B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 45 – August 31, 2026
Games of Monday August 31:
10:00 a.m.: Red at Purple:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 5 1 1 1 3 5 16 Purple 4 3 2 1 3 1 14 Pitchers: Red – Trent Peacock; Purple – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenary: Purple – Jim Foelker. Umpires: home – Spike Davidson and Chunky Wright; bases – Mike Garrison and Gary Coyle. Perfect at the plate: Red – Richard Battle (3 for 3 with a walk), Anthony Galindo (2 for 2 with two walks), Candy Perez (4 for 4), and Ralph Villela (4 for 4 with a walk and two triples); Purple – Shane Hill (4 for 4).
KXAN weather report: 86 degrees, feels like 95; 67% humidity; wind from the South at 6 MPH (didn’t feel like it, though), partly cloudy. The humidity was rough.
Session 4 opened with a hard-fought game. Red scored five times without making an out in the top of the first, on walks to Ralph Villela (leading off the session) and Anthony Galindo and five singles. That 5-0 lead was short-lived, as Purple responded with four runs on six singles in the home half, and after that neither team ever led by more than two runs until Red took control in the buffet.
Red scored a single run in the top of the second. Singles by the bottom three batters in the lineup – Tommy Gillis, Richard Battle, and Marvin Krabbenhoft, and what does it say that these three guys were the bottom of the lineup? – seemed to set up the top of the lineup to produce a big inning. Ralph Villela delivered a pop-fly single to right field, Tommy scoring, but Richard tried to come in as well and was thrown out 10-4-2, Jim Foelker to Mike Malay to Peter Sundquist, Mike making a great throw home for the out. Mark Dolan followed with a grounder to third baseman Rick Jensen, who stepped on third for the force there, out number two. Anthony Galindo walked again, loading the bases, but Tim Coles flied out to Rick Kahn in right-center, the bases left loaded.
Purple then took the lead with three runs in the home half, Rick Kahn’s two-out triple to right field the big blow – it drove in Jim Foelker and Jimmy Sneed with the first two runs, and Rick scored the third on Mike Malay’s double to right-center, though Mike was thrown out 9-6-5, Anthony Galindo to Ralph Villela to Tim Coles, trying to stretch his hit into a triple.
Red scratched out a run in the top of the third to briefly tie the game. Johnny Lee and Candy Perez led off with infield singles, to second and third base. Ralph Villela, running for Johnny Lee, took third on Trent Peacock’s force-out grounder to second baseman Mike Malay, Candy out at second 4-6, and then scored on Tommy Gillis’s force-out grounder to shortstop Jimmy Sneed, Trent out at second 6-4. Richard Battle singled to left field, the first ball to get out of the infield in the inning, but Ray Pilgrim got Marvin Krabbenhoft to foul off a two-strike pitch for the third out.
Purple won the inning and got the lead back with two runs in the bottom half. Patrick Schmidt, Shane Hill, and Ray Pilgrim singled to open the frame, Patrick coming around to score. Peter Sundquist flied out to Tommy Gillis in left-center for the first out. Rick Jensen lined out to Candy Perez at second; Candy threw to first, trying to double up Ray (or his pinch-runner, I can’t recall), but the ball skipped past Johnny Lee and Shane was able to take third. Shane then scored on Billy Hill’s single past third base.
Each team scored a single run in the fourth. Ralph Villela led off the top half with a triple on a fly down the left-field side, fair by inches, and scored on Anthony Galindo’s line single to left-center. Jack McDermott led off the home half with a single to left; took second on Jimmy Sneed’s single, also to left; tagged up and took third on Rick Kahn’s fly to Anthony Galindo in right-center; and scored on Mike Malay’s force-out grounder to shortstop – Ralph Villela threw to Candy Perez for the force at second, but Mike just beat Candy’s relay to first, Jack scoring.
