B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 15 – May 20, 2024
£3.25 (Prices in the Orkneys may be higher)
Weather: Dave Berra, who’s not some wussy New Englander prone to whining about the humidity, declared the weather “brutal,” and I’ve been receiving long-distance hot-weather advisories all week, so I take it the conditions were moderately unpleasant Monday – temperature well into the 90s, humidity not far behind. On the other hand, in coastal northeast Scotland, it was lovely – temperature in the 50s, dry, occasional cloud cover but also a fair amount of sunshine, great walking weather. (Pouring rain as I write, on a rest day, though.)
Games of Monday May 20:
10:30 a.m., Green (4-4) at Red (6-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 3 3 4 4 1 4 19 Red 2 5 0 5 0 2 14 Pitchers: Green – Tommy Deleon; Red – Eddy Murillo. Mercenaries: Red – Alvin Gauna, Donnie Janac, Rick Kahn, and Scott Wright. Umpires: home plate – David Brown; bases – Terry Thompson. Perfect at the plate: Green – Ralph Villela (4 for 4 with a walk); Red – Tim Bruton (4 for 4). Alvin Gauna and Donnie Janaad (each 3 for 3), and Bobby Miller (3 for 3 with a walk).
Hard fought in the early going. Green put up three runs on four singles and Mike Garrison’s double in the top of the first, Red came back with two runs on three singles in the bottom half. In the second, Phil Stanch singled and scored from first on a double by Daniel Baladez to start the inning – B League outfielders apparently still haven’t caught on to Daniel regularly burning them. Ralph Villela followed with a single, but Eddy Murillo retired the next two batters on grounders resulting in force outs at second base, Daniel (or his pinch-runner) scoring. David Pittard followed with a single. Then, what seemed to be a recurring problem, Eddy encountered a bout of wildness, walking Mike Garrison to load the bases, and then Tommy Deleon to force in Jack McDermott with the third run of the inning. Jack Crosley was next to swing at a pitch, and grounded into another force play.
Red rallied in the bottom of the inning and scored five runs on seven consecutive singles, beginning with its four mercenaries, not making an out and taking the lead, 7-6. That proved Red’s high-water mark, however. Green scored four times in the top of the third, Paul Rubin’s two-run triple the big blow, then held Red scoreless in the bottom half, Tommy Deleon working around a pair of one-out singles – if I’m reading the play-by-play account correctly, Denny Malloy had the first hit of the inning, but was thrown out trying to take third on Hal Darman’s single to left.
Green then scored four times again in the top of the fourth, on four singles and, Eddy Murillo again struggling with his control, three walks. Green had the bases loaded with one out and third-place hitter Jack McDermott at the plate, but Red escaped the inning thanks to a classic unrepeatable B League double play: Jack lined a ball to shortstop that Tim Bruton seemingly caught on the fly, but in actuality short-hopped; the runners froze, and Tim was able to throw to third baseman Scott Wright for a force there, and Scott threw home to catcher Alvin Gauna for the inning-ending out there. (At any rate, this is how I’ve reconstructed and choose to report it – your mileage may vary.)
Red in the bottom of the fourth again scored five runs without making an out, this time on five singles and Bobby Miller’s bases-loaded walk, but still trailed 14-12 entering the final five-run inning. Green put across one run on three singles in the top of the frame, then blanked Red in the home half, Tommy Deleon getting three straight outs following Eddy Murillo’s lead-off single.
Green led 15-12 entering the buffet, and tacked on four runs, on a lead-off walk by Daniel Baladez, three singles (the first by Ralph Villela, completing a 4-for-4 day), and a triple by Mike Garrison (three-quarters of a cycle plus a walk on the day).
That left Red chasing seven. Scott Wright led off and grounded out to shortstop Ralph Villela – in my mind’s eye, Ralph was shading Scott up the middle and grabbed the grounder going to his left, then made a strong throw to first baseman Jack Crosley. (Don’t bother correcting me if any of this isn’t so.) The next four batters singled – Alvin Gauna, Donnie Janac, Bobby Miller, and Tim Bruton, each of them completing a perfect day at the plate, and Alvin and Donnie scoring, making it a five-run game. Morgan Witthoft flied out to Paul Rubin in left-center – might have been routine, might have been the day’s greatest defensive play, I have no way of knowing. The game ended with Eddy Murillo grounding into a force at second – unclear to me who the grounder was hit to, just that the out was at second. Final score: Green 19, Red 14
11:30 a.m., Blue (2-5) at Gray (4-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 2 0 0 4 5 3 14 Gray 3 2 0 0 0 0 5 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Gray – Jack Kelly. Mercenary: Gray – Anthony Galindo. Umpires: home – Hal Darman; bases – Donald Drummer. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Jeff Fisher and Dale Fugate (each 3 for 3) and Pat Scott (4 for 4 with a double and a triple); Gray – Don Solberg (3 for 3).
