B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 31 – July 9, 2026
Department of Corrections: I missed on Monday that Scott Rokita was perfect at the plate for Gray in the 11:00 game, going 3 for 3 with a double. The Picayune regrets the error.
Games of Thursday July 9:
10:00 a.m.: Red (2-3) at Orange (3-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Red 3 0 1 2 4 10 Orange 3 5 5 5 X 18 Pitchers: Red – Trent Peacock; Orange – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Red – Steve Browne, Mike Garrison, Alan Phillips, and Jeff Stone; Orange – Jim Foelker, Ray Pilgrim, and Scott Wright. Umpires: home – Tom Kelm and Jim McAnelly; bases – Mike Velaney. Perfect at the plate: Red – Mike Garrison (3 for 3); Orange – Hal Darman (2 for 2 with a walk), Matt Levitt (4 for 4), Ray Pilgrim (3 for 3 – Ohtani Award), and Jack Spellman (4 for 4 with a double and a triple).
Dave Berra’s weather summary: summer all day
Both teams scored three times in the first inning – Red on Mark Dolan’s walk, doubles by Ralph Villela (leading off the game) and Tommy Gillis (driving in Ralph and Mark), and two singles; Orange on three singles, Jack Spellman’s double, and Mark Hernandez’s sacrifice fly to left fielder Mike Garrison – but after that Orange scored five times in each of its at bats while holding Red to zero, one, and two runs in the top halves. Worth noting a somewhat unusual double play: with two runs in, runners on second and third, and none out in the top of the first, Johnny Lee grounded to shortstop Jack Spellman, whose throw to first beat pinch-runner Ralph Villela; first baseman Mark Hernandez then snapped a throw to catcher Hal Darman, beating Trent Peacock trying to score, for a 6-3-2 double play.
After Ray Pilgrim threw a scoreless top of the second, working around Mike Garrison’s two-out single, Orange scored five times in the bottom half on eight hits (Jack Spellman’s bases-loaded triple the key contribution) while making just one out, Scott Wright thrown out 8-6-5 (Tommy Gillis to Ralph Villela to Alan Phillips) trying to go first-to-third on Ray Pilgrim’s single up the middle.
Red scored a single run in the third, when Mark Dolan led off with a double, took third on Trent Peacock’s fly to Patrick Scott in right-center, and scored on Tommy Gillis’s ground out to shortstop. Orange scored five times after two were out in the home half, 1-4 hitters Matt Levitt, Jack Spellman, Pat Scott, and Mark Hernandez each knocking run-scoring singles.
Red scored two runs on four consecutive one-out singles in the top of the fourth, first loading the bases, Mike Garrison then driving in the runs with his hit. After Ralph Villela flied out to Matt Levitt in left-center for the second out, Mark Dolan drew a walk, re-loading the bases. Trent Peacock made a bid for extra bases with a drive to right-center, but Pat Scott made an outstanding play to run the ball down for the third out. That was one of five fly balls Pat caught over the last three innings.
Orange extended its lead to 18-6 with five runs in the bottom of the fourth, on Hal Darman’s walk and six singles. Hal, Ray Pilgrim, Matt Levitt, and Jack Spellman all completed perfect days at the plate in the inning.
Red’s bats came back to life in the top of the buffet. Tommy Gillis led off with a double. Johnny Lee flied out to Pat Scott in right-center. The next five batters – Marvin Krabbenhoft and Red’s four mercenaries – knocked clean singles, four runs scoring and giving the top of the lineup a chance to do some more damage. But Ray Pilgrim retired Ralph Villela on a fly to right-center, another excellent catch by Pat Scott, then got Mark Dolan to pop out to shortstop for the final out.
Ray earned himself an Ohtani Award, his sixth of the season, presented him by the Minyo Crusaders:
Final score: Orange 18, Red 10
11:00 a.m.: Gray (2-3) at Blue (3-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET EXTRA FINAL Gray 4 0 0 5 3 0 12 Blue 1 5 5 0 1 1 13 Pitchers: Gray – Trent Peacock; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Gray – Hal Darman, Mark Dolan, Jack McDermott, Trent Peacock, Jack Spellman, and Ralph Villela; Blue – Tommy Gillis, Johnny Lee, Matt Levitt, and Adam Reddell. Umpires: home – Scott Wright; bases – Mike Garrison and Marvin Krabbenhoft. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Hal Darman (2 for 2 with a walk), Jack McDermott (3 for 3 with a home run), and Ralph Villela (2 for 2 with a walk and two doubles); Blue – Tom Bellavia (3 for 3 with two doubles), Joe Bernal (3 for 3 – Ohtani Award), and Tommy Gillis (3 for 3 with a triple). Home run: Jack McDermott (inside the park) (1).
