B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 29 – for July 22, 2024
Jeff Fisher and Peter Sundquist won the Session 2 umpiring raffle and received HEB gift cards from our anonymous benefactor. (Imagine that Jeff is holding an HEB card instead of a Pluckers coupon, and that Peter is receiving a gift card instead of releasing a pitch. As John Lennon noted, it’s easy if you try.)
Weather: Temperature at the start of the 10:00 game was 76 degrees, humidity at 99%. It warmed a little bit by the end of the noon game, to around 80 degrees, and the humidity dropped to 83%. Mix of cloud and sun throughout.
Games of Monday July 22:
10:00 a.m., Purple (3-3) at Orange (2-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 1 3 2 3 4 2 15 Orange 2 0 5 2 0 2 11 Pitchers: Purple – Jeff Stone; Orange – Spike Davidson. Mercenary: Purple – Mike Malay. Umpires: home plate – Eddy Murillo; bases – Marvin Krabbenhoft and Joe Roche; scoreboard – Jack Spellman and Jeff Broussard. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Clint Fletcher and Jim Foelker (both 4 for 4 with a double); Orange – Peter Atkins (4 for with a double), Larry Fiorentino (4 for 4 with two doubles and a home run), and Doc Hobar (4 for 4). Home run: Larry Fiorentino (inside the park).
This was a hard-fought game, the closest of the day. Purple loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first inning on two singles and a walk to Daniel Carvajal, but came away with just one run. Clint Fletcher scored on Tim Coles’s sacrifice fly to Peter Atkins in left-center, but Jeff Stone was cut down trying to take third on the play, on an excellent replay from Peter to shortstop Rex Horvath to third baseman Eddie Ortiz, the F-8, 8-6-5 double play ending the inning. Orange took the lead with two runs in the home half, but also hit into an inning-ending twin killing. Doc Hobar singled to start the inning and scored from first on Larry Fiorentino’s double to left. Larry advanced to third on Rex Horvath’s fly to left field, then scored on Eddie Ortiz’s single. Peter Atkins followed with a double, putting runners on second and third with one out. Ray Pilgrim grounded a ball to shortstop Tim Coles; Peter broke for third on the play, and Tim threw to third baseman Mike Malay for the out there; Eddie had not broken for home, however, and was hung up between bases and tagged out by Mike for the third out, for a 6-5, 5u. double play.
Meet Mike Malay, our newest B Leaguer.
Purple took the lead with three runs in the top of the second, but had another runner thrown out on the bases. Jim Foelker doubled home the first run and scored the second on Mike Malay’s single (in his first B League at bat). Mike advanced to second on Peter Sundquist’s hit. Clint Fletcher singled to right-center, Mike scoring; Peter tried to score also, when the ball wasn’t handled cleanly, but was cut down on an excellent 9-6-2 relay, Larry Fiorentino to Rex Horvath to Fritz Hensel, Peter out by a step.
Jeff Stone held Orange scoreless in the bottom half, working around Matt Levitt’s one-out single.
Purple seemed poised for a big inning in the third when the first four batters hit safely, three singles and a double by Tim Coles, Jeff Stone and Daniel Carvajal scoring. Purple had runners at the corners and none out, but Tim held on Tom Kelm’s grounder to third, Eddie Ortiz throwing to second to force Mike Velaney. Rip Wright then grounded back to the box and Spike Davidson started a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Orange then grabbed the lead with five runs in the bottom half,on seven hits, the last five with two out. Doc Hobar led off with a single and Larry Fiorentino followed with an inside-the-park home run to right field. Rex Horvath and Eddie Ortiz flied out to left and left-center field, and then the next five batters singled. Boom: 7-6 Orange lead.
Acting Orange manager Rex Horvath presents Larry Fiorentino with a Plucker’s coupon after Larry homered in the third inning.
