B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 28 – for June 29, 2026
Department of Poor Note-Taking: Traveling this past week, so everything I’m conveying is coming from the great Dave Berra, who has consistently given me excellent information that I have abjectly failed to properly transmit. To wit:
David Kruse was in attendance Thursday June 25.
Trent Peacock is a granddad, to new baby girl Trinity Jewel.
Games of Monday June 29:
10:30 a.m.: Blue (2-0) at Green (1-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 4 0 3 4 3 14 Green 1 3 0 1 0 5 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Green – Trent Peacock. Mercenaries: Blue – Hal Darman, Jim Foelker, and Bobby Miller; Green – Trent Peacock, Jeff Stone, and Ralph Villela. Umpires: home – Jack Kelly; bases – Mike Velaney, Clint Fletcher, and Anthony Galindo. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Joe Bernal (3 for 3 with a double – Ohtani Award), and David Brown and Bobby Miller (both 3 for 3); Red – Ralph Villela (2 for 2 with a double).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 86 degrees, feels like 94; 63% humidity; partly cloudy; wind from the South at 13 MPH, gusting to 25; nice in the shade.
David Brown again steps in to recap the day’s games:
In the previous edition of the Picayune, Travelin’ Jack pondered the age old paradox – “what happens when an unstoppable force (the Green Offense) meets an immovable object (Joe Bernal’s pitching)?” That question was answered during the early game on Monday at Krieg #2.
Blue led off the game with the urgency of a team that knew that they were going to have to score runs to keep up with a Green team that has averaged 18.5 runs/game in Session 3. Tom Bellavia started the inning with a lined single to the outfield. Four more singles and a pop-fly double to right field by Joe Bernal plated four runs before Green could end the inning on a ground out to Terry O’Brien, who threw to Ivan Budiselich at 1B.
Green lead-off hitter Doc Hobar started the bottom of the 1st with a ground ball up the middle that Joe Bernal snagged and threw to Larry Young at 1B for the first out of the inning. Steve Sandall followed with a fly ball down the right field line that fell in for a double. Mike Garrison hit a line drive to LF that Ken Mockler read well off the bat and caught for out number 2. Rex Horvath singled in Steve and Terry O’Brien singled to put two runners on base. Joe Bernal ended further damage by converting a ground ball up the middle into a 1-3 ground out.
Mercenary pitcher Trent Peacock made quick work of the Blue hitters in the 2nd inning. Pitch #1 – lined single to RF by mercenary Bobby Miller. Pitch #2 – 6U, 6-3 double play by Terry O’Brien. Pitch #3 – Line-out to RCF by Tom Bellavia. Does a double play-assisted three-pitch inning count on the bingo card? [Editor’s note: I would count this as a three-pitch innings, yes. That square on the bingo card was checked off by Jeff Stone on April 23.] Following a 5-3 groundout on a nice play by 3B George Romo to keep the Green lead-off hitter off the bases for the second straight inning, the Green mercenaries went to work kick-starting their adopted team’s offense. Trent Peacock and Jeff Stone singled and then Ralph Villela doubled to bring in Green’s second run of the game. Doc Hobar lined a single to CF to bring in two more, but Steve Sandall’s second fly ball down the right field line produced an out thanks to an excellent running catch by mercenary Jim Foelker. Mike Garrison’s deep fly ball to LCF was hauled in by Tom Bellavia to end Green’s most productive inning.
Blue got the three runs back in the top of the 3rd as Larry Young, Joe Bernal, George Romo, and Ken Mockler started the inning with well-struck singles. A 6u., 6-3 double play by Terry O’Brien interrupted the onslaught, but David Brown was able to plate the third run in with a single to RF. Green escaped further damage with a 5-4 force out on a ground ball to Rex Horvath. Mercenary Hal Darman donned his superman cape as he took his position behind home plate in the bottom of the 3rd. Joe Bernal retired his third consecutive lead-off hitter as George Romo handled a hard one-hopper and made an accurate throw to 1B. Terry O’Brien and Ivan Budiselich hit line-drive singles to RF and RCF. Terry O’Brien ran to 3B on Ivan’s hit and was safe as David Brown short-hopped his relay throw to George Romo following a nice throw from Bobby Miller. Heads up base-running by Ivan on the play put Green runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. The next batter hit a hard ground ball to George Romo who saw Terry break for home. Rather than throw to 1B, George threw to Hal Darman at home plate who converted the 5-2 force out to preserve Blue’s 7-4 lead. Joe Bernal then induced a two-foot ground ball that Hal pounced on and threw to Larry Young to complete the inning-ending 2-3 put out.
