League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 8 – March 30, 2023
Weather: Cool (63 degrees at the start of the 10:30 game, up to 67 during the last game) and cloudy, 100% humidity through the day’s play, with actual light rain falling a couple of times during the 12:30 game. Thought we might get washed out, but we played through and completed all three games.
Games of Thursday March 30:
10:30 a.m., Blue at Gray:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET EXTRA1 EXTRA2 FINAL Blue 5 1 5 0 1 1 1 9 23 Gray 5 0 0 3 3 2 1 4 18 Pitchers: Blue – Spike Davidson; Gray – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Gray – Gary Coyle and Rex Horvath. Umpires: home plate – Jack Kelly; bases – Marvin Krabbenhoft. Homerun: David Kruse (over the fence). Perfect at the plate: Blue – Spike Davidson (4 for 4 with a double and a should-have-been triple).
This was maybe the best game of the season so far. Both teams came out hitting and scored five times in the first inning, Blue on five hits and a walk by Richard Battle, Fritz Hensel driving in the the final two runs from first and second with a scorching line-drive hit up the middle that gapped the middle outfielders. Blue didn’t make an out in its half; Gray made two in the bottom of the frame, but still tied the score, on seven hits, beginning with David Kruse’s one-out triple.
Quote of the Day: Peter Sundquist, after Larry Fiorentino reached in the top of the first on a pop-fly single to second that Tom Brownfield had too much time hang time to think about: “I think Tom had his eyes dilated this morning.”
Blue added a run in the second when Spike Davidson began a big day at the plate with a double to left field; his pinch-runner then scored on Morgan Witthoft’s single up the middle. Greg Lloyd then retired the next three batters. Gray did not score in the bottom half, Spike getting Jim Maloy and Tom Brownfield to fly out after allowing a pair of one-out singles – Bobby Miller made a terrific catch of Tom’s drive, the first of four catches he made in right-center field, three of which I starred in my scorebook as excellent plays.
The game’s key half-inning was the top of the third. The line-score summary is that Blue scored five runs on six hits and a walk, all the scoring with two out. But the more complicated reality is that Gray had chances to make outs on three different batted balls, but converted none, so instead of being held to one or no runs, Blue came away with five. After Richard Battle drew a one-out walk, Anthony Galindo grounded to shortstop, but Rex Horvath’s throw sailed past second and everyone was safe. Larry Fiorentino followed with a hard grounder to first baseman Frank Delmonte; Frank made a clean grab of it and probably would have beaten Larry to the bag, but at the last moment elected to flip to pitcher Greg Lloyd – Larry won the race to the bag, loading the bases. George Romo’s sacrifice fly to Gary Coyle in left scored Richard with the first run. Fritz Hensel then lined a ball to the right of second base – Tom Brownfield knocked it down, but couldn’t get a handle on it, the bases re-loading. Spike Davidson then came up, this time taking a runner from home. He rifled a drive down the right-field line that scored all three runs and likely would have been a triple if Spike had been running for himself. His pinch-runner scored in any case, as Morgan Witthoft and Dale Fugate followed with singles.
Gray now trailed 11-1, and did not score in the bottom of the third despite Frank Delmonte and Rick Jensen opening the frame with singles. But Gray’s defense tightened up, holding Blue scoreless in the fourth and to one run in the fifth (Larry Fiorentino tripled and scored on George Romo’s grounder to shortstop). Gray scored three times in each of those innings, on five singles and a walk in the fourth, which saw Spike Davidson rob David Kruse of a single up the middle and get a force at second for the first out, and Bobby Miller robbing Jim McAnelly of a hit with a running catch in right-center for the third. Bobby made another excellent catch in the bottom of the fifth, of Jim Maloy’s drive. That half-inning opened with Rex Horvath knocking a single to left field, making a very wide turn – he got almost halfway to second base – before deciding to retreat to first, and getting thrown out on a terrific 7-6-4-3 relay, Richard Battle to George Romo to Larry Fiorentino to Dale Fugate, who made a quick sweep tag of Rex for the out – the best play of a day full of defensive gems. Gary Coyle and Greg Lloyd followed with base hits, and then David Kruse stepped up and absolutely crushed a pitch, lining it long and deep to left-center field – it didn’t seem possible that it could maintain the height it needed to clear the fence, but that’s exactly what happened, the three-run homer drawing Gray to within a run, trailing 12-11 heading into the buffet. (There was a mini-non-controversy when David unnecessarily circled the bases and touched the home mat, but we essentially treat a homerun as a dead ball, so there was no reason to call David out – home umpire Jack Crosley applied common sense and had the game continue.)
