B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 25 – covering July 1, 2024
Apologies for the lateness of this report – I tested positive for COVID over the weekend, so I’m relying on scoresheets from Terry Watts and Dave Berra (many thanks to both!) and after-the-fact consultations with participants and onlookers to pull together the recaps.
Weather: Temperature started in the mid-80s, moved into the mid to upper 90s, with 41% humidity. Lots of sun.
Exchange of the Day, from the first C League game:
Rip Wright arrived as a baserunner to second base as an outfielder threw the ball in to the shortstop. Another runner made his way toward home. Outfielder Bobby Miller yelled, “Go home! Go home!” Replied Rip, “But I just got here.”
Games of Monday July 1:
10:30 a.m., Orange (2-1) at Red (1-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Orange 2 3 4 2 5 16 Red 3 2 5 4 3 17 Pitchers: Orange – Spike Davidson; Red – Gil Delossantos. Mercenaries: Orange – Donnie Janac and Paul Rubin; Red – Tommy Gillis and Jeff Stone. Umpires: home plate – Jeff Fisher; bases – David Brown. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Peter Atkins (4 for 4 with a triple) and Fritz Hensel (4 for 4); Red – Hal Darman (3 for3), Gil Delossantos (4 for 4 with a double), Denny Malloy (3 for 3 with two doubles), Adam Reddell (2 for 2 with a walk), and Morgan Witthoft (3 for 3 with a double). Home run: Rex Horvath (over the fence).
The first of three outstanding games today, it was close throughout, both teams posting crooked numbers in each of their at bats, seven players perfect at the plate, and an eighth, Rex Horvath, socking an over-the-fence homerun.
Gil Delossantos retired the first two batters of the game, then allowed a triple to Peter Atkins (first of his four hits), walked Spike Davidson, and gave up run-scoring singles to Matt Levitt and Fritz Hensel (first of his four base hits).
Red grabbed the lead with three runs on five singles in the bottom of the first – really six singles, but as I read it, Boo Resnick’s seeming base hit up the middle resulted in Morgan Witthoft being forced at second. Hal Darman followed with the first of his three hits, driving in the third run.
Rex Horvath’s three-run homer in the top of the second, a drive to left field, put Orange back on top. Red tied on Gil Delossantos’s two-run double in the home half.
I owe Rex Horvath another Plucker’s coupon.
Orange scored four runs on seven singles in the top of the third, the last six hits and all of the runs coming after two out. Red responded with five runs on six hits in the bottom of the frame, with Morgan Witthoft, Denny Malloy, and Tommy Gillis ripping doubles. Red led 10-9 through three.
Matt Levitt walked and Fritz Hensel and Larry Shupe singled to start the fourth inning, Matt coming around to score. Orange looked poised for a big inning, but Gil Delossantos retired Dave Berra on a liner to left-center field (not sure who was out there), then caught Paul Rubin looking at a called third strike. Donnie Janac delivered a single to score Fritz’s pinch-runner, but Gil got the third out on a force at third base on a left-side grounder (6-5 or 5-unassisted, not sure which).
Red scored four times in the home half to make it 14-11. Jeff Stone led off with a double, and Gil Delossantos and Rick Kahn followed with singles, Jeff scoring on Gil’s. A walk to Adam Reddell loaded the bases for Morgan Witthoft, whose single drove in Gil and Rick and sent Adam to third. Adam scored on Boo Resnick’s sacrifice fly to right field. Hal Darman singled, but somehow the third out resulted – I’m guessing Morgan was thrown out trying for third, but I’m not certain.
Chasing three entering the buffet, Orange rallied for five, on six singles and a walk to Spike Davidson, the last three hits and three runs coming with two out. (Peter Atkins and Fritz Hensel completed their 4-for-4 games in the inning.)
