B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 38 – for August 22, 2024
Correction: I wrote Monday that Tommy Gillis’s home run was an inside-the-parker; in fact, Tommy hit it out of the park. The Picayune regrets the error.
Games of Thursday August 22:
10:00 a.m., Maroon (3-11) at Purple (8-6):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 5 4 0 0 5 5 19 Purple 3 3 4 5 0 5 20 Pitchers: Maroon – Chunky Wright; Purple – Tom Kelm. Mercenaries: Purple – Rex Horvath, Donnie Janac, and Jack McDermott. Umpires: home plate – Jeff Broussard and Fritz Hensel; bases – George Brindley, Eddie Ortiz, and Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Tom Brownfield (3 for 3 with a double), James Chavana (3 for 3 with a walk), and Jack Spellman (3 for 3 with a walk and a triple); Purple – Daniel Carvajal (4 for 4 with a double), Donnie Janac (3 for 3), Jack McDermott (4 for 4 with two doubles), and Larry Young (1 for 1).
Dave Berra’s weather report: Hot! No breeze. Always a problem when you can see the air you’re breathing. 89 degrees, 101 heat index, 65% relative humidity. Nasty.
This was a tough loss for Maroon, no sugarcoating it – Tom Kelm allowed 21 hits and walked nine batters, allowed five runs in three different innings and four in another, but somehow pitched Purple to victory. A big issue was Maroon having trouble recording the third out: Purple scored three times in each of the first two innings, all coming with two out – in the first inning, Daniel Carvajal, Tim Coles, and Mike Velaney each delivered two-out run-scoring singles; and in the second, after Chunky Wright retired the first two batters, Purple mercenaries Jack McDermott (double, first of two), Rex Horvath, and Donnie Janac all hit safely and scored, Rex and Donnie on Jim Foelker’s triple.
This shouldn’t have mattered, as Maroon had scored nine of a possible ten runs over the first two innings, getting five runs on five hits, two walks, and Joe Roche’s sacrifice fly in the first (Buddy Gaswint’s two-out, two-run double the key blow) and four runs on four hits and Scott Wright’s walk in the second, all coming after Tim Coles had turned a nifty 5u., 5-3 double play after Alvin Gauna and Tom Brownfield singled to start the inning. The last three runs came on back-to-back triples by Jack Spellman and Anthony Galindo.
But Maroon’s bats went cold in the middle innings, Tom Kelm facing just three batters in the top of the third (Marvin Krabbenhoft walked with one out but was erased on a 1-6-3 double play, Tom to Rick Jensen to Daniel Carvajal) after Buddy Gaswint refused a walk) and four in the fourth (working around Tom Brownfield’s two-out double), and Purple stormed ahead with four runs in the bottom of the third (six of the first seven batters hit safely, Daniel Carvajal knocking a double; Jimmy Sneed started a 6-4-3 double play, Tom Brownfield (I think) on the pivot to keep the fifth run from scoring) and five in the fourth (six singles and Clint Fletcher’s bases-loaded triple to start the inning, Tom Kelm delivering the fifth run with a sacrifice fly to right-center).
Maroon trailed 15-9 entering the last five-run inning, but got back into the game. They scored five times in the top of the inning on a walk, five singles, and Anthony Galindo’s double, then Chunky Wright hurled a scoreless bottom half. He allowed a one-out double to Jack McDermott and, after retiring Rex Horvath on a foul pop down the third-base side (self-congratulations alert: Jack Spellman made a pretty good play moving back and to his right, discarding mask and sunglasses along the way; didn’t have time to take off my jersey and shorts, though), a two-out single to Donnie Janac (completing a 3-for-3 game), but stranded the runners by getting Jim Foelker to ground back to the box.
Maroon trailed by one entering the buffet and put across five. Alvin Gauna and Tom Brownfield singled to open the frame, Tom completing a 3-for-3 game at the plate. Chunky Wright lined out to Jack McDermott in right-center. The top of Maroon’s lineup came up, and each of the next three batters drew walks, Scott Wright’s forcing in Alvin with the tying run, Jack Spellman’s bringing Tom’s pinch-runner across with the go-ahead run. Anthony Galindo knocked a two-run single. Jimmy Sneed was caught looking on a called strike three on a pitch that did not have a whole much arc. Joe Roche singled in the fifth run.
