B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 37 – August 3, 2026
Department of Corrections: Candy Perez was perfect at the plate for Blue this past Thursday, going 3 for 3 with a double in his return to B League play. And I missed THREE players for Green who were perfect Thursday versus Gray: Larry Fiorentino (3 for 3 with a double), Ivan Budiselic (2 for 2 with a triple), and Boo Resnick (2 for 2). (The bottom half of Green’s lineup went a combined 11 for 12 with a walk, a double, a triple, eight runs scored, seven driven in.) The Picayune regrets the errors.
New player assignment: Candy Perez has rejoined B League, and has been assigned to Red team.
Games of Monday August 3:
10:00 a.m.: Blue (5-5) at Gray (4-5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 1 0 2 3 0 6 Gray 0 3 5 5 X 13 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Gray – Jack Kelly (innings 1-3) and Luis Sanchez (innings 4-buffet). Mercenaries: Blue – Ken Brown, Trent Peacock, and Patrick Schmidt; Gray – Ray Pilgrim, Jeff Stone, and Ralph Villela; Jack Spellman entered for Jim McAnelly when Jim took a batted ball off his right middle finger; Spellman stayed in the game after Jim re-entered. Umpires: home – Rex Horvath and Chunky Wright; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Tom Bellavia (3 for 3 with two doubles) and Larry Young (2 for 2 with a walk); Gray – Clint Fletcher (3 for 3 with a double), Jack Kelly, Ray Pilgrim, and Jack Spellman (all 2 for 2; Jack Kelly earned an Ohtani Award), Jim McAnelly (1 for 1 with two walks), and Ralph Villela (2 for 2 with a triple).
Weather report: 87 degrees, feels like 94; 58% humidity; wind from the South at 2 MPH; sunny.
After Blue scored a single run in the top of the first inning – Tom Bellavia’s pop-fly double drove in George Romo, who’d walked and advanced on a fielder’s choice – Joe Bernal threw a scoreless bottom half, working around Clint Fletcher’s two-out single, a rare misplay by Blue shortstop David Brown. After that, however, Gray dominated the game, outscoring Blue 13-5 the rest of the way, collecting 16 hits and scoring 13 runs off Joe over the next three innings.
Jack Kelly shut out Blue in the top of the second, stranding two runners when Clint Fletcher made a good running catch of David Brown’s drive to right-center for the third out. Gray grabbed the lead in the home half, scoring three times on four hits, Ralph Villela’s triple the big blow – it drove in Mike Velaney and Jack Kelly’s pinch-runner with the first two runs, and Ralph scored the third on Jeff Stone’s sacrifice fly to Ken Brown in right-center.
Sometime in the first half of the game, the day’s true outrage took place, when Mike Velaney touched and re-oriented Jeff Stone’s folding chair, on the outside of the home dugout. These two hotheads were really going at it, as more or less depicted here:
This blood feud will echo down the ages for generations to come. Sad. Should make for a good poem, though.
Blue briefly tied the game by scoring twice on four singles in the top of the third, but Gray decisively won the inning, scoring five times without making an out in the bottom half, on Paul Rubin’s lead-off walk, Clint Fletcher’s double, and five consecutive singles.
Luis Sanchez took over on the mound for Gray in the top of the fourth. He allowed three runs on three singles and RBI doubles by David Brown (driving in the first run) and Tom Bellavia (driving in the third). The inning ended with Joe Bernal being thrown out 9-6-5, Clint Fletcher to Ralph Villela to Ray Pilgrim, trying to go first to third on Tom’s hit.
Gray then won the inning with another five-run rally in the bottom half, on seven singles and Jim McAnelly’s base on balls, making just a single out along the way.
That gave Gray a seven-run lead entering the buffet. Daniel Baladez led off with a single, and Larry Young followed with a clean hit as well, but then forgot he had a runner from home and passed the commit line, costing Blue an out. (I’m still crediting him with a perfect day at the plate, though, 2 for 2 with a walk.) Luis Sanchez then nailed down the save by getting Donnie Janac to ground out to Ray Pilgrim at third and Larry Shupe to ground out to Ralph Villela at shortstop.
For the game, six of Gray’s 11 batters were perfect at the plate, and as a team Gray after the first inning collectively went 17 for 20 (.850 batting average) with three walks (.870 on-base percentage) against one of the league’s best pitchers.
Final score: Gray 13, Blue 6
I don’t believe I’ve ever before had to adjudicate whether a pitcher receives an Ohtani Award for an incomplete game. I’m awarding it to Jack Kelly, who was the winning pitcher for Gray and went 2 for 2 at the plate. It’s Jack’s first of the 2024 season. Anime figure Hashimo JJK made the anime presentation to anime Jack.