Terrific see-saw battle that was tied at the end of the buffet. Gray broke on top, scoring four runs in the top of the first. Joe Bernal suffered a bout of uncharacteristic wildness to start the game, walking Mike Velaney and Jim McAnelly to start the inning. Jim Foelker grounded into a 6-5 force, Mike out at third, for the first out, and Jim McAnelly’s pinch-runner – Mark Dolan, I think? – was thrown out trying to score from second on Daniel Carvajal’s pop-fly hit to short center field, as David Brown ran the ball down and fired home. Ralph Villela smacked a double, driving in Jim Foelker and Daniel, and Jack McDermott followed with a drive to right-center that gapped the outfielders and went for an inside-the-park homer, Jack’s first of the season, as seen here:
Blue then took the lead, scoring 11 unanswered runs from the bottom of the first through the bottom of the third. They got a single run in the first, as Tom Bellavia doubled leading off and scored on Joe Bernal’s one-out single, the inning ending when Trent Peacock started a 1-4-3 double play, Mike Velaney making a nice pivot, on Larry Shupe’s grounder back to the box.
After Joe Bernal blanked Gray in the top of the second, Blue scored five runs on five singles and another Tom Bellavia double in the home half, an inning marked by Adventures in Outfielding by Your Humble Correspondent. With one out, two runs in, and two on base, Johnny Lee came up and drove a pitch to right-center, where Jack Spellman was playing just a couple steps behind the 120-foot line. I took a couple steps back and to my left, made a ridiculous little jump, threw my glove up, and managed to snag the ball for the second out, the runners too stunned by the improbability of it all to think to tag up. The next batter, Tom Bellavia, then lofted a high fly right to where Spellman was stationed, quite a bit farther back, for what should have been a routine catch. As if. I botched the play badly, going for a basket catch as the wind knocked the ball back toward the infield a bit – the ball clanged off the heel of my mitt and fell in safe for an RBI double. Larry Young followed with a line single to left-center to drive in Blue’s fourth and fifth runs.
The third inning was practically a carbon copy of the second, minus the outfield shenanigans: Joe Bernal retired Gray in order in the top half, then he (lead-off single) and his teammates (with five more singles and back-to-back triples by Matt Levitt and Tommy Gillis) scored five times in the bottom half. (Matt was thrown out 8-6-2, Jack McDermott to Ralph Villela to Hal Darman, trying for a home run on his drive to left-center.)
Gray trailed 11-4 through three, but came roaring back, scoring five runs on five singles and two walks in the top of the fourth, Jim McAnelly and Jim Foelker driving in the last three runs with two-out hits. Trent Peacock blanked Blue in the bottom of the inning – Joe Bernal knocked a one-out single, completing a 3-for-3 game, but was erased on Larry Shupe’s double-play grounder to shortstop Ralph Villela, Mike Velaney making another elegant pivot.
Blue led 11-9 entering the buffet. Joe Bernal retired Daniel Carvajal on a fly to Tom Bellavia in left-center to start the inning. Ralph Villela doubled and Jack McDermott singled, each completing perfect days at the plate, putting runners on the corners, the tying run at first. Jack Spellman concluded a miserable game by fouling off a two-strike pitch. But Gray tied the game on Trent Peacock’s well-struck two-out, two-run double, Trent taking third on the throw home. Mark Dolan knocked a single, driving in Trent with the go-ahead run. The inning seemed over when Hal Darman grounded Joe’s quick pitch to shortstop David Brown, but Ralph Villela, who’d intended to run from home for Hal, appealed to plate umpire Marvin Krabbenhoft that he hadn’t been set to run when the pitch was thrown. (And in fact, he did not run after the ball was struck.) Marvin called for a do-over, essentially, and Hal knocked a clean single to center field, completing his second consecutive perfect game at the plate. Joe shook it off and caught Mike Velaney looking at a called strike three to end the inning.
