B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 42 – August 24, 2023
Weather: It’s just gradations of awfulness this month. It was 90 degrees with the humidity at 56% at the start of the 10:00 game, rising to 96 degrees with the humidity down to 35% for the noon game, and blue skies throughout, just a few scattered clouds later on. I don’t know about those humidity numbers – it felt pretty icky to me.
Roster assignment: Frank Saldana assigned to Green team.
Injured list:
Gray team: Doc Hobar
Green team: Jeff Broussard
Unassigned: Alvin Gauna
Returned to action: Green team’s Tommy Deleon
Games of Thursday August 24:
10:00 a.m., Blue (13-3) at Gray (10-5):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 5 1 1 1 3 5 16 Gray 1 3 1 1 0 0 6 Pitchers: Blue – Spike Davidson; Gray – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Blue – Peter Sundquist; Gray – Tim Coles and Jeff Stone. Umpires: home plate – Jack Kelly; bases – Howard Spates. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Larry Fiorentino (4 for 4 with three doubles), Anthony Galindo (4 for 4 with a double and a triple), and Bobby Miller (1 for 1); Gray – Jim McAnelly (3 for 3) and Jeff Stone (2 for 2).
In a big game, so far as determining the Session Three champion, Blue broke out early, scoring five runs on six hits in the top of the first, including doubles by Larry Fiorentino, Anthony Galindo, and Morgan Witthoft, and never trailed, though Gray stayed within striking distance over the first four innings. Gray was held to one run on three singles in the bottom of the first, as first baseman Jack Crosley made a very nice play on David Kruse’s hard grounder for the first out, and second baseman Larry Fiorentino caught liners hit by Greg Lloyd and Rick Jensen.
Four of Blue’s first five hitters singled at the start of the second inning, but the team came away with just one run, as Gray turned a smart 6-5-2 double play on Richard Battle’s grounder to the 5-6 hole, Tim Coles fielding and throwing to Jeff Stone for the force at third, Jeff throwing home to put out Jack Crosley. Gray then scored three times on four singles in the home half, cutting Blue’s lead to 6-4.
Both teams scored a single run in each of the third and fourth frames. Blue in the third got a lead-off double by Larry Fiorentino, who scored on Anthony Galindo’s single. Gray then turned another double play, 5-rover-3 (Jeff Stone to Rick Jensen to Daniel Carvajal), and Jeff followed with a terrific play on Eddy Murillo’s hard grounder to third. In the home half, Daniel Carvajal crushed a one-out triple to left field and scored on Rick Jensen’s single to right.
Morgan Witthoft led off the top of the fourth with a triple to right-center and scored on Fritz Hensel’s single up the middle, deflected by Greg Lloyd past rover Rick Jensen. Greg then got three of the next four hitters to ground out. The first three Gray batters singled to start the bottom of the fourth, but only Alex Valles scored, on Mick Parker’s sacrifice fly to right-center. (This turned out to be Gray’s final run of the game.) David Kruse hit the ball hard down the third-base side, but Eddy Murillo made an excellent play to field it cleanly and caught Tim Cole a few steps off the third base bag – Eddy ran Tim toward home plate and easily threw him out after Tim crossed the commit line. Spike Davidson then got Greg Lloyd to ground out to end the inning.
Blue’s 3-4-5 hitters knocked extra-base hits and scored in the top of the fifth. Larry Fiorentino with one out legged out a hustle double past shortstop, then scored on Anthony Galindo’s triple on a drive to the fence in center field. George Romo followed with a double to left field, driving in Anthony, and scored on Eddy Murillo’s pop-fly single to left field, Eddy taking second on the throw home. Morgan Witthoft followed with a fly to left-center; Eddy was late to tag up, but he nonetheless tried for third; the throw from David Kruse pulled Jeff Stone off the bag, but got back to it before Eddy crossed the line, for an inning-ending F-8, 8-5 double play, Gray’s third twin killing of the game.
Gray went out in order in the home half. Eddy Murillo made a nice leaping grab of Tony Viera’s liner down the third-base side for the second out. (I dare say it was balletic. I also dare say Eddy will not remember my writing this.)
Blue led 11-6 entering the buffet, and added five runs on seven singles, five of the hits and all of the scoring coming with two out. There was some discussion of flip-flopping, but home-plate umpire Jack Kelly let the inning play out, and it ended with Eddy Murillo flying out to David Kruse in left-center.