Jim Foelker, Bobby Miller, Hal Darman, and Tom Bellavia led off the 4th inning with consecutive singles to score two runs and put two on base. A ground ball back up the middle resulted in a 1-6 fielder’s choice. Joe Bernal helped himself with an RBI single to left field. Pull hitter George Romo hit a drive to a big gap in RCF that Steve Sandall managed to catch after a long run. Ken Mockler drove in the fourth run of the inning with a hard-hit ground ball up the middle. Ivan Budiselich prevented further damage by making a nice catch on a low pop-up next to the 1B dugout.
Green got their lead-off hitter aboard for the first time in four tries as Jeff Stone led off with a single to CF. Ralph Villela completed a perfect game at the plate with a single to LF. Doc Hobar hit a line drive to RCF that Bobby Miller got a good jump on and made a nice running catch. Steve Sandall singled in Jeff’s pinch runner to narrow the Blue lead to 11-5. Mike Garrison hit a short fly ball to RCF that Bobby Miller charged and nearly caught. Steve Sandall delayed going to 2B until he knew that the ball wouldn’t be caught, which gave Bobby time to field the hop and throw to David Brown, who threw to Joe Bernal covering 2B to complete the 9-6-1 putout, seen here:
Rex Horvath then scorched a line drive down the 3B line that George Romo lunged for and caught on his backhand side to hold Green at 5 runs.
Following a lead-off single to begin the buffet inning, Green got a fouled third strike and an excellent catch by Terry O’Brien on a pop up to shallow left field to get to two outs and no runs scored. Bobby Miller completed a perfect day at the plate with a lined single to RF and Hal Darman knocked in David Brown with his second consecutive single. Tom Bellavia then hit a line drive double to CF that scored Bobby and Hal’s pinch runner, Lawrence Page, to push the Blue lead out to nine runs.
The flip-flop was invoked and Green came up to bat. Green started another inning with an out, this time on a fly ball to Bobby Miller in RCF. A single-foul out-single sequence put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. Jeff Stone hit a ground ball to 3B which George Romo fielded cleanly and out-raced Ivan Budiselich to 3B to complete the 14-5 win for the Blue team.
Final score: Blue 14, Green 5
Joe Bernal earned his league-leading seventh Ohtani Award of the season, going 3 for 3 with a double while holding Green to just five runs. Japanese footballer Kaishu Sano made the presentation, and picked up hair-care tips.
11:30 a.m.: Gray (1-1) at Purple (0-3):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Gray 5 5 1 2 1 14 Purple 2 0 1 3 7 13 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Purple – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Gray – Anthony Galindo, Rex Horvath, and Alan Phillips; Purple – Tom Bellavia, Tim Coles, and Terry O'Brien. Umpires: home – Lawrence Page; bases – David Brown. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Jim McAnelly (3 for 3), Bobby Miller (4 for 4), and Paul Rubin (4 for 4 with a triple); Purple – Shane Hill (4 for 4) and Jimmy Sneed (4 fof 4 with a triple).
Weather update: 88 degrees, feels like 97; 58% humidity; partly cloudy; wind from the South at 13 MPH, gusting to 30.
The closest game of the day looked like a blowout for Gray early, but Rick Jensen’s unrelenting optimism helped rally Purple late. Gray lead-off hitter Paul Rubin opened the game with a lined shot to the LCF fence for a triple. It would have been a home run if Paul’s legs were healthy.
Bobby Miller, Clint Fletcher, and Daniel Carvajal followed with singles to score two runs and put runners on 1st and 3rd. Jim Foelker hit a shot to SS that Jimmy Sneed picked and tossed to Rick Jensen at 2B for the first out of the inning. Jim McAnelly and Mike Velaney singled to plate another run and put runners on the corners before Purple pitcher Ray Pilgrim got the second out of the inning with a strikeout. Mercenary Anthony Galindo had an RBI on a single to LCF which brought up mercenary Alan Phillips with runners on 1st and 2nd. From his defensive position at 2B, Rick Jensen gave a word of encouragement to his mates – “All right guys. Let’s get this out and we can win the inning!” Alan hit a line drive to CF to get Gray to five runs. As he arrived at the dugout, Rick was heard saying, “Well that didn’t work out so well, but we can still score five and tie the inning!”