Blue was quick out of the gate, with Pat Scott opening the game with a double and three of the next four batters knocking singles, Pat and George Brindley scoring. Jack Kelly got the next two batters to ground out, the lead runner forced at third in each instance, to short-circuit the rally. Gray then scored three times in the home half, in similar fashion: Ken Brown doubled leading off and three of the next four batters singled. Jack Kelly hit an infield fly for the second out, but Johnny Lee delivered a go-ahead two-run single, Gary Coyle and Don Solberg scoring.
Blue didn’t score in either the second or third, Gray’s infield turning double plays in each frame – 6-4-3 (Ken Brown to Mike Mordecai to Johnny Lee) to end the top of the second, 4-6-3 (Mike to Ken to Johnny Lee) for the first two outs in the third. Gray extended its lead to 5-2 with two runs in the bottom of the second, as four of the first five batters singled. There was an out on the bases – Ivan Budiselich or his pinch-runner at third base, I think – and the inning ended with Blue turning a 6-4-3 double play, David Brown to George Brindley to Dale Fugate.
That turned out to be the end of the scoring by Gray. Joe Bernal worked around a pair of singles in the bottom of the third, and Blue grabbed the lead, 6-5, with four runs on five singles in the top of the fourth. Joe again gave up a pair of singles in the home half, but got two ground balls for force outs at second, then an inning-ending fly to left-center by Gary Coyle.
Blue added to its lead with five runs on seven singles, making just one out, in the top of the fifth. Gray loaded the bases on singles in the bottom half, the third by Johnny Lee with two out, but Joe Bernal got Mark Dolan to ground into an inning-ending force out.
Entering the buffet, Blue led by six, and I’m guessing there might have been some discussion about flip-flopping, considering the heat and humidity, but Blue batted. The bottom three in the lineup, Dale Fugate (completing a perfect day at the plate), Billy Hill, and Jerry Mylius, all singled, Dale (or his pinch-runner, not sure) coming around to score. Pat Scott followed with a triple up the middle, completing his outstanding, perfect day at the plate – if I’m reading Terry’s file correctly, it was a ball on the ground that split the outfielders and went to the fence, both Billy’s pinch-runner and Jerry scoring on the play, and at that point the flip-flop was invoked, with Blue leading 14-5.
And that’s how it ended. Ivan Budiselich drew a walk, but the batter preceding and the two following all hit into ground-ball outs. Final score: Blue 14, Gray 5
12:30 p.m., Purple (4-2) at Orange (0-7):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 0 0 5 3 0 8 Orange 4 5 0 0 X 9 Pitchers: Purple - Jeff Stone; Orange – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Purple – George Brindley and Scott Wright. Umpires: Home plate – Jack Kelly; bases – Mike Mordecai. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Tony Garcia (3 for 3 with a double).
I’m really sorry to have missed this, as it looks from Terry Watts’ play-by-play account and and Dave Berra’s scorecard like this was a great game.
It was all Orange in the early going. Purple put its first three runners on base, Jim Foelker leading off with a walk and Clint Fletcher and Jeff Stone rapping singles to load the bases. But Daniel Carvajal’s grounder to shortstop was turned into a 6-5-2 double play, Rex Horvath fielding the ball and throwing to Eddie Ortiz for the force at third, Eddie then throwing home to catcher Fritz Hensel for the out there. Mike Velaney followed with a grounder to third – I think Eddie must have stepped on the base for the out there.
Orange’s first four batters all hit safely and scored in the bottom of the first, Tony Garcia and Rex Horvath ripping doubles. Orange had runners on first and second with one out and the bases loaded with two out, but Jeff Stone got the tenth batter of the inning, Larry Shupe, to hit into a force play.
Spike Davidson kept Purple from scoring again in the second, working around Rip Wright’s two-out single, and Orange extended its lead to 9-0 by scoring five runs while making just one out in the bottom half, on seven singles and a walk to Larry Fiorentino.
Purple broke through in the top of the third, scoring five runs on six singles, a walk to Rick Jensen, and Daniel Carvajal’s sacrifice fly. (I haven’t been keeping any kind of official track, but it seems to me Daniel hits a LOT of sacrifice flies, which speaks to what a good situational hitter he is.) (Also: great guy.)
In the bottom of the third, Orange got singles by Larry Shupe leading off and Tony Garcia with one out to put runners on first and second, but Jeff Stone got Larry Fiorentino to ground back to the box, Jeff throwing to third for the force there, and Rex Horvath to fly out to left field (cue the audio clip of Rex exclaiming “Dog gone it!”) to escape the jam.
Spike Davidson retired two of the first three batters to start the fourth, Jim Foelker knocking a single in between them. The next four batters hit safely: Jeff Stone singled to left, Jim taking third; Daniel Carvajal singled to left, Jim scoring; Mike Velaney doubled to left, Jeff scoring; and Rick Jensen singled to right-center, Daniel scoring. Spike got Tom Kelm on a fly to left field to end the inning, but Purple had drawn to within a run, trailing 9-8.
Eddie Ortiz led off the bottom of the fourth with a single, but the next two batters hit grounders resulting in force outs at second. Fritz Hensel singled, but Jeff Stone struck out Jim Malloy to end the inning – unclear to me whether it was a swing-and-miss or, more likely, a two-strike foul.
Purple entered the buffet needing a run to tie. Spike Davidson got Rip Wright to ground out to first to start the inning. George Brindley lined out to shortstop – might have been hit right at Rex Horvath, might have been the day’s best defensive play, I don’t know. Scott Wright lined a single to right-center. Jim Foelker grounded a single to the 5-6 hole – if I’m reading Terry’s notation correctly, Rex got to the ball, but had no play. Clint Fletcher grounded a ball down the third base, and that went for a single as well, loading the bases, tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second with Purple number-three hitter up. Jeff Stone lofted a ball to left-center and Tony Garcia made the catch – again, how challenging a play it was, I don’t actually know, but it secured for Orange its first victory of the session. Final score: Orange 9, Purple 8
All Scotland is ablaze at Orange’s victory.What a great set of games – each won by the team that entered the day with the lesser record
www.beebesports.comStandings – Session Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Red 6 3 .667 — 137 124 +13 L1
Maroon 5 3 .625 .5 118 103 +15 W1
Purple 4 3 .571 1 98 83 +15 L2
Gray 4 3 .571 1 89 75 +14 L1
Green 5 4 .556 1 116 114 + 2 W3
Blue 3 5 .375 2.5 90 98 – 8 W1
Orange 1 7 .125 4.5 83 134 -51 W1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Red 2-2 4-1 0 0-1 3-0 1-1
Maroon 2-3 3-0 1 0-0 1-1 1-0
Purple 2-2 2-1 0 0-0 1-1 0-1
Gray 2-1 2-2 1 0-0 1-1 2-2
Green 1-4 4-0 1 1-0 0-1 1-1
Blue 1-3 2-2 1 0-0 1-1 1-0
Orange 1-3 0-4 0 0-0 0-2 1-2
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 1 1 1 1 1 1 6
Gray 2 X 1 0 2 0 1 6
Green 1 0 X 1 0 1 2 5
Maroon 0 2 2 X 2 0 1 7
Orange 0 0 1 0 X 1 1 3
Purple 1 0 2 1 2 X 0 6
Red 2 1 1 1 1 1 X 7
_______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 6 4 8 4 8 4 6 40
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 5
Gregory Bied – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
David Brown – 1
Tim Bruton – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Clint Fletcher – 1
David Kruse – 1
Denny Malloy – 1
Eddie Ortiz – 1
Dave Pittard – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Thusday May 23
10:30 a.m.: Gray (4-3) at Maroon (5-3), Red umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (6-3) at Purple (4-3), Maroon umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Orange (1-7) at Blue (3-5), Purple umpiring
Green has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Only four dates remain in the session, and four teams are within one game of first place, and all with practically the same run differential. Each of Thursday’s first two games have contenders squaring off. Maroon has won its first two games versus Gray, and could take over first place with another victory, but Thursday’s match might wind up decided by mercenaries. Red and Purple at 11:30 and Orange at Blue at 12:30 are both meeting for just the second time this year. Red needs a win to maintain its hold on first place. Orange and Blue, coming off victories, will look to maintain momentum; Blue still has a shot at first for the session, but will need to run the table. If the results fall right, we could see four teams separated by half a game, shades of the (beloved-by-me) 1967 American League pennant race. Will Green prove to be the B League equivalent of the Impossible Dream Red Sox? Only one thing is certain: Time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Unexpected Mike Velaney sighting on the Fife Coast.
I can’t this week, but you should go see Mike Mordecai at the Elephant Room (https://elephantroom.com/calendar) from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., and Johnny Lee and Arctic Blues Band at Mr. Catfish, also this Monday night May 27, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.