David Kruse was overcome with emotion at receiving a Plucker’s coupon following his three-run homer.
Spike Davidson led off the buffet with a single. Morgan Witthoft and Dale Fugate both flied out to David Kruse in left-center, but Jimmy Schull and Stan Fisher followed with singles, Spike’s pinch-runner coming around to score. Tom Brownfield made a nice grab of Bobby Miller’s smashed grounder to Tom’s right, his flip to second beating Stan to the bag.
That left Gray chasing two in the bottom of the buffet. Jerry Mylius led off with a single. Jim McAnelly squared up on a pitch, but lined it directly at third baseman Morgan Witthoft for the first out. Rex Horvath and Gary Coyle knocked singles to center and right field, Jerry coming around to score. Greg Lloyd lined a pitch right at George Romo, who squeezed it for the second out. Next David Kruse hit a hard grounder down the third-base side that Morgan Witthoft was able to knock down, but could not make a play on, Rex scoring the tying run. Jim Maloy grounded to shortstop, George Romo throwing to second for the inning-ending force, the game heading into overtime.
With one-out, one-pitch rules in effect, Bobby Miller ran from second to start the top of the extra inning. Greg Lloyd got Richard Battle to foul out for the second out, but Anthony Galindo lined a single to left field, Bobby racing home. Larry Fiorentino popped out to second.
Needing one to tie and two to win, Gray tied the game immediately, as Tom Brownfield’s lead-off single drove in Jim Maloy. Not realizing it was one-pitch play, Frank Delmonte took a called third strike that just clipped the mat. Rick Jensen singled to right field, Tom taking third, but, moving to his left, George Romo snagged Jerry Mylius’s liner for the third out.
On to a second extra inning! (There was discussion of calling the game a tie, but we had relatively pleasant playing conditions and, come on now, no place better to be.) Having fortuitously survived this long, Blue proceeded to knock eighth consecutive hits, including doubles by George Romo and Jimmy Schull, got a sacrifice fly from Richard Battle, then another run-scoring single from Anthony Galindo, a total of nine runs scoring before Jack Crosley declared the flip-flop. Gray in the bottom half did some damage also: Jim McAnelly singled and Rex Horvath walked to load the bases, Gary Coyle doubled in all three runners, and Greg Lloyd singled in Gary. That made it 23-18 with David Kruse, 5 for his first 5 with a homerun and a triple, coming up. David squared up on another pitch and drove it on a line, but Anthony Galindo was perfectly positioned and barely moved in making the catch for the second out. Jim Maloy followed with a single, but Tom Brownfield got under a pitch and skied it out to left-center, where Anthony Galindo gathered it in for the final out. Final score: Blue 23, Gray 18
11:30 a.m., Purple at Maroon:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 5 2 1 0 0 8 Maroon 3 4 2 5 X 14 Pitchers: Purple – Gil Delossantos (first and fourth innings) and Tommy Deleon (second and third innings); Maroon – Joe Bernal. Umpires: home plate – Richard Battle; bases – Stan Fisher. Homerun: Adam Reddell (over the fence). Perfect at the plate: Purple – Billy Hill (2 for 2), Adam Reddell (3 for 3 with a homerun) and Don Roets (2 for 2 with a triple); Maroon – Rex Horvath (3 for 3 with a double), Ken Brown and Scott Wright (each 2 for 2 with a walk), and Mike Velaney (2 for 2 with a triple).
