B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 43 – August 24, 2026
Games of Monday August 24:
10:00 a.m.: Orange (7-8) at Blue (7-8):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 1 0 1 2 2 3 9 Blue 1 0 1 1 0 2 5 Pitchers: Orange – Tommy Deleon; Blue – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Orange – Ralph Villela; Blue – George Brindley, Steve Browne, Trent Peacock, Alan Phillips, and Jeff Stone. Umpires: home – Rick Jensen; bases – Peter Sundquist and Jack McDermott. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Jack Spellman (4 for 4 with a double); Blue – Steve Browne (3 for 3).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 89, feels like 92; humidity 38%; wind from the SSW at 10 MPH; sunny – hot but dry.
Another defensive battle, as both pitchers brought their A game. Both teams scored a single run in the first. Orange got on the board when Jack Spellman hit a one-out double and scored on Adam Reddell’s single to center, just beating David Brown’s strong relay home. Adam took second on Mark Hernandez’s ground out to third baseman George Romo. Don Solberg singled to right-center and Adam attempted to score, only to be gunned down 9-6-2, Steve Browne to David Brown to Daniel Baladez – David’s throw to Daniel was a chest-high laser strike, a thing of beauty, unlike this depiction:
David then led off the home half with a single and took second on a sloppy throw back to the infield. He advanced to third on Tom Bellavia’s single and scored on George Romo’s sacrifice fly deep to Don Solberg in left field. I think somehow Tom wound up at third on the play, because he tried to score when the next batter, Donnie Janac, grounded to shortstop Jack Spellman – Tom waited till I threw to first to get Donnie, then broke for home, but was cut down by Mark Hernandez’s strong throw to Jack Crosley, for a 6-3-2 double play.
Neither team scored in the second. Peter Atkins and Jack Crosley hit back-to-back one-out singles for Orange, but Blue turned a double play on Tom Langa’s pop behind shortstop – David Brown had to range back and to his left; Peter wasn’t sure David would be able to make the play, and so started toward third; but David did make the play, and his peg back to second baseman George Brindley beat Peter by half a step to the bag for the F-6, 6-4 double play.
George knocked a one-out double in the bottom half and took third on Steve Browne’s single, but Tommy Deleon escaped the jam by starting a 1-6-3 double play on Jeff Stone’s sharp grounder back to the box – a nice play by Tommy both to field the ball cleanly and snap a good feed to second.
Both teams then scored a single run in the third. Jeff Stone got two quick outs to start the top half, snaring Ralph Villela’s comebacker and throwing to first for out number one, then inducing Matt Levitt to hit a two-strike foul. The next three batters – Jack Spellman, Adam Reddell, and Mark Hernandez – singled, Spellman coming around to score. (Spellman’s single was a hard shot down the first-base side that clipped first baseman Trent Peacock in the calf, as seen below.)
Alan Phillips led off the bottom half with a single and took third on Trent Peacock’s line single to right, but when Alan ran through third, he ran into base coach Steve Browne. Prompted by Orange manager Dave Berra’s query, umpires Rick Jensen and Peter Sundquist conferred, and Rick, taking a letter-of-the-law approach, called Alan out, which was a break for Orange for sure – instead of first and second, none out, it was runner on first, one out with the top of the order coming up. David Brown singled and Tom Bellavia walked, loading the bases. Tommy Deleon got George Romo to hit a two-strike pitch foul to left field for the second out. Donnie Janac lined a single to right field, Trent scoring, but David was caught off third base by Ralph Villela’s strong throw to third baseman Adam Reddell. Bearing in mind the Jensen Ploy (®), Adam ran toward Dave, forcing him past the commit line, then threw to catcher Jack Crosley for the third out. Despite allowing four singles and a walk, Tommy got out of the inning having allowed just one run.
Orange took the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth. Jeff Stone again got two outs to start the inning, on Tommy Deleon’s grounder back to the box and Peter Atkins’s pop to shortstop David Brown. Jack Crosley lined a single to right-center and Tom Langa doubled on a fly down the left-field line. Ralph Villela laced a triple to left-center, gapping the outfielders, Jack and Tom both scoring. Jeff got Matt Levitt to ground out to third baseman George Romo to strand Ralph at third.