That left Purple needing four to tie and five to win in the home half. The first four batters – Rick Jensen, Clint Fletcher, Daniel Carvajal, and Tim Coles – each singled to open the frame, Daniel and Tim completing 4-for-4 games, Tim’s hit driving in Rick and Clint. Mike Velaney grounded into a 5-4 force, but that was the only out Purple would make. Chunky Wright looked like he’d caught Tom Kelm looking at strike three, but the pitch was called flat and Tom drew a walk, loading the bases. Larry Young, who’d entered the game for Rip Wright, came up and knocked a game-tying two-run single. Jack McDermott followed and lined a game-winning single, Purple walking off the victory. Final score: Purple 20, Maroon 19
11:00 a.m., Orange (7-8) at Red (6-7):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 1 1 2 2 1 3 10 Red 5 4 0 5 1 X 15 Pitchers: Orange – Ray Pilgrim; Red – Donald Drummer. Mercenaries: Orange – Clint Fletcher and Scott Wright. Umpires: home – Larry Young; bases – Rick Jensen. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Clint Fletcher (3 for 3 with a home run) and David Kruse (1 for 1); Red – Bobby Miller (2 for 2 with a triple and two walks). Home run: Clint Fletcher (inside the park).
As did Maroon at 10:00, Red scored five times in the first, added four in the second, and was shut out in the third, but Red added strong defensive play to its mix, bending but not breaking – Orange scored in every inning, but never got more than two until the buffet – to come away with the victory.
Doc Hobar led off the game with a triple to center field and scored on Eddie Ortiz’s sacrifice fly to left-center. Rex Horvath followed with another three-bagger, to about the same spot as Doc’s, but Donald Drummer retired the next two batters, getting Ray Pilgrim on a grounder to third baseman Adam Reddell (very strong cross-diamond throw to first) and Matt Levitt on a pop to shortstop Tim Bruton.
Red then took firm control of the game in the home half, the first six batters reaching and five scoring: Bobby Miller drew a lead-off walk; Tim Bruton and Rick Kahn singled, Bobby coming around to score; Adam Reddell doubled in Tim and Rick; and Eddy Murillo and Tommy Langa singled, Adam scoring the fourth run on Tommy’s hit. Denny Malloy followed with a hard grounder to first base that deflected off Jim Maloy’s glove to second baseman Doc Hobar; Doc raced Denny to the bag, just beating him, and the two collided; in the confusion, Eddy’s pinch-runner (Tim, maybe?) was able to race home with the fifth run. Fortunately, both Doc and Denny were all right and able to continue playing.
Fritz Hensel and Jim Maloy singled to open the second inning, and Fritz’s pinch-runner scored on Larry Shupe’s force-out grounder. The inning ended with Dave Berra grounding into a 6u., 6-3 double play, Tim Bruton to Hal Darman, who made a nice scoop of Tim’s short-hopped throw. After walking Hal leading off the bottom half, Ray Pilgrim got two outs on force outs, but Red’s next five batters hit safely: Bobby Miller tripled, Donald Drummer scoring; Tim Bruton and Rick Kahn knocked RBI triples to the right side; Adam Reddell singled in Rick; and Eddy Murillo reached on a cheap-ass infield hit that he should be ashamed of. Red led 9-1 through two.
Orange chipped away a bit over the next two innings, thanks to its mercenaries. Scott Wright led off the third with a single and Clint Fletcher followed with an inside-the-park home run to center field.
Clint Fletcher was supposed to receive a Pluckers coupon following his inside-the-park home run, but it very much looks like Orange manager Dave Berra intends to keep it for himself.
Donald Drummer retired the next two batters, let the bases load on singles by Rex Horvath and Ray Pilgrim and a walk to Matt Levitt, but got Fritz Hensel to ground into an inning-ending 6-5 force. Ray then retired Red in order in the home half, with Clint Fletcher in left field making a nice grab of Hal Darman’s liner for the second out.