New Purple outfielder Jack McDermott led off the bottom of the 1st with a line drive that reached the fence in CF. Like Paul in the top of the inning, an injured leg prevented Jack from circling the bases and he settled for a lead-off triple.
Jimmy Sneed, Mike Malay, and Shane Hill followed with singles to plate two runs and put runners on 1st and 2nd. Billy Hill hit a ground ball to 3B which Daniel Carvajal fielded and threw to Mike Velaney to force out Shane at 2B. Purple had a chance to replicate Gray’s 1st inning, but Gray pitcher Jack Kelly induced a fly ball to Bobby Miller in LCF and a ground ball to Clint Fletcher at SS who flipped to 2B to get the third out and limit Purple to two runs.
The Gray offense went from hot to hotter in the second inning as they had seven consecutive singles to score four runs and load the bases. Jimmy Sneed fielded a ground ball to SS and threw home to Billy Hill for the first out of the inning. Buoyed by his team’s success in preventing the fifth run from scoring, Rick Jensen yelled out, “If we get a couple of more outs, we can still win the inning!” Jack Kelly hit a Texas Leaguer to RF to kill Rick’s dream.
Down but not out, Rick pointed to the Purple lineup and said, “All right! We’ve got our big hitters coming up. Let’s go have a big inning here!” Tim Coles opened the inning with a well-struck fly ball to LCF that was caught by Bobby Miller. Tom Bellavia singled on a line drive to RCF. Terry O’Brien hit a ground ball to Mike Velaney who tossed to Jimmy to force Tom at 2B. Jack McDermott then hit a ground ball to SS where Jimmy Sneed fielded and tossed the ball to Mike at 2B to get the third out of the inning. Gray led 10-2 after two innings of play.
The tenor of the game changed in the 3rd. Rick Jensen snagged a line drive that was headed for RCF to get the first out of the inning. Following a single, third baseman Mike Malay caught a hard line drive about three inches off the ground to prevent a double. Paul Rubin and Bobby Miller got their third hits of the game to bring in a run, but Mike Malay made another outstanding play on a hard-hit ground ball to 3B that he fielded and threw to Shane Hill at 1B to record the third out.
Jimmy Sneed opened the bottom of the third with a triple to the fence. Mike Malay and Shane Hill singled to score Jimmy and set up a possible big inning. Jack Kelly got a strikeout to slow Purple and then Bobby Miller ended the Purple rally with a catch on a long fly ball to LCF and a relayed throw to 3B, where Mike Malay was forced out trying to tag up from 2B. The relay went Bobby to Clint Fletcher to Rex Horvath.
Gray scored two runs in the fourth on three singles and a double by Jim Foelker. Purple won their first inning of the day by scoring three runs on three singles, a double on a line drive to RF by Terry O’Brien, and a sacrifice fly to RCF by Jack McDermott.
The teams entered the buffet with Gray leading 13-6. Gray’s first three hitters singled to score their 14th and invoke the flip-flop with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs. Among the base hits were singles by Paul Rubin and Bobby Miller, who both completed 4-4 games. Notably, Bobby was also 3-3 in the 10:30 game. Have a day, Bobby Miller!
As the Purple players reached the dugout, Rick exhorted them with his plan for the buffet: “Our strategy here is for everyone to refuse to make the final out. If no one makes the last out, then we win the game!”
Purple opened the inning with nine consecutive base hits, including a double by Tim Coles. Among the hits was a single by Jimmy Sneed, who complete a 4-4 day that included a triple. With six runs in and the bases loaded, Purple was poised to tie or even take the lead. Daniel Carvajal caught a pop-up next to the 1B dugout to record the first out and hold the runners. Shane Hill singled to RF to bring in the seventh run of the inning, but Jack McDermott was thrown out at home plate as he tried to score the tying run from 2B. The key out of the game went Alan Phillip to Mike Velaney to Jim McAnelly. Purple had another chance to tie the game with runners on 1st and 3rd, but Clint Fletcher turned a ground ball into a 6-4 force out to preserve a 14-13 win.
