B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 11 – April 25-ish, 2024
$4.00 (Prices in Canada may be higher)
Weather: A gorgeous day, sunny and cool and dry: 55 degrees with 28% humidity at 10:30 in Central Park in New York City, with lilacs in bloom.
Games of Thursday April 25:
10:30 a.m., Orange (0-4) at Purple (3-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 3 5 0 0 0 2 10 Purple 3 5 0 5 5 X 18 Pitchers: Orange – Spike Davidson; Purple – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Orange – Alvin Gauna, Anthony Galindo, and Scott Wright; Purple – Donnie Janac. Umpires: home plate – Eddy Murillo and Adam Reddell; bases – Morgan Witthoft and Donald Drummer. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Larry Fiorentino (4 for 4 with a double); Purple – Gregory Bied (4 for 4 with a home run) and Tom Kelm (3 fofr 3). Home runs: Gregory Bied (inside the park) and Tim Coles (two, both over the fence)
Even Steven in the early going. Both teams had their first three batters hit safely in the first inning and wound up with three runs. Matt Levitt led off the game with a double, and the next three Orange hitters singled; in the bottom half Purple got a total of five singles and a sacrifice fly by Jeff Stone to tie the game. Then both teams scored five times while making two outs in the second inning, Orange on five singles and Larry Fiorentino’s double, Jim Maloy driving in the fifth run with a sacrifice fly to right field; Purple got its five with a team cycle in the bottom half – Jim Foelker tripled leading off, Rick Jensen and Gregory Bied singled, Jeff Stone knocked an RBI double, and Tim Coles drove in the final three runs with an over-the-fence home run to left field.
Neither team scored in the third. In the top half, Anthony Galindo walked and Scott Wright singled with one out, but Rick Jensen started an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play, Mike Velaney on the pivot, on Alvin Gauna’s grounder. In the home half, Tom Kelm and Rip Wright singled with one out, but Spike Davidson got Jim Foelker to fly out to Jim Maloy in left field, then retired Donnie Janac on a two-strike foul.
So it was tied 8-8 through three. Matt Levitt and Larry Fiorentino singled to start the fourth, and they advanced to third and second on Rex Horvath’s fly to left (I wasn’t present, but I bet a doughnut Rex yelled “Dog gone it!” when he got under the pitch), but Jeff Stone stranded them, retiring Ray Pilgrim on a grounder back to the box and Spike Davidson on a grounder to second baseman Mike Velaney.
Still 8-8 entering the bottom half, then, but not for long, as Purple needed just five batters, the top of its lineup, to hyper-efficiently score five runs: Rick Jensen and Peter Sundquist singled, and both scored ahead of Gregory Bied on his inside-the-park home run between the right and right-center fielders. Jeff Stone followed with his second double, and then Tim Coles smashed his second over-the-fence home run to left field.
Jeff Stone threw another scoreless inning in the fifth, allowing a lead-off single to Jim Maloy before retiring three in a row, on a ground-ball force and two infield pops. Purple then scored five again, this time with seven singles, the last three coming with two out.
That made it 18-8 entering the buffet. Orange got a little bit of a rally going, as Alvin Gauna singled to right field leading off and, after Matt Levitt fouled out to catcher Rip Wright, Larry Fiorentino doubled (completing a 4-for-4 day), Rex Horvath walked, and Ray Pilgrim singled – both Alvin and Larry scored, though I’m not sure whether Alvin came across on Larry’s hit or if they both scored on Ray’s. That cut Purple’s lead to eight runs, but Jeff Stone got the next two batters, Spike Davidson and Jim Maloy, to hit grounders to the left side, resulting in force plays at second for the final two outs of the game. Final score: Purple 18, Orange 10
11:30 a.m., Red (5-0) at Green (1-3):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET EXTRA FINAL Red 3 3 3 5 1 0 15 Green 3 5 2 5 0 1 16 Pitchers: Red – Donald Drummer; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Red – Alvin Gauna. Umpires: home plate – Jeff Stone; base - ?. Perfect at the plate: Red – Eddy Murillo and Adam Reddell (each 4 for 4 with a double.