Red needed two to tie and three to win. Donald Drummer led off with a single and took third on Denny Malloy’s double, Denny completing a 3-for-3 day at the plate. Tommy Gillis singled to left, Donald scoring to make it a one-run game. Jeff Stone lined out to second baseman Doc Hobar. Bobby Miller grounded a single up the middle, driving in Denny with the tying run. Gil Delossantos came up and lined a single to right field – though he was taking a runner from home, in the excitement of the moment Gil started for first base and passed the no-go line, and was called out, the second of the inning, but this didn’t matter, as Tommy raced home from second on the hit to score the winning run.
Gil Delossantos (left) was the winning pitcher and went 4 for 4 with five RBI, including the game-winner.
Final score: Red 17, Orange 16
11:30 a.m., Blue (2-0) at Gray (1-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 1 0 1 5 2 4 13 Gray 1 5 0 1 4 3 14 Pitchers: Blue – Jerry Mylius; Gray – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Blue – Jim Foelker, Rex Horvath, Tom Kelm, and Jeff Stone; Gray – Tommy Deleon, Adam Reddell, and Scott Wright. Umpires: home – Spike Davidson; bases – David Berra. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Richard Battle and Steve Sandall (each 4 for 4) and Jeff Stone (3 for 3 with a double); Gray – Tommy Gillis (4 for 4 with a double), Mike Mordecai (2 for 2 with a double and a walk), and Scott Wroght (2 for 2 with a walk).
In a see-saw battle, Blue clawed back from an early deficit to tie, Gray reclaimed the lead in the final five-run inning, Blue went back ahead in the top of the buffet, and Gray walked it off with long hits in the final frame.
Apologies to the three-quarters of the league who assisted me in reconstructing the top of the first inning and now get to read about it after suffering my multiple texts, emails, and phone calls. Blue scored one run in the frame despite having four of its first five batters knock singles. Steve Sandall and David Brown led off with hits, putting runners on the corners. Jeff Fisher followed with a hard grounder up the middle that Tommy Deleon made an excellent play on; Tommy threw to shortstop David Kruse for the force at second; David had no chance at doubling up Jeff, hustling down the line, but saw that Steve had made a break for home after initially holding up to see where Tommy would go with the play; David made a strong throw home to catcher Mark Dolan to beat Steve, for a 1-6-2 double play. Richard Battle and Dale Fugate followed with singles, Jeff coming around to score. Jerry Mylius hit a grounder to the 3-4 hole, second baseman Mike Mordecai making an excellent play to get the third out.
Gray got that run back much less dramatically in the home half. Tommy Gillis led off with a single, then was forced out at second on David Kruse’s grounder to (I think) shortstop Rex Horvath; David wound up at third, I’m guessing because the relay from second baseman David Brown must have gotten past first baseman Johnny Lee. Mark Dolan then grounded out to second base, David Kruse scoring on the play.
Blue did not score in the second, Tommy Deleon working around one-out singles by Rex Horvath and Jeff Stone, and Gray took control with five runs in the bottom on seven hits – six singles and Mike Mordecai’s double – in the bottom of the inning.
Blue got a run back on Dale Fugate’s sacrifice fly in the top of the third, but left the bases loaded. Still they won the inning, as Jerry Mylius blanked Gray in the bottom half, the inning ending with a 4-6-3 double play, David Brown to Rex Horvath to Dale Fugate, on Don Solberg’s hard grounder to second.
Blue got back into the game with five runs in the top of the fourth, on Rex Horvath’s lead-off double, six singles, and Jim Foelker’s sacrifice fly, the only out Gray recorded. In the home half Gray loaded the bases with one out on two singles and a walk, but came away with just a single run, on a walk to Scott Wright, Jerry Mylius getting out of the jam thanks to another 4-6-3 double play, this one off the bat of Tommy Deleon.
The score was 7-7 entering the final five-run inning. Blue scored two runs in the top half, on Jeff Stone’s two-out double to center. Gray, with the top of its order up, got four in the bottom half. Six of the first seven batters reached to start the rally: singles by Tommy Gillis, David Kruse, and Mark Dolan loaded the bases; Tommy scored on Johnny Lee’s ground out to pitcher Jerry Mylius; David and Mark scored on Don Solberg’s double to right field; Don held up on Donnie Janac’s infield single; and Mike Mordecai drew a walk to re-load the bases. Ivan Budiselic’s fly to right field brought in Don with the fourth run.