Final score: Gray 14, Purple 13
12:30 p.m.: Red (2-1) at Maroon (1-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Red 0 0 2 2 5 9 Maroon 5 5 4 3 X 17 Pitchers: Red – Trent Peacock; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Red – Rick Jensen and Jimmy Sneed; Maroon – Tom Bellavia, David Brown, and Rex Horvath. Umpires: home – Peter Sundquist; bases – Jack McDermott. Perfect at the plate: Red – Johnny Lee (3 for 3) and Ralph Villela (4 for 4 with two doubles); Maroon – David Brown (3 for 3) and Tony Garcia (2 for 2 with a walk and a double).
Weather update: 92 degrees, feels like 100; 51% humidity; sunny; wind from the South at 14 MPH, gusting; tolerable.
After a couple of lackluster games last week, Maroon came out with spit and venom in the last game of the day. Red opened the 1st inning with a ground ball to SS that Ralph Villela turned into a single by beating the throw to 1B. Mark Dolan tried the same thing, but mercenary SS David Brown fielded the ball and flipped to Scott Wright to force Ralph out at 2B. Steve Browne caught a long fly ball to LF to get the second out of the inning. Tim Coles lined a single to LCF and took 2B when the ball was thrown to 3B in an attempt to catch Mark Dolan as he went 1st-to-3rd. Scott Wright handled a tough hop on a ground ball to 2B and threw to David Pittard at 1B to record the third out of the inning and prevent Red from scoring. Maroon then took a 5-0 lead with five singles and two walks in the bottom of the inning. The hits were well-struck and the walks were uncontroversial. Meat-and-potatoes offense.
Johnny Lee opened the top of the 2nd inning with a line drive single to RCF. I think that was Johnny’s 35th consecutive line-drive single over the second baseman. Jeff Stone struck out Anthony Galindo on back-to-back called strikes. Everyone was stunned… A line-out to SS and a ground ball to 3B that Alan Phillips fielded and threw to 2B for the force ended the inning with Red still seeking its first run. Maroon posted another five-run inning with six singles and a double by Tony Garcia. Fritz Henzel had the final RBI of the inning with a single to CF.
Mercenary Rick Jensen opened the top of the 3rd with a line drive foul down the 1st base line that mercenary Rex Horvath lunged for and caught for the first out of the inning. Red got their first two runs on four consecutive hits including a double by Ralph Villela. Scott Wright prevented further damage by catching a pop-up to short RCF and executing a 4-6 force out on a ground ball. Both were nice plays by the curmudgeon at 2B.
A Red comeback seemed plausible as they got outs on the first two Maroon hitters in the 3rd. Maroon rallied with a walk and five hits, including a Tom Bellavia triple, to score four. With a chance at a fifth straight 5-run inning, Scott Wright hit a ground ball to the 1B side of second base that Ralph Villela stopped with a dive and tossed to Mark Dolan to force out Tony Garcia at 2B.
Trailing 14-2, Red opened the fourth inning with two singles. The third batter hit a ground ball up the middle that pitcher Jeff Stone fielded and threw to SS David Brown, who touched 2B and threw to Rex Horvath at 1B to complete a double play. Red scored two runs as the top of their order had three consecutive singles. Tim Coles then hit a fly ball to within ten feet of the CF fence where Tony Garcia made a nice running catch for the third out of the inning. Maroon won their fourth inning with three runs on five singles. Red pitcher Trent Peacock got the final out on a fouled third strike.
The buffet started promisingly for Red as Trent Peacock hit a triple down the right field line, Johnny Lee hit his 37th consecutive line drive to RCF (Johnny was a perfect 3-3 in this game), and Anthony Galindo singled to CF. After a fly out on a nice charging catch by Ken Brown in RCF, Red had two singles and a double to tally five runs in the inning. The game ended with a 5-3 ground out to David Pittard at 3B and another fly ball out to Ken Brown in RCF.