Purple led 10-8 entering the final five-run inning. Both teams proceeded to score three times. Red loaded the bases to start the top half, on singles by Candy Perez, Trent Peacock, and Tommy Gillis, Trent’s and Tommy’s on pops that shortstop Jimmy Sneed wasn’t able to get to. Richard Battle drew a walk, forcing home Candy. Marvin Krabbenhoft came up and and grounded sharply down the third-base side; Rick Jensen fielded the ball cleanly, raced to step on third, then fired home to Peter Sundquist, just catching Trent to complete a beautifully turned 5u., 5-2 double play.
Purple got the lead back with three runs on four singles in the home half, Jim Foelker’s two-out hit driving in Patrick Schmidt (running for Peter Sundquist) and Rick Jensen with the go-ahead runs.
Red trailed 13-11 entering the buffet, but put together a solid rally. They loaded the bases to start the inning, on a single past shortstop and into left field by Anthony Galindo, his fourth time reaching base in as many trips to the plate; a walk to Tim Coles; and a line single to right by Johnny Lee. Candy Perez lined a single to right-center, his fourth hit in four at bats, Anthony scoring and, when the relay to the infield was misplayed, Tim following him in with the tying run. Ralph Villela, running for Johnny Lee, wound up at third and Candy at second on the play.
Trent Peacock slashed a hard grounder toward the 3-4 hole, but Mike Malay made an outstanding play to his left to field the ball on the short hop, look the runner at third back, and throw to first baseman Shane Hill for the first out. Jimmy Sneed then fielded Tommy Gillis’s grounder cleanly and threw to first for the second out, the runners again holding. Ray Pilgrim needed one more out to get out of the inning, but it took him three batters: Richard Battle singled through the 5-6 hole, Ralph and Candy scoring, Richard taking second on the throw home. Marvin Krabbenhoft hit an infield single, Richard advancing to third. Ralph Villela then singled to right, his fifth consecutive time reaching base, Richard scoring to make it 16-13. The inning ended on Mark Dolan’s 6-4 force-out grounder to Jimmy Sneed.
Purple came up needin three to tie. Leading off, Jimmy Sneed squared up on a pitch, but his liner was directly at second baseman Candy Perez, who reached up and made the catch for the first out. Rick Kahn lined a single to right field, his third opposite-field hit of the game. Mike Malay lofted a fly down the right-field side, but Mark Dolan was well positioned and hardly needed to move to make the catch, for out number two. Patrick Schmidt lined a single to center, Rick stopping at second. Shane Hill slashed a hit to right field, Rick scoring while Patrick stopped at second. That cut Red’s lead to 16-14, with the tying run on base, the winner at the plate in the person of Ray Pilgrim. Ray hit a sharp one-hop grounder to third that Tim Coles fielded cleanly and flipped to Candy Perez covering second for the final out.
Final score: Red 16, Purple 14
11:00 a.m.: Green at Maroon:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 0 0 1 0 4 6 11 Maroon 1 0 5 5 3 X 14 Pitchers: Green – Spike Davidson; Maroon – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Green – Jack McDermott and Patrick Schmidt; Maroon – Tommy Deleon. Umpires: home – Anthony Galindo; bases – Ralph Villela. Perfect at the plate: Green – Mike Garrison (4 for 4); Maroon – Steve Browne (2 for 2 with a walk) and Tony Garcia (3 for 3).
Dave Berra’s weather update: 90 degrees, feels like 99; humidity 57%; wind from the South at 6 MPH; partly cloudy – humidity rising!
It beggared belief that Tommy Deleon and Spike Davidson limited these two excellent lineups to just a run apiece through the top of the third. The bats came alive after that, both teams reaching double digits after the slow start.
Tommy held Green to just one run over the first four innings. He allowed two singles in each of the first two innings, managing to strand them in each instance, in the first by getting Gary Coyle to ground into a 6u., forceout, Jack Spellman moving to his left to short-hop the grounder and step on second for the force moments after brutally misplaying Rex Horvath’s grounder, which went through the wickets for a single. In the second inning Tommy got Patrick Schmidt to fly out to George Brindley in left-center for the third out, George making a good running catch coming in.