Chasing ten, Gray got a lead-off single by Jim McAnelly, capping his 3-for-3 day at the plate, to start the bottom of the buffet, on a grounder to third base, Jack Crosley unable to corral Eddy Murillo’s throw. But Spike Davidson retired the next three hitters, making a good play to snag Jerry Mylius’s liner back to the box, getting Alex Valles to ground into a 5-4 force (another fine glove play by Eddy Murillo; Alex barely beat the relay to first), and retiring Tim Coles on a fly to deep left field, Richard Battle perfectly positioned to make the catch about ten feet in front of the fence. Final score: Blue 16, Gray 6 – Blue has just about clinched the Session Three title, now leading by three-and-a-half games with four left to play.
Quote of the Day (I): Gray’s Rick Kahn, on why he didn’t play today: “Not in the mood.”
Quote of the Day (II): Gray’s Rick Kahn, on why he was leaving before the buffet: “They’re not coming back. See ya.”
11:00 a.m., Gold (6-10) at Red (6-10):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gold 5 2 3 5 0 X 15 Red 5 0 0 0 0 2 7 Pitchers: Gold – Jeff Stone; Red – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Red – Anthony Galindo. Umpires: home plate – Mike Hill and Jeff Fisher; bases – Scott Wright and Chunky Wright. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Larry Bunton and Larry Young (each 2 for 2), Gil Delossantos and Denny Malloy (each 2 for 2 with a walk), Joe Roche (3 for 3 with two doubles); Red – Adam Reddell (3 for 3), Paul Rubins and Howard Spates (each 2 for 2 with a walk). Homeruns: Jack McDermott (inside the park) and Tim Coles (over the fence).
Both teams came out hitting. Gold scored five without making an out in the top of the first, as Jack McDermott opened the game with an inside-the-park homerun to right-center. Tim Bruton and Jeff Stone followed with singles, and then Tim Coles launched a moonshot of a homerun over the fence in left-center. Joe Roche singled, Gil Dellossantos walked, Mike Garrison singled, and Joe scored the fifth run. Jeff Stone got George Brindley to ground back to the box to start the bottom half, but then Red scored five runs on four singles and two walks.
Gold homerun hitters Tim Coles and Jack McDermott.
After that, though, it was all Gold, as they scored twice in the second (on a walk and three singles), three times in the third (on three singles and Joe Roche’s double), and five times in the fourth (on six singles and another Joe Roche two-base hit, the last three runs scoring with two out). Meanwhile, Jeff Stone shut Red down, not allowing another run until the buffet. Jeff struck out two batters in the bottom of the second, got three fly-ball outs in the third, three interior outs in the fourth (grounder back to the box and two pop outs), and another strikeout and two fly balls in the fifth.
The teams flip-flopped for the buffet with Gold leading by ten. Red’s first five hitters reached base, on four singles and a walk, two scoring, but a very nice 1-5-2 double play with the bases loaded effectively killed the rally – Jeff Stone fielded Daniel Baladez’s grounder up the middle, threw to Joe Roche at third for the force there, and Joe threw home to catcher Larry Bunton for the second out – Terry Thompson wasn’t forced, after Joe tagged third base, but couldn’t retreat, and Joe didn’t throw home until Terry had crossed the commit line – smart play. The game then ended with second baseman Larry Young making a nice over-the-shoulder catch of Mike Mordecai’s pop into short right field. Final score: Gold 15, Red 7
Noon, Green (7-9) at Maroon (6-9):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 1 5 0 0 3 4 13 Maroon 1 0 1 5 0 0 7 Pitchers: Green – Tommy Deleon; Maroon – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Green – Jack McDermott; Maroon – Tim Bruton. Umpires: home plate – Jeff Stone; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Green – Mike Hill (4 for 4 with a homerun) and Don Solberg (3 for 3 with a walk); Maroon – Rex Horvath (3 for 3 with a double). Homerun: Mike Hill (inside the park).
After each team scored a run on three singles in the first inning, Green took the lead with five runs on seven singles and Boo Resnick’s line double to right in the second, all those hits coming consecutively with one out. The pitchers then took over: Tommy Deleon retired the side in order in the bottom of the second and allowed just one run, on Rex Horvath’s RBI double, in the third; Joe Bernal hurled a scoreless top of the third, the second out coming when Buddy Gaswint was called out for interfering with the throw to third as he tried to advance on Ray Pilgrim’s single, then Joe retired the side 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth.