Blue came up needing a run to tie, two to win, with David Brown leading off. David drove a pitch to right field, but Mark Dolan was very well positioned and made a clean catch of the liner for the first out. Danield Baladez singled. Matt Levitt fouled out to third baseman Daniel Carvajal. With Blue down to its last out, Tommy Gillis singled to left-center; Daniel’s pinch-runner Tom Bellavia raced to third, then scored when the relay to the infield was mishandled. Tommy wound up at second on the play. Adam Reddell came up and poked a fly to short left-center field that looked off the bat like it would fall in and score Tom with the winning run, but Ralph Villela made a tremendous running, over-the-shoulder catch to save the day for Gray and send the game into overtime.
For the extra inning, Mike Velaney ran at second base with one out and one-pitch rules in effect. He never advanced, however, holding on Jim McAnelly’s sharp one-hopper to shortstop David Brown, who threw to first for the second out. Jim Foelker lined a pitch to almost the exact same spot, David catching the ball a couple inches off the ground for the third out.
David had been running from home for Adam Reddell at the end of the buffet inning, so he ran at second to start the bottom of the extra inning. Johnny Lee stepped up and lined a single to right-center; Spellman charged the ball, threw to the cut-off, pitcher Trent Peacock, but David was off on contact and easily beat the relay home to score the winning run, Blue walking off a 13-12 victory, Gray’s eighth loss in 12 one-run games this season.
Final score: Blue 13, Gray 12
Joe Bernal earned his league-leading eighth Ohtani Award of the season, presented to him by Robot and DJ at Shibuya’s WOMB nightclub, which apparently is a place and a thing.
Noon: Maroon (3-2) at Green (3-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 5 3 1 5 2 16 Green 0 5 3 0 2 10 Pitchers: Maroon – Jeff Stone; Green – Trent Peacock. Mercenaries: Maroon – Daniel Baladez, Jack McDermott, Jack Spellman, and Larry Young; Green – David Brown, Jim Foelker, Tommy Gillis, Johnny Lee, Trent Peacock, Adam Reddell, and Larry Shupe. Umpires: home – Ralph Villela; bases – Marvin Krabbenhoft. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Tony Garcia (4 for 4 with a double), Fritz Hensel (3 for 3), Jack Spellman (2 for 2 with a walk), and Jeff Stone (3 for 3 with a walk – Ohtani Award); Green – Tommy Gillis and Adam Reddell (both 3 for 3 with a double). Home run: Trent Peacock (inside the park) (2).
Dave Berra’s detailed weather report: 94 degrees, feels like 98; humidity 40%; sunny; wind from the South at 12 MPH – hot, but dry.
Before recapping the game, I’d like to thank the ELEVEN mercenaries who played in this game, and umpires Ralph Villela and Marvin Krabbenhoft. While it wasn’t so terribly humid today, it was danged hot, and the umpires and mercenaries went above and beyond the call of duty to make the game possible.
Maroon jumped to a quick lead in the top of the first, scoring five runs on five singles, Tony Garcia’s double, and a bases-loaded walk to Jack Spellman. Larry Young drove in the fourth and fifth runs with a two-out single. Jeff Stone then held Green scorelss in the bottom half – Mike Garrison singled with one out, but was thrown out 7-6-4, Steve Browne to Jack Spellman to Larry Young, trying for a double, credit to Steve for his strong, quick relay in from well up the left-field line.
Maroon then made it 8-0 with three runs in the top of the second on five singles and Alan Phillips’s sacrifice fly to Tommy Gillis in left-center. But Green launched a comeback in the home half, scoring five times on David Brown’s lead-off double, six singles, and Johnny Lee’s sacrifice fly to Tony Garcia in left-center.
Green won the third inning as well. Maroon got hits from four of its five batters in the top half, but came away with just a single run. After Jack Spellman and Larry Young opened the frame with singles, Daniel Baladez hit a sharp grounder to shortstop David Brown that resulted in a 6-5-4 double play, nicely turned by Adam Reddell at third base. Steve Browne singled, and Scott Wright ripped a double to right field, Daniel’s pinch-runner scoring, but Steve was gunned down 10-1-2, Mike Garrison to Trent Peacock to Larry Shupe, to end the inning – Steve rounded third aggressively, meant to stop before the commit line, but was going so hard and so fast that his momentum carried him a couple feet past the line, as we could clearly see in the visitors dugout and from the long skid mark Steve left when he braked and reversed. Larry knocked down the throw home, recovered the ball, and stepped on the mat for the out.
