Murillo League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 16 – May 4, 2023
Weather: Overcast through the morning and early afternoon. It was 68 degrees with nearly 100% humidity at the start of the 10:30 game, temperature rising to 75 degrees and the humidity dropping to 87% by the start of the 12:30 game.
League president Jack McDermott with more screen direction:
The following will act as the official net placement rules during the trial period:
The net must be placed from the front edge of the pitching rubber up to no more than 4 feet in front of the rubber.
Either outside edge of the net must be within 12 inches of either edge of the pitching rubber (either edge is dependent on throwing hand, see next).
The net must be placed to the side opposite the pitcher’s throwing hand, right throwing pitcher to their left side and left throwing pitcher to their right side.
We recommend and ask that the pitcher make an effort to utilize the net for its intended purpose which is to get behind after the pitch is delivered so as to help protect from a 98 mph bean ball. Please just give it a fair try.
Quote of the Day (I): Jeff Broussard: “I think if someone hits the screen, they should get a Pluckers coupon.”
Games of Thursday May 4:
10:30 a.m., Purple (2-5) at Gray (4-3):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 5 0 5 5 0 15 Gray 5 2 1 0 2 10 Pitchers: Purple – Tommy Deleon; Gray – Jerry Mylius. Mercenaries: Purple – George Brindley, Hal Darman, Donnie Janac, and Eddy Murillo; Gray – Scott Sovereen and Greg Lloyd (entered in the fourth inning for Jim Maloy). Umpires: home plate – Spike Davidson; bases – Larry Fiorentino; scoreboard – Anthony Galindo. Perfect at the plate: Purple – George Brindley and Eddy Murillo (both 3 for 3), and Mike Mordecai (3 for 3 with a walk); Gray – Frank Delmonte (3 for 3).
Both teams came out hitting, scoring five times in the first inning, Purple on six singles and doubles by Doc Hobar (leading off, the ball ricocheting off the third-base bag) and Adam Reddell without making an out, Gray on seven singles and Rick Jensen’s bases-loaded walk while making one out. Gray turned a 6-4-3 double play, David Kruse to Tom Brownfield to Daniel Carvajal, while holding Purple scoreless in the top of the second, then scored two runs on three singles in the bottom half. Purple took control of the game with back-to-back five-run innings in the third and fourth, each time with seven hits; the runs in the fourth all came with two out, after Jerry Mylius and David Kruse turned a 1-6-3 double play.
Meanwhile, Gray managed just one run on three hits in the bottom of the third. Three of the first four batters singled to get that run across, but third baseman Eddy Murillo snagged Scott Sovereen’s liner, robbing him of a hit, and then, after David Kruse’s single loaded the bases, Jim Maloy, pinch-running for Jim McAnelly, was called out on the bases because his turn in the order came while he was still on base. (Jim wasn’t intending to bat, as he’d tweaked a hamstring running – he came out of the game at that point, replaced by Greg Lloyd – but by the letter of the B League law he had to be called out.) Greg led off the fourth inning with a single, but after Rick Kahn flied out to right-center was erased on a 5-4-3 double play on Tom Brownfield’s grounder to Eddy Murillo, Adam Reddell turning the pivot.
When Purple did not score in the top of the buffet, Gray was left chasing seven to tie in its half. They got two, on four up-the-middle singles before they ran out of outs, Tommy Deleon getting force-out grounders for one out at third base (5u., Eddy Murillo killing it at the hot corner) and two at second (both 4-6, Adam Reddell to George Brindley). Final score: Purple 15, Gray 10, Purple snapping Gray’s four-game winning streak.
Point/Counterpoint:
Eddy Murillo: “I love coming out here and playing – I like everybody in the league.”
Fritz Hensel: “But nobody likes you.”
11:30 a.m., Blue (2-5) at Gold (5-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 0 5 5 1 5 16 Gold 4 2 0 0 1 7 Pitchers: Blue – Spike Davidson; Gold – Jeff Stone. Umpires: home plate – Rick Jensen; bases – Jim McAnelly. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Bobby Miller (4 for 4 with a triple); Gold – James Chavana (3 for 3 with a double). Homerun: Anthony Galindo (inside the park).
Gold started strong, blanking Blue in the top of the first and scoring four times in the bottom half, the last three on back-to-back doubles by James Chavana and Denny Malloy. But it was Blue’s game after that, the Meanies scoring 16 runs to Gold’s three over the final four innings. Blue started the second with a single, a walk to Spike Davidson, Morgan Withhoft’s double (crushed to left-center) and Eddy Murillo’s double, three runs scoring. Jeff Stone got two outs, but Bobby Miller hammered an RBI triple to left-center. Following the direction of the third base coach, Bobby came into the base on the play and made contact with third baseman Jack Spellman – I had my right foot on the base for the hoped-for force, couldn’t catch the relay from shortstop Tim Bruton because my view of it was blocked by Bobby, and Bobby clipped me running to the bag. My appeal to home plate umpire Rick Jensen was denied, though upon post-game deliberation Rick allowed…
Quote of the Day (II): Rick Jensen: “You have a point.”
Not that it made any difference in the grand scheme of things. Gold briefly reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning, scoring two runs on four hits, Jeff Stone’s double the big one, but Blue scored another five in the top of the third, on seven hits, including a team cycle: Larry Fiorentino led off with a double, Anthony Galindo followed with an inside-the-park homerun to center field, George Romo tripled, and four singles and a walk to Stan Fisher followed.
Fritz Hensel (right) presents Anthony Galindo with a Pluckers coupon – Fritz seemed really reluctant to actually hand it over – following Anthony’s inside-the-park homerun.
Blue added a run and shut out Gold again in the in the fourth inning, then scored five times on six hits in the top of the buffet, all with two out, Larry Fiorentino’s double the key hit. Rip Wright made a nice play on George Romo’s hard grounder to the right of second base, fielding it cleanly and tagging the base for the inning-ending out. Gold was chasing ten in the bottom of the inning. James Chavana completed his perfect day at the plate with a one-out single and advanced one base at a time, to second on Rip Wright’s single, to third on Larry Young’s walk, and scoring on Joe Dayoc’s single, but that was the only run Gold managed in the frame. Final score: Blue 16, Gold 7
12:30 p.m., Green (4-3), Maroon (4-3)
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Green 1 0 3 5 2 11 Maroon 3 5 3 5 X 16 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright; Maroon – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Green – Daniel Baladez, Tom Brownfield, Tim Bruton, and Don Solberg; Maroon – David Kruse and Jeff Stone. Umpires: home plate – Dave Berra; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Green – Jeff Fisher (3 for 3 with a triple); Maroon – Mike Velaney and Scott Wright (each 3 for 3), Marvin Krabbenhoft (2 for 2 with a walk), and David Kruse (3 for 3 with a homerun). Homeruns: David Kruse and Don Solberg (each inside the park).
Hard-fought game between two evenly matched teams. Green broke on top with a run on Jeff Fisher’s RBI triple to right field in the top of the first (Jeff was held up at third by the base coach; he told me later he thought he had a chance to Pluckerize if he had chosen to run through the hold). Maroon took the lead with three runs on five singles in the bottom half before Tim Bruton ended the inning with a 6u., 6-3 double play. Then, after Joe Bernal blanked Green in the top of the third, the inning ending with Peter Sundquist hauling in Tom Brownfield’s warning-track fly to the fence in left-center, Green exploded for five runs in its half. Marvin Krabbenhoft drew a lead-off walk, and his pinch-runner scored on David Kruse’s inside-the-park homerun down the right-field line, fair by a foot and rolling to the corner. Four singles and a walk brought in the other three runs.
Marvin Krabbenhoft makes the ceremonial presentation to David Kruse of a Pluckers coupon following David’s inside-the-park homerun.
Green got untracked in the third inning, scoring three times, the first two on Don Solberg’s inside-the-park homerun to right field, the third when Ray Pilgrim doubled with two out and Jeff Fisher delivered an RBI single.
Jeff Broussard took himself out of the game due to an aching back, but was able to present Don Solberg with a Pluckers coupon following Don’s inside-the-parker.
Quote of the Day (III): Don Solberg to Jeff Broussard: “Kiss my hairy fuckin’ ass.” (I get emotional typing the words.)
Chunky Wright got two quick outs to start the bottom of the third, getting Tom Kelm on a liner to shortstop (Tim Bruton leaping to catch it) and Larry Shupe on a hard-hit grounder up the middle that Chunky deflected to Tim, who charged and made an excellent throw to first, beating Larry by half a step. But Marvin Krabbenhoft and David Kruse followed with singles, and Jeff Stone doubled both runners home, then scored on Dave Jaffe’s single to left field.
More of the same in the fourth inning, Green scoring five times in he top half on six singles and a walk, but Maroon matching that in the home half, scoring five times on seven singles, notwithstanding Tom Kelm being called out on a commit-line violation for the second time this week, advancing up the first-base line despite having a runner from home. Didn’t matter, as the bottom four batters in the lineup – Larry Shupe, Marvin Krabbenhoft, David Kruse, and Jeff Stone – all followed with base hits. (For the game, Marvin, David, and Jeff were a combined 8 for 8 with a walk, a double, and David’s homerun – hard to beat a team getting that kind of production from its 8-9-10 hitters.)
Entering the buffet, Green needed seven runs to tie. Chunky Wright walked, Boo Resnick singled, and Tim Bruton doubled to right field to start the inning, Chunky scoring on the double, but the next three batters grounded out, to second baseman Mike Velaney, shortstop David Kruse (Boo scoring), and Mike again, for the final out. Final score: Maroon 16, Green 11
Standings – Session Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gold 5 2 .714 — 84 75 + 9 L2
Maroon 5 3 .625 .5 101 84 +17 W1
Gray 4 4 .500 1.5 109 97 +12 L1
Green 4 4 .500 1.5 94 102 – 8 L2
Red 3 4 .429 2 80 85 – 5 W1
Blue 3 5 .375 2.5 106 116 -10 W1
Purple 3 5 .375 2.5 84 99 -15 W2
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gold 2-1 3-1 2 2-0 1-0 3-0
Maroon 2-1 3-2 0 0-0 2-1 0-1
Gray 1-2 3-2 1 0-2 2-1 1-1
Green 2-3 2-1 1 0-1 1-2 1-0
Red 2-2 1-2 0 0-0 1-1 0-1
Blue 0-4 3-1 0 1-0 1-2 0-1
Purple 2-3 1-2 0 0-0 0-1 0-1
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 2 2 0 0 2 0 6
Gold 1 X 1 2 1 0 1 6
Gray 1 1 X 1 1 0 2 6
Green 1 0 1 X 0 2 3 7
Maroon 1 1 0 3 X 2 0 7
Purple 0 1 2 0 1 X 1 5
Red 2 0 0 0 2 1 X 5
_____________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 6 5 6 6 5 7 7 42
Schedule for Monday May 8:
10:30 a.m.: Gold (5-2) at Red (3-4), Gray umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Gray (4-4) at Maroon (5-3), Red umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Blue (3-5) at Green (4-4), Maroon umpiring
Purple has the bye – players from that team will have priority out of the bucket.
Preview: First place is at stake Monday, as Gold, just half a game ahead of Maroon, faces Red at 10:30 and Maroon takes on Gray at 11:30 in a game between the teams with the best run differentials for the session. At 12:30, Blue, second in runs scored for the session, faces Green, next to last in runs allowed for the session.
Keggy’s Korner:
Happy Star Wars Day, all.