That left Blue trailing by two entering the buffet. They got five consecutive singles to open the inning, by Tom Kelm and the top of the order – Tom and Steve Sandall (whose hit completed a perfect day at the plate) scoring on Jeff Fisher’s single to knot the score at 11 apiece. Richard Battle, also completing a 4-for-4 day, singled in David Brown with the go-ahead run. Tommy Deleon retired the next two batters, Dale Fugate on a 6-4 force and Jerry Mylius on a foul caught by catcher Mark Dolan. Billy Hill singled to the 5/6 hole, Jeff scoring to make it 13-11. Rex Horvath popped out to shortstop for the third out.
Gray, with two mercenaries and the top of its order due up, needed two to tie, three to win. Scott Wright led off with a single up the middle. Tommy Deleon flied out to right field, but Tommy Gillis and David Kruse followed with long hits that tied the score: Tommy doubled to left field, Scott scoring from first; and David lined a triple to the fence in center field, Tommy easily scoring the tying run. Mark Dolan’s ground single to left brought in David with the game-winner.
A two-year-old picture of David Kruse, whose triple today drove in the tying run and set him up to score the winner.
Final score: Gray 14, Blue 13
12:30 p.m., Maroon (1-2) at Purple (0-3):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 2 0 5 1 4 12 Purple 0 2 2 2 7 13 Pitchers: Maroon – Chunky Wright; Purple – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Maroon – Hal Darman, David Kruse, and Johnny Lee; Purple – Richard Battle, Jim Foelker, Tommy Gillis, Rex Horvath, and Larry Shupe. Umpires: Home plate – Gary Coyle; bases – Larry Young. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Tom Brownfield and James Chavana (each 3 for 3), Anthony Galindo (3 for 3 with a double and a home run), Johnny Lee (2 for 2), and Jimmy Sneed (3 for 3 with two doubles); Purple – Tommy Gillis (3 for 3) and Rex Horvath (2 for 2 with a walk). Home run: Anthony Galindo (inside the park).
Three games, three walk-offs. In this one, Purple never led until the last batter of the game.
Maroon scored twice in the top of the first: Anthony Galindo doubled with one out and scored on Jimmy Sneed’s two-out single; Jimmy then scored from first on Tom Brownfield’s single to right field. Chunky Wright held Purple scoreless in the bottom of the inning, working around one-out singles by Rick Jensen and Jeff Stone – he got Daniel Carvajal to line out to Anthony Galindo in left-center, Rick tagging and advancing to third, then retired Rip Wright on a grounder to first baseman Johnny Lee.
Jeff Stone worked a 1-2-3 top of the second, getting three straight ground outs, to shortstop Rex Horvath, third baseman Rick Jensen, and back to the box. Purple then tied the game with two runs in the home half, the first five batters, the team’s mercenaries, all knocking singles, Jim Foelker and Tommy Gillis scoring. With the bases loaded and none out, Purple looked poised for a big inning, but David Kruse turned Tom Kelm’s grounder down the third-base side into a 5u., 5-2 double play, and Chunky Wright got Rick Jensen to ground back to the mound for the third out.
Maroon reclaimed the lead with five runs in the top of the third. Johnny Lee and Hal Darman led off with singles. Scott Wright lined out to shortstop Rex Horvath. Anthony Galindo then drove a pitch to left-center – as he described it later, “It actually hit one of the fence poles and ricocheted away from Richard Battle.” The result was a three-run inside-the-park homerun and a 5-2 Maroon lead. Jeff Stone retired Buddy Gaswint on a grounder back to the pitcher, but Jimmy Sneed doubled, and Tom Brownfield, James Chavana, and Joe Dayoc each singled, Jimmy and Tom (or, I’m guessing, his pinch-runner) scoring the fourth and fifth runs of the inning.