Blue got one run back in the home half on consecutive one-out singles by George Brindley, Steve Browne, and Jeff Stone. Tommy Deleon retired the next two batters on hard-hit grounders to the right side, both resulting in force outs at second base: second baseman Tom Langa made a terrific play to his backhand on Alan Phillips’s grounder to the right of second for the second out; and Mark Hernandez snagged Trent Peacock’s hard-hit ball to his backhand, throwing to second for the third out.
Orange increased its lead to 6-3 with two runs on four singles in the top of the fifth. Jack Spellman and Adam Reddell opened the inning with hits; Don Solberg’s one-out single drove in Spellman from third; and Peter Atkins’s two-out knock delivered Adam.
Blue had the top of its order up in the home half, but Tommy Deleon shut it down, getting Dave Brown to ground out to shortstop and Tom Bellavia to fly out to Matt Levitt (fine running catch) to start the inning, then, after George Romo singled, getting Donnie Janac to ground into a 6-4 force.
Orange extended its lead with three runs in the top of the buffet. Tommy Langa led off with a single, then was forced at second on Ralph Villela’s grounder back to Jeff Stone. Matt Levitt and Jack Spellman both singled, Ralph coming around to score. Matt tagged up and scored on Adam Reddell’s fly to Tom Bellavia in left-center, Spellman also tagging and advancing to second. Mark Hernandez singled up the middle, Spellman scoring for the fourth time.
That made it 9-3 Orange entering the bottom of the buffet. Tommy Deleon got two quick outs to start the frame, by defensive stars Tommy Langa (another good play on a hard-hit grounder to his right, this time by Daniel Baladez) and Matt Levitt (another running catch, this one back and to his right, of a drive by George Brindley). Steve Browne singled, completing a 3-for-3 game, and scored from first on Jeff Stone’s double. I believe Jeff took a pinch-runner – might have been George Brindley – who scored on Alan Phillips’s single. Trent Peacock scorched a one-hop grounder to the right side, but Tom Langa made another clean play on the glove and threw to second for the game-ending force.
Final score: Orange 9, Blue 5 – Orange, which has the bye Thursday, finishes Session 3 at .500, and has clinched third place for the session.
11:00 a.m.: Purple (6-10) at Red (6-9):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 2 5 0 2 1 10 Red 3 5 5 5 X 18 Pitchers: Purple – Ray Pilgrim; Red – Trent Peacock. Mercenaries: Purple – Jim Foelker, Matt Levitt, Alan Phillips, and Jeff Stone; Red – Scott Wright. Umpire: home – David Brown; bases – Daniel Baladez. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Jack McDermott (3 for 3 with two triples) and Alan Phillips (2 for 2); Red – Richard Battle, Mark Dolan, Johnny Lee, and Scott Wright (all 3 for 3), and Ralph Villela (3 for 3 with a double).
Weather update: increasing heat.
Red put a definitive end to Purple’s four-game winning streak, just knocking the cover off the ball: three runs on five singles in the bottom of the first, then five runs in both the second and third innings without making an out in either frame; and then five more runs on seven singles and Candy Perez’s sacrifice fly in the fourth. Five of Red’s ten hitters were perfect at the plate, Candy was 2 for 2 with his sacrifice fly, nobody made more than one out, and as a team they batted .862 (25 for 29). All but one of those hits was a single – Ralph Villela hit an RBI flyball double to left-center in the third. It was simply a relentless barrage of base hits.
Ray Pilgrim held Red to three runs in the bottom of the first, but after that Katie stylishly barred the door and Red scored ten times without making an out in the second and third innings.
Jack McDermott made a terrific catch, inches off the ground, on Candy Perez’s drive in the bottom of the fourth. Moments later he took a ball off the top of his head on a fly hit by Marvin Krabbenhoft. Looked exceedingly painful, and left a welt.
Purple hit pretty decently as well in the early going, and only trailed by a run through two innings. They scored twice on four singles in the top of the first, then pushed across five runs on eight hits – six singles, Jim Foelker’s RBI double, and Jack McDermott’s two-run triple to right-center. (Jim was thrown out 8-6-5, Anthony Galindo (I believe) to Ralph Villela to Tim Coles, trying for a triple on his hit.) But Trent Peacock retired the side in order in the top of the third, Purple found itself down 13-7 at the end of the inning, and wasn’t able to mount an effective comeback. They scored two runs in the fourth on Jack McDermott’s second two-run triple of the game, and one more run on three singles in the buffet inning before running out of outs.
Final score: Red 18, Purple 10, Red moving into a tie with Blue for fourth place for the session.
Noon: Green (11-5) at Gray (6-9):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 1 5 2 0 5 3 16 Gray 2 0 5 1 0 4 12 Pitchers: Green – Spike Davidson; Gray – Luis Sanchez (innings 1, 3, and 4) and Jack Kelly (innings 2, 5, and buffet). Mercenaries: Green – Daniel Baladez, George Brindley, Anthony Galindo, Trent Peacock, and Ray Pilgrim; Gray – Jack McDermott, Adam Reddell, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Ralph Villela; bases – Marvin Krabbenhoft. Perfect at the plate: Green – George Brindley (2 for 2 with two walks and two doubles) and Ray Pilgrim (4 for 4); Gray – Paul Rubin (4 for 4 with a double).
Dave Berra’s weather update: 95 degrees, feels like 98; humidity 34%; wind SSW 9 MPH; sunny – the low humidity and breeze made things bearable.
Both teams were playing shorthanded – Gray without Daniel Carvajal, Clint Fletcher, Dave Jaffe (done for the season, alas), Mike Nagy, and Scott Rokita; Green minus Tom Brownfield, Gary Coyle, Larry Fiorentino, Mike Garrison, Doc Hobar, Jim Maloy (also done for the season, also alas), and Terry O’Brien – which gave eight mercenaries the chance to play in the delightful near-triple-digit heat.
Gray won the first inning, as Luis Sanchez held Green to one run in the top of the frame. Steve Sandall led off with a single, then was erased on a 6-4 force on Spike Davidson’s grounder to shortstop, but Mike Velaney’s throw to first sailed into the home dugout, allowing pinch-runner-from-home George Brindley to take second. George then scored on Ivan Budiselic’s well-struck double. Gray responded with two runs in the bottom half: Paul Rubin and Mike Velaney singled to open the inning, advanced on Bobby Miller’s ground out to second baseman Boo Resnick (the first of a series of good plays Boo made in this game), and then both scored on Luis Sanchez’s base hit.
Green grabbed the lead with five runs off Jack Kelly in the top of the second on six singles, George Brindley’s walk, and Daniel Baladez’s sacrifice fly to Paul Rubin in right-center. Spike Davidson then threw an immaculate three-pitch inning in the home half, retiring Adam Reddell on a grounder to shortstop Rex Horvath, Jack Spellman on a fly to right fielder Trent Peacock, and Jack McDermott on a foul pop snagged by catcher Daniel Baladez.
Green extended its lead to 8-1 with two runs in the top of the third: with Luis Sanchez back on the mound for Gray, Boo Resnick led off with a single, took third on George Brindley’s one-out double, and they both scored on Ray Pilgrim’s single. Mike Velaney made a terrific play on Trent Peacock’s one-hop smash to second base, getting the force at second, and then caught Daniel Baladez’s liner for the third out.
Gray then won the inning, scoring five runs in the bottom of the third on Paul Rubin’s lead-off double and six singles, plus a walk by Adam Reddell that loaded the bases and set up Jack Spellman’s two-run pop-fly single to short left field. Those two runs came after two were out, as Jim Foelker had been thrown out 10-6-2 (Trent Peacock to Rex Horvath to Daniel Baladez) trying to score on Jack Kelly’s single to right.
Luis Sanchez pitched the fourth inning for Gray and held the top of Green’s lineup scoreless. He got both Steve Sandall and Spike Davidson to fly out to Bobby Miller in left-center to start the inning. Ivan Budiselic and Rex Horvath followed with singles. Boo Resnick made a bid for a hit to the right of second base, but Mike Velaney, moving to his right, made a good play of the hard-hit ball and beat Rex to second for the unassisted force.
Gray then tied the game with a single run in the bottom of the fourth: Jack McDermott and Paul Rubin led off with singles, and Jack scored from third on Mike Velaney’s force-out grounder to second baseman Boo Resnick. Bobby Miller followed with a hit, but Spike Davidson retired both Luis Sanchez (another 4-6 force, Boo was so good today) and Jim Foelker (deep fly to Steve Sandall in left-center, another fine defensive play) to get out of the jam.
The game was tied 8-8 entering the final five-run inning. Green exploded for five runs in the top half, on seven hits – five singles, George Brindley’s second double, and a drive by Ivan Budiselic’s over the outfielders, playing in with the fifth run on third and one out – would have been extra bases for sure, it was exceptionally well struck.
Working with a five-run cushion, Spike Davidson worked a quick bottom half. He got Jim McAnelly to pop out to shortstop Rex Horvath and Jack Kelly to ground out to first baseman Ray Pilgrim. Adam Reddell singled, but Jack Spellman hit a pop that Boo Resnick ran down for the third out.
Leading by five entering the buffet, Green scored three while making just one out, and the flip-flop was called. Rex Horvath singled and Boo Resnick walked to start the inning. Anthony Galindo flied out to Paul Rubin in right-center, Rex moving up to third. A walk to George Brindley (his second walk, going along with his two doubles to make a perfect day at the plate) loaded the bases. Ray Pilgrim singled, everyone moving up one base, Rex scoring – that was Ray’s fourth hit in as many at bats, and gave him six RBI in the game. Trent Peacock then lined a hit to right-center, Boo and George both scoring, extending Green’s lead to 16-8.
Gray did some hitting before running out of outs. Jack McDermott and Paul Rubin singled to start the bottom of the buffet, Paul completing a 4-for-4 game. Anthony Galindo made a good catch coming in of Mike Velaney’s fly to left field, for the first out. Bobby Miller walked, loading the bases. Luis Sanchez singled, Jack scoring. Jack then ran for Luis at first and was the third runner to score on Jim Foelker’s bases-clearing double. That got Gray to within four runs. Jim McAnelly singled up the middle, Jim Foelker moving to third. Jack Kelly came up and grounded a ball past the pitcher’s mound and toward second base – shortstop Rex Horvath moved to his left and fielded the ball while almost simultaneously stepping on the base for the force on Jim’s pinch-runner (Paul Rubin, maybe?); meanwhile, Jim Foelker took off from third, but Rex had the play in front of him and saw this, and he fired home to catcher Daniel Baladez, the throw beating Jim by a step and the game ending on a 6u., 6-2 double play.
Final score: Green 16, Gray 12, Green clinching at least a tie for first place for Session 3.
2026 standings:
| Session 3 standings: | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Green | 12 | 5 | .706 | 0 | 246 | 213 | 33 | W2 |
| Maroon | 11 | 5 | .688 | 0.5 | 201 | 171 | 30 | L1 |
| Orange | 8 | 8 | .500 | 3.5 | 191 | 200 | -9 | W1 |
| Blue | 7 | 9 | .438 | 4.5 | 153 | 151 | 2 | L2 |
| Red | 7 | 9 | .438 | 4.5 | 198 | 202 | -4 | W1 |
| Gray | 6 | 10 | .375 | 5.5 | 177 | 190 | -13 | L1 |
| Purple | 6 | 11 | .353 | 6 | 196 | 235 | -39 | L1 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | Last 5 | ||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | games: | ||
| Green | 4-5 | 8-0 | 1 | 1-0 | 5-1 | 3-2 | WLLWW | |
| Maroon | 6-2 | 5-3 | 3 | 0-0 | 3-1 | 5-2 | WWLWL | |
| Orange | 5-3 | 3-5 | 3 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 3-3 | WLWLW | |
| Blue | 3-5 | 4-4 | 2 | 1-1 | 4-2 | 3-2 | LWWLL | |
| Red | 5-3 | 2-6 | 0 | 1-0 | 3-4 | 2-2 | LWLLW | |
| Gray | 4-3 | 2-7 | 0 | 1-1 | 2-2 | 2-6 | LLLWL | |
| Purple | 2-7 | 4-4 | 2 | 0-0 | 2-6 | 2-3 | WWWWL |
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 24 | |
| Gray | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 14 | |
| Green | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 21 | |
| Maroon | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 23 | |
| Orange | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 18 | |
| Purple | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 13 | |
| Red | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 16 | |
| TOTAL: | 13 | 22 | 17 | 13 | 19 | 25 | 20 | 129 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 10
Ralph Villela – 8
Steve Browne – 4
Tony Garcia – 4
Trent Peacock – 4
David Brown – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Alan Phillips – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Richard Battle – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Rick Kahn – 2
Jack McDermott – 2
Scott Rokita – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Scott Wright – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
George Brindley – 1
Ivan Budiselic – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Jim Foelker – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Tommy Gillis – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
David Pittard – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Patrick Schmidt – 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: 7 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1, July 2, July 9, August 17)
Spike Davidson: 5 (May 4, July 2, July 20, August 6, August 20)
Tommy Deleon: 5 (April 6, April 30, June 11, July 6, July 30)
Trent Peacock: 2 (March 9, August 3)
Jeff Stone: 2 (March 2, July 9)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Jack Kelly: 1 (August 3)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Schedule for Thursday August 27:
10:00 a.m.: Blue (7-9) at Green (12-5), Maroon umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Maroon (11-5) at Red (7-9), Blue umpiring
Noon: Purple (6-11) at Gray (6-10), Red umpiring
Orange has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Final games of Session 3! Green has clinched at least a tie for first place and can clinch the session title outright with a win over Blue at 10:00. Blue leads the season series 6-1, and if they make it 7-1, Maroon can then tie for the title with a win over Red at 11:00. Red has yet to defeat Maroon this season – this will be their sixth meeting. At noon, Purple and Gray play to escape last place for the session. Gray leads the season series 5-2, but Purple has been the hotter team of late, winning four straight before today. Will B League managers mark National Rock-Paper-Scissors Day by using the system to pick players out of the bucket? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Boo Resnick and Hotcakes will be playing at Donn’s Depot, 1600 West Fifth Street, Austin, this Saturday, from 9:00 pm to 1:00 am. If you haven’t seen this iconic Austin band in this iconic Austin venue, you’re missing out and very much should correct the matter. (I’m not promising that Patti Smith will be there, but Patti’s been known to rock suspenders, just sayin’.)
Podcast review: StarShipSofa
Now in its 21st year, this is the OG science-fiction podcast, at 785 episodes in its current iteration, with another 50 or so from its first incarnation, from 2006. It started as an audio science-fiction magazine that featured a main story but also had reviews, interviews, a poetry section, and other ephemera. It’s condensed to a single story per episode, every other week, plus every second episode Professor Amy H. Sturgis presents “Looking Back on Genre History,” a delightful mini-lecture about the history/nooks and crannies of SF. Back in the day there would be stories from major writers, including William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Joe Haldeman, and so much Michael Moorcock (the Sofa loves its English writers), with a general emphasis on cyberpunk, but the emphasis has shifted to contemporary work, across the many sub-genres. The show is joyfully hosted and produced by the great Tony C. Smith, an enthusiastic Geordie Boy from northeast England. I listen on Patreon, as this is the one podcast I actually pony up money for, hoping my $2 per month will contribute to keeping it afloat going forward. New England content: Occasional. There was a Maggie Slater story back in the day. Canadian content: A bit more, with stories from Douglas Smith and Gord Sellar. Listening speed: 1X. Rating: 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