Maroon had little more success in the early going. Steve Browne led off the bottom of the first with a single, tagged and took second on George Brindley’s fly to Patrick Schmidt in left-center – I’d say there are only a couple other players in B League who could have taken that base – and then scored on Scott Wright’s single. Tony Garcia, returning to action after missing some time to back issues, also singled, and after Fritz Hensel lined out to third baseman Gary Coyle, so did David Pittard, loading the bases with two out. But Spike Davidson got Alan Phillips to fly out to Patrick, stranding the runners. Spike then retired the side in order in the bottom of the second, on three ballsin the air: Tommy Deleon on a pop to shortstop Rex Horvath, Jack Spellman on a pop to first baseman Ivan Budiselic, and Adam Reddell on another fly to Patrick.
Green got on the board with a single run in the top of the third, as its first four batters – Jack McDermott, then 1-3 hitters Doc Hobar, Mike Garrison, and Ivan Buidelic – singled, Jack coming around to scoring. Green looked poised for a big inning, but Tommy Deleon got out of it, very much thanks to his Orange teammate Adam Reddell. Playing pretty deep on Rex Horvath, Adam cleanly fielded Rex’s hard, just-fair grounder, raced to tag third ahead of Mike, then fired a strike to catcher Peter Sundquist that beat Doc to the line and completed the day’s second 5u., 5-2 double play. Gary Coyle hit a sharp grounder to shortstop that took a skidding hop, but it clanked off Jack Spellman’s left ankle, stayed in front of him, and Spellman managed to shovel a toss to Scott Wright covering second for the inning-ending force.
Maroon then took control of the game, first scoring five runs in the bottom of the third without making an out, on seven singles and Steve Browne’s walk, going ahead 6-1, then holding Green scoreless in the top of the fourth. In that inning Tommy Deleon got the first two batters, Spike Davidson and Larry Fiorentino, to ground out to second baseman Scott Wright; walked Boo Resnick and gave up a single to Chunky Wright; then got out of the jam thanks to Jim Foelker, who made an outstanding running catch of Patrick Schmidt’s drive to right-center.
Maroon extended its lead to 10-1 with another five-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth, on five singles and Jack Spellman’s double to right-center, just beyond the reach of Larry Fiorentino. With one out and three runs in, Scott Wright thought he’d knocked his third consecutive single with a hard grounder to the 3-4 hole, but Ivan Budiselic made a terrific play on the short hop, kept the ball under juggled control as he moved to the bag, and recorded the second out. Didn’t matter, as Tony Garcia came through with his third hit of the game, driving in Steve Browne and George Brindley with the fourth and fifth runs.
Green’s bats finally came to life in the top of the fifth. Jack McDermott led off with a drive to left-center field that George Brindley made an excellent running catch on, racing back and to his left. The next five batters, the top of Green’s lineup, all hit safely, four singles and a double by Rex Horvath, three runs scoring. One of those hits was a high fly ball right to George, little more than a can of corn, that George dropped, which I believe everyone reading this has had the experience of making a good play on a tough chance in the field and then moments later muffed a relatively easy chance.
We’ve all been here.Tommy Deleon got Spike Davidson to pop out for the second out, then gave up a single to Larry Fiorentino, driving in Rex with the fourth inning.
Maroon got three of those runs back with a two-out rally in the bottom of the frame. Fritz Hensel singled leading off, but Spike Davidson retired the next two batters – David Pittard on a liner to second baseman Doc Hobar, Alan Phillips on a grounder to shortstop Rex Horvath, Fritz’s pinch-runner (Steve Browne, I believe) forced at second. Tommy Deleon came up and grounded a ball up the middle; Rex got to it, but couldn’t field it cleanly, then couldn’t get it to Doc covering, and both runners were safe. Jack Spellman came to the plate, talking a good game – I told catcher Boo Resnick, “I’m gonna make ’em pay.” And for a change, I more or less did, driving a ball to left-center, directly at and over Patrick Schmidt for a double, Alan scoring. Adam Reddell then lined a hit to right-center, and both Tommy’s pinch-runner (Scott Wright, I believe) and I came in, pushing Maroon’s lead to 14-5 entering the buffet.
