B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 68 – November 17, 2025
Department of Corrections:
Dave Berra sets the record straight:
Often in error: during the bottom of 2nd inning of [Thursday’s] Maroon-Gray game Jimmy Aaron and Johnny Lee were not involved in a defensive play; they were on the opposing team.
Also, in the bottom of the buffet Ray Pilgrim did not have a pinch runner; Tom Kelm did. (And I think it was Jim Foelker).
Outgoing president Anthony Galindo checks in:
Thanks to David Brown and Ken Brown for volunteering to join next year’s Board. They are joining returning members George Brindley as President, Mark Dolan as Treasurer, and Jeff Stone as Rules Coordinator. Congratulations to the new B League Board.
We still have a couple of unclaimed lawn chairs so please pick them up before they are locked away in storage until next season. We also have a bucket of used balls that Larry Young is giving away (not the bucket), so help yourself if you want any.
Games of Monday November 17 – End-of-Season Tourney, day 1:
10:30 a.m.: Gray (23-32) at Orange (33.5 – 22.5):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 3 0 2 0 0 2 7 Orange 4 4 1 2 2 X 13 Pitchers: Gray – Jeff Stone; Orange – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenary: Gray – Jeff Stone. Umpires: home – Terry Watts; bases – Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Jim Aaron (3 for 3 with a double) and Jack Crosley and Tommy Gillis (both 3 for 3); Orange – Terry O'Brien (3 for 3 with a double).
Weather report: 77 degrees, felt like 77; humidity 72%; wind from the south, 10 MPH; mostly overcast, though the clouds burned off a bit as the game progressed.
Orange had the league’s best season run differential (+68) and tied Maroon for the best full-season record (33.5 – 22.5); Gray’s full-season winning percentage of .418 was the league’s lowest, and they had the third-worst run differential (-38). They made a game of this, though.
Gray came out hitting, its first four batters putting good swings on Ray Pilgrim’s offerings: Paul Rubin and Tommy Gillis singled; Jim Aaron doubled to right-center, driving in Paul; and Adam Reddell lined a single to right field, driving in Tommy and Jim. But Ray settled in and found his groove, retiring the next three batters – he got both Dave Jaffe and Mike Malay to swing through two-strike pitches, then retired Johnny Lee on a bouncer back to the box.
Orange grabbed the lead with four runs in the bottom of the first, on six consecutive one-out hits, five singles and Terry O’Brien’s double to center field. With four runs