B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 40 – August 17, 2023
Weather: Yowza, it was brutal today: 94 degrees and 51% humidity at the start of the 11:00 game, up to 99 degrees with the humidity dropping to 34% at the beginning of the third game, and up to 103 degrees by the time we finished. Blazing sun throughout.
Roster changes:
Notorious malcontent/clubhouse cancer Jack Spellman is transferred from Gold to Red. Multi-position slugger Tim Coles is assigned to Gold. Notes Gold manager Dave Berra (paraphrasing), “This is addition by addition and also by subtraction – we’re delighted to have Tim, and we won’t miss Spellman’s endless whining.”
Injured list:
Gray team: Doc Hobar
Green team: Jeff Broussard
Alvin Gauna – broken finger
Green’s Tommy Deleon took a line drive off the mask toward the end of the second C League game this morning, and as a precautionary measure was taken to hospital and checked out. (No truth to the rumor that they took an x-ray of Tommy’s head and found nothing.) Tommy made it back to the bench for Green’s game at noon versus Gray, and to the Beer Garden after the game, but per doctor’s orders will sit out a week or two.
Quote of the day: The EMS guy asked Tommy a bunch of questions along the lines of What’s your name?, Where do you live?, and Who’s the president?, all of which Tommy answered easily. (It is a lie that Tommy answered “Bud Lite” to the presidential query.) Then EMS guy asked, “If I give you six quarters, how much would that be?” Johnny Lee: “Oh, he’s fucked.”
Games of Thursday August 14:
10:00 a.m., Gold (5-9) at Blue (11-3):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Gold 1 0 2 0 3 6 Blue 5 2 1 4 X 12 Pitchers: Gold – Jeff Stone; Blue – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Blue – Carl Gallagher, Jack Kelly, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home plate – Jerry Mylius; bases – Paul Rubin. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Tim Bruton and Jeff Stone (each 3 for 3) and James Chavana (2 for 2 with a double and a walk); Blue – Richard Battle (2 for 2 with a walk) and George Romo and Jimmy Shull (each 3 for 3).
Blue picked up Jack Kelly to pitch, and Jack was his usual effective self, getting ground ball double plays for the first two outs in the first (6u., 6-3, George Romo to Eddy Murillo) and third (4-6-3, Jack Spellman to George Romo to Eddy Murillo) and holding Gold scoreless in the second (retiring three in a row following Mike Garrison’s lead-off single) and fourth (working around Larry Bunton’s two-out double). Gold scored a single run in the first on three consecutive two-out singles, then two in the third on four straight two-out singles.
Meanwhile Blue came out hot, scoring five times in the bottom of the first on a lead-off walk to Richard Battle, six singles, and Eddy Murillo’s sacrifice fly to left field. Blue added two runs on four singles in the second; one run in the third when Carl Gallagher tripled home Jimmy Shull – Carl was out trying for an inside-the-park homerun, 8-6-1-2 (James Chavana to Tim Bruton to Jeff Stone to, I think, Joe Dayoc, as Carl overran the commit line and was obliged to try for home, and was out by a lot); and four runs on five singles and Larry Fiorentino’s triple in the fourth. Jack Spellman got fake revenge on his former team by poking a pair of RBI singles and cleanly fielding two balls hit to him at second base. (Great bunch of guys on Gold, why would I want revenge?)
Trailing 12-3 entering the buffet, Gold got consecutive one-out singles by 1-3 hitters Tim Bruton, Gil Delossantos, and Jeff Stone, Tim and Jeff completing 3-for-3 days at the plate and all three of them coming around to score, Tim on Jeff’s hit, Gil on Tim Coles’ sacrifice fly to left-center, and Jeff on Joe Roche’s single. James Chavana followed with a double, but the game ended with Morgan Witthoft running down Denny Malloy’s drive to right field. Final score: Blue 12, Gold 6, Blue extending its winning streak to six games.
11:00 a.m., Maroon (5-8) at Red (6-8):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 2 2 3 2 1 10 Red 0 0 5 1 3 9 Pitchers: Maroon – Joe Bernal; Red – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Maroon – Carl Gallagher, Rick Jensen, and Philip Stanch. Umpires: home plate – Mike Hill and Jeff Fisher; bases – Tim Balke and Donnie Janac. Perfect at the plate: Maroon - ?; Red – Gregory Bied and Jack Spellman (each 3 for 3 with a triple) and Jack Kelly (2 for 2). Homeruns: Mike Velaney, Carl Gallagher, and Scott Wright (all inside the park)
Maroon scored its first six runs on two-run inside-the-park homeruns in each of the first three innings by Mike Velaney, Carl Gallagher, and Scott Wright. Their last four runs came on garden-variety base hits. Meanwhile Joe Bernal blanked Red over the first two innings, stranding two runners in the bottom of the first, the third out coming on a fine running catch by Carl Gallagher (I think it was) of Adam Reddell’s drive to deep right field. Jack Spellman and Terry Thompson led off the bottom of the second with singles, but the rally was short-circuited by Maroon third baseman Larry Shupe, who turned a very nice double play on Mike Mordecai’s grounder, stepping on third and then making a strong throw to second to complete the 5u., 5-4 twin killing.
Red broke through with five runs in the bottom of the third, on five singles, Gregory Bied’s two-run triple, and David Ferley’s double, then scored once in the bottom of the fourth, as Terry Thompson led off with a single, advanced on a ground out, and scored on Jack Kelly’s two-out single to right field.