Purple jumped to a quick lead, scoring five runs while making just one out in the top of the first, with Adam Reddell’s towering three-run homerun to lelft field the big hit. That was followed by five consecutive singles for two more station-to-station runs. After that, however, Purple’s bats went quiet – not a Quote of the Day, but Gil Delossantos said afterward, “We just didn’t hit.” Purple got two runs in the second on Don Solberg’s two-out double, one run in the third when Don Roets tripled lelading off and scored on Larry Bunton’s sacrifice fly to left-center, and then was shut out in the both the fourth and the buffet. The fourth inning ended and the fifth inning began with Maroon first baseman Johnny Lee making stellar defensive plays: he snagged Tony Garcia’s liner and doubled up Doc Hobar to end the fourth, then ignored his barking knees and came charging in to grab Don Solberg’s short pop to start the buffet.
Adam Reddell receives his second Pluckers coupon of the season.
Maroon for its part put up crooked numbers in each of its four at bats: Three runs on five hits, including a double by Rex Horvath, in the first inning, Purple averting a five-run inning thanks to a fine defensive play on Joe Bernal’s hard grounder to the right side that deflected off first baseman Adam Reddell’s glove to second baseman Doc Hobar (I think?), who threw back to Adam in time to put out Joe. In the second Maroon scored four times on a Tom Kelm walk and five singles, another fine defensive play ending the inning, as Tony Garcia turned a 6u., 6-3 double play – bang-bang play at first – to strand the fifth run at third.
Mike Velaney, on the mend from a torn Achilles heel and celebrating his birthday, played his first game of 2023, went 2 for 2 with a two-run triple (amazing, considering) in the third, and made three excellent plays in the field, ranging to his left to run down Jack Crosley’s pop to end the top of the second, and getting force plays on ground balls in the fourth and the buffet, that one for the final out of the game.
Maroon finally got its five-spot in the bottom of the fourth, with six singles and a walk, all coming with one out. After falling to Purple in the final game of the first session, Maroon turns the table as the teams meet in their first game of the second session. Final score: Maroon 14, Purple 8
12:30 p.m., Green at Red:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 3 5 1 0 5 4 18 Red 0 1 2 4 1 3 11 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright; Red – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Red – Tom Brownfield and Jim Maloy. Umpires: home plate – Rex Horvath; bases – Scott Wright and Tom Kelm. Homerun: George Brindley (inside the park). Perfect at the plate: Green – Clint Fletcher and Buddy Gaswint (each 4 for 4 with a double); Red – Tom Brownfield (3 for 3 with two doubles).
Green dominated the first and last two innings, Red the middle two, and that was a winning formula for Green, which scored eight times before Red got on the board, with three runs in the first on five hits, including doubles by Clint Fletcher and Gary Coyle, and five in the second on six hits, including a two-run triple by Donnie Janac and a double by Gary Coyle. Chunky Wright got three outs in the air in the bottom of the first, good catches by shortstop Clint Fletcher, who ranged into left field for Donald Drummer’s deep pop, first baseman Boo Resnick, who nabbed George Brindley’s pop, and Jeff Fisher, who caught Paul Rubin’s drive just as it started to rain. (The rain abated after just a couple minutes, then returned briefly while Green batted in the third.)
Red got on the board in the bottom of the second. Hal Darman smacked a double to center field leading off and held there on Sam Baker’s infield single. (Sam tweaked a hamstring running it out, but gutted out the rest of the game, and got two more hits.) Chunky Wright got three outs in the inning on 6-4 force plays, Clint Fletcher to Mike Hill; Hal advanced to third and scored on the first two.
Jeff Fisher doubled to right and Buddy Gaswint singled to put runners on the corners to start the third inning. Reed Durant followed with a line single to right, Jeff scoring, and Chunky Wright walked to load the bases. Green seemed poised for a big inning, but George Brindley turned Boo Resnick’s liner into an L-6, 6-4 double play, Reed unable to scramble back to the base in time. Jack Kelly then got Tim Balke looking at a called strike three, a perfect pitch at the front of the mat. Red scored two runs in the bottom of the frame, the first on George Brindley’s inside-the-park homerun to right field. Ken Mockler followed with a single, took third on Paul Rubin’s double, and scored on Hal Darman’s ground out to shortstop.