It was tied 9-9 at the end of the fourth inning. Purple’s first four hitters singled to start the top half, Jim Foelker leading off with a fly down to left field that landed on the foul line. Two runs scored on Peter Sundquist’s hit, and Peter scored on Jeff Stone’s sacrifice fly to left center. The inning ended with Tim Coles lofting another fly to Peter Atkins, who made a fine running catch. In the home half, Larry Fiorentino’s triple drove in Doc Hobar (both Larry and Doc were 4 for 4 and scored four times in the game; Larry may have also scored while pinch-running), and Larry scored the tying run on Eddie Ortiz’s single.
Purple took the lead for good in the fifth, scoring four runs on five singles and Clint Fletcher’s double, the last five hits all coming with two out. It looked like Clint would score the fifth run when Jeff Stone singled, but Jeff was called out for crossing the first-base-side commit line while taking a pinch-runner. Jeff then blanked Orange in the bottom of the frame. Fritz Hensel led off with a grounder to shortstop, cleanly played by Tim Coles, but Larry Fiorentino beat it out. Larry was then forced out at second on Matt Levitt’s grounder to Tim, who won the race to the bag. Tim then turned a 6u., 6-3 double play on Larry Shupe’s grounder.
Purple extended its lead to 15-9 with two runs in the top of the buffet: Tim Coles tripled in Daniel Carvajal, who’d led off with a single, and then scored on Mike Velaney’s sacrifice fly to right-center.
Doc Hobar singled and Larry Fiorentino doubled to start the bottom half. (If Larry had stopped at first, he would have hit for the cycle.) Rex Horvath and Eddie Ortiz both lofted flies to Jim Foelker in left-center to advance and bring in both runners, but Orange couldn’t afford those outs. Peter Atkins singled, completing his 4-for-4 game, but Mike Malay caught Ray Pilgrim’s liner to third for the final out. Final score: Purple 15, Orange 11
11:00 a.m., Maroon (1-5) at Blue (4-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 0 2 5 0 0 0 7 Blue 4 4 0 5 0 X 13 Pitchers: Maroon – Chunky Wright; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Maroon – Tim Bruton and Morgan Witthoft. Umpires: home – Rex Horvath; bases – Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Anthony Galindo and Chunky Wright (both 3 for 3); Blue – George Brindley and Pat Scott (both 3 for 3).
Joe Bernal pretty well throttled the Maroon bats except for one inning, allowing five runs on eight singles in the third. He struck out three, walked none, and didn’t allow an extra-base hit. Of the 16 outs Blue recorded, 13 came on strikeouts, ground balls, and infield pops – there was one fly to Richard Battle in right-center, and two to Steve Sandall in left, the second a terrific catch of a sinking line drive off the bat of Joe Dayoc to end the fifth inning, leaving two runners stranded.
Joe got all the offensive support he’d need when Blue scored four runs on five hits in each of the first two innings. Steve Sandall drove in the first three runs of the game with a double in the first, then scored the fourth on a force-out grounder; Jeff Fisher doubled in two runs in the second, then scored on George Brindley’s hit. George wound up at second when Maroon threw the ball around, and then he scored on George Romo’s single to left field.
Maroon got within a run in the top of the third and then Chunky Wright blanked Blue in the home half, working around singles by Joe Bernal and Dale Fugate. But Maroon wasn’t able to capitalize, leaving two runners stranded without scoring in both the fourth and fifth. Meanwhile Blue put the game out of reach with five runs in the bottom of the fourth, all scored with two out on five consecutive singles. (One of those was a grounder to third base that took a bad hop over Jack Spellman’s glove. So frustrating.)
Maroon got some good infield play in the bottom of the fifth. Richard Battle led off with a single. Dale Fugate hit a hard grounder to the right of shortstop Tim Bruton, who made a good play on an iffy hop and fired to second baseman Tom Brownfield for the force on Richard; Tom then made a great pivot and throw to first to double up Dale. Tim then made a good play on Billy Hill’s sharp grounder to his right; his throw to first was in the dirt, but Joe Roche made an outstanding short-hop scoop and pinch-runner Steve Sandall was out by a step.
