B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 30 – July 10ish, 2023
Correction: I misreported the play in the June 29 Green-Gold game in which Tim Bruton was thrown out at home – I wrote that it was a 9-6-2 relay, but in fact Don Solberg threw directly home to catcher Ray Pilgrim. The Picayune regrets even unintentionally downplaying the strength of Don’s throwing arm.
Weather: It was fantastic in Charlestown, Rhode Island: sunny, high of 82 degrees, low humidity, and the water temperature in Block Island Sound was a ridiculously pleasant 68 degrees. I understand it may not have been quite as heavenly in Austin.
Prior to the day’s games, Anthony Galindo on behalf of league president Jack McDermott (experiencing email issues) notified us of the following:
The board has decided to implement the 11 player rule effective tomorrow. However, the rule is optional so both managers must agree to use the extra player before the game and there are no restrictions where he can play on the field. If one team prefers to play with 10 then both teams will play with 10.
Jack McDermott subsequently clarified on how the rover may position himself:
[The rover] can play anywhere on the field, infield, outfield, in front of or behind the arc. The only restriction is that if they are in the outfield – any part of their body is in the outfield grass before the ball is hit – they must comply with our outfield throwing to first base rule; [that is,] they cannot throw directly to first for the force out on the batter/runner.
Injured list:
Blue team: Stan Fisher – Dupuytren’s contracture
Gold team: Jeff Stone – broken left pinky finger
Red team: Gregory Bied – pulled quadriceps
Alvin Gauna – broken finger
Games of Monday July 10:
10:30 a.m., Green (2-2) at Gray (3-0):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 15 Gray 13 Pitchers: Green - ; Gray – Jerry Mylius. Homerun – David Kruse (over the fence).
Gray manager Greg Lloyd reports:
Green had two eary five-run innings and led the entire game. Gray had an over-the-fence homerun from David Kruse. Needing four runs to tie in the buffet, Gray started well when Greg Lloyd tripled leading off, but Green held on to win 15-13.
Greg Lloyd triples to start the buffet. Sorry, I was somewhat removed from the action, but took this picture at Galilee, Rhode Island at about the same time.
Final score: Green 15, Gray 13, Gray suffering its first loss of the session, its six-game winning streak snapped.
11:30 a.m., Maroon (1-2) at Red (1-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 6 Red 9 Pitchers: Maroon – Tom Kelm; Red – Jack Kelly. Perfect at the plate: Marvin Krabbenhoft.
Final score: Red 9, Maroon 6
12:30 p.m., Gold (2-2) at Blue (3-1):
1 2 3 4 5 6 BUFFET FINAL Gold 2 3 0 0 0 2 0 7 Blue 4 5 1 0 5 X X 15 Pitchers: Gold – Greg Lloyd; Blue – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Gold – Greg Lloyd; Blue – Adam Reddell and Ralph Villela. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Denny Malloy (4 for 4); Blue – Larry Fiorentino (4 for 4 with two doubles) and Dale Fugate (3 for 3).
Blue manager Anthony Galindo reports:
Blue picked up Adam Reddell and Ralph Villela to fill out its lineup to ten players, and won 15-7 with a double flip-flop. Gold scored two in the top of the first, but Blue came back with four in the bottom of the inning. Gold regained the lead 5-4 in the second or third inning, but after that Blue controlled the game until the end.
The entirety of Gold manager Dave Berra’s report: “They hit; we didn’t.”
Dave kindly sent me pictures of his scorecard, which allows me to flesh things out a bit. Gold actually hit a bit early on, scoring twice in the top of the first on four singles (three with two out) and three times in the second (on six singles), but Blue came out even hotter, scoring four times in the bottom of the first on five singles, the first of Larry Fiorentino’s two doubles, and a sacrifice fly by Anthony Galindo, and then adding vie runs on eight hits (seven singles and Anthony Galindo’s double) while making just one out in the bottom of the second.
Gold managed just two runs over the rest of the game, those coming in the top of the sixth, after which the teams flip-flopped. That rally in the sixth was short-circuited in part by a baserunning out, James Chavana called out for interference (sorry, I don’t have details on that). Gold’s big problem throughout the game was leaving runners on base, leaving the bases loaded in the second and fourth and stranding two runners in the first and fifth. Blue iced the game with another five-run inning in the bottom of the fifth, knocking six singles while making just one out, runners twice taking extra bases on throws. Final score: Blue 15, Gold 7, Blue leapfrogging Gray to take over first place for the session.
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 4 1 .800 — 77 57 +20 W4
Gray 3 1 .750 .5 56 49 + 7 L1
Green 3 2 .600 1 66 66 0 W3
Gold 2 3 .400 2 64 69 – 5 L3
Red 2 3 .400 2 61 70 – 9 W1
Maroon 1 3 .250 2.5 41 50 – 9 L3
Purple 0 2 .000 2.5 29 33 – 4 L3
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gray 2-1 1-0 1 0-0 0-0 1-0
Blue 1-1 3-0 0 0-0 4-1 0-0
Gold 1-1 1-2 0 0-0 1-1 0-1
Green 1-1 2-1 0 0-0 1-1 1-0
Maroon 0-2 1-1 0 0-0 1-1 0-0
Red 1-2 1-1 0 0-0 0-3 0-0
Purple 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 3 2 2 1 2.5 2 12.5
Gold 2 X 2 5 1 1 2 13
Gray 2 2 X 2 2 2 3 13
Green 1 1 2 X 1 4 4 13
Maroon 3 3 1 3 X 3 1 14
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 3 1 1 1 3 3 X 12
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 12.5 11 10 13 9 15.5 13 84
Schedule for Monday July 17:
10:30 a.m.: Maroon (1-3) at Gold (2-3), Blue umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Green (3-2) at Blue (4-1), Gray umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Gray (3-1) at Red (2-3), Green umpiring
Preview: After playing just one set of games over the first two weeks of July, B League resumes plaly in earnest Monday, with two dates per week until Labor Day. At 11:30 Green will try to knock Blue off its new perch atop the standings, with the league’s longest extant winning streak. At 10:30, one of Maroon and Gold will end its three-game losing streak. At 12:30, Gray will try to return to its winning ways, and possibly reclaim first place, versus an ascending Red team. Will Blue and Gray swap places again? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
The Kegster’s been living it up at the beach, but he’ll be back to his reporting duties Monday.
Morgan Witthoft checks in on his Playable Art for Game Night Kickstarter project:
Hello project backers,
We’re getting close to meeting the project goal! Over 80% of the way, with a week left before deadline.
If you have any friends who play cards, or love birds, consider asking them to join in and become the pledge that puts us over the top.
BONUS REWARD: If we meet the project goal, I will print and send you (along with your card deck(s)) an 8×10 bird photo of your choice. I print these on Hahnemuehle Natural Fibers photo paper because it produces gorgeous results. You could choose a photo from the deck, or one of my bird (or bug or flower) photos on facebook\GrackleGrafix; or request a picture of your favorite bird, in case I happen to have in my collection.
Here’s the URL for the project:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gracklegrafix/bird-photo-playing-cards-55-original-photos