Green then got three runs in the home half after Jeff Stone retired Boo Resnick (pop to second baseman Larry Young) and David Brown (foul third strike down the third-base side) to start the frame. Adam Reddell singled and Tommy Gillis doubled, Adam (or his pinch-runner, I can’t recall) scoring from first. Trent Peacock then came up and crushed a drive to right-center that gapped outfielders Alan Phillips and Jack McDermott, going to the fence, Trent legging out a two-run inside-the-park home run, his second of the season. Here’s his swing, more or (mostly) less, ChatGPT absolutely rejecting my contention that Trent bats left-handed:
Trent’s trip around the bases prompted the Exchange of the Day:
Dave Berra: “I didn’t know he was that fast!”
Trent’s lovely wife Melissa Jennifer: “He ain’t got no ass to haul!”
Johnny Lee came up and lined a ball down the third-base side, but Daniel Baladez made a terrific snag of it for the third out. Green had cut Maroon’s lead to 9-8.
But that was as close as they would come. Maroon scored five times in the top of the fourth, its first six batters reaching base safely on five singles and Jeff Stone’s walk, Daniel Baladez capping the rally with a run-scoring single.
Jeff Stone then worked a scoreless bottom half. Jim Foelker singled leading off, but was erased on a 6-4-3 double play, very nice pivot and throw by Larry Young on the play. Steve Sandall followed with a single. Mike Garrison hit a sharp grounder to the 5-6 hole, but Jack Spellman got to it on his backhand, thanks to a fortuitous hop, and threw to Larry at second for the inning-ending force. (Just to say: I played five games again today, and in this one, back in the infield and not having to bat against Joe Bernal, I played decently well after dragging down Gray in the 11:00 game.)
Maroon came up in the buffet leading by six and with the top of its order due up. Trent Peacock got Steve Browne to pop out to third baseman Adam Reddell to open the frame, but walked Scott Wright, allowed a single to Tony Garcia (completing a 4-for-4 game), and walked Alan Phillips, loading the bases. Jeff Stone then ripped a single to left-center, Scott and Tony scoring. With Maroon now up by eight, the flip-flop was invoked, to the entertaining irritation of Fritz Hensel, who’d really wanted a chance to go 4 for 4.
Trailing by eight, Green made a pretty good go of it in the home half of the buffet, stringing together five consecutive one-out hits (four singles and a double by Adam Reddell). Two runs were in and the bases were loaded. Jeff Stone got the second out on a pop to third baseman Alan Phillips by Jim Foelker. Larry Shupe hit a hard grounder to the 5-6 hole; Jack Spellman fielded the ball to his backhand, looked to second, saw that David Brown (running for Johnny Lee) was in a race to the bag with Larry Young, and elected to make a somewhat awkward throw to third base instead. Alan made a difficult play look easy, cleanly catching a low throw that passed between him and approaching runner Trent Peacock, Alan’s foot anchored on the bag for the final out of the game.
Final score: Maroon 16, Green 10
Jeff Stone earned his second Ohtani Award of the season, going 3 for 3 with a walk while pitching Maroon to victory and holding a New Glarus Brewing Co. Moon Man No Coast Pale Ale (thanks, Peter Sundquist!) for me in his cooler.
I realized while reviewing Dave Berra’s scoresheets that each of today’s winning pitchers earned an Ohtani Award, which checks off box B-4 on the 2026 B League Bingo Card:
| B LEAGUE BINGO 2026 | ||||
| B | I | N | G | O |
| Hit for the cycle (Ralph Villela – May 26) | Mad beef re: infield fly rule | Triple play | Ken Brown scores from first on single | Walk-off grand slam |
| Jim Aaron home run for last-place team | Acclaim and adoption of Johnny Lee-created nickname | Batter takes a runner from home, runs past the 1B commit line (April 6) | Both teams score 5 runs in each of the first 3 innings | Spellman plays 5 games (C and B) in one day (July 6) |
| New guy pops a hammy | Double play, second out at home (March 12) | David Brown makes a great defensive play up the middle | 7-inning game | 3-pitch half-inning (Jeff Stone – April 23) |
| 3 Ohtani Awards in 1 day (July 6) | Over-the-fence home run at Krieg 2 (April 16) | Base runner hit by batted ball (March 23) | Don Solberg throws out a runner trying for an extra base | Rick Jensen delivers St. Crispin’s Day speech |
| Line drive hits Jack Kelly, he brushes it off (March 30) | Ralph Villela hits 2 inside-the-park home runs in one game | Team flip-flops opponent but loses game | Inside-the-park home run at Krieg 3 | Shutout |
I also realized that Trent Peacock pitched, and pitched well, in all three games today, but came out on the losing end, which maybe will result in a 2027 Bingo Card square.