Final score: Maroon 17, Red 9
2026 standings:
| Session 3 standings: | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 36 | 11 | 25 | W3 |
| Orange | 2 | 1 | .667 | 1 | 53 | 50 | 3 | W2 |
| Gray | 2 | 1 | .667 | 1 | 34 | 39 | -5 | W1 |
| Maroon | 2 | 2 | .500 | 1.5 | 55 | 51 | 4 | W1 |
| Red | 2 | 2 | .500 | 1.5 | 41 | 48 | -7 | L2 |
| Green | 1 | 2 | .333 | 2 | 42 | 47 | -5 | L1 |
| Purple | 0 | 4 | .000 | 3.5 | 57 | 72 | -15 | L8 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Blue | 1-0 | 2-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 3-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Orange | 1-1 | 1-0 | 1 | 0-1 | 1-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Gray | 0-0 | 2-1 | 0 | 1-0 | 1-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Maroon | 1-1 | 1-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | ||
| Red | 1-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-0 | ||
| Green | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | ||
| Purple | 0-3 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-1 | ||
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 20 | |
| Gray | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | |
| Green | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | |
| Maroon | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 14 | |
| Orange | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 12 | |
| Purple | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| Red | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 11 | |
| TOTAL: | 4 | 13 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 18 | 13 | 84 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 5
Ralph Villela – 5
David Brown – 3
Steve Browne – 3
Tony Garcia – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Tim Coles – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Allen Phillips – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jack Spellman – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Richard Battle – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
George Brindley – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Rick Kahn – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
Trent Peacock – 1
Scott Rokita – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Jimmy Sneed – 1
Scott Wright – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Ralph Villela – May 26
Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 7 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16, June 22, June 25, June 29)
Ray Pilgrim: 4 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1)
Tommy Deleon: 3 (April 6, April 30, June 11)
Spike Davidson: 1 (May 4)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Trent Peacock: 1 (March 9)
Jeff Stone: 1 (March 2)
Schedule for Thursday July 2:
10:00 a.m.: Maroon (2-2) at Gray (2-1), Purple umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Purple (0-4) at Blue (3-0), Maroon umpiring
Noon: Green (1-2) at Orange (2-1), Blue umpiring
Red has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Note the new start times, moved up half an hour. Marquee game will be the opener, Maroon battling Gray to stay close to the top of the session standings. Both teams are coming off a win today; Maroon leads the season series 2-1. No rest for the weary, as session-winless Purple faces session-undefeated Blue at 11:00. Blue is full of good, likable guys, but everyone will be rooting for Purple to end its losing streak and post its first win of the season against Blue, in their fourth game. Both Green and Orange will be picking up mercenaries to fill out lineups for the noon game, Green looking to get back on the winning track, Orange hoping to extend its winning streak to three games. Green leads the season series 3-1. Will Bobby Bonilla celebrate his namesake day by showing up to play in B League as a mercenary? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Had a great trip to New England – high-school reunion was ridiculously fun, got to see family and friends, and the weather was fantastic, sunny and dry. Boston is full of World Cup visitors – a personal highlight was wandering with Mrs. Keggy by a bar on the waterfront just as Paraguay and Germany were going to penalty kicks, and bonding with a couple dozen strangers, now friends, over desperately wanting Paraguay to win, which they did, pandemonium ensuing. Also hilarious to see a stout Scotsman in a kilt in the security line at Logan. But the absolute highlight came while visiting my sister-in-law in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. There were a lot of things reminding us we were in New England: the preponderance of Red Sox and Bruins caps; our GPS repeatedly making us pass the Bunker Hill Memorial, the U.S.S. Constitution, and Boston Sand and Gravel every time we got within spitting distance of the North End; tiger lilies in bloom…
…every kind of flower my mom ever had in her garden also in bloom; wise-ass/riotous 21-year-old Irish bartenders who touched down at Logan about a week ago; Civil War memorials…
…old-timey brick sidewalks near the waterfront…
…affordable-ish lobster rolls…
…Canada geese everywhere…
…cemeteries with slate headstones from the 1680s…
…the list goes on. But nowhere else can you buy live lobsters at a farmer’s market*:
Alas, couldn’t figure out how to get Larry to wear a “service animal” vest in order to get through TSA. Next time.
* Excuse me: fahmah’s mokkit.
Podcast review: The Last Archive
This excellent podcast, an ongoing investigation into the history of the truth (or “the truth”) has been on hiatus since 2024 except for a side quest last year on the history of Elon Musk (illuminating, depressing). Created by historian Jill Lepore, written and hoted by Ben Naddaf-Hafrey, the episodes are smart, informative, and funny. New England content: Sure, Jill’s tenured at Harvard. Canadian content: Not a whole much. Listening speed: Regular speed. Rating: 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