B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 27 – June 19, 2023
B League President Jack McDermott announces the contraction of the Purple team:
Happy Father’s Day to all of you fathers out there.
Wanted to let you all know that the Purple team will be breaking up. They have lost or will be losing several players for extended times, some not returning at all, and have been struggling to field a team, needing to draw multiple players every game.
We will be assigning the remaining Purple players to the other teams, which should not be a problem since most of the games require multiple lottery players.
Dropping down to six teams will require a new schedule, so game times will be changing. Sorry for this inconvenience, but a new six-team schedule was necessary to balance out how often each team played one another. There will no longer be a bye team.
We are still working out the details but will let you all know by Tuesday.
***For Monday, June 19, we will follow the current schedule.***
Thanks for your cooperation,
Jack McD
Weather: Gah, miserably hot and humid – 86 degrees with 79% humidity at the start of the 10:30 game, mostly sunny, temperature rising into the 90s over the course of play while the humidity did not abate and the sun blazed. There were occasional breezes, at least.
Injured list:
Blue team: Stan Fisher – Dupuytren’s contracture
Gold team: Jeff Stone – broken left pinky finger
Maroon team: Chris Villareal – hamstring
Alvin Gauna – broken finger
Returned to action: Green’s Reed Durant
Games of Monday June 19:
10:30 a.m., Blue (0-1) at Green (0-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 2 5 0 4 5 X 16 Green 0 2 3 0 3 0 8 Pitchers: Blue – Spike Davidson; Green – Chunky Wright. Umpires: home plate – Jeff Stone; bases – Dave Berra, Mike Garrison, and Jack McDermott. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Spike Davidson (2 for 2 with a walk), Larry Fiorentino (4 for 4 with a double), and Anthony Galindo (4 for 4 with a double and a triple); Green – Mike Hill and Donnie Janac (each 3 for 3).
Blue jumped ahead in the early going, scoring two runs in the top of the first on three singles and Morgan Witthoft’s sacrifice fly, then five in the second on five singles, a walk, and Bobby Miller’s double to right field. Green had difficulty generating offense against Spike Davidson – 2-3 hitters Mike Hill and Donnie Janac each went 3 for 3, but the other nine Green hitters were a combined 10 for 26 with one walk. Green got on the board with two runs on four singles in the bottom of the second, then played good defense to keep Blue from scoring in the top of the third. Morgan Witthoft led off that inning with a triple to center field, and Eddy Murillo followed with a single on a cue-ball pop in front the pitcher, the ball squibbing away from Chunky, Morgan holding at third. But Fritz Hensel lined out to shortstop Mike Hill, who then started an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play, Clint Fletcher on the pivot, on Dale Fugate’s grounder.
Green got three runs on four singles in the bottom of the third, cutting Blue’s lead to 7-5, but that was their high-water mark. Blue got four runs in the fourth, most of the damage coming with two out. Spike Davidson walked and Jimmy Shull and Bobby Miller singled to start the inning, loading the bases. Spike’s pinch-runner scored on Richard Battle’s 6-4-3 double-play grounder (again Mike Hill to Clint Fletcher). Larry Fiorentino singled in Jimmy. Anthony Galindo followed with a triple to center field, Larry scoring, and then scored on Morgan Withhoft’s base hit. Spike Davidson held Green scoreless in the bottom half, working around a one-out single by Boo Resnick, and then Blue put up five runs in the top of the fifth – Fritz Hensel led off with a walk, five of the next six batters singled, Larry Fiorentino collecting his fifth RBI of the game with his, and Anthony Galindo cappped the rally with a run-scoring double.
Green got three runs back in the top of the fifth with a walk and four singles, but took an out when Chunky Wright passed the first-base commit line on his hit. With Blue leading 16-8, the teams agreed to flip-flop for the buffet. Ray Pilgrim led off the inning with a single, but was forced out at second on Boo Resnick’s grounder to shortstop, and then Eddy Murillo started a game-ending around-the-horn double play (Clint Fletcher’s third pivot) on Reed Durant’s grounder to third. Final score: Blue 16, Green 8
11:30 a.m., Gold (1-0) at Red (1-0):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gold 0 0 5 5 5 X 15 Red 0 0 4 4 0 2 10 Pitchers: Gold – Tom Kelm; Red – Donald Drummer. Mercenaries: Gold – Larry Fiorentino and Tom Kelm; Red – Anthony Galindo, Johnny Lee, Trey Wall, and Scott Wright. Umpires: home plate – Spike Davidson; bases – somebody and then Eddy Murillo. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Jack Spellman (2 for 2 with two walks) and Larry Young (2 for 2 with a walk); Gregory Bied and Trey Wall (each 2 for 2).
This was a fine, hard-fought game, both teams going with back-up pitchers as their primary hurlers are out – Gold’s Jeff Stone is recovering from a broken finger, so Gold picked up Tom Kelm to pitch; Red’s Jack Kelly is out of town (I think), so Red manager Donald Drummer took the mound. Both pitched like aces in the early going, keeping the game scoreless through two: Donald worked around a one-out walk in the first and a two-out single in the second; Tom gave up a pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the first, but got Daniel Baladez to ground out to first baseman Larry Young (it was quite the foot race to the bag), then escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the second by getting Johnny Lee to hit a hard one-hopper to shortstop for a 6u., 6-3 double play, Jack Spellman to Larry Young.
Gold broke through in the top of the third, scoring five times on a one-out walk to Tom Kelm, four consecutive singles, Denny Malloy’s sacrifice fly to Gregory Bied in left-center, and Rip Wright’s ringing two-run double to left field. Red got four runs back in the home half, but suffered a big loss. Terry Thompson singled to right-center and scored on Paul Rubin’s triple. Gregory Bied then came up and lined a hit to center field; he ran hard and got to second for a double, but pulled a quadriceps muscle, I think, doing so, subsequently left the game (Trey Wall entered in his place), and likely will miss some time. David Ferley drew a walk and Daniel Baladez lined a single to right to score Gregory’s pinch-runner. Tom Kelm got Hal Darman on a fly to Larry Fiorentino in left and Donald Drummer on a two-strike foul, but Scott Wright lined a single to score David with the fourth run.
The fourth inning was a repeat of the third, minus the injury to Gregory Bied: Gold scored five times in the top half on three walks, five singles, and Mike Garrison’s sacrifice fly; Red got four in its half on five singles, Hal Darman’s clutch two-out hit driving in the fourth.
Red kept hitting in the fifth, once again scoring five times, on five singles and a walk, and then Tom Kelm shut out Red in the home half, working round Johnny Lee’s two-out single. With Gold winning 15-8 and the heat so brutal, the teams agreed to flip-flop for the buffet. Paul Rubin (with his third hit) and Trey Wall (with his second in as many at bats) singled to start the inning, both advanced on David Ferley’s ground out to first (good play by Larry Young), and both scored on Daniel Baladez’s single. Second baseman Rip Wright made a good play on Hal Darman’s grounder to the right side, tagging out David Ferley (running for Daniel) for the second out. The game ended with Donald Drummer flying out to Jack McDermott in left-center field. Final score: Gold 15, Red 10
12:30 p.m., Purple (0-1) at Gray:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 2 1 5 2 3 13 Gray 3 5 4 0 2 14 Pitchers: Purple – Tommy Deleon; Gray – Greg Lloyd and Jerry Mylius. Mercenaries: Purple – Scott Wright and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home plate – Terry Thompson; bases – Donald Drummer. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Jack Crosley, Tommy Delon, Doc Hobar, Adam Reddell, and Don Solberg (all 3 for 3), and Jack Spellman (2 for 2); Gray – Tom Brownfield (2 for 2 with a walk), Greg Lloyd (2 for 2), and Trey Wall (3 for 3 with a double).
Purple’s final game was a battle that went down to the final batter. Gray had the best of it in the early going, winning each of the first two innings. Purple scored two runs on three singles in the first, one run on three singles in the second; Gray put across three runs on four singles in the first, after third baseman Adam Reddell made a terrific play and strong throw to first on Mick Parker’s lead-off grounder to the 5-6 hole; and then five runs on six hits in the second, David Kruse’s double to left the big hit in that frame. Scott Wright took himself out of the game after two innings, feeling overcome by the heat – that was a smart thing to do, in my opinion, it’s good to listen to your body. Jack Spellman entered in Scott’s place.