Maroon was chasing six runs entering the buffet. They didn’t get any, Joe Bernal inducing three grounders to shortstop George Romo for outs. Marvin Krabbenhoft led off with a ground out. Chunky Wright singled to left, but Morgan Witthoft hit into a 6-4 force, and Tim Bruton hit into a 6u. force for the final out. (Tim’s fly out to left in his previous at bat had broken his streak of consecutive hits at 14.) Final score: Blue 13, Maroon 7
Noon, Gray (4-1) at Green (4-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 3 1 1 4 3 2 14 Green 0 2 0 0 5 0 7 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Gray – George Brindley and Hal Darman; Green – Jack Spellman. Umpires: home plate – Terry Thompson; bases – Steve Sandall. Perfect at the plate: Gray – George Brindley (3 for 3) and Don Solberg (4 for 4 with a double); Green – Jack Crosley (3 for 3). Home run: David Kruse (inside the park).
Gray scored in every inning, and shut out Green in four out of six – guess who won the game.
In fact, Gray never trailed, scoring three times on five singles in the top of the first, Jack Kelly retiring the side in order on a fly to Don Solberg in left and two grounders to second baseman Mike Mordecai in the bottom half. Gray then basically held serve over the next two innings, scratching out single runs in each (on David Kruse’s sacrifice fly bringing in Mark Dolan in the second; Don Solberg leading off the third with double to right field, advancing to third on Donnie Janac’s single, and scoring on Jack Kelly’s force-out grounder) while holding Green to two runs in the bottom of the second (Jack Crosley singled in Jack McDermott with two out, then scored on Trey Wall’s triple to center field) and putting Green out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the third (shortstop David Kruse made fine plays for the second and third outs, catching Jack Spellman’s liner to his backhand, then making an exceptional play on the short hop of Ralph Villela’s grounder to his right and snapping a throw that just beat Ralph to first).
Gray extended its lead to 9-2 with four runs in the top of the fourth. Following singles by Mark Dolan and George Brindley, David Kruse ripped an extra-base hit to center field and never stopped running, circling the bases for a three-run inside-the-park home run. Tommy Gillis followed with a single, tagged and took second on Gary Coyle’s liner to Mike Garrison in left, and scored on a single-plus-error off the bat of Don Solberg – a grounder to the right of second baseman Jack Spellman; I made a clean diving backhand catch of the ball, but shanked the throw to first past Trey Wall, Tommy able to score on my misplay.
Gray skipper Jack Kelly presents David Kruse with a Plucker’s coupon following David’s inside-the-parker in the fourth.
Green did not score in the bottom half, Jack Kelly working around one-out singles by David Pittard and Mike Garrison.
Gray got three more runs in the top of the fifth. Singles by Jack Kelly and Johnny Lee and a walk to Mike Mordecai loaded the bases with none out. Shortstop Ralph Villela turned an outstanding 6u., 6-3 double play on Mark Dolan’s hard grounder to his left, Jack’s pinch-runner scoring on the play. Hal Darman singled in Johnny Lee’s pinch-runner. George Brindley singled. Then David Kruse also singled – Hal’s pinch-runner scored on the play, but George was called out at third, on a play that was strongly disputed by Gray. I didn’t see it (too busy trying to draw attention to David being hung up between first and second), but as it was described to me, George ran to the bag instead of running through, and the relay from shortstop Ralph Villela (I think, could be mistaken) beat him.
Green’s bats came alive in the bottom half, and they scored five times on six singles, Paul Rubin’s double, and a sacrifice fly. The last four hits, including Paul’s two-bagger, came with two out.
That cut Gray’s lead to five runs entering the buffet. They added two in the top of the inning. Green almost escaped a bases-loaded jam. With one out Gray loaded the bases on a walk to Gary Coyle, a double by Don Solberg (completing a 4-for-4 game), and a walk to Donnie Janac. Jack Kelly hit a short pop to second base that Trey Wall made a terrific play on, hurrying in for a shoestring catch for the second out. Trey then made another outstanding play, on Johnny Lee’s hard smash of a one-hopper to his right, but Ralph Villela wasn’t able to get a handle on Trey’s flip to second, and everyone was safe, Gary scoring. Mike Mordecai then followed with a single to drive in Don. Mark Dolan’s fly to left field left the bases loaded, but Gray had a seven-run lead.
Green wasn’t able to make any of it up in the home half. Jack McDermott singled leading off, with a little squib of a pop in the Bermuda triangle between the catcher, pitcher, and first baseman. He was forced out at second on Tommy Deleon’s grounder to second baseman Mike Mordecai. Jack Crosley, who’s been on a tear of late, knocked his third line-drive single of the game, to center field, Tommy’s pinch-runner taking third. Trey Wall squared up a pitch and lined it back up the middle, but Jack Kelly speared it for the second out; he snapped a throw to first to double up Jack Crosley, had a good chance at putting him out, but the throw was low and might have hit Jack as he scrambled back to the bag, and Johnny Lee was unable to catch it cleanly. Didn’t matter: Phil Stanch grounded out to second baseman Mike Mordecai for the final out. Final score: Gray 14, Green 7
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gray 5 1 .833 — 76 63 +13 W5
Blue 5 2 .714 .5 91 73 +18 W3
Green 4 3 .571 1.5 92 82 +10 L1
Purple 4 3 .571 1.5 66 72 – 6 W4
Red 3 3 .500 2 74 72 + 2 L2
Orange 2 6 .250 4 88 101 -13 L5
Maroon 1 6 .143 4.5 63 87 -24 L6
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gray 1-1 4-0 1 0-0 1-1 1-0
Blue 3-1 2-1 1 0-0 0-0 1-1
Green 2-2 2-1 1 0-0 2-0 1-0
Purple 1-2 3-1 1 0-0 0-2 1-1
Red 1-2 2-1 1 0-0 1-0 1-1
Orange 1-4 1-2 0 0-0 1-1 0-1
Maroon 1-2 0-4 0 0-0 0-1 0-1
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 1 1 3 4 1 2 12
Gray 3 X 3 2 4 0 3 15
Green 2 1 X 3 2 3 2 13
Maroon 1 2 3 X 3 0 2 11
Orange 0 0 1 1 X 2 2 6
Purple 3 1 2 3 3 X 1 13
Red 3 1 2 1 2 3 X 12
_______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 12 6 12 13 18 9 12 82
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 5
Gregory Bied – 2
Ken Brown – 2
Tim Bruton – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
David Kruse – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
David Brown – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Clint Fletcher – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Rex Horvath – 1
Denny Malloy – 1
Eddie Ortiz -1
David Pittard – 1
Paul Rubin – 1
Ralph Villela – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Thursday July 25:
10:00 a.m.: Green (4-3) at Purple (4-3), Red umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Red (3-3) at Gray (5-1), Purple umpiring
Noon: Orange (2-6) at Maroon (1-6), Gray umpiring
Blue has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Purple has been on a tear, winning four straight after opening the session 0-3. Green, with an identical 4-3 record, will try to throw a spanner in their works at 10:00. At 11:00, Red looks to end Gray’s five-game winning streak; idle Blue would back into a first-place tie if Gray falters. The two struggling-est teams meet at noon, each looking to saddle the other with the season’s longest extant losing streak. Will anyone else be joining me in celebrating National Hot Dog Day tomorrow? One thing is certain: only time (and mustard) will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Conversation over breakfast with Mrs. Keggy Sunday morning:
Mrs. Keggy: “I thought Biden would have quit the race by now.”
Keggy: “I think he’s waiting till after Netanyahu’s visit this Wednesday.*”
Mrs. Keggy: “Maybe. Joe really hates Netanyahu.”
Keggy: “True. He hates him almost as much as I hate Derek Jeter.”
Mrs. Keggy: “Except Derek Jeter hasn’t perpetrated genocide.”
Keggy: “YOU DON’T KNOW THAT.”
* Extending Keggy’s streak of incorrect political predictions!
Mike Mordecai emcees and plays at the Elephant Room (https://elephantroom.com/calendar) Mondays from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.