I received a play-by-play account from Terry Watts, and I’ll intersperse Jeff Broussard’s reporting:
The high-flying undefeated Red were visitors against one-win Green. Jeff Stone was the home plate ump and I don’t remember who was on the bases. The game was a back-and-forth battle and, due to sketchy scorekeeping on the Green bench, details are limited. Mike Hill had a triple, Danny Baladez looked me square in the eye and said “I’m gonna hit a double” and in Ruth-like fashion, did exactly that.
Thanks to Terry, I can report that both teams scored three runs on five hits in the first inning. Red got theirs on a double by Tim Bruton and four singles, the inning ending with Green shortstop Ralph Villela turning a ground-ball double play, either 6u., 6-3 or 6-4-3, I’m not sure which. In the home half Green strung together four consecutive one-out singles, and there was a second out somehow recorded – possibly Dave Pittard out trying to stretch his hit into a double, I’m not sure. Then Mike Garrison and Trey Wall walked, loading the bases for Phil Stanch, who singled in his first at bat for Green, driving in the third run.
Red scored three times again in the second, on five consecutive two-out singles. Green took the lead with five runs in the home half of the inning, Mike Hill’s aforementioned triple the big hit, coming with two out, driving in Ralph Villela, and then followed by four singles, the last by Phil Stanch.
Jeff again:
Red loaded the bases with no outs somewhere along the way, and David Pittard fielded a grounder, stepped on third, and fired a strike to Jeff Broussard at home to avert a big inning for Red.
This took place in the top of the third inning. The first six Red batters hit safely, five singles and a double by Hal Darman, and three runs were in and the bases loaded with none out and Tim Bruton coming to the plate – a dire situation for Green. But Tim did indeed ground to third baseman Dave Pittard for a key 5u., 5-2 double play. Tommy Deleon then got Rick Kahn on a fly to Phil Stanch in right field for the third out.
Red led 9-8 at that point. Green reclaimed the lead with two runs in the bottom half: Daniel Baladez called his lead-off double and Jeff Broussard followed with a single. Ralph Villela’s fly to right field scored Daniel with the tying run; Paul Rubin’s single to right-center sent Jeff to third; Mike Hill’s fly to right-center brought Jeff in with the go-ahead run.
It remained a one-run game as both teams scored five times on six hits while making one out in the fourth inning, the final five-run frame. Adam Reddell and Eddy Murillo both doubled for Red in the top half; Paul Rubin’s bases-loaded triple drove in the final three runs in the bottom half.
Red entered the buffet needing a run to tie. Rick Kahn singled leading off and took third on Adam Reddell’s single to right-center, Adam’s fourth hit of the game. Morgan Witthoft popped to third baseman Dave Pittard for the first out. Eddy Murillo’s fourth hit was a single that brought in Rick with the tying run. Tommy Deleon got Denny Malloy on what’s listed as a strikeout – guessing it was a two-strike foul. Hal Darman grounded to shortstop Ralph Villela, who got the inning-ending force at second.
Jeff:
Green entered their buffet at bat in a tie game. Mike Hill hit a deep drive to right field that seemed was destined for another triple; however, Morgan Witthoft made a tremendous play to somehow make the catch. Green [got two-out singles by Tommy Deleon and Mike Garrison, but] failed to score [as Trey Wall lined out to right-center] and it seemed their chance to win was gone.
However, Red failed to score in their extra one-pitch inning.
Hal Darman started at second base with one out. Boo Resnick took a one-pitch walk. Alvin Gauna took a one-pitch called strike three for the second out. Donald Drummer swung at Tommy Deleon’s offering and flied out to Mike Garrison in left field.
Jeff:
Green started their extra with Trey Wall on second and one out. Phil Stanch walked (a three-hit, one-walk, MVP performance in his Green debut). Danny Baladez then singled to load the bases. Jeff Broussard was then the recipient of a flat-pitch walk from Red pitcher Donald Drummer for the walk-off walk.
In unrelated matters, Mike Garrison looked sharp in his newly issued Green cap and jersey, and longtime player Larry Dunn made an appearance and said he was going to make a comeback.
Great game! Final score: Green 16, Red 15
12:30 p.m., Gray (2-2) at Blue (1-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 5 2 2 2 3 0 14 Blue 0 4 0 0 5 0 9 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Gray – Adam Reddell. Umpires: home plate – Jeff Broussard and Trey Wall; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Mike Mordecai (3 for 3); Blue – Steve Sandall (3 for 3 with a double).
Gray methodically put up crooked numbers in each of its first five innings, building a ten-run lead. They posted five runs in the first inning without making an out, on five singles, David Kruse’s triple, Don Solberg’s double, and Jack Kelly’s walk, Mike Mordecai driving in the fifth run with a bases-loaded hit up the middle. Ivan Budiselich and Mark Dolan led off the second with singles, and both wound up scoring, on singles by David Kruse and Tommy Gillis, though not before Gray finally made a couple of outs.
Blue had gone out 1-2-3 on balls in the air (liner to shortstop, fly to right field, and pop to third base) in the bottom of the first, but got back within shouting distance by scoring four times in the bottom of the second, Steve Sandall’s two-run double the key hit. But while Gray added two runs in the both the third (on Ivan Budiselich’s triple) and fourth (two singles, a walk, and Tommy Gillis’s sacrifice fly), Jack Kelly shut out Blue in each home half, working around David Brown’s lead-off single in the third and singles by Steve Sandall and Dale Fugate in the fourth.
Three runs on four singles and Mark Dolan’s walk in the top of the fifth made it 14-4. Blue avoided the flip-flop by scoring five times on David Brown’s double and six singles, the last two with two out, in the bottom half, and they had a puncher’s chance when Joe Bernal held Gray scoreless in the top of the buffet. But Jack Kelly slammed the door shut in the bottom half, retiring the side in order: Jack got Dale Fugate on a fly to left-center, Lucky Hoffman on a two-strike foul, and Jerry Mylius on a grounder to second baseman Mark Dolan. Final score: Gray 14, Blue 9
Standings – Session Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Red 5 1 .833 — 95 79 +16 L1
Purple 4 1 .800 .5 81 57 +24 W4
Maroon 3 2 .600 1.5 73 67 + 6 W2
Gray 3 2 .600 1.5 62 57 + 5 W1
Green 2 3 .400 2.5 62 68 – 6 W1
Blue 1 4 .200 3.5 53 71 -18 L4
Orange 0 5 .000 4.5 58 85 -27 L5
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Red 2-0 3-1 0 0-1 2-0 1-1
Purple 2-1 2-0 0 0-0 1-1 0-0
Maroon 1-2 2-0 1 0-0 1-1 1-0
Gray 2-0 1-2 1 0-0 0-0 2-2
Green 1-3 1-0 1 1-0 0-1 1-1
Blue 1-2 0-2 1 0-0 0-0 1-0
Orange 0-2 0-3 0 0-0 0-1 0-2
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 0 0 1 1 1 1 4
Gray 2 X 1 0 1 0 1 5
Green 1 0 X 0 0 0 1 2
Maroon 0 2 2 X 1 0 0 5
Orange 0 0 1 0 X 0 1 2
Purple 1 0 2 1 2 X 0 6
Red 1 1 1 1 1 1 X 6
_______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 5 3 7 3 6 2 4 27
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 4
Gregory Bied – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
David Brown – 1
Tim Bruton – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Clint Fletcher – 1
Eddie Ortiz – 1
Dave Pittard – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Monday April 2:
10:30 a.m.: Blue (1-4) at Orange (0-5), Maroon umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Maroon (3-2) at Gray (3-2), Orange umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Purple (4-1) at Red (5-1), Gray umpiring
Green has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Either Blue (four) or Orange (five) will snap its losing streak at 10:30. The two 3-2 teams square off at 11:30, one will have its relatively brief winning streak ended. And the biggest and baddest will be lastest, Purple and Red vying at 12:30, the winner to end April in first place.
Keggy’s Korner:
Johnny Lee and Arctic Blues Band are at The Lighthouse Restaurant and Lounge, as I write this and until 9:00 p.m. tonight, at 513 Sleat Drive in Spicewood, Texas.
Reminder that Mike Mordecai has a weekly gig Mondays, 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., at the Elephant Room: https://elephantroom.com/calendar
Enjoying my time in NYC, but I’ll be glad to be home Sunday, and theoretically rested up for Monday. Here’s Mrs. Keggy at Strawberry Fields:
