B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 36 – July 21, 2025
Games of Monday July 21:
10:30 a.m., Maroon (5-2) at Blue (1-5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 1 5 1 1 0 8 Blue 2 0 3 0 1 6 Pitchers: Maroon – Jeff Stone; Blue – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Maroon – Donnie Janac, George Romo, and Chris Waddell; Blue – Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – David Brown (also kept the scorebook, which made this recap possible); bases – Marvin Krabbenhoft. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Tony Garcia (3 for 3 with two triples) and Jeff Stone (3 for 3); Blue – Tommy Deleon (2 for 2 with a walk).
Well-played game. Maroon scored a single run in the top of the first, as Tony Garcia tripled to right-center with one out and scored on Jeff Stone’s single. Blue won the inning, scoring two runs in the home half on three singles and George Brindley’s double. Blue base-coached itself out of an additional run or more when the bench collectively told Tom Brownfield to try for third after Jim Foelker’s grounder to the shortstop hole was thrown past second base by George Romo; Tom was ready to stop at second, but at our urging tried for the extra base and wound up getting thrown out by Jeff Stone.
Maroon took the lead for good with five runs on seven singles, the last five with two out, in the top of the second, Jeff Stone retiring Blue in order in the bottom half. Bobby Miller in left-center made a nice running catch on Joe Dayoc’s drive to his left for the second out.
A single run in the top of the third put Maroon up by five. Ivan Budiselic pulled a single to right field to open the frame, then his pinch-runner took third on Tommy Langa’s pop-fly single to left and scored on Tom Kelm’s 6-4 force-out grounder. Blue scored three runs on four singles and Jim Foelker’s base on balls in the home half, cutting Maroon’s lead to 7-5 entering the final five-run inning.
Maroon added a single run in the top of the fourth when Tony Garcia ripped another triple, this one to right field with two out, and again scored on a hit by Jeff Stone, the two of them completing 3-for-3 games. Jeff then hurled a scoreless bottom half, working around Jack Spellman’s one-out single.
Maroon failed to add to its lead in the top of the buffet. Tom Kelm and George Romo knocked two-out singles, but Tommy Deleon got Chris Waddell to hit a two-strike foul.
That left Blue needing three to tie, four to win in the bottom half. The inning started promisingly, with David Pittard leading off with a double and Tom Brownfield following with a single. That put runners on the corners with none out. Jim Foelker popped out to shortstop George Romo for the first out. Tommy Deleon singled, completing a perfect day at the plate (two singles and a walk), David scoring. That put the tying run at home plate. But Jeff Stone retired the next two batters, first getting Daniel Baladez to hit into a 6-4 force. Jeff then worked to a full count on Rip Wright and froze him with an unhittable pitch that curved and nicked the front corner of the mat for called strike three and the ball game. Final score: Maroon 8, Blue 6
I didn’t take any pictures during today’s games. Here’s a couple of chickens I saw on the way over.
11:30 a.m., Red (2-6) at Gray (3-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 0 5 4 3 3 0 15 Gray 1 0 1 5 1 6 14 Pitchers: Red – Gil Delossantos; Gray – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Red – George Brindley, Jim Foelker, Don Solberg, and Chris Waddell; Gray – David Brown, Tommy Gillis, Johnny Lee, possibly others. Umpires: home – Tommy Deleon and Daniel Baladez; bases – David Pittard. Perfect at the plate: Red – none; Gray – ?.
A comment I frequently receive is along the lines of “How do you remember all the details of the games?” And as you’ll understand when you read the next two crummy, light-on-detail recaps, the fact of the matter is that I’m deeply reliant on Dave Berra and Terry Watts for their detailed scorekeeping. Today both Dave and Terry were absent, and you’ll see how poorly I do recalling details when I don’t have their work to fall back on.
Red didn’t score in the top of the first, Jack Kelly working around Anthony Galindo’s one-out single. Gray got one run in the home half – as I recall, Tommy Gillis hit a double or a triple and scored on the next batter’s hit. Something like that. The exchange of the day came after Johnny Lee took a called strike two on a pitch that just clipped the plate, according to home-plate umpire Tommy Deleon.
Johnny Lee to Anthony Galindo: How much did you pay Tommy to make that call?
Anthony Galindo: We had to pay him in beer, Tommy doesn’t take cash.
Red then settled in and put up crooked numbers in each of the next four innings, taking the lead with five runs in the top of the second on Dale Fugate’s lead-off walk and seven singles. The only out Red made in that inning came when Jim Foelker was thrown out trying to score from second on Jack Spellman’s ground single to right field, must have been a 10-4-2 relay, Morgan Witthoft to Mike Malay to Hal Darman. (I offer this with about a 75% level of confidence.) (Geez, this is hard. I had a much easier time last week just making stuff up.)
Red scored four runs in the third, the first three on George Brindley’s bases-loaded triple, George then scoring the fourth on Don Solberg’s grounder to second baseman Mike Malay; and put across three in the top of the fourth, on two singles and doubles by Jack Spellman (liner over first base that landed on the right-field foul line) and Rolando Rodriguez (gapper to left-center). All three outs that inning came on pops to shortstop George Romo, ranging far and wide over the left side.
Meanwhile, Gray did not score in the second and managed just one run in the third before coming alive and putting up five run in the bottom of the fourth, on a bunch of hits (duh).
Red scored three runs on six singles in the top of the fifth, the last four hits coming with two out, but left the bases loaded. Gray got one back in the home half.
So heading into the buffet, Red led by seven and was collectively thinking about how quickly we’d force a flip-flop. Instead, Jack Kelly got two quick outs on balls in the air, Jim McAnelly flying out to left-center and George Brindley popping out to second baseman Mike Malay. Don Solberg singled, becoming the sixth player in the Red lineup to go 3 for 4 in the game, but Jack got Jim Foelker to pop out to shortstop George Romo, his fifth catch for a putout of the game.
Still, Red led 15-7, seemed like a pretty secure lead. But Gil Delossantos struggled with his control, seemingly going to a three-ball count on every hitter in the Gray lineup, walking at least a couple and giving up a bunch of singles. In no time, Gray had six runs in with one out and runners on first and second. The game ended with an unorthodox double play: Jack Kelly, with a runner from home (Matt Levitt), hit a short pop behind the mound, just to the right of second base. At shortstop, I fielded the ball on the hop, stepped back and tagged the bag with my right foot, then turned and threw to third baseman Chris Waddell to double up George Romo, advancing from second – I knew I probably couldn’t throw out Matt, but George had his back to me and didn’t see me turn and throw; I managed to arc the ball over George’s head to Chris, who caught it cleanly for the final out of a game-ending 6u., 6-5 double play. Final score: Red 15, Gray 14, Gray’s losing streak now at five games, though the team still has a +9 run differential for the session despite its 3-5 record.
12:30 p.m., Purple (4-2) at Orange (5-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 0 0 1 2 0 2 5 Orange 3 1 2 2 0 X 8 Pitchers: Purple – Spike Davidson; Orange – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Purple – Anthony Galindo, Tommy Gillis, and Johnny Lee; Orange – Jim Foelker and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Jack Crosley; bases – Jack Kelly. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Tommy Gillis (3 for 3 with a double and a triple), possibly also David Brown, Spike Davidson, and Johnny Lee, but I'm not sure; Orange – Marvin Krabbenhoft (3 for 3).
Weather report: I finally checked the KXAN app just prior to the start of the 12:30 game. Temperature was 91 degrees, felt like 99, with 54% humidity; wind from the South at 10 MPH, along with the cloud cover made it pretty bearable.
Both pitchers were effective in this one. David Brown commented afterward of Purple’s Spike Davidson that “(he) hit every edge of the mat and never missed the mat by more than an inch or two.” Ray Pilgrim worked a scoreless top of the first, and after allowing a lead-off single to Peter Atkins, Spike got Daniel Carvajal to hit into a 6-4 force and Terry O’Brien to fly out to right field (good catch by Henry Flores). The third out of the inning was hard to secure, though, as David Brown doubled and the three hitters following David each singled, three runs coming across to give Orange a lead it never relinquished.
Ray Pilgrim worked another scoreless inning in the top of the second, with David Brown starting an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play, Terry O’Brien on the pivot. Orange got a run on three singles in the home half.
Purple finally got on the board with a single run in the top of the third, but Orange won the inning with two runs in the bottom half, Larry Shupe’s lined RBI double to left-center the key hit.
Purple had a chance for a big inning in the fourth. Two runs were in with two out, runners on first and second. Rick Jensen was the runner at second, pinch-running for Johnny Lee. Matt Levitt was up, and he took three pitches for balls, but was told by Purple manager Larry Young that he had to refuse the walk because the next batter due up was Rick. This alerted Orange that Rick had to try to score on any batted ball, no matter what. Sure enough, Matt lined a single to center; Peter Atkins charged the ball, I think juggled it for a moment, and hurried a throw in to shortstop David Brown; David also boxed the ball, which came in at his feet, then recovered and fired a strike home; the throw drew catcher Marvin Krabbenhoft to Marvin’s right, but he stretched and kept his foot on the mat and caught the peg cleanly, with Rick’s foot still in the air, for the third out, the most important out in the game.
Apropos of nothing, a statue of George Washington in Newburyport, Massachusetts. I like that you can run into statuary of Revolutionary War heroes while out and about in New England.
The fourth inning ended with about four minutes left on the clock, so the fifth was a five-run inning. Potentially. In fact, it was a zero-run inning, neither team scoring.
Entering the buffet, Purple needed five to tie. They got two, on a bunch of singles, before running out of outs. The game ended with a bang-bang play at second: David Brown managed to knock down a hard grounder hit a bit to the left of second base, recover the ball, and make a quick backhanded flip to second baseman Terry O’Brien at the bag, just beating Matt Levitt, whose foot was coming down but still in the air when Terry made the clean catch. Final score: Orange 8, Purple 5, Orange extending its winning streak to five games and remaining tied with Maroon for first place for the session.
Session 3 standings:
| Session 3 | Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Orange | 6 | 2 | .750 | 0 | 92 | 69 | 23 | W5 |
| Maroon | 6 | 2 | .750 | 0 | 88 | 80 | 8 | W4 |
| Purple | 4 | 3 | .571 | 1.5 | 70 | 63 | 7 | L2 |
| Green | 4 | 3 | .571 | 1.5 | 66 | 66 | 0 | W1 |
| Gray | 3 | 5 | .375 | 3 | 101 | 92 | 9 | L5 |
| Red | 3 | 6 | .333 | 3.5 | 88 | 117 | -29 | W1 |
| Blue | 1 | 6 | .143 | 4.5 | 59 | 77 | -18 | L1 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Orange | 3-1 | 3-1 | 0 | 2-0 | 1-0 | 1-2 | ||
| Maroon | 4-0 | 2-2 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 | ||
| Purple | 3-0 | 1-3 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Green | 2-2 | 2-1 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-1 | ||
| Gray | 1-3 | 2-2 | 0 | 0-1 | 2-1 | 1-3 | ||
| Red | 0-4 | 3-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-0 | ||
| Blue | 1-3 | 0-3 | 0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 1-2 |
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 16 |
| Gray | 3 | X | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
| Green | 2 | 3 | X | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 16 |
| Maroon | 3 | 4 | 4 | X | 2 | 3 | 2 | 18 |
| Orange | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | X | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| Purple | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | X | 3 | 15 |
| Red | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | X | 13 |
| TOTAL: | 14 | 18 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 18 | 105 |
2025 season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 4
Tommy Gillis – 4
Bobby Miller – 4
George Brindley – 3
Anthony Galindo – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
David Brown – 2
Tim Bruton – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Doc Hobar – 2
Rex Horvath – 2
Matt Levitt – 2
Terry O’Brien – 2
George Romo – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Jim Aaron – 1
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Gary Coyle – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Tony Garcia – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Ken Mockler – 1
Ray Pilgrim – 1
Jeff Stone – 1
Mike Velaney – 1
Ralph Villela – 1
Chris Waddell – 1
Chunky Wright – 1
Scott Wright – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Scott Wright – June 5
Schedule for Thursday July 24:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (6-2) at Maroon (6-2), Green umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Green (4-3) at Purple (4-3), Maroon umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Blue (1-6) at Red (3-6), Purple umpiring
Gray has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Orange Great matchups in all three games Thursday: the first-place teams (Orange and Maroon, both 6-2) square off in the opener; Green and Purple, tied for third place with 4-3 records, play at 11:30; and bottom-dwelling Blue and Red conclude the day’s action at 12:30.
I for one will not be able to look away.
With 11 dates left in the session, will any of the bottom-five teams be able to claw back into the race for first? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Today is National Ice Cream Day. I’ve got nothing to add.
