B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 15 – April 21, 2025
Weather report: The run of spectacular fine spring weather continues: 75 degrees with 43% humidity at the start of the 10:30 game, not a cloud in the sky, light wind from the north-northeast at 7 MPH. By the start of the 12:30 game it was up to 85 degrees, the humidity down to 29%, still sunny, wind unchanged.
Games of Monday April 21:
10:30 a.m., Maroon (3-2) at Orange (3-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 2 0 1 5 1 9 Orange 2 4 4 0 X 10 Pitchers: Maroon – Jeff Stone; Orange – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Maroon – Hal Darman and Paul Rubin. Umpires: home – Tommy Deleon; bases – George Brindley and Jim Foelker. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Tony Garcia (3 for 3 with a double); Orange – David Brown (2 for 2 with a double) and Clint Fletcher and Terry O'Brien (both 3 for 3).
Maroon jumped on top as its first three batters reached base to start the game, Ken Brown drawing a walk and then scoring from first on Bobby Miller’s double on a ball hit hard through the 5-6 hole, Bobby in turn scoring on Tony Garcia’s ground single to right field. But Ray Pilgrim got Scott Wright to ground to Mike Malay, who started a nice 4-6-3 double play, David Brown on the pivot, and David then fielded Jeff Stone’s grounder and threw again to first baseman Daniel Carvajal to end the inning.
Orange tied with two runs in the home half, as four of the first five batters singled, only to have Jeff Stone start an inning-ending 1-4-3 double play on Ray Pilgrim’s grounder back to the box, Scott Wright on the pivot. (Scott got the first out of the inning on Mike Malay’s grounder to Scott’s right – Scott ranged way over and made a quick backhanded flip to first for the out, an excellent play.)
Orange took control in the next two innings. Ray Pilgrim got two outs on grounder to David Brown to start the second. Maroon loaded the bases on waks to Ivan Budiselic and Paul Rubin and a line single to left by Hal Darman, but David Brown fielded Ken Brown’s grounder to his left and stepped on second for the third out. David then knocked a double in the bottom of the inning that scored Daniel Carvajal, who’d led off with a single, from first. Two-out singles by Clint Fletcher, Mike Malay, and Peter Atkins brought in David, Clint, and Mike with three more runs – Peter’s hit was a grounder to the 5-6 hole that Tony Garcia got to, and threw home trying for Clint; the ball sailed past catcher Hal Darman, and Mike, seeing there was no one covering home, was able to race in as well.
More of the same in the third: Maroon scored one run in the top half on singles by Tony Garcia and Scott Wright and Jeff Stone’s sacrifice fly to Peter Atkins in left-center; Orange got four more in the home half on six singles, the last four coming with two out. The last of these was a pop-fly single over shortstop off the bat of Mike Malay, driving in Larry Shupe; Mike took a wide turn at first, and Tony Garcia threw over; with Clint Fletcher threatening to break from third to home, first baseman Tom Kelm came forward for the throw; Tom and Mike then engaged in a dance as old as time itself, or maybe it was just the Lambada (the Forbidden Dance), I’m not sure, but it went on for an entertaining while until everyone calmed down with runners at the corners. (Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Orange’s lead was at 10-3 entering the fourth. In the top of that inning Ivan Budiselic walked and Paul Rubin grounded a single through the box with one out. Hal Darman’s grounded to third baseman Terry O’Brien, who tagged third for the force there, but threw wide to first, allowing Maroon to extend the inning. The next four batters hit safely: Ken Brown lined a single to center to drive in Paul; Bobby Miller lined a double to right, Hal scoring; Tony Garcia lofted a fly to right – Larry Shupe had a long way to go for it and got a glove on it, but couldn’t make the catch, both Ken and Bobby scoring and Tony winding up at second with a double; and Scott Wright lined a single to right to bring in Tony with the fifth run.
That cut Orange’s lead to 10-8. Tony Garcia made a good play on Ken Mockler’s grounder leading off the bottom of the fourth for a 6-3 out. Terry O’Brien singled, completing a 3-for-3 day at the plate, but he did not advance, as Jeff Stone got both Ray Pilgrim and Daniel Carvajal to fly out to Paul Rubin in left field.
Maroon needed two to tie in the top of the buffet. Jeff Stone led off with a single to right-center. Jim Maloy grounded to shortstop David Brown, who elected to throw to first for the out there – he might have gotten Jeff at second, but went for the sure out. Tom Kelm hit a ground single to third base, getting the tying run on base. But Ray Pilgrim got each of the next two batters to hit into force plays, Ivan Budiselic to second baseman Mike Malay (Jeff Stone scoring from second on the play while Tom Kelm’s runner was forced at second) and Paul Rubin to shortstop David Brown, who threw to Mike Malay for the game-ending out. Final score: Orange 10, Maroon 9
11:30 a.m., Blue (4-1) at Red (1-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 3 4 1 0 0 2 10 Red 0 1 1 0 0 2 4 Pitchers: Blue – Tommy Deleon; Red – Joe Bernal. Mercenary: Red - Adam Reddell (filled in for Donald Drummer in the beginning of the game and for Mark Dolan at the end). Umpires: home – Jeff Stone; bases – Jimmie Maloy. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Tom Brownfield and Steve Sandall (both 4 for 4); Red – Adam Reddell (1 for 1).
Red’s offensive funk continued in this game – we just couldn’t generate good swings off Tommy Deleon, who got ten outs on ground balls. Red stranded two runners in each of the first three innings, knocking a total of eight hits over those frames while getting only two runners around the bases. It says something that every batter in Red’s starting lineup made at least one out. Adam Reddell, who filled in for Donald Drummer (stuck in traffic) in right field for the first two innings, re-entered the game in the fourth for Mark Dolan, who took a tumble trying to beat out a grounder in his second at bat and jammed his wrist. (It turns out Mark fractured a bone in his hand and incurred a hematoma on the play. He said afterward, “My hand looked like something you’d see in an episode of The Three Stooges.” He’s on the IL indefinitely.) Adam came up in the buffet and singled in his only at bat, saving a wee bit of face for Red as a team by setting up Rolando Rodriguez’s two-run triple to the fence in left field that was the team’s offensive highlight.
Blue put up crooked numbers in each of its first two at bats – three runs on four singles, Jimmy Sneed’s double, and Don Solberg’s sacrifice fly to right field in the first inning; four runs on six singles, the last four after two were out, in the second – and that was all they needed to secure the victory. Joe Bernal held Blue to a single run on three two-out singles in the third, then stranded two runners after allowing a pair of singles in both the fourth and fifth innings, blanking Blue in each.
Leading 8-2 entering the buffet, Blue added two more runs on four singles to go up by eight, and the flip-flop was called. (The last of Blue’s hits was by Daniel Baladez, a ball he absolutely crushed on a line toward shortstop – I thought I had it lined up, after it initially knuckled slightly to the left, but over the last 15 or so feet before it reached me it knuckled hard to my right and I missed it entirely.) Red doubled its scoring on Rolando Rodriguez’s two-run triple, but the final score made this game seem closer than it really was. Final score: Blue 10, Red 4
12:30 p.m., Purple (4-1) at Green (1-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 4 5 5 1 0 0 15 Green 2 3 3 2 0 1 11 Pitchers: Purple – Spike Davidson; Green – Chunky Wright. Mercenaries: Purple – Johnny Lee, David Pittard, and Don Solberg; Green – Ray Pilgrim and Jeff Stone. Umpires: home – Jck McDermott; bases – Jack Spellman. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Larry Fiorentino (3 for 3 with a triple and two doubles) and Rex Horvath (3 for 3 with a double); Green – Mike Garrison and Doc Hobar (both 4 for 4).
As noted in last Thursday’s preview, while Purple came into this contest with a much better record, these teams weren’t that far apart in run differential, Purple’s +7 ranking third in the league, Green’s -4 ranking fifth. And Green put up a good fight in this game, continuing to battle after Purple put up 14 of a possible 15 runs over the first three innings. Green held Purple to just one run over the second half of the game, and, putting up crooked numbers over its first four at bats, narrowed the score to a respectable 15-11 before finally running out of outs.
Purple’s first five hitters of the game hit safely – three singles, Larry Fiorentino’s triple to center, and Rex Horvath’s double to left-center – three runs scoring. Spike Davidson’s one-out single to right field scored Rex with the fourth run, but Chunky Wright escaped the inning by getting Rick Jensen to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, Ralph Villela to Doc Hobar to Chris Waddell, a bang-bang play at first.
After a good play by Rex Horvath on Ralph Villela’s grounder to shortstop to start the bottom of the first with an out, Green got two runs on four consecutive singles. The fourth, a liner to left field by Mike Garrison, drove in Phil Stanch, but Chris Waddell was thrown out at third 7-6-5 (Richard Battle to Rex Horvath to David Pittard) for the second out, and Spike Davidson was then able to get Johnny Wimpy to line a two-strike pitch foul down the left-field side.
Chunky Wright gave up singles to first and third batters and got pop outs to shortstop Ralph Villela from the second and fourth to start the second inning, but the next four batters knocked base hits to left field, five runs scoring: Pat Scott’s Texas League single drove in David Pittard; Larry Fiorentino’s double drove in both Johnny Lee’s runner and Pat; Rex Horvath’s single delivered Larry; and Mark Hernandez’s liner scored Rex from first.
Green collected six consecutive one-out singles in the bottom half of the inning, but came away with three runs in and the inning over on an oddball double play. With the bases loaded and two runs in, Phil Stanch singled to right field. Ray Pilgrim’s pinch-runner scored on the play, and when Ralph Villela took a wide turn around second, Doc Hobar started for third. A strong throw home by Don Solberg caused Ralph to come up short and start retreating to third, but he’d passed the commit line, and when he backtracked over it, he was out. Catcher Matt Levitt thought he needed to tag Ralph, and did so; meanwhile, when Doc saw Ralph retreating, he did a 180 and tried to get back to second. Matt threw to shortstop Rex Horvath. Doc beat the throw to the base, but his dive back in carried him past the bag, and Rex tagged him on his dangling, off-the-base leg for the third out. It was a 10-2-6 double play, just as Purple practiced all spring training.
Purple then scored five runs on eight consecutive singles without making an out in the top of the third inning. Green kept battling, scoring three runs on five singles and Ray Pilgrim’s sacrifice fly, Pat Scott making a nice play to run down a drive to left-center.
It was 14-8 Purple entering the fourth, and then 15-8 when Larry Fiorentino doubled leading off and scored on Rex Horvath’s single. But that turned out to be Purple’s last run of the day. Ralph Villela started a 6-4-3 double play on Mark Hernandez’s grounder to erase Rex. Richard Battle singled, but Chunky Wright got Spike Davidson to pop out to Ralph for the third out.
Green looked like it would narrow the score in the bottom half as the first our batters singled, Doc Hobar coming around to score. With the bases loaded, Spike Davidson retired Johnny Wimpy on a two-strike foul. Donnie Janac punched a single over shortstop that moved everyone up one station, Phil Stanch scoring. But Spike got Chunky Wright to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to kill the rally, with just over three minutes remaining on the clock.
That meant the fifth inning was a five-run inning. Rick Jensen led it off with a single, but was erased on a 6-4-3 double play on David Pittard’s hard one-hopper to Ralph Villela. Don Solberg then flied out to Donnie Janac in right-center.
But Green wasn’t able to take advantage, as Purple turned a 6-4-3 double play of its own in the bottom half, on Ray Pilgrim’s grounder to Rex Horvath after Jeff Stone singled leading off. Ralph Villela and Doc Hobar followed with singles, Doc completing a 4-for-4 game, but David Pittard made a good play on Phil Stanch’s hard grounder down the third-base side and tagged the bag to get the lead runner for the third out.
Ahead by five entering the buffet, Purple was unable to add to its lead as Chunky Wright retired the side in order. Ralph Villela made a nice play to short-hop Johnny Lee’s looper in front of shortstop and throw out the runner from home to start the inning.
Spike Davidson retired Chris Waddell on a two-strike line foul to left field to start the bottom of the buffet. Mike Garrison (off of Spike) and Johnny Wimpy (down the left-field side) both singled, Mike winding up at third. Donnie Janac’s sacrifice fly to Richard Battle in left field drove in Mike. Chunky Wright lined a single to left field to extend the inning. But Spike made a good play on Jeff Stone’s hard grounder back to the box and threw to second for the force there to end the game. Final score: Purple 15, Green 11
Session 2 standings:
| Session 2 | Games | Runs | Runs | Run dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 5 | 1 | .833 | 0 | 77 | 55 | 22 | W1 |
| Purple | 5 | 1 | .833 | 0 | 76 | 65 | 11 | W4 |
| Orange | 4 | 2 | .667 | 1 | 79 | 58 | 21 | W4 |
| Maroon | 3 | 3 | .500 | 2 | 74 | 77 | -3 | L1 |
| Gray | 2 | 4 | .333 | 3 | 63 | 82 | -19 | W1 |
| Green | 1 | 5 | .167 | 4 | 77 | 85 | -8 | L5 |
| Red | 1 | 5 | .167 | 4 | 66 | 90 | -24 | L4 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins: | wins: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Blue | 3-0 | 2-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Purple | 2-1 | 3-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 | ||
| Orange | 2-1 | 2-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 1-0 | ||
| Maroon | 2-1 | 1-2 | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-1 | ||
| Gray | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-1 | ||
| Green | 0-3 | 1-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-1 | ||
| Red | 0-3 | 1-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0-1 |
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Gray | 1 | X | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Green | 0 | 1 | X | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Maroon | 1 | 2 | 2 | X | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Orange | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | X | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Purple | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | X | 1 | 9 |
| Red | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | X | 5 |
| TOTAL: | 4 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 45 |
Better late than never…
Larry Shupe awards his teammate Terry O’Brien with a Pluckers coupon for Terry’s inside-the-park home run last Monday April 14.
Maroon manager Dave Berra awards Tony Garcia a Pluckers coupon for his inside-the-park home run, also last Monday April 14.
2025 season home run leaders:
Bobby Miller – 4
Tim Coles – 3
Anthony Galindo – 3
George Brindley – 2
Tim Bruton – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Tommy Gillis – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Tom Belavia – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Tony Garcia – 1
Mike Garrison – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Rex Horvath – 2
Mike Malay – 1
Terry O’Brien – 1
Jimmy Sneed – 1
Jack Spellman – 1
Jeff Stone – 1
Mike Velaney – 1
Chris Waddell – 1
Chunky Wright – 1
Schedule for Thursday April 24:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (4-2) at Purple (5-1), Red umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (1-5) at Green (1-5), Purple umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Gray (2-4) at Blue (5-1), Green umpiring
Maroon has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Orange and Purple are both riding four-game winning streaks going into the battle at the top of Thursday’s schedule. While Purple has the better record, Orange has the superior run differential, +21 to Purple’s +11. Should be a terrific game, as should Red and Green at 11:30, both looking to end losing streaks (five games for Green, four for Red) and escape last place. Green has won both of the two meetings between the teams this season. Gray looks to upset Blue at 12:30 – wins by both Gray and Orange Thursday would result in a three-way tie for first. On this date in 1918, German fighter ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen, “The Red Baron,” was shot down and killed over Vaux-sur Somme in France. Canadian pilot Arthur Roy “Snoopy” Brown is credited with the kill, as detailed in this three-minute documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Keggy’s Korner:
Mark your calendars: Johnny Lee and the (revamped) Arctic Blues Band, now with Morgan Witthoft, will be playing at Lighthouse at the Lake (513 Sleat Drive, Briarcliff TX) on Saturday May 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Keggy’s Kuisine Review:
Today Tommy Deleon brought HEB doughnuts and tacos, possibly home-made. Don’t tell Keggy Junior, but I think HEB’s chocolate-glazed doughnuts are superior to the Dunkin Donuts version, and the regular glazed are better than Krispy Kreme’s.
George Brindley brought home-baked sourdough starters and blueberry crumbles, and both were awesome.
Keggy’s rating of the day’s offerings: 
Speaking of Keggy Junior, she’s fund-raising to send the U.S. Women’s Kayak Polo Team to the 2025 Pan-American Kayak Polo Championships in Edmonton, Canada, this coming August. Don’t send the rent money, but if you’ve got something to spare, she and her teammates will be grateful indeed:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/