B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 38 – August 10, 2023
Weather: Still hot – 84 degrees at the start of the 10:00 game, with 72% humidity, the temperature rising steadily and reaching 100 degrees by late in the noon game, though the humidity did drop under 50%. Sunny throughout.
Injured list:
Gray team: Doc Hobar
Green team: Jeff Broussard – recovering from heart surgery
Alvin Gauna – broken finger
Games of Thursday August 10:
10:00 a.m., Blue (9-3) at Maroon (4-7):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 3 2 5 5 0 15 Maroon 2 0 5 3 3 13 Pitchers: Blue – Gil Delossantos; Maroon – Tom Kelm. Mercenaries: Blue – Gil Delossantos, Jack Spellman, and Jeff Stone. Umpires: home plate – Rick Jensen and Joe Roche; bases – Tom Brownfield and Jim McAnelly. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Larry Fiorentino (2 for 2 with a walk and a double) and Fritz Hensel (2 for 2 with a walk); Maroon – Marvin Krabbenhoft (3 for 3). Homerun: Bobby Miller (inside the park).
Blue came in leading the league for the session, and led this game from the first batter forward, but Maroon battled hard and made a game of it. That first batter was Bobby Miller, who opened the game with an inside-the-park homerun to center field. Blue added two more runs in the inning, on a walk to Larry Fiorentino and three singles, then held Maroon to two runs in the bottom half, Johnny Lee’s RBI triple the big hit. After Jack Spellman struck out looking to start the second (I thought the pitch was flat; plate umpire Rick Jensen did not), Blue scored two more runs: Gil Dellossantos singled, Bobby Miller doubled, Richard Battle’s sacrifice fly to left field scored Gil, and Larry Fiorentino’s double scored Bobby. Maroon did not score in the home half.
Bobby Miller returns to the Blue dugout following his leadoff homerun.
Each team scored five in the third, Blue on Fritz Hensel’s walk, a double, six singles, and Jeff Stone’s sacrifice fly. Maroon’s five came on a barrage of base hits. Blue posted another five-spot in the fourth: Anthony Galindo and Eddy Murillo started the inning with two-base hits, Fritz Hensel completed his perfect day at the plate with a single, Jack Crosley walked, Dale Fugate’s sacrifice fly to right-center brought in the second run, Jeff Stone’s single delivered the third, and Jack Spellman’s triple to right field drove in the fourth and fifth.
Maroon got three runs back in the bottom of the fourth, and Tom Kelm retired Blue in order in the top of the buffet: Tom deflected Gil Delossantos’s grounder up the middle to second baseman Scott Wright, who made an excellent play to scoop the ball up and throw to first for the out; Bobby Miller, looking to complete the cycle with a triple, flied out to right-center; and Richard Battle flied out to left.
That left Maroon chasing five in the bottom half. Blue catcher Fritz Hensel made a nice grab of a ball fouled back for a quick first out. A bunch of hits resulted in three runs scoring, but during the sequence there was a 6-4 force at the second for the second out. The final out came when Rex Horvath, pinch-running for Billy Hill, couldn’t stop at second on a base hit to left field because he was the next batter due up; trying for third, Rex was thrown out 7-6-5, a good relay from Richard Battle to Jack Spellman to Eddy Murillo. Final score: Blue 15, Maroon 13, Blue extending its winning streak to four games and remaining in first place for the session.
11:00 a.m., Gold (5-7) at Gray (8-3):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Gold 5 0 5 0 3 13 Gray 5 5 1 5 X 16 Pitchers: Gold – Jeff Stone; Gray – Jerry Mylius. Mercenary: Gold – Scott Wright. Umpires: home plate – Anthony Galindo; bases – Richard Battle. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Jack McDermott (3 for 3 with a triple), Joe Roche (3 for 3), Jack Spellman (2 for 2 with a walk and two triples), and Jeff Stone (2 for 2 with a walk); Gray – Tom Brownfield and Frank Delmonte (each 3 for 3), Daniel Carvajal (3 for 3 with a double and a triple), and Rick Jensen (2 for 2 with a walk).
Much like the first game, the lesser team by record made a pretty good game of it, but ultimately came up a bit short, the difference being that, while both teams had four players post perfect days at the plate, Gray got better production from the bottom of its lineup, resulting in five-run outbursts in three of its four at bats.
Both teams scored five in the first, Gold on two walks, five singles, and Jack McDermott’s triple (a line drive that gapped the left and left-center fielders and went to the fence), Gray on six singles and David Kruse’s double. David then returned to the field and made a terrific play from deep in the 5-6 hole to throw out Larry Bunton leading off the second. Gold went down in order in the frame, and Gray took control with another five-run outburst in the home half, on four singles and triples by Rick Kahn and Daniel Carvajal. (Daniel absolutely crushed a drive directly at and over the head of Jack McDermott in left-center – the hardest-hit ball of the day, I think.)
Gold briefly tied the game in the top of the third, scoring five times without making an out, on Jack Spellman’s lead-off triple to rigth and five singles, then held Gray to a single run in the bottom half. Tony Viera led off with a single and scored from first on Frank Delmonte’s drive over Denny Malloy’s head in right-center – technically an RBI single, as Frank was taking a runner from home, David Kruse, but in my mind a solid extra-base hit. Jeff Stone got the next two batters to hit into force plays (David thought he beat the shortstop to second base on Jerry Mylius’s grounder, but I and the umpires disagreed) and Alex Valles to fly out to left-center.
Gold had an opportunity to take the lead in the fourth, but Jerry Mylius posted another 1-2-3 inning, shortstop David Kruse making another play from the 5-6 hole to throw out Joe Dayoc. Gray then took control with another five-run inning that began and ended with walks. Rick Jensen drew a base on balls to start, Rick Kahn doubled, David Kruse’s fly to left-center scored Rick J., and Daniel Carvajal doubled in Rick K. (Daniel hit for three-quarters of a cycle in his three at bats.) Tom Brownfield, Tony Viera, and Frank Delmonte singled (Tom and Frank completing 3-for-3 days at the plate), two more runs scoring. A walk to Jerry Mylius loaded the bases, and a walk to Jim McAnelly drove home the fifth run.
Those two walks came as the scoreboard clock was counting down to zero. There were 12 seconds remaining when Jim took ball four, forcing in the fifth run of the inning (Tony Viera crossed the home line with time remaining), but Gray acting manager Rick Jensen convinced plate umpire Anthony Galindo that time actually expired before Jim made it to first base, which… <cough>baloney<cough> … deprived Gold of an inning in which to stage a comeback.
In the event, it most likely did not matter, as Gray would have gotten another chance to bat had Gold rallied to tie, which it did not. Gold scored three times with one out in the top of the buffet on three singles, a walk, and a triple, but the game ended with David Kruse turning a nifty 6u., 6-3 double play on Gil Dellossantos’s grounder just to the left of second base. Final score: Gray 16, Gold 13
Noon, Red (5-7) at Green (5-7):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Red 5 5 5 5 X 20 Green 5 5 1 1 1 13 Pitchers: Red – Jack Kelly; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Red – David Kruse; Green – Rex Horvath, Tom Kelm, and Johnny Lee. Umpires: home plate – Jack McDermott; bases – Rip Wright. Perfect at the plate: Red – George Brindley (3 for 3), Jack Kelly (2 for 2), Mike Mordecai (2 for 2 with a walk), and Adam Reddell and Howard Spates (each 3 for 3 with a double); Green – Tommy Deleon (2 for 2 with a walk) and Mike Hill (4 for 4). Homeruns: Sam Baker and Paul Rubin (each inside the park).
Go figure, the game featuring teams with identical records had the most lopsided final score, as Red torched the ball, scoring five times in each of its four innings, making just six outs along the way. First inning: five runs on five singles, the first of Terry Thompson’s two doubles, and a walk to Mike Mordecai, only one out made. Second inning: five runs, all scored with two out, on three singles, a walk to Paul Rubin, and doubles by Terry Thompson and Howard Spates. Third inning: five runs on five singles and David Kruse’s two-run triple, only one out made. Fourth inning: Paul Rubin led off with an inside-the-park homerun to right field, Adam Reddell doubled with one out and scored on Howard Spates’s single, and with two out Mike Mordecai singled and Sam Baker drove a ball between the left- and right-center fielders that rolled to the fence for a three-run inside-the-park homer, I believe Sam’s first B League round-tripper.
Sam Baker and Paul Rubin each hit inside-the-parkers for Red in the top of the fourth inning.
Green matched the visitors over the first two innings, scoring five times in the first on six singles and a walk to Chunky Wright, and five more in the second on a lead-off walk to Tom Kelm, six singles, and Chunky’s sacrifice fly to right field. Jack Kelly found his groove after that, however, limiting to Green to a single run in each of the last three innings. In the third Jack retired Johnny Lee on a fly to right and Tom Kelm on a pop to shortstop to open the inning, allowed three consecutive singles to the top of the Green order for a run, then escaped the inning when second baseman Howard Spates made a terrific play on Don Solberg’s grounder to the right of second base, Howard tossing to shortstop David Kruse for the force. In the fifth, Rex Horvath’s two-out double scored Chunky Wright from first.
With Green trailing 20-12, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet, denying Red a shot at scoring five times in five consecutive innings. Tom Kelm led off the buffet with a liner to shortstop that David Kruse made a perfectly timed leap to snag, robbing Tom of a hit. Clint Fletcher and Mike Hill followed with line singles to left- and right-center, respectively, Mike completing a 4-for-4 day. David Kruse turned Donnie Janac’s grounder to the 5-6 hole into a 6-4 force at second for the second out. Don Solberg lashed his third single of the game, driving in Clint, but Jeff Fisher followed with a three-hop grounder to second baseman Howard Spates, who fielded the ball cleanly and tossed to David Kruse for the game-ending force.
Red bats were hotter than a western New Mexico wildfire.
Final score: Red 20, Green 13
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 10 3 .769 — 194 150 +44 W4
Gray 9 3 .750 .5 174 148 +26 W1
Red 6 7 .462 4 161 160 + 1 W2
Purple 0 2 .000 4.5 29 33 – 4 L3
Gold 5 8 .385 5 147 161 -14 L2
Green 5 8 .385 5 156 174 -18 L1
Maroon 4 8 .333 5.5 114 149 -35 L3
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 3-3 7-0 1 0-0 6-1 1-0
Gray 5-2 4-1 1 0-0 2-0 3-1
Red 2-4 4-3 0 0-0 2-3 0-2
Purple 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Gold 1-5 4-3 0 0-0 2-2 1-1
Green 2-5 3-3 0 0-0 1-4 1-1
Maroon 2-4 2-4 0 0-0 1-4 0-0
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 4 4 3 3 2.5 2 18.5
Gold 2 X 2 6 2 1 3 16
Gray 2 4 X 3 3 2 5 19
Green 2 1 2 X 2 4 4 15
Maroon 3 4 1 4 X 3 2 17
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 4 2 1 3 3 3 X 16
_____________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 14.5 16 12 19 14 15.5 17 108
Schedule for Monday August 14:
10:00 a.m.: Green (5-8) at Gold (5-8), Maroon umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Gray (9-3) at Maroon (4-8), Blue umpiring
Noon: Blue (10-3) at Red (6-7), Gray umpiring
Preview: With eight dates left in the session, time is running out for the not-Blue-and-Gray teams to drag the leaders back to the pack. Maroon will have a shot at Gray at 11:00, but I suspect the best game Monday will be at noon, when a surging Red team, now ensconsed in third place with a positive run differential, will take on first-place Blue. The day will start with Gold hosting Green, both 5-8 and looking to end (short) losing streaks.
My weather app says this heat wave will continue at least to Tuesday. Good on everyone for hydrating – can you keep it up? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
There was enjoyable post-game discussion in the Beer Garden about great outfield throwing arms – Roberto Clemente, of course, and Willie Mays, and I’m a fan of Dwight Evans. A guy I didn’t think of till later is celebrating his 90th birthday today:
Rocky Colavito