph to everyone in the ballpark (including the hitter) what pitch he was going to throw to record the 20th strikeout?

That’s EXACTLY what I wanted him to do.

We both got that evil look in our eyes and it was ON!

And Bull was totally up for the challenge.  Basically this means if he did whiff the 20th guy…it was like saying “Here it is…I may as well tell you what pitch I’m throwing because you ain’t hitting it anyway.”  We had some serious swagger going on in 1990….but nothing like this.  But with Verdugo…we always push the envelope.

Moose liked the idea, too.  He had called a damn good game up to that point.  It kind of took the pressure off.

In the ninth inning…the first guy STRUCK OUT on three pitches.

He had two strikes on the next hitter but was having trouble with that glove-flicking thing.  The batter hit a come-backer……1-3 if you’re scoring.

Two down.

He got two strikes on the final hitter.  It took him one or two glove flicks if I remember correctly.  But he glove-flicked “fastball” and BLEW the final hitter down on strikes.

TWENTY!  Count’em!! TWENTY!!!

He not only struck out 20 guys in a single game, he TOLD the 20th victim what pitch he was gonna throw and the guy STILL couldn’t touch it.

AHHHHH!!!!!

Call me evil if you will…..whatever, dude.  When a Verdugo Chucker Blows down 20….we glove-flick for it.  That’s just how we roll at Verdugo.

The teams did the obligatory post-game handshake.  That’s when the opposing coach took a little exception to our “flicking.”

First, he chest-bumped me.

“Is that shit coming from you?” He asked me.

In the “Art-of-War” (or one-upsmanship) it’s always important to take the enemy again down that road that led to his ruin.  At this stage I wanted to make him say out loud what was bothering him…kind of “re-live” the humiliation of what had just happened to him and his team.  So I took him back down that road.

“What shit is that?”

He was “down that road” all right…and I enjoyed watching him recount the misery and hearing him say:

“That glove-flicking shit.”

“Oh yeah…that ‘glove-flicking” shit.  YEAH as a matter of fact it did come from me.  And do me a favor…the next time you see the name ‘Verdugo Hills’ on your schedule do us all a favor and do NOT come to the ballpark as UNPREPARED as you were today.”

Dead silence.

As we walked back to the dugout after that exchange….all I could hear was our guys saying “Ahh Gee…Ahhhh!!!…Ahhhh!…..Ahhhh Gee!!!   Ahhhh!!  Ahhh Gee.”

But all the “Ahhhs” that day go to BullOxen.  Think about it for moment again.  Twenty K’s in one game.  That’s just downright SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I mean that in the very BEST of ways………

I am sure that record still stands in 20th District Baseball.  No One will EVER see that again.  But WE did.  And here in just a couple of weeks….we’re gonna be PARTYING with the guy who did it!!!

Ahhh BullOxen!!!   Ahhhh Verdugo!!!!!!!!!

I will add the newspaper stories soon!!!