Purple battled back in the middle innings, winning the third 5-4 (five runs on seven singles to tie the game 8-8, Gray reclaiming the lead with four runs on five singles in the home half) and the fourth 2-0. Larry Bunton doubled with one out, and pinch-runner Jack Spellman took third on Doc Hobar’s single, then scored on Adam Reddell’s sacrifice fly to left field, just behind shortstop – David Kruse made an excellent play to get to the pop and hold on to it, but had no chance of throwing out the runner scoring. Singles by Jim Aaron and Don Solberg brought Doc around, cutting Gray’s lead to 12-10. Gray in the home half got a lead-off single by Mick Parker and a one-out walk by Tom Brownfield, but Rick Kahn lined out to second and Daniel Carvajal flied out to left field.
Purple entered the buffet trailing by two, and proceeded to score three, as four of the first five hitters singled – Jack Crosley and Tommy Deleon completed 3-for-3 days, and after Gil Delossantos grounded out to second, Jack Spellman and Daniel Baladez each picked up his second hit of the game. Larry Bunton stepped up and hit a hard line drive to the right of second base, but was robbed of a hit by Tom Brownfield, whose snap throw to first beat Gil, running for Daniel, back to the bag, the L-4, 4-3 double play ending the inning.
Gray came up needing one to tie, two to win. Rick Jensen led off with a single, took second on Frank Delmonte’s line-drive base hit to left-center, and scored the tying run on Trey Wall’s double. Tommy Deleon got Jerry Mylius to foul off a two-strike pitch for the first out. Jim McAnelly then stepped up and sharply grounded a ball down the third-base line, fair by a couple inches as it skipped past third baseman Adam Reddell, driving in the winning run. Final score: Gray 14, Purple 13. Kudos to the Purple team, which did not give up, instead seeing five of its players go 3 for 3 as it battled to the final batter.
Purple batters in action in the team’ final game — top to bottom, Don Solberg, Mike Mordecai, and Tommy Deleon. Frank Delmonte is catching for Gray, Terry Thompson is the home-plate umpire.
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gold 2 0 1.000 –- 28 21 + 7 W2
Maroon 1 0 1.000 .5 18 12 + 6 W2
Gray 1 0 1.000 .5 14 13 + 1 W4
Blue 1 1 .500 1 28 26 + 2 W1
Red 1 1 .500 1 29 31 – 2 L1
Purple 0 2 .000 2 29 33 – 4 L3
Green 0 2 .000 2 19 29 -10 L2
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Maroon 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Red 0-1 1-0 0 0-0 0-1 0-0
Gold 1-0 1-0 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Gray 1-0 0-0 1 0-0 0-0 1-0
Green 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-1 0-0
Purple 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Blue 0-1 1-0 0 0-0 1-1 0-0
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 2 2 2 0 2.5 1 9.5
Gold 2 X 2 5 1 1 2 13
Gray 2 1 X 2 1 2 3 11
Green 1 0 1 X 1 4 3 10
Maroon 3 3 1 3 X 3 1 14
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 3 1 1 1 2 3 X 11
_______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 12.5 8 9 13 6 15.5 11 75
Schedule for Thursday June 22:
10:30 a.m.: Gray (1-0) at Blue (1-1), Gold umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (1-1) at Gold (2-0), Blue umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Maroon (1-0) at Green (0-2), Red umpiring
Bye-bye to byes!
Preview: We move to a six-team, no-bye schedule on Thursday, which also will be the day of Bruce Barnett’s First Annual Welcome Back Burger Cookout. Bit of a quirk of the schedule is that Red and Gold will play again at 11:30, this time with Gold as the home team. Purple players will be reassigned to the remaining six teams, but as the Picayune goes to press, those assignments have not been announced, so it’s impossible to guess how this will affect the strength of the teams. That leaves as the big question, going into Thursday: Which will be the tastiest garnishes? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
I hope everyone had a great Bunker Hill Day.