Orange added two more runs in the fourth. Jim Maloy led off with a single to center. Larry Shupe followed with a grounder to the 5-6 hole; Tim Bruton got to it, but overthrew second, but Red still got an out on the play as Jim took off for third without retreating to tag second after running through, and wound up called out on appeal. Scott Wright grounded into a force at second for the second out, but consecutive singles by Clint Fletcher, Doc Hobar, and Eddie Ortiz brought two runs in, cutting Red’s led to 9-6.
That didn’t last long, Red scoring five times in the bottom half on Bobby Miller’s second walk of the game, five singles, and Eddy Murillo’s sacrifice fly to left field. Two-out singles by Tommy Langa, Denny Malloy, and Hal Darman completed the rally.
After each team scored once in the fifth (Orange on three singles, Red on a walk and two singles), Orange went into the buffet trailing 15-7. The first five batters, beginning with Clint Fletcher (completing a perfect day at the plate) singled, three runs scoring. But Donald Drummer got Matt Levitt to hit a pop in front of the plate that he was able to basket-catch for the first out, then got Fritz Hensel to hit into a 6-4 force, and then retired Jim Maloy on a pop to shortstop Tim Bruton. Final score: Red 15, Orange 10
Noon, Blue (8-5) at Gray (7-6):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 5 5 0 1 0 11 Gray 4 4 1 3 X 12 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Gray – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Blue – Anthony Galindo and Adam Reddell. Umpires: home – Donald Drummer and Scott Wright*; bases – Dave Berra and Donald Drummer. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Anthony Galindo and Bobby Hill (both 2 for 2) and George Romo (3 for 3 with a double); Gray – Gary Coyle (2 for 2 with a double and a walk), Donnie Janac and Johnny Lee (both 3 for 3), and David Kruse (3 for 3 with a triple and a home run). Home run: David Kruse (inside the park).
Jack Spellman’s (boring) weather report: It was 100 degrees with a heat index of 109, and I was glad to be sitting this one out. Relative humidity at 41% and a high, cruel sun. Did get a bit of breeze in the bleachers as the game went on.
Blue came out en fuego, 13 of its first 15 hitters knocking hits, the team scoring five times without making an out in the first (Jeff Fisher started the rally with a lead-off double, George Romo doubled in two runs, and Tim Coles capped the outburst with a two-run triple to right), then putting across five runs on seven singles in the second, the last three coming with two out.
Gray was nearly as good, scoring four times in each of its first two at bats, 2-3-4 hitters Donnie Janac, David Kruse, and Gary Coyle leading the way. The trio did not make an out in the game. In the first, Donnie singled with one out and David followed with an inside-the-park home run to right field. Gary then doubled and scored on a single by Tommy Gillis. Tommy advanced on Don Solberg’s fly to right field and scored on Johnny Lee’s hit, the first of his three on the day.
This is not the first picture of Jack Kelly presenting David Kruse with a Pluckers coupon to appear in the Picayune this year.
In the second, Jack Kelly and Mark Dolan singled and Mike Mordecai drew a walk, loading the bases with none out for the top of the order. Jack’s pinch-runner scored on Ken Brown’s sacrifice fly to right-center; Mark took third on the play. Donnie Janac hit a pop fly to short right field; Jeff Fisher charged the ball, couldn’t make the catch, but Mike had to hold up to see whether he would; Jeff corralled the ball and made a strong throw to force Mike out at second. Mark scored on the play, and I’m crediting Donnie with a hit. David Kruse then laced a triple to right-center, Donnie scoring from first. Gary Coyle’s single through the 5-6 hole scored David with the fourth run.
Between the heat and running around the bases and in the field, both teams were pretty well spent after two, and the offenses wilted. Blue did not score in the top of the third, Mark Dolan starting a 4-6-3 double play, David Kruse on the pivot, to end the inning. Gray got one in the home half: Johnny Lee singled leading off, his pinch-runner took third on Ivan Budiselic’s single to right, then scored on Mark Dolan’s force-out grounder to shortstop.
Blue got its lead back to two runs with a run on three singles in the top of the fourth, but Gray, the top of its order up, took the lead in the bottom half, scoring three runs. With one out, singles by Donnie Janac and David Kruse and a walk to Gary Coyle loaded the bases, the trio completing their perfect days at the plate. (Donnie and David both played in two games and did not make an out today.) Tommy Gillis hit a kind of looping pop back to pitcher Joe Bernal for the first out. Don Solberg, switching to batting from the right side, ripped a single to left field, Donnie and David scoring. Johnny Lee completed his perfect day at the plate with a single to right, Gary scoring to put Blue ahead 12-11.