Anthony Galindo’s three-run inside-the-parker gave Maroon an early lead.
So Maroon led 8-6 entering the buffet, and scored four more, on six straight hits – five singles and Jimmy Sneed’s double – to start the inning, Jimmy, Anthony Galindo, Tom Brownfield, and James Chavana each completing perfect days at the plate, four runs scoring. With runners on first and second, none out, Jeff Stone disallowed any further advance, retiring Joe Dayoc on a pop, Marvin Krabbenhoft on a two-strike foul, and Chunky Wright on a fly to Richard Battle in left.
Needing six to tie and seven to win, Purple put on a clinic. Two singles and Rex Horvath’s walk loaded the bases. Richard Battle popped out to third baseman David Kruse. Tom Kelm singled up the middle – Chunky Wright later said there were a couple plays he felt he should have made in the field, and this might have been one of them – and Tommy Gillis scored, cutting Maroon’s lead to 12-7. Rick Jensen singled to left, Rex scoring: 12-8. Jeff Stone flied out to Buddy Gaswint in right field, Larry Shupe tagging up and scoring on the second out, Tom (or perhaps his pinch-runner) moving up to third base: 12-9. Daniel Carvajal singled, Tom scoring, Rick moving to third: 12-10. Rip Wright hit a grounder to the right side, between first and second, not playable, Rick scoring on the single: 12-11. Jim Foelker then stepped up and looped a hit to left field: Daniel scored the tying run from third, and Tommy Gillis, running for Rip and off on contact, raced all the way around from first to score the winner*.
Jim Foelker had three hits, scored twice, and drove in three runs, including the game-winner.Final score: Purple 13, Maroon 12
* Details pulled from multiple sources, some of them contradictory. This is my best attempt to construct an accurate narrative – any mistakes are mine!
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 2 1 .667 — 45 34 +11 L1
Green 2 1 .667 — 41 34 + 7 W2
Red 2 1 .667 — 40 35 + 5 W1
Gray 2 1 .667 — 36 40 – 4 W2
Orange 2 2 .500 .5 50 40 +10 L1
Maroon 1 3 .250 1.5 39 48 – 9 L3
Purple 1 3 .250 1.5 32 52 -20 W1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 1-0 1-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Green 1-0 1-1 1 0-0 1-0 1-0
Red 1-1 1-0 1 0-0 1-0 1-0
Gray 1-1 1-0 1 0-0 0-1 1-0
Orange 1-0 1-2 0 0-0 1-0 0-1
Maroon 1-1 0-2 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Purple 1-2 0-1 1 0-0 0-2 1-1
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 1 1 2 3 1 1 9
Gray 3 X 2 1 3 0 3 12
Green 2 1 X 2 1 3 2 11
Maroon 1 2 3 X 3 0 2 11
Orange 0 0 1 1 X 2 2 6
Purple 2 1 2 3 2 X 0 10
Red 3 1 1 1 2 3 X 11
_______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 11 6 10 10 14 9 10 70
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 5
Gregory Bied – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
David Brown – 1
Ken Brown – 1
Tim Bruton – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Larry Fiorentino – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Clint Fletcher – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Rex Horvath – 1
David Kruse – 1
Denny Malloy – 1
Eddie Ortiz -1
David Pittard – 1
Paul Rubin – 1
Pat Scott – 1
Ralph Villela – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Monday July 8 (no games on July 4!):
10:30 a.m.: Purple (1-3) at Blue (2-1), Gray umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Gray (2-1) at Orange (2-2), Purple umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Red (2-1) at Green (2-1), Orange umpiring
Maroon has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Four dates into the session, no team is undefeated, no team is winless, four are tied for first place, another is half a game back, and the “also-rans” are just a game and a half behind. All of the two-win teams play again Monday; at least two will win their third, at least two will stay stuck at two. Will the momentum of today’s walk-off wins carry over a week? One thing is certain: only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
As he does every July 1, Keggy salutes all our mythical Canadian girlfriends of yore.