(There was another play at third later in the game, with Maroon batting, in which the runner got in the way of the fielders. Home plate umpire Jeff Stone after the fact called owned up to making the wrong call – in the moment, he thought base umpire Mike Garrison was telling him the runner ran to the inside of the base, which would have taken him away from the play, but Jeff later realized this was not the case. In the event, it did not materially affect the outcome of the game, and props to Jeff for owning a mistake.)
(I also want to note that Billy Hill was called out for running past the commit line in his at bat in the bottom of the third, though in any case shortstop Mike Hill’s throw to first beat pinch-runner Larry Shupe. I bring it up because Larry then came up with…
Quote of the Day (III): Larry Shupe: “Billy almost beat me to the base.”)
Back to the game. Maroon took the lead with five runs in the bottom of the fourth, on a walk, seven singles, and Tim Bruton’s sacrifice fly to left-center field – Jeff Fisher made a terrific catch of the deep drive; running at third, Larry Shupe took a couple steps down the line, thinking the ball was uncatchable, but retreated, tagged, and scored on the play.
Maroon led by a run entering the fifth, but Green then reclaimed the lead with three runs on five singles. Tommy Deleon threw a scoreless bottom half, working around singles by Ken Brown and Johnny Lee.
Green increased its lead to six runs with a four-run outburst on a team cycle in the top of the buffet. With one out, Tommy Deleon hit a sinking line drive to right-center field – Tim Bruton got a glove on it, but could not hold on. Jack McDermott then drove a pitch to left-center – Peter Sundquist dove for the ball, but could not reach it, and it rolled to the fence, Tommy’s pinch-runner scoring and Jack stopping at third with a stand-up triple. Clint Fletcher doubled down the left-field line, driving in Jack. And then Mike Hill drove a pitch down the right-field line, beyond the reach of right fielder Larry Shupe, and rounded the bases.
Mike Hill was 4 for 4 with an inside-the-park homerun for Green today.
Working with a six-run lead, Tommy Deleon made short work of Maroon in the bottom half. Tommy got Larry Shupe on a pop to rover Jack McDermott. Tom Kelm singled to left, but was forced out at second, Jack McDermott to Boo Resnick, for the second out. Mike Hill caught Tim Bruton’s pop for the final out. Final score: Green 13, Maroon 7
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 14 3 .824 — 258 194 +64 W8
Gray 10 6 .625 3.5 226 212 +14 L1
Green 8 9 .471 6 213 218 – 5 W1
Purple 0 2 .000 6.5 29 33 – 4 L3
Gold 7 10 .412 7 199 218 -19 W2
Maroon 6 10 .375 7.5 164 204 -40 L2
Red 6 11 .353 8 220 230 -10 L4
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 5-3 9-0 2 0-0 7-1 2-0
Gray 5-4 5-2 1 1-1 3-0* 4-2
Green 2-5 6-4 0 0-0 1-4 1-1
Purple 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Gold 2-6 5-4 1 0-0 3-2 2-1
Maroon 3-5 3-5 1 1-0 1-4 2-1
Red 2-8 4-3 0 0-1 2-6* 0-5
* Gray won a game in which it was flip-flopped by Red.
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 5 5 4 3 2.5 3 22.5
Gold 2 X 2 6 3 1 4 18
Gray 2 4 X 3 3 2 6 20
Green 2 2 3 X 3 4 4 18
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 15 20 16 15.5 21 120
Schedule for Monday August 28:
10:00 a.m.: Green (8-9) at Red (6-11), Gold umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Gray (10-6) at Gold (7-10), Green umpiring
Noon: Maroon (6-10) at Blue (14-3), Gray umpiring
Preview: One more Blue victory or Gray loss will secure for Blue the Session Three title. Gold, which has won two in a row, will look to dash Gray’s hopes at 11:00. If they don’t, Maroon will try to upset Blue at noon and extend the pennant race to next Thursday. At 10:00, Green can get back to .500 with a win over Red, which has dropped its last four. Following Green’s victory today in his absence, is it fair to ask if manager Tim Balke is on the hot seat? No, it isn’t. But is he? Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
On this day in 410 A.D., Rome was overrun by Visigoths under Alaric I, seen as the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This is eerily reminiscent of how Blue team has overrun B League in Session Three.