Joe Bernal got Ivan Budiselic to hit a two-strike foul to end the inning, and Blue needed just one run to tie in the buffet. But Donald Drummer got the four batters in the middle of the Blue order to hit (mostly) playable balls to the left side. George Brindley led off, grounding out to shortstop Tim Bruton. George Romo found the 5-6 hole for a single, completing his 3-for-3 day at the plate. Joe Bernal grounded to Tim, George forced out at second. And Tim Coles hit a pop behind third base; David Kruse got an excellent jump on the ball, ranged behind third baseman Gary Coyle, and gathered it in for the game-ending out. Final score: Gray 12, Blue 11
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Green 9 5 .643 — 194 169 +25 L1
Purple 9 6 .600 .5 189 181 + 8 W2
Blue 8 6 .571 1 181 167 +14 L1
Gray 8 6 .571 1 164 175 -11 W1
Red 7 7 .500 2 184 184 0 W2
Orange 7 9 .438 3 197 206 – 9 L2
Maroon 3 12 .200 6.5 180 207 -27 L1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Green 3-4 6-1 2 0-1 4-0 2-0
Purple 3-5 6-1 2 1-0 1-4 2-2
Blue 4-2 4-4 1 0-0 1-1 1-3
Gray 4-4 4-2 1 0-0 1-3 2-0
Red 3-5 4-2 1 0-0 2-1 1-1
Orange 1-6 6-3 1 0-0 4-3 2-1
Maroon 1-6 2-6 0 0-0 1-2 0-3
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 2 1 4 4 1 3 15
Gray 4 X 3 3 4 0 4 18
Green 3 2 X 4 2 4 3 18
Maroon 1 2 3 X 4 0 3 13
Orange 1 1 2 2 X 3 2 11
Purple 4 2 3 5 3 X 1 18
Red 3 2 2 1 4 4 X 16
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 16 11 14 19 21 12 16 109
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 5
Ken Brown – 3
David Kruse – 3
Gregory Bied – 2
Tim Bruton – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Clint Fletcher – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Ralph Villela – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
David Brown – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Tommy Gillis – 1
Rex Horvath – 1
Denny Malloy – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
Eddie Ortiz -1
David Pittard – 1
Joe Roche – 1
Paul Rubin – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Monday August 26:
10:00 a.m.: Red (7-7) at Green (9-5), Purple umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Purple (9-6) at Blue (8-6), Green umpiring
Noon: Gray (8-6) at Orange (7-9), Blue umpiring
Maroon has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Two sets of games remain in Session 3. Last-place Maroon has the bye Monday, leaving all the contending teams trying to knock each other out.
Green with a win versus Red at 10:00 pretty much clinches at least a tie for first. (Still, I think Green skipper Jeff Broussard was a bit premature in fitting himself out with a championship ring.)
If Red can pull off an upset, they’ll remain in the hunt, as they play another contender, Blue on Thursday.
Purple and Blue, the second- and third-place teams, play at 11:00. Orange has been eliminated, but can play spoiler in its noon game versus Gray.
If Red, Blue, and Gray all win Monday, then Blue, Gray, and Green will be tied at 9-6 going into Thursday’s games, with Purple (bye Thursday) half a game back at 9-7, and Red one game behind at 8-7. What would then need to happen Thursday is Orange defeating Green, Maroon beating Gray, and Red defeating Blue, in which case four teams would finish tied for first at 9-7. Totally what I’m rooting for.
Can this massive-tie scenario come to fruition? I think you all know that one thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Look at these miscreants (L-R: Jeff Broussard, Johnny Lee, Greg Lloyd, Jack Spellman) enjoying themselves at Wednesday’s Astros-Red Sox game. Can you pick out the oddball? Hint: Instead of representing the ‘Stros, he’s wearing a Joe Kelly Fight Club tee-shirt, and for some reason he had to ride back to Austin in the trunk.
Mike Mordecai emcees and plays at the Elephant Room (https://elephantroom.com/calendar) Mondays from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.