Entering the buffet, Maroon led 9-6, and added just one run in the top half. Red 1-3 hitters Gregory Bied, David Ferley, and Paul Rubin each singled to start the bottom of the inning, Gregory coming around to score. Carl Gallagher made a terrific catch coming in of George Brindley’s sinking line drive to right-center for the first out. I believe Adam Reddell went out, but I can’t recall how. Jack Spellman came up and hit a triple to right field, two runs scoring; I took a wide turn at third, but the relay had already reached shortstop Rick Jensen; I would have been dead to rights if I’d tried for home. Instead the tying run was stranded at third when Terry Thompson’s hard grounder up the middle was fielded by Mike Velaney, playing rover, his strong throw to first resulting in the final out. Final score: Maroon 10, Red 9
I found this memento mori of past Pluckers behind second base today. I offer it in lieu of pictures of Maroon’s three homerun hitters, Mike Velaney, Carl Gallagher, and Scott Wright.
Noon, Green (6-8) at Gray (9-4):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Green 2 2 2 0 4 10 Gray 4 2 2 0 0 8 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright; Gray – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Green – Tim Coles, Adam Reddell, Jack Spellman, Phil Stanch, and Scott Wright; Gray – Johnny Lee and Terry Thompson. Umpires: home plate – Tom Kelm; bases – Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Green – Jack Spellman (3 for 3) and Phil Stanch (2 for 2 with a walk); Gray – not sure, but I don't recall Greg Lloyd and Mick Parker making any outs.
Pretty good battle in the Texas heat, with a bunch of extra-base hits due to outfielders not being super energetic. Jeff Fisher’s triple in the top of the first accounted for Green’s first two runs, as it drove in Donnie Janac, who’d doubled, and Jeff then scored on Don Solberg’s sacrifice fly to right. Gray’s first five batters hit safely and four scored in the bottom half. Each team scored twice in both the second and third, Green on Mike Hill’s two-run triple in the second and Buddy Gaswint’s RBI triple in the third, Buddy then scoring on Chunky Wright’s ground out back to the box. I don’t have details of Gray’s scoring, but as I recall, Greg Lloyd and Mick Parker both tripled in the bottom of the third, and I think Tom Brownfield hit a high-fly double that inning, but Chunky Wright got out of the jam with a fine fielding play, turning a double play on a liner up the middle, snagging the ball and snapping it to first for the second out.
Neither team scored in the fourth, Greg Lloyd working out of a first-and-second, no-out jam by getting Mike Hill to fly to left, Donnie Janac to ground to third base, and Jeff Fisher to hit a two-strike foul. (Jeff subsequently left the game, Scott Wright taking his place.)
Trailing by two entering the buffet, Green scored four runs on seven singles in the top half. Scott Wright came up with the bases loaded and two out, but popped up to shortstop David Kruse.
Chunky Wright proceeded to work a great 1-2-3 bottom half. I think he retired the side on just four or five pitches, getting Rick Jensen on a liner to first baseman Buddy Gaswint, Tony Viera on a liner to third baseman Tim Coles, and Frank Delmonte on a liner back to the box, Chunky making a really nice glove play, down and to his right, to snag it for the final out. Final score: Green 10, Green 8
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 12 3 .800 — 227 176 +51 W6
Gray 9 5 .643 2.5 197 174 +23 L2
Green 7 8 .467 5 188 196 – 8 W2
Maroon 6 8 .429 5.5 141 174 -33 W2
Purple 0 2 .000 5.5 29 33 – 4 L3
Red 6 9 .400 6 191 192 – 1 L2
Gold 5 10 .333 7 167 195 -28 L4
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 4-3 8-0 2 0-0 7-1 2-0
Gray 5-3 4-2 1 0-1 2-0 3-2
Green 2-5 5-3 0 0-0 1-4 1-1
Maroon 3-4 3-4 1 1-0 1-4 2-0
Purple 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Red 2-6 4-3 0 0-0 2-4 0-4
Gold 1-6 4-4 0 0-0 2-2 1-1
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 5 4 3 3 2.5 3 20.5
Gold 2 X 2 6 2 1 3 16
Gray 2 4 X 3 3 2 5 19
Green 2 2 3 X 2 4 4 17
Maroon 3 4 2 4 X 3 3 19
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 4 2 1 3 3 3 X 16
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 14.5 18 14 19 14 15.5 19 114
Schedule for Monday August 21:
10:00 a.m.: Gray (9-5) at Red (6-9), Blue umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Green (7-8) at Blue (12-3), Maroon umpiring
Noon: Maroon (6-8) at Gold (5-10), Green umpiring
Preview: Red, 6-9 despite having a nearly even (-1) run differential, due in large part to its 0-4 record in one-run games, will look to get back in the winning column at 10:00 versus Gray, which has lost its last two and fallen two and a half games behind Blue. Green, coming off a victory against second-place Gray, tries to end Blue’s six-game winning streak at 11:00, while extending its own win streak to three, which would get them to .500 for the session. Maroon has won its last two while Gold has dropped four in a row, but Gold still has the better run differential despite sporting a record that’s a game and a half worse than Maroon’s – they’ll square off at noon.
It goes without saying that Japan’s release of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant will result in the rise of Godzilla from the depths of the Pacific. But will the beast threaten the northwest coast of North America, imperiling the supply chain that delivers Beebe’s excellent cleats to greater Austin? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
A reminder that other people’s tragedy is our comedy, especially two-thirds of a century later: On this day in 1957, Richie Ashburn of the Philadelphia Phillies fouled off balls that hit fan Alice Roth twice in the same at bat, the first hit breaking her nose, the second nailing her while she is being carried out on a stretcher.