Jack Kelly shut out Green in the fourth, working around singles by Mike Hill and Clint Fletcher. Red rallied for four runs in its half, on five hits, three of them doubles – by Tom Brownfield (to the fence in left), Donald Drummer (speed double to left), and George Brindley (scorebook fail, and I don’t recall where he hit it). That cut Green’s lead to 9-7.
Manager Tim Balke might have said something inspirational in the visitors dugout, or maybe he just led by example, but in any case Green exploded for five runs on seven singles in the top of the fifth to take control of the game – Tim chipped in with a line single to drive in the second run, and scored the fourth. Red got just one back in the bottom half: Hal Darman led off by crushing a triple to center field – Hal was justifiably proud of his baserunning in this game, which resulted in three-quarters of a cycle – and scored on Sam Baker’s single. The potential rally was short-circuited, however, when Mike Hill snagged Jack Kelly’s liner to second and snap-threw to Boo Resnick at first to double up Sam’s pinch-runner. Tom Brownfield doubled to center, but was stranded.
Green led 14-8 entering the buffet, and piled on four more runs before plate umpire Rex Horvath invoked the flip-flop. Jeff Fisher opened with a triple, Buddy Gaswint doubled Jeff in, and three singles, Boo Resnick’s walk, and Mike Hill’s sacrifice fly got three more. Red got three runs in its half before running out of outs, thanks to Ken Mockler, who lashed a two-run triple to right and scored on Hal Darman’s line single to left. Final score: Green 18, Red 11
www.beebesports.com
Standings – Session Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Green 1 0 1.000 — 18 11 + 7 W4
Maroon 1 0 1.000 — 14 8 + 6 W1
Blue 1 0 1.000 — 23 18 + 5 W2
Gold 0 0 .000 .5 0 0 0 L3
Gray 0 1 .000 1 18 23 – 5 L2
Purple 0 1 .000 1 8 14 – 6 L1
Red 0 1 .000 1 11 18 – 7 L3
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Green 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Maroon 1-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Blue 0-0 1-0 0 1-0 1-0 0-0
Gold 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Gray 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0-1 0-0
Purple 0-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Red 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0-1 0-0
2022 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 1 2 0 0 1 0 4
Gold 0 X 0 1 0 0 0 1
Gray 0 1 X 0 0 0 1 2
Green 0 0 1 X 0 1 2 4
Maroon 0 1 0 1 X 1 0 3
Purple 0 0 0 0 1 X 1 2
Red 1 0 0 0 1 0 X 2
___________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 1 3 3 2 2 3 4 18
Schedule for Monday April 3:
10:30 a.m.: Red (0-1) at Purple (0-1), Maroon umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Maroon (1-0) at Blue (1-0), Red umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Gray (0-1) at Gold (0-0), Blue umpiring
Green has the bye – players from that team will have priority out of the bucket.
Preview: Two 0-1 teams play at 10:30, two 1-1 teams at 11:30 (the marquee game – Maroon looking to knock Blue off its pedestal), and two winless teams at 12:30. So at the end of the day a bunch of teams will have one win and another bunch will have one loss.
Keggy’s Korner:
Just a reminder that B League’s Morgan Witthoft will be performing tomorrow at 6:00 with Der Austiner Klezmer Bund:
This weekend is the Honk!TX festival –
Fri Sat Sun –
A raucous festival with a nonstop lineup of too-fun-to-look-away bands.
( I’m playing clarinet in Der Austiner Klezmer Bund)
http://honktx.org/2023-festival/schedule/
C League’s Johnny Neville forwarded this link to the league email, so must have us have seen it, but I’ll post here as well – very cool project that our own Doc Hobar is involved in: