B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 10 – April 22, 2024
Games were moved to Krieg field 2, as field 3 was muddy from weekend rain.
Weather: A gorgeous day, mild and dry: 62 degrees with 58% humidity at the start of the 11:30 game, temperature rising into the mid-70s, and nothing but sun.
Games of Monday April 22:
10:30 a.m., Maroon (2-2) at Orange (0-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 5 5 0 3 1 X 14 Orange 2 0 0 0 1 0 3 Pitchers: Maroon – Chunky Wright; Orange – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Maroon – Gary Coyle; Orange – Donnie Janac, Jack Kelly, and Rip Wright. Umpires: home plate – Terry Thompson and Jeff Fisher; bases – David Brown. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Anthony Galindo and Scott Wright (each 4 for 4), Marvin Krabbenhoft and Joe Roche (each 3 for 3); Orange – Eddie Ortiz (3 for 3 with a double).
Maroon came out hitting, scoring five runs on seven hits without making an out in the top of the first, though three of those hits, including Jack Spellman’s double, were basically pop flies just over the infield. Orange looked set to match that in the home half, as the first four batters singled, two scoring. With runners on the corners, Fritz Hensel grounded a ball to shortstop Jimmy Sneed, who threw to Jack Spellman at second for the force there; rather than make a futile throw to first to not get Tony Garcia, running for Fritz, Spellman rushed a throw home, trying for Rex Horvath; the throw was a bit wide right, but catcher Marvin Krabbenhoft made a great play, stretching to make the catch while keeping a foot on the mat, for a 6-4-2 double play. Jim Maloy followed with a single, but Larry Shupe grounded out to end the inning.
Jack Kelly retired the first two Maroon batters in the second, but the next seven, beginning with Gary Coyle, singled, five more runs scoring. Then Chunky Wright threw three scoreless innings, working around two singles in the bottom of the second, one single in the third (the inning ending with a 5-6-4 force at second, third baseman Gary Coyle deflecting a grounder to Jimmy Sneed, who got the force at second) and two singles in the fourth, that inning ending with a 4-6-3 double play, Jimmy Sneed making a nice pivot.
Maroon had scored three times on five singles in the fourth, then added a run on three singles in the top of the fifth. Chunky Wright retired Orange’s first two hitters to start the bottom half. Rex Horvath singled, and Eddie Ortiz completed a 3-for-3 day at the plate with a double to left-center, Rex scoring from first. Chunky then caught Fritz Hensel’s liner for the third out.
With Maroon ahead 14-13, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. Jim Maloy led off with a single, but Chunky Wright retired the next three hitters: Larry Shupe on a grounder back to the box, Donnie Janac on a grounder to shortstop Jimmy Sneed, and Rip Wright on a pop to third baseman Gary Coyle. Final score: Maroon 14, Orange 3
11:30 a.m., Blue (1-2) at Red (4-0):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 3 0 1 0 2 1 7 Red 4 0 3 0 2 X 9 Pitchers: Blue – Terry Thompson; Red – Eddy Murillo. Mercenaries: Blue – Mike Mordecai, Peter Sundquist, and Mike Velaney; Red – Rick Jensen. Umpires: home plate – Scott Wright and Chunky Wright; bases – Jack Spellman. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Jeff Fisher (3 for 3 with a double); Red – Eddy Murillo and Adam Reddell (each 3 for 3). Home run: David Brown (inside the park).
A defensive battle, especially after the first inning, when the teams scored almost half of the game’s runs. Blue scored three on Jeff Fisher’s bases-clearing double that to left-center that gapped the outfielders; Red came back with four in the home half, on five singles, Rick Kahn’s sacrifice fly to right field (excellent catch by Peter Sundquist), and a two-run, rally-capping triple to right field by Denny Malloy.
Neither team scored in the second. In the top half, following Mike Mordecai’s one-out single, Rick Kahn made a terrific catch of Mike Velaney’s sinking liner to left field. Mike took third on Pat Scott’s opposite-field single to right, but both were stranded when second baseman Morgan Witthoft made an excellent play to his right of David Brown’s hard grounder, throwing David out for the third out. Terry Thompson retired the side in order in the home half.
Blue tied the game with a run in the top of the fourth. George Brindley led with a drive to left-center that glanced off Donald Drummer’s glove, George winding up at second. Steve Sandall grounded out to third baseman Adam Reddell; George took third on the cross-diamond throw, then scored on Terry Thompson’s sacrifice fly to left-center.
Red reclaimed the lead with three runs in the bottom of the frame, as five of the first six batters singled, Tim Bruton, Rick Kahn, and Adam Reddell coming around to score. With two on and one out, Terry Thompson escaped the jam, getting Hal Darman on a two-strike foul and retiring Gil Delossantos on a fly to right field, Jeff Fisher making an outstanding shoe-top catch coming in and to his right.
Blue loaded the bases with none out in the top of the fourth, on walks to Peter Sundquist and Mike Mordecai and a Texas League single to left field by Mike Velaney, but came away with nothing. Pat Scott hit a hard grounder down the third-base side – Adam Reddell fielded it cleanly, stepped on third for the force, and made a strong, chest-high throw home to catcher Hal Darman to complete the double play. David Brown followed with another grounder to third, Adam moving to his left to field it and throwing to second for the force.
Red did not score in the bottom of the fourth. Rick Jensen led off with a single to center, but Terry Thompson retired Red 1-3 hitters Donald Drummer (fly to left-center), Tim Bruton (grounder to second baseman George Brindley, who got a force at second), and Rick Kahn (fly to right-center).
Blue scored two in the top of the fifth inning. Steve Sandall hit a pop-fly double over first base with one out. Adam Reddell snagged Terry Thompson’s line drive down the third-base side for the second out, but Jeff Fisher (completing a 3-for-3 outing) and Dale Fugate lined singles, Steve coming around to score. Peter Sundquist doubled to left-center, Jeff scoring while Dale held up at third. Mike Mordecai grounded out to shortstop Tim Bruton.
That brought Blue to within one run, but Red got the two back in their half of the inning. Singles by Adam Reddell, Morgan Witthoft, and Eddy Murillo loaded the bases. (Adam and Eddy both completed 3-for-3 days at the plate.) Adam tagged and scored on Denny Malloy’s liner to left-center. Hal Darman’s single to left field re-loaded the bases. Gil Delossantos hit a grounder to third; Mike Mordecai knocked the ball down and got the force at the third-base bag, Morgan scoring to make it 9-6. Rick Jensen lined out to second baseman George Brindley.
Blue was chasing three in the top of the buffet. Mike Velaney led off with a single, but was erased when Tim Bruton made a nice play on Pat Scott’s hard grounder just to the left of second base – Tim fielded it cleanly, took two steps to the base to force Mike, then made a strong throw to first to just beat Pat, on a bang-bang play, for the 6u., 6-3 double play. David Brown came up and drove a pitch to right field; Rick Jensen raced back and got a glove on it, but it deflected off and past him, to the corner, and David easily circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
“Chicken wings! Chicken wings!” – Mike Velaney (I think it was) as David Brown circled the bases.
Blue manager George Brindley presented David with a Pluckers coupon after the game.
That brought Blue to within two runs, but the game ended when George Brindley popped up to second baseman Morgan Witthoft. Final score: Red 9, Blue 7
12:30 p.m., Purple (2-1) at Green (1-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 5 0 2 5 3 X 15 Green 0 0 1 1 5 1 8 Pitchers: Purple – Jeff Stone; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Green – Anthony Galindo and Jim Maloy. Umpires: home plate – Eddy Murillo and Scott Wright; bases – Scott Wright and Donald Drummer. Scoreboard – Jack Spellman. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Daniel Carvajal, Rick Jensen, and Larry Young (each 3 for 3), Tim Coles (3 for 3 with a double); Green – Anthony Galindo and Trey Wall (each 3 for 3), Paul Rubin (4 for 4).
Purple jumped off to a quick lead, scoring five times in the first on two walks, four singles, and Tim Coles’s three-run double down the left-field line. Tim scored the fifth run on Tom Kelm’s line single to left field. Green never escaped the hole, not scoring in either of its first two at bats. Ralph Villela led off the bottom of the first with a single to left field, but was thrown out at second 7-4 (Clint Fletcher to Rip Wright) trying to stretch the hit into a double. Rip then made a nice play to his left on Mike Hill’s try for a single through the 3-4 hole, throwing Mike out. Rip also made a good play to start the bottom of the second, knocking down David Pittard’s grounder and shoveling a throw to first baseman Daniel Carvajal for the out. This was after Purple was held scoreless in the top of the frame, that half-inning ending with Mike Garrison making a fine catch charging in on Peter Sundquist’s drive to left field.
Purple knocked five singles in the top of the third, but only got two runs out of it, as Daniel Carvajal was thrown out 8-4-2 (Anthony Galindo to Mike Hill to Trey Wall) trying to score on Rick Jensen’s single. Earlier in the inning Paul Rubin made an excellent catch of Jeff Stone’s drive to right-center for the first out.
Green finally got on the board in the bottom of the third. Anthony Galindo singled leading off, then was forced at second on Jim Maloy’s grounder to third baseman Tim Coles. A walk to Ralph Villela moved Jim into scoring position, he took third on Mike Hill’s fly to Peter Sundquist in right-center, and then he scored on Paul Rubin’s clean single, also to right-center.
Purple put the game out of reach with five runs in the top of the fourth. The last three hitters in the order, Rip Wright, Jim Foelker, and Larry Young, singled to load the bases. Jim was forced out at third while Rip scored on Peter Sundquist’s grounder to shortstop Ralph Villela. Clint Fletcher grounded to third baseman David Pittard, who got the force at third for out number two. Mike Velaney lined a ball to left field that Mike Garrison made a great diving try for, but wasn’t able to hold on to, Peter scoring and Clint taking third on the hit. Daniel Carvajal singled to left to bring home Clint. Jeff Stone’s drive to right-center gapped the outfielders, and Mike and Daniel easily scored; with the fifth run coming in, Jeff stopped at first, but it was effectively at least a two-base hit.
That made it 12-1 in Purple’s favor. Green got just one run back in the home half: David Pittard drew a lead-off walk and came around, one base at a time, on singles by Trey Wall, Anthony Galindo, and, on an untouched pop in front of second base, Jim Maloy. (Trey and Anthony completed 3-for-3 games with their hits.)
So, 12-2 through four, and soon 15-2, as Purple put across three runs on a walk and five singles in the top of the fifth, the inning ending with a bases-loaded 6-4-3 double play, Ralph Villela to Mike Hill to Daniel Baladez.
Eddy Murillo, in the stands after Scott Wright took over as plate umpire, on Jim Foelker’s drive to left that landed six inches foul, just before Jim singled: “I’d have called that fair.”
Jack Spellman: “It’s true.”
Green batted around and scored five times on seven singles and Ralph Villela’s rally-capping double in the bottom half, but still trailed 15-7 entering the buffet, so the teams flip-flopped. Mike Hill and Paul Rubin singled to open the inning, Paul completing a 4-for-4 day, but the next three batters went out: Mike Garrison on a two-strike foul fly to left field, David Pittard on a 4-6 force out (Mike scoring), and Tommy Deleon on a hard grounder to first baseman Daniel Carvajal. Final score: Purple 15, Green 8
Standings – Session Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Red 5 0 1.000 — 80 63 +17 W5
Purple 3 1 .750 1.5 63 47 +16 W3
Maroon 3 2 .600 2 73 67 + 6 W2
Gray 2 2 .500 2.5 48 48 0 L1
Green 1 3 .250 3.5 46 53 – 7 L2
Blue 1 3 .250 3.5 44 57 -13 L3
Orange 0 4 .000 4.5 48 67 -19 L4
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Red 2-0 3-0 0 0-0 2-0 1-0
Purple 1-1 2-0 0 0-0 1-1 0-0
Maroon 1-2 2-0 1 0-0 1-1 1-0
Gray 2-0 0-2 1 0-0 0-0 2-2
Green 0-3 1-0 0 0-0 0-1 0-1
Blue 1-1 0-2 1 0-0 0-0 1-0
Orange 0-2 0-2 0 0-0 0-1 0-2
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 0 0 1 1 1 1 4
Gray 1 X 1 0 1 0 1 4
Green 1 0 X 0 0 0 0 1
Maroon 0 2 2 X 1 0 0 5
Orange 0 0 1 0 X 0 1 2
Purple 1 0 2 1 1 X 0 5
Red 1 1 1 1 1 1 X 6
________________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 4 3 7 3 5 2 3 24
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Gregory Bied – 1
David Brown – 1
Tim Bruton – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Clint Fletcher – 1
Eddie Ortiz – 1
Dave Pittard – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Thursday April 25:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (0-4) at Purple (3-1), Red umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (5-0) at Green (1-3), Purple umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Gray (2-2) at Blue (1-3), Green umpiring
Maroon has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Orange at 10:30 versus second-place Purple and Green at 11:30, home versus first-place Red, have a chance to make up ground against the teams that are threatening to turn the Session Two race into a runaway. That’s two teams that are a combined 1-7 facing two that are a combined 8-1 – an uphill battle, and as General Bobert D. Leigh famously said, “Never fight uphill, me boys.” Speaking of incivility, either Gray or Blue will get back in the win column at 12:30.
I will be out of town Thursday, so the Picayune might not appear till sometime Friday, and probably will be a truncated edition. Will anyone notice? Only one thing is certain: Time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Reminder that Mike Mordecai has a weekly gig Mondays, 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., at the Elephant Room: https://elephantroom.com/calendar
Kind of light on the wiseassery this issue, I apologize. I’ll look for inspiration in the Big Apple.