B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 46 – September 11, 2023
Department of Corrections: Well, you’re not really a full participant in the B League until I’ve gotten your name wrong in the Picayune. Fortunately, I guess, that dependably does not take very long. In the last edition I called him Pat Cook, because of course I did, but his name is actually Pat Scott. I apologize, Pat, and promise to try to do better (which you’ll note is not a guarantee of actually doing better).
Player assignments:
Mark Dolan – Blue team
Tommy Gillis – Green team
Pat Scott – Gold team
Weather: Not too bad at the start of the 10:00 game, 81 degrees with 65% humidity, the morning overcast clearing just as we got under way. It warmed into the low 90s by the start of the noon game, still pretty humid. I think today might have ended Austin’s streak of 100-degree days.
Games of Monday September 11:
10:00 a.m., Gold (7-13) at Maroon (9-10):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gold 0 5 1 1 2 2 11 Maroon 0 1 0 5 3 1 10 Pitchers: Gold – Gil Delossantos; Maroon – Tom Kelm. Mercenaries: Gold – Carl Gallagher and Tommy Gillis; Maroon – Mark Dolan. Umpires: home plate – Mike Hill and Gary Coyle; bases – Tim Balke. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Mike Garrison and Tommy Gillis (each 3 for 3); Maroon – Peter Atkins (3 for 3 with a triple), Dave Jaffe (3 for 3), Marvin Krabbenhoft (2 for 2 with a walk), and Scott Wright (4 for 4).
Terrific game that came down to the last out. Neither team scored in the first, with Maroon rover Mike Velaney making a great play after Larry Bunton led off the game with a single. Gil Delossantos then lined a ball up the middle that pitcher Tom Kelm got a piece of glove on, slowing and deflecting it just enough that Mike was able to make a diving play to his right to field the ball on its first or second hop and flip to shortstop Rex Horvath at second, Rex’s throw to Johnny Lee at first beating Gil for an outstanding 1-R-6-3 double play.
Gold broke through for five runs in the top of the second, on five singles and Carl Gallagher’s double, a liner down the first base side that Johnny Lee got a piece of glove on. That drove in Joe Dayoc with the fourth run and put runners on second and third with one out for Larry Bunton. Larry grounded to second; when Mark Dolan threw to first for the out, Tommy Gillis broke for home and beat Johnny Lee’s relay to the plate.
Maroon got on the board with a single run in the home half, as Peter Atkins hit a lead-off triple to right field and scored on Marvin Krabbenhoft’s single. Dave Jaffe followed with a single, and, after Tom Kelm lined out to third baseman Joe Roche, Mike Velaney’s single loaded the bases for Larry Shupe. Larry lined a ball to Tommy Gillis in left-center; Scott Wright, running for Marvin, tagged and tried for home, but Tommy’s throw home just beat him, a bang-bang play for an F-8, 8-2 double play.
Gold got a run in the top of the third thanks to Carl Gallagher’s speed. Gil Delossantos led off with a Texas League bloop single to right field to start the inning, and Carl ran for him. Joe Roche lined out to Mike Velaney at rover and Tim Coles flied out to Peter Sundquist in left-center. Mike Garrison, perfect on the day, lined a single to right field, and Carl never stopped running, scoring from first on the single. Mike wound up at third on the overthrow home, but was stranded when Tom Kelm got Denny Malloy to foul a two-strike pitch foul down the third-base side.
Maroon did not score in the bottom half due to the honesty of Peter Sundquist. Peter singled with one out, then raced to third on Scott Wright’s single to right field. When the relay to third skipped past Joe Roche, Peter took off for home, but when asked by home plate umpire Mike Hill if he had retreated and tagged the bag before advancing, Peter truthfully said he had not, and was called out. (We should all be more like Peter, including gifting me IPAs.)
Gold scored a single run in the top of the fourth, but left the bases loaded. Rip Wright socked a double to left-center to start the inning, then took third on Larry Young’s single up the middle. Joe Dayoc lined hard to third baseman Scott Wright for the first out. A single by Tommy Gillis drove in Rip. Carl Gallagher, defying the scouting report, pulled a hard smash down the third-base side, but Scott made a terrific glove play to snag the ball on the short hop, then tagged third for the force there. Larry Bunton’s single loaded the bases for Gil Delossantos, who grounded into an inning-ending force out, shortstop Rex Horvath to rover Mike Velaney.
Maroon broke through for five runs in the bottom of the fourth, eight consecutive batters reaching base with one out, on six singles and Larry Shupe’s walk. That cut Gold’s lead to 7-6.
Gold looked poised for a big inning in the top of the fifth when the first four batters singled, Joe Roche and Tim Coles scoring, but Tom Kelm escaped further damage when his defense turned another clutch double play: Scott Wright fielded Rip Wright’s grounder to third and threw to rover Mike Velaney at second for the force there; Mike Garrison, running from second to start the play, then tried for home, but Mike Velaney cut him down, for a 5-R-2 double play. Larry Young followed with another grounder to Scott at third, who threw to Mike Velaney at second for the force.
Maroon then tied the game with three runs in the home half. Scott Wright led off with a single just over first base, and Rex Horvath followed with a triple to right, driving Scott in. Johnny Lee singled, Rex scoring. Peter Atkins knocked a hit to left-center, Johnny Lee’s pinch-runner (Peter Sundquist, I think?) taking third, but Peter was out trying for a double, 8-6-4 (Tommy Gillis to Tim Coles to Larry Young). After Marvin Krabbenhoft walked, Dave Jaffe drilled a single to left to drive in the third run. The next two batters hit grounders to shortstop Tim Coles for force outs at third and second, leaving the game tied entering the buffet.
Joe Dayoc led off for Gold and for the second time in a row squared up on a pitch but lined it directly to third baseman Scott Wright. Tommy Gillis and Carl Gallagher both singled; running conservatively, Tommy held up at second, and Carl almost ran up on him before retreating to first. Larry Bunton grounded a ball up the middle that Rex Horvath looked like he had it lined up, but the anticipated hop never materialized and the ball rolled through to center field for a single, Tommy scoring the go-ahead run. Gil Delossantos followed with a single through the 5-6 hole, Carl scoring to make it 10-8. Carl then ran for Gil at first. A walk to Joe Roche loaded the bases. Tim Cole then lined a pitch up the middle, but rover Mike Velaney was perfectly positioned to make the catch and then double up Carl, who’d taken off for third on contact, for an inning-ending L-R, Ru. double play.
Maroon was chasing two to tie, three to win in the home half. Larry Shupe grounded out to shortstop and Mark Dolan to second base to start the inning, but Peter Sundquist, Scott Wright, and Rex Horvath followed with singles, Peter coming around to score. Johnny Lee came up with a chance to at least the tie the game, and he put a good swing on the ball, but hit it directly to Carl Gallagher in right-center for the final out. Final score: Gold 11, Maroon 10
11:00 a.m., Blue (16-4) at Green (10-10):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 5 0 0 1 4 3 13 Green 0 2 5 5 0 2 14 Pitchers: Blue – Gil Delossantos (two innings plus three batters), Rex Horvath (one batter), and Eddy Murillo; Green – Tommy Deleon. Merecenaries: Blue – Gil Delossantos, Mark Dolan, Rex Horvath, and Mike Mordecai; Green – Howard Spates and Scott Wright. Umpires: home plate – Jack Kelly; bases – Paul Rubin and David Ferley. Perfect at the plate: Green – Gary Coyle (3 for 3 with a double), Jeff Fisher (3 for 3), and Buddy Gaswint (2 for 2 with two walks). Homerun: Richard Battle (inside the park).
Blue looked like its Session Three champion self, jumping to a quick lead with five runs in the top of the first on four singles and doubles by Anthony Galindo (driving in the first run) and Rex Horvath (driving in the fourth and fifth). And when Gil Delossantos shut out Green in the bottom half, aided by two catches by Mike Mordecai in right field (the first robbed lead-off hitter Mike Hill of a hit), Blue seemed poised to roll to yet another victory. But Tommy Deleon shut the door, allowing Blue just one run over the next three innings – he retired the side in order in the second, that inning ending with first baseman Buddy Gaswint making a leaping grab of Gil Delossantos’s liner, worked around a one-out single in the third, and allowed one run on three singles in the fourth while getting three ground ball outs.
Meanwhile Green’s hitters regrouped and started knocking the ball around. They scored twice on four singles in the second, taking advantage of a lost out at second, a possible force play lost to a dropped throw, and then five times on five hits in both the third and fourth, making just a single out over the two innings while drawing four walks. The first two of those were issued by Gil Delossantos after Donnie Janac led off the third with a triple to right-center. Gil removed himself (I think) from the game at that point, Rex Horvath entering and giving up a two-run single to Jeff Fisher. Eddy Murillo then took over for Rex and was greeted by Gary Coyle’s double through shortstop, driving in the third run. Ray Pilgrim’s sacrifice fly to left-center drove in the fourth. Tommy Deleon drew a walk and Howard Spates hit a Texas League single to left field to load the bases for Scott Wright, whose line single to right field drove in the fifth.
Green’s five runs in the fourth came from its first six hitters all reaching base: Mike Hill and Donnie Janac singled to start the inning, Donnie breaking his bat on his base hit to center field. Buddy Gaswint walked to load the bases. Don Solberg drove in Mike and Donnie with a single to right, and took second on the throw home. Jeff Fisher singled in Buddy and Don, his third and fourth RBI of the game, and took second on the throw home. And Gary Coyle singled in Jeff.
That put Green up 12-6 entering the fifth. Blue closed the gap by scoring four times on seven singles, the last five with two out, in the top of the frame, then retiring Green in order in the bottom half.
Trailing by two entering the buffet, Blue immediately made it a one-run game when Richard Battle led off the inning with an inside-the-park homerun, I believe to right-center field.
Richard Battle catches his breath after circling the bases in the top of the buffet.
Anthony Galindo’s fly to left field was caught by Don Solberg for the first out, but Morgan Withhoft, Eddy Murillo, and Fritz Hensel followed with singles, Morgan coming around to score the tying run. Dale Fugate followed with a single to left field, Eddy’s pinch-runner (Anthony, maybe?) scoring from second to put Blue ahead, but on the throw home Dale tried for second and was thrown out 7-2-4, Don Solberg to Ray Pilgrim to Howard Spates, for the second out. The inning ended with Rex Horvath lining out to third baseman Gary Coyle.
Green came up needing one to tie, two to win. Scott Wright got the tying run on base with a lead-off walk, took third on Mike Hill’s single, and scored on Donnie Janac’s sacrifice fly to Morgan Witthoft (I think) in right-center. A single by Buddy Gaswint (who reached base in four straight plate appearances) sent Mike to third, and he trotted home with the game-winner when Don Solberg lashed a single to right field. Final score: Green 14, Blue 13, Blue suffering its first and only loss as visiting team this session.
Noon, Red (7-13) at Gray (11-8):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 5 5 1 1 0 4 16 Gray 0 3 2 0 1 3 9 Pitchers: Red – Donald Drummer (innings 1-2) and Jack Kelly (3-6); Gray – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Gray – Richard Battle, Anthony Galindo, Tommy Gillis, and Johnny Lee. Umpires: home plate – Fritz Hensel and Jeff Fisher; bases – Morgan Witthoft. Perfect at the plate: Red – Jack Kelly (2 for 2) and Adam Reddell (3 for 3 with a double); Gray – Tommy Gillis (3 for 3).
Red came out hitting, putting up ten runs before Gray got on the board, scoring five times without making an out in the first (George Brindley lead-off walk, three singles, Howard Spates double, Jack Spellman single), then five in the second on Scott Sovereen’s double and six singles, the last five with two out.
Jack Kelly got great work from his outfielders throughout the game. In the bottom of the first, after Greg Lloyd singled leading off, David Ferley charged Rick Jensen’s single to right-center, came up throwing, and forced Greg out at second. After a 5-4 force, Adam Reddell to Howard Spates, for the second out, David made a terrific catch of Rick Kahn’s liner to right-center to end the inning.
Gray got on the board in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs on two singles and doubles by Richard Battle and Johnny Lee. Catcher Hal Darman made a tough catch of Anthony Galindo’s pop just in front of home plate for the second out of the inning, a difficult angle.
Red scored once in the third on Howard Spates’s sacrifice fly, and Gray got two in the bottom half against Jack Kelly, who took over from Donald Drummer on the mound that inning. Tony Viera led it off with a walk, advanced on Rick Kahn’s single, and, after Jerry Mylius flied out to David Ferley in right-center, scored on Jim McAnelly’s single. Richard Battle knocked a pop-fly single to left-center, but Paul Rubin charged the ball, threw to shortstop Jack Spellman, and my snap throw to second baseman Terry Thompson just did beat Jim’s pinch-runner (Rick Jensen, I think?) to the bag. Tommy Gillis singled to drive in Rick Kahn, but Adam Reddell snagged Anthony Galindo’s screaming line drive to third for the third out.
Red scored another single run in the fourth, after the start of the inning was slightly delayed when Jerry Mylius left the game and Scott Wright entered in his place. (Jerry’s wife arrived to whisk him away, in what Rick Jensen later accurately described as the nightmare scenario for any B Leaguer. I don’t know the details, aside from it being a medical emergency involving Jerry’s brother. I know we’re all united in keeping Jerry and his family in our thoughts and prayers.) Terry Thompson tripled leading off, then came home on Daniel Baladez’s single. Rick Jensen, who’d moved from second to third, then started an excellent around-the-horn double play, Scott Wright on the pivot moments entering the game. Donald Drummer followed with a single and took second when Mike Mordecai walked. Jack Kelly singled to right field, and Donald was waved home, but Rick Kahn uncorked a tremendous throw, right on the money and on the fly to catcher Jim McAnelly, to cut Donald down, a great defensive play.
Gray did not score in the bottom of the fourth and Red did not score in the top of the fifth, each team managing just a harmless two-out single. Gray scored one run in the bottom of the fifth on a single by Tommy Gillis. (The next time Tommy does not square up and drive a pitch will be the first time I’ve witnessed such a thing.)
There was just a minute left on the clock, so the game went into the buffet. There was some discussion of whether to flip-flop, but Red decided to hit, and wound up padding its lead, scoring four runs on David Ferley’s lead-off walk and five hits. This left Gray ten runs down entering the home half. Paul Rubin caught Johnny Lee’s drive to left-center to start the inning. Greg Lloyd, Rick Jensen, and Tony Viera followed with singles, Greg coming around to score. Rick Jensen then scored on Rick Kahn’s sacrifice fly to David Ferley in right-center. Scott Wright singled, Tony scoring, and Jim McAnelly knocked a single up the middle, Scott halting at second. Richard Battle stroked a single to left-center; Paul Rubin charged the ball, fielded it cleanly, and quickly threw to the cut-off, shortstop Jack Spellman; teammates told me to throw home, and catcher Hal Darman was on the mat, a clear target, and I managed to make a half-decent throw that beat Scott by, from my angle, about half a step, for the final out.
Just want to say: Scott played all three games today, went 6 for 8 with a walk (.778 on-base percentage), and played stellar defense. In no way was he a goat in this game – even if he’d held at third, Red would have been chasing seven runs with two out. Final score: Red 16, Gray 9
Final standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 16 5 .762 — 312 242 +70 L1
Gray 11 9 .550 4.5 268 265 + 3 L3
Green 11 10 .524 5 257 264 – 7 W3
Maroon 9 11 .450 6.5 227 257 -30 L1
Purple 0 2 .000 6.5 29 33 – 4 L3
Red 8 13 .381 8 281 282 – 1 W1
Gold 8 13 .381 8 236 267 -31 W1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 6-4 10-1 2 0-0 7-2 2-1
Gray 5-6 6-3 1 1-1 3-0* 4-3
Green 5-5 6-5 1 0-0 1-4 3-1
Maroon 4-6 5-5 2 1-0 2-4 3-2
Purple 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Red 3-8 5-5 0 0-1 2-6* 0-6
Gold 2-8 6-5 1 0-0 3-2 3-1
* Gray won a game in which it was flip-flopped by Red.
Cumulative Standings through Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 24.5 16.5 .598 — 541 485 +56 L1
Maroon 22 17 .564 1.5 452 466 -14 L1
Gray 21 18 .538 2.5 499 453 +46 L3
Green 21 21 .500 4 501 526 -25 W3
Gold 19 21 .475 5 471 483 -12 W1
Red 18 23 .439 6.5 515 538 -23 W1
Purple 6.5 13.5 .325 7.5 231 255 -24 L1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 8.5-10.5 16- 6 2 1.5-1.5 9- 4 2-3
Maroon 11- 7 11-10 5 1-0 5- 5 8-3
Gray 9-10 12- 8 3 1-3 8- 2 6-7
Green 10-11 11-10 4 0-1 4- 9 6-2
Gold 8-12 11- 9 5 2-0 6- 3 8-5
Red 10-12 8-11 2 1-2 4-10 2-8
Purple 5- 7 1.5-6.5 1 1.5-0.5 0- 3 1-4
[Purple and Blue tied their game of May 11; it is counted as half a win and half a loss in the standings.]
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 6 5 4 3 2.5 4 24.5
Gold 2 X 2 6 4 1 4 19
Gray 2 5 X 3 3 2 6 21
Green 3 3 4 X 3 4 4 21
Maroon 4 4 3 4 X 3 4 22
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 4 2 2 4 3 3 X 18
________________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 16.5 21 18 21 17 15.5 23 132
Schedule for Thursday September 14:
10:00 a.m.: Gray at Blue, Gold umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Red at Gold, Maroon umpiring
Noon: Maroon at Green, Red umpiring
Preview: First games of Session Four! Note that, until further notice, we’re going to continue playing games at 10:00, 11:00, and noon. The session gets under way with the top two teams of Session Three, and also the only two teams with a positive run differential for the entire season, squaring off at 10:00. Blue is 5-2 in the season series. Red and Gold, which tied for the cellar in Session Three but come into the new session with a one-game winning streak, play at 11:00; Gold leads the season series 4-2, but most of that was accomplished before the beating heart of the team (I don’t even have to say his name) was transferred to Red. At noon, Green, riding a league-best three-game winning streak, hosts Maroon, which leads the season series 4-3. I continue my search for a replacement reward for homerun hitters. Will I ever find anything to match the ridiculousness of Pluckers coupons? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Quote of the Day-ish: Keggy Junior, at Sunday night dinner: “Dad, who’s that guy you play softball with – he’s tall with gray hair?” (Even though this only narrowed down the field from 80 to about 40, I actually knew that she meant Denny Malloy.)