2026 standings:
| Session 3 standings: | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 4 | 2 | .667 | 0 | 61 | 44 | 17 | W1 |
| Orange | 4 | 2 | .667 | 0 | 98 | 84 | 14 | W2 |
| Maroon | 4 | 2 | .667 | 0 | 79 | 68 | 11 | W3 |
| Green | 3 | 3 | .500 | 1 | 83 | 89 | -6 | L1 |
| Gray | 2 | 4 | .333 | 2 | 65 | 73 | -8 | L3 |
| Purple | 2 | 4 | .333 | 2 | 83 | 92 | -9 | W2 |
| Red | 2 | 4 | .333 | 2 | 65 | 84 | -19 | L4 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Blue | 2-2 | 2-0 | 1 | 1-0 | 3-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Orange | 2-2 | 2-0 | 1 | 0-1 | 1-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Maroon | 1-1 | 3-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 1-1 | ||
| Green | 1-3 | 2-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 1-1 | ||
| Gray | 0-2 | 2-2 | 0 | 1-1 | 1-0 | 1-3 | ||
| Red | 1-1 | 1-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1-0 | ||
| Purple | 0-3 | 2-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-1 | ||
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 21 | |
| Gray | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | |
| Green | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 12 | |
| Maroon | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 16 | |
| Orange | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 14 | |
| Purple | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | |
| Red | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |
| TOTAL: | 6 | 16 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 18 | 15 | 93 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Ralph Villela – 6
Terry O’Brien – 5
David Brown – 3
Steve Browne – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Tony Garcia – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Trent Peacock – 2
Allen Phillips – 2
Scott Rokita – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jack Spellman – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Richard Battle – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
George Brindley – 1
Ivan Budiselic – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Rick Kahn – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Jack McDermott – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Jimmy Sneed – 1
Scott Wright – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Ralph Villela – May 26
Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 8 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16, June 22, June 25, June 29, July 9)
Ray Pilgrim: 6 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1, July 2, July 9)
Tommy Deleon: 4 (April 6, April 30, June 11, July 6)
Spike Davidson: 2 (May 4, July 2)
Jeff Stone: 2 (March 2, July 9)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Trent Peacock: 1 (March 9)
Schedule for Monday July 13:
10:00 a.m.: Green (3-3) at Red (2-4), Purple umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Purple (2-4) at Maroon (4-2), Red umpiring
Noon: Orange (4-2) at Gray (2-4), Maroon umpiring
Blue has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Every team has played six games in Session Three, and the standings are pleasingly symmetrical: Blue, Orange, and Maroon are tied for first at 4-2; Green is in fourth place, at 3-3; and Gray, Purple, and Red are tied for fifth place at 2-4, just two games out of first. Green, which lost today, plays Red, on a four-game losing streak at 10:00, one of them ending their L streak. Maroon (three-game winning streak) plays Purple (two-game winning streak) at 11:00 and can take over first with a victory over a team it has defeated in four of five meetings so far this season. Orange can match or pass Maroon with a win over Gray at noon – Orange is riding a two-game winning streak and leads the season series with Gray, which has dropped its last three games, 3-1. If both Maroon and Orange fall, Blue, which has the bye, will back into first place. Will Gray contrive a way to drop yet another one-run game? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Don’t forget that you’re invited to Tom Brownfield’s birthday bash on July 18, a week from Saturday:
Tom and his daughter Jill ask that everyone wear red, white, or blue.
Podcast review: Office Ladies
The Office co-stars and BFFs Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey did an episode-by-episode rewatch that helped get me through the pandemic. The podcast continues with the Ladies cycling through a second re-watch, fielding viewer questions, interviewing castmates and guest stars, creators and crew, and just chit-chatting. It’s a comfort listen that lets me access my inner middle-aged lady. New England content: Remember when Karen was transferred to the Nashua office? That’s about it. Canadian content: Classic episode when Michael travels to Winnipeg with Andy and Oscar. Listening speed: Regular speed.
Rating: Original episode recaps 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧 ; newer podcast episodes 🎧 🎧 🎧