The inning opened with Adam Reddell making another fine play at third base, fielding Chunky Wright’s grounder down the line and making a long cross-diamond throw to first baseman Tony Garcia, who backed up to make a clean one-bounce catch for the first out. Well, to quote Buster Scruggs, when they made Green team, they forgot to put in the quit: the next nine batters put very good swings on the ball. Patrick Schmidt doubled, and Jack McDermott, Doc Hobar, Mike Garrison (completing a 4-for-4 game), and Ivan Budiselic each singled, three runs scoring. Rex Horvath hit a hard one-hopper to the 5-6 hole that shortstop Jack Spellman was able to get to, throwing to Adam at third for the force on Mike, out number two. Gary Coyle singled, loading the bases for Spike Davidson. Spike drove a ball to center, all three base runners scoring on what was a long single because Spike had a runner from home (Mike Garrison, I believe). Larry Fiorentino came up and scorched a two-hop grounder to the right of second base; Scott Wright made a terrific play on the ball, fielding it cleanly backhanded on the short hop and flipping to Spellman at second for the final out.
Final score: Maroon 14, Green 11
Noon: Orange at Blue:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 2 0 1 0 0 0 3 Blue 3 5 2 4 X X 14 Pitchers: Orange – Tommy Deleon; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Orange – Trent Peacock and Paul Rubin; Blue – George Brindley and Alan Phillips; Ralph Villela entered for George in the top of the fifth when George had to leave for an appointment. Umpires: home – Steve Browne; bases – David Pittard. Perfect at the plate: Blue – George Brindley, George Romo, and Larry Young (all 3 for 3) and David Brown (4 for 4 with a double).
Dave Berra’s weather update: about another five degrees hotter than at 11:00.
Unlike the first two games, the third game of Session 4 was not a close-run battle. Orange’s first two batters, Matt Levitt and Jack Spellman, singled and scored – Pat Scott walked to load the bases, Adam Reddell’s sacrifice fly to Tom Bellavia in left-center brought in Matt, and Don Solberg’s 4-6 force-out grounder, George Romo to David Brown, brought in Spellman – but Blue outscored Orange 14-1 the rest of the way, putting up crooked numbers in each of its four at bats before the teams double-flip-flopped for the buffet.
Blue scored three runs in the bottom of the first, on David Brown’s lead-off double and four singles, to take the lead, the damage not worse because Orange turned a 6-4-3 double play on Donnie Janac’s hard grounder to shortstop, left-handed second baseman Paul Rubin making a nice pivot and first baseman Jack Crosley a clean catch of Paul’s one-hop throw.
Blue scored five times in the bottom of the second, on six singles and Tom Bellavia’s two-run triple.
Orange pushed across its third and final run in the top of the third, but also hideously ran into an out. Jack Spellman led off with a single, and Pat Scott followed with a hit to right-center. I tried for third on the play, but two strong throws, from George Brindley to David Brown and David to third baseman Larry Young, resulted in my ass very definitely being thrown out 9-6-5 – I know I’m on record saying if you’re never thrown out on the bases, you’re not being aggressive enough, but I’ll also say this: you can’t make an out at third base with nobody out and your team trailing by six runs. Pat scored on Don Solberg’s two-out single.
Dave Berra wondered whether Jack Spellman, Adam Reddell, and Tommy Deleon might have played their best games today for Maroon at 11:00. Could be.Blue won the inning by scoring twice in the home half. Daniel Baladez led off with a single, George Brindley doubled with one out, and Dave Brown and Tom Bellavia delivered RBI singles.
Joe Bernal blanked Orange again in the top of the fourth. Jack Crosley flied out to right-center and Hal Darman popped out to shortstop to start the inning. Paul Rubin doubled down the left-field line, but, taking the worst possible inspiration from me, was thrown out 7-6-5 trying for a triple, Alan Phillips to David Brown to Larry Young.
Blue increased its lead to 14-3 with four runs on six singles in the bottom of the fourth. Orange did manage to record bases-loaded outs, after George Romo, Donnie Janac, and Larry Young singled to start the frame, on ground balls by Daniel Baladez (to pitcher Tommy Deleon, who threw home to catcher Hal Darman for the first out) and Larry Shupe (to shortstop Jack Spellman, who threw to third for the second out, Donnie beating Adam Reddell’s throw home). George Brindley’s single completed a 3-for-3 game and drove in David Brown (I think it was), running for Daniel. Larry took third and George second on the late throw home, and they both scored on Alan Phillips’s base hit.
Joe Bernal threw another scoreless inning in the top of the fifth, working around Matt Levitt’s one-out single. With Blue leading by 11, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. Adam Reddell led off the inning with a single, but Joe retired the next three batters: he got Don Solberg to hit a two-strike foul, Tommy Deleon to swing through a two-strike pitch, and Jack Crosley to ground into a game-ending 6-4 force.
Final score: Blue 14, Orange 3
Session 4 standings:
| Session 4 standings: | Games | Runs | Runs | Run dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 11 | W2 |
| Maroon | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 14 | 11 | 3 | W2 |
| Red | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 16 | 14 | 2 | W1 |
| Gray | 0 | 0 | #DIV/0! | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | L2 |
| Purple | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 14 | 16 | -2 | L1 |
| Green | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 11 | 14 | -3 | L2 |
| Orange | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 3 | 14 | -11 | L1 |
| 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 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0-0 | WLLWW | |
| Maroon | 1-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | LWLWW | |
| Red | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | LLWLW | |
| Gray | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | LLWLL | |
| Purple | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | WWLWL | |
| Green | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | LWWLL | |
| Orange | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | LWLWL |
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 26 | |
| Gray | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 14 | |
| Green | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 21 | |
| Maroon | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 25 | |
| Orange | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 18 | |
| Purple | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 14 | |
| Red | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 17 | |
| TOTAL: | 13 | 23 | 19 | 13 | 20 | 26 | 21 | 135 |
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: 8 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1, July 2, July 9, August 17, August 27)
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 September 3:
10:00 a.m.: Green (0-1) at Gray (0-0), Orange umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Orange (0-1) at Purple (0-1), Green umpiring
Noon: Blue (1-0) at Maroon (1-0), Purple umpiring
Red has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: This will be our final set of games at Krieg 2 this season – we move to Krieg 6 beginning Tuesday September 8. Short winning and losing streaks will be ended and extended. At 10:00, Gray will play its first game of Session 4, hosting Green; both teams are looking to end two-game losing streaks; Green leads the season series 4-1. At 11:00, Purple takes on Orange – both teams lost today after winning their last game of Session 3. They’ve split their season series 3-3. Purple in its last four games: win, loss, win, loss. Orange in its last five: loss, win, loss, win, loss. It’s all coin flips with these guys. At noon, Blue and Maroon, both riding two-game winning streaks, will face off to see who’ll take early control of first place for the session. Blue leads the season series 4-2. Will there be a farewell over-the-fence home run as we depart Krieg 2? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Dave Berra and Dolly are still holding onto this unclaimed mitt.Podcast review: Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
NPR’s weekly comedy news quiz began in 1998, and its podcast in 2006. The unchanging formula has host Peter Sagal asking a rotating panel of comedians and journalists dumb questions about the week’s news, with signature segments including “Not My Job,” in which a celebrity is interviewed and then quizzed on a subject chosen as a dumb pun upon the celebrity’s name and/or area of actual expertise; “Who’s [Scorekeeper – originally Carl Kassell, then Bill Kurtis, currently and excellently Aldo Slade] This Time?”, in which panelists try to identify the origin of quotations in the news; “Bluff the Listener,” in which a caller-in has to identify which of three stories told by the panelists is the true one; “Listener Limerick Challenge,” in which a caller-in has to complete dumb news-based limericks; and “Lightning Fill-In-The-Blank,” in which panelists fill in the blanks to try to win points and the weekly no-stakes competition. It’s all good, decidedly dumb fun. New England content: Pretty good amount – Peter Sagal, while born in New Jersey, was a longtime Massachusetts resident, and the New England states are Ground Zero for NPR listenership. Canadian content: Not as much. Listening speed: 1X. Rating: 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧
Happy Alston Christmas tomorrow, to those who celebrate – may you never get Storrowed.