11:00 a.m.: Green (8-3) at Maroon (9-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Green 4 5 0 0 4 13 Maroon 3 5 2 1 0 11 Pitchers: Green – Spike Davidson; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Maroon – Tim Coles, Clint Fletcher, and George Romo. Umpires: home – Jack Kelly; bases – Jim Foelker. Perfect at the plate: Green – Ivan Budiselic and Boo Resnick (both 2 for 2), Gary Coyle (3 for 3 with a double), and Rex Horvath (2 for 2 with a walk); Maroon – Tim Coles (2 for 2 with two doubles), Clint Fletcher (1 for 1 with a walk), and Scott Wright (3 for 3). Home run: Steve Browne (inside the park) (4).
As expected, a hard-fought game for first place.
Green broke on top, scoring four times in the top of the first on five singles and Gary Coyle’s double. Larry Fiorentino drove in the fourth run with a two-out line single to right field, but the inning ended when Terry O’Brien, running for Larry from home, forgot himself and raced almost all the way to second base – reminded by the Green bench, he turned around and headed back to first, but was tagged out before he could get back.
Spike Davidson retired Maroon’s first two batters to start the inning, Steve Browne on a grounder to second baseman Doc Hobar and George Brindley, in his first at bat since returning from his European vacation and still shaking off the rust, on a foul pop to third baseman Gary Coyle. The next four batters singled, three runs scoring, with Steve Browne, running for Jeff Stone, scoring from first on David Pittard’s pop-fly single to short right field.
Both teams scored five times without making an out in the second inning. Green did it with six consecutive hits: Doc Hobar’s lead-off double, three singles, Mike Garrison’s RBI double, and a Terry O’Brien single that brought Mike in with the fifth run. Mike had almost run into an out, as he started for third when it looked like George Brindley’s throw from left-center would go home; but Jeff Stone cut the ball off and had Mike dead to rights, halfway between second and third. Mike managed to escape the pickle: Jeff threw to third baseman George Romo, and Mike began retreating toward second; George threw to shortstop Tim Coles, and Mike reversed course, heading back toward third; Tim threw back to George, who began running Mike back toward second, and Mike committed to the return – George threw to Tim, but Mike sneaked the cheese past the rat, slid in ahead of the tag (in B League you can slide only when returning to a base), and was called safe.
Maroon was even more efficient in the home half, scoring five runs on five hits by five batters: Alan Phillips lead off with a single and Tim Coles doubled; they both scored on Clint Fletcher’s single through the 5-6 hole; George Romo followed with a single to left field; and Steve Browne ripped an inside-the-park three-run homer, a line drive down the right-field side, about five feet fair, Steve’s fourth home run of the season, as seen here:
Maroon took the lead in the third inning. Jeff Stone held Green scoreless in the top half, working out of a two-on, no-out jam after he walked Rex Horvath and gave up a single to Gary Coyle to start the frame. Jeff retired Tom Brownfield on a foul pop down the first-base side that Alan Phillips came in and made a good catch of, got Spike Davidson to ground back to the box for a 1-6 force at second for the second out, then got Larry Fiorentino to hit a two-strike foul to end the inning. Maroon then scored two runs on singles by four of its first five batters in the home half. With two in, one out, and Maroon now leading by a run, it was Spike Davidson’s turn to squash a rally: he got Dale Fugate, making his first appearance since breaking a shin bone early in the season, to pop out to second baseman Doc Hobar, and Alan Phillips to fly out to Mike Garrison in left.
Jeff Stone held Green scoreless again in the top of the fourth, working around one-out singles by Ivan Budiselic and Boo Resnick, both completing 2-for-2 games. (It’s worth noting, I think, that Green’s recent surge has coincided with Ivan and Boo being extremely productive at the bottom of the team’s lineup – neither has made an out in Green’s last two games.) Maroon won the inning, scoring a single run in the home half: Tim Coles led off with his second double in as many at bats; Clint Fletcher walked; Tim took third on a play at second, as George Romo’s line drive glanced off Gary Coyle’s glove to Rex Horvath, who alertly snapped a throw to Doc Hobar to force out Clint; and, after Steve Browne hit a two-strike foul, George Brindley delivered a two-out single to drive Tim in.
Maroon led by two entering the buffet, and Jeff Stone recorded a big first out, as Terry O’Brien grounded out to third baseman George Romo (I think – Maroon was playing with 11, so there was some rotation defensively). But the next five batters hit safely, four runs scoring. Rex Horvath and Gary Coyle both singled to left, completing perfect days at the plate. Rex scored and Gary took third on Tom Brownfield’s single to left-center. Spike Davidson lined a single to right field, driving in Gary. (There was some discussion in the peanut gallery over how often Spike goes oppo – not often that I can remember, but opinions differ.) Larry Fiorentino then stepped up and absolutely smoked a line drive down the right-field line, fair by a foot or so. It would normally have been an extra-base hit, and both Tom and Mike Garrison, running for Spike, scored easily on the hit; Larry is dealing with plantar fasciitis and had Terry O’Brien running for him from home, and this time Terry knew to stop at first. Larry further aggravated his fasciitis on his follow-through and limped off – hoping this is not a serious setback for him.
The inning ended with Jeff Stone fielding Doc Hobar’s sharp comebacker and starting a 1-6-3 double play, Tim Coles on the pivot.
Maroon came up needing two to tie and three to win. Scott Wright and Jeff Stone singled to open the inning, Scott completing a 3-for-3 game. But Spike retired the next three batters: David Pittard popped out to second baseman Doc Hobar; Dale Fugate hit a two-strike foul down the third-base side; and Alan Phillips flied out to Mike Garrison in left field.
Final score: Green 13, Maroon 11, Green ending Maroon’s seven-game winning streak, extending its own to six games, and moving into first place for the session.
Noon: Orange (5-5) at Red (4-6):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 0 0 0 2 0 1 3 Red 5 4 5 1 X X 15 Pitchers: Orange – Tommy Deleon; Red – Trent Peacock. Mercenaries: Orange – George Brindley and Alan Phillips; Red – Steve Sandall. Umpires: home – Jeff Stone; bases – Scott Wright and Steve Browne. Perfect at the plate: Orange – George Brindley (2 for 2); Red – Tim Coles and Trent Peacock (both 3 for 3 with a double; Ohtani Award for Trent), Mark Dolan (2 for 2), Anthony Galindo (2 for 2 with a walk and a double), and Ralph Villela (3 for 3).
Dave Berra weather update: 94 degrees, felt like 104; 40% humidity; wind from the South at 4 MPH; sunny – hot, hot, hot.
This one was just about as ugly as the line score indicates, with the mild, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly, Dr. Jeckyl version of Orange showing up and being easily handled by Red hurler Trent Peacock. The left-hander allowed one harmless single in each of the first two innings, then worked around a pair of one-out singles in the top of the third, retiring Orange 1-2 hitter Matt Levitt and Jack Spellman (combined 0 for 6 in this game) on pops to third base and catcher, respectively.
Meanwhile Red scored 14 of a possible 15 runs over its first three at bats: five runs on six singles, Anthony Galindo’s double, and Donald Drummer’s sacrifice fly to left-center in the bottom of the first, all of the hits well struck; four runs on five singles and Tim Cole’s RBI double in the second, the inning ending with Orange’s best play of the game, a 10-3-2 relay, Alan Phillips to Mark Hernandez to Hal Darman, that cut down Tim trying to score the fifth run on Johnny Lee’s single to right field; and five runs on five singles and Trent Peacock’s double in the third, Trent driving in the fourth and fifth runs.
Orange avoided the embarrassment of being shut out by scoring two runs in the top of the fourth. With one out, singles by Mark Hernandez and Adam Reddell and a walk to Tommy Deleon loaded the bases, and Don Solberg ripped a two-run single to right field. The inning ended with Ralph Villela turning a 6u., 6-3 double play on Jack Crosley’s grounder up the middle.
Red got a run back in the home half: Anthony Galindo drew a lead-off walk, took third on Tim Coles’s single, and scored on Candy Perez’s grounder to third baseman Adam Reddell, who threw to second for the force. Orange got a cheap out when Candy, thinking he was going to be replaced by a pinch-runner, left first base and entered the dugout before his runner came out – a letter-of-the-law call, I guess, one I’m glad wasn’t any kind of a difference maker in a blowout game. The inning ended with second baseman George Brindley making a good play to his right of Johnny Lee’s hard grounder and throwing out runner-from-home Ralph Villela (I think it was). (For no reason other than that he’s league president and hasn’t been around for us to abuse the last month or so, George was subjected to all manner of unwarranted grief today. I’m glad he’s back.)
Hal Darman and George singled to start the fifth inning, but Trent Peacock retired the next three batters: Alan Phillips on a fly to left fielder Richard Battle, Matt Levitt on a called third strike, and Jack Spellman on a weak force-out grounder to second baseman Candy Perez, a truly terrible swing at a 3-1 pitch.
With Red leading by a baker’s dozen, the teams flip-flopped and proceeded to the buffet. Orange scratched out one more run, on three singles, Don Solberg driving in Pat Scott with the third – Don had all three of Orange’s RBI today. The game ended on Jack Crosley’s line drive to second baseman Candy Perez.
Final score: Red 15, Orange 3
Trent Peacock earned his second Ohtani Award of the season, pitching Red to victory while going 3 for 3 with a double, two runs scored, and two RBI at the plate. He received his award from the surprisingly friendly Appa water monster, within view of Mount Fuji.
2026 standings:
| Session 3 standings: | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Green | 9 | 3 | .750 | 0 | 180 | 162 | 18 | W6 |
| Maroon | 8 | 3 | .727 | 0.5 | 145 | 132 | 13 | L1 |
| Blue | 5 | 6 | .455 | 3.5 | 118 | 103 | 15 | L2 |
| Gray | 5 | 6 | .455 | 3.5 | 118 | 119 | -1 | W1 |
| Orange | 5 | 6 | .455 | 3.5 | 141 | 144 | -3 | L1 |
| Red | 5 | 6 | .455 | 3.5 | 137 | 146 | -9 | W2 |
| Purple | 2 | 9 | .182 | 6.5 | 124 | 157 | -33 | L5 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | Last 5 | ||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | games: | ||
| Green | 3-3 | 6-0 | 1 | 1-0 | 4-1 | 3-1 | WWWWW | |
| Maroon | 4-2 | 4-1 | 3 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 5-1 | WWWWL | |
| Blue | 2-3 | 3-3 | 1 | 1-1 | 4-2 | 1-2 | LLWLL | |
| Gray | 3-2 | 2-4 | 0 | 1-1 | 2-1 | 1-4 | WWLLW | |
| Orange | 3-2 | 2-4 | 2 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 2-2 | LLLWL | |
| Red | 3-3 | 2-3 | 0 | 1-0 | 2-4 | 2-1 | LWLWW | |
| Purple | 0-6 | 2-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 0-3 | LLLLL | |
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 22 | |
| Gray | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 13 | |
| Green | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 18 | |
| Maroon | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 20 | |
| Orange | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 15 | |
| Purple | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | |
| Red | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 14 | |
| TOTAL: | 10 | 18 | 15 | 11 | 17 | 23 | 17 | 111 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 8
Ralph Villela – 8
Steve Browne – 4
Tony Garcia – 4
Trent Peacock – 4
David Brown – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Allen Phillips – 2
Scott Rokita – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Jack Spellman – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Richard Battle – 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
Rick Kahn – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Jack McDermott – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
David Pittard – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Patrick Schmidt – 1
Scott Wright – 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: 6 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1, July 2, July 9)
Tommy Deleon: 5 (April 6, April 30, June 11, July 6, July 30)
Spike Davidson: 3 (May 4, July 2, July 20)
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 August 6:
10:00 a.m.: Maroon (8-3) at Purple (2-9), Gray umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Gray (5-6) at Orange (5-6), Purple umpiring
Noon: Red (5-6) at Green (9-3), Orange umpiring
Blue has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: We’ve got four teams tied for third place for the session at 5-6. One of them, Blue, has the bye and will maintain that mark. Two, Gray and Orange, will square off at 11:00. (Orange leads the season series 3-2.) Red, which opened a can of whoop-ass versus Orange today, takes on first-place Green at noon. (They have split their season series 3-3 so far.) The first game of the day has Purple returning from a bye and trying to get back on track versus a Maroon team that lost and fell out of first place today. (Maroon leads the season series 5-1.) It’s going to be another hot one, with a lot of players gone to Waxahatchie for the tourney there – hydrate in advance and think about playing an extra game. Will mercenaries spark upsets? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Podcast review: Rhode Island Report
Host Ed Fitzpatrick, possessor (“possessah”) of the greatest Rhode Island accent evah, presents weekly “big conversations from our little state” on this Boston Globe-Rhode Island PBS co-produced podcast. Fittingly, episodes are generally pretty short, around 20 to 30 minutes, though occasionally they’ll supersize for a political candidates debate. State politics is a major topic, as it’s a particular area of expertise for Eddie, who’s a longtime political reporter, and if there’s a flaw to the podcast, it’s an overemphasis on minutia concerning the state legislature, coverage of which veers too frequently into inside-baseball territory – nobody outside Joe Shekarski’s family gives a rodent’s behind about the Speaker’s ongoing quest to secure a state Supreme Court seat. There’s a lot of public policy coverage, with emphasis on the economy and local business (whither Hasbro?), infrastructure and transportation (the Washington Street Bridge fiasco, oy), profiles and interviews (Gina Raimondo every six months, it seems), but the best episodes focus on culture and community – where to go for the best doughnuts, which is the best Del’s Frozen Lemonade outlet, who has the best stuffies, etc. As Springsteen sings, “Son, take a good look around/This is your hometown,” and every episode brings me back, in a good way. New England content: 100%. Canadian content: Fair amount, just about anytime there’s discussion of the fishing industry. Listening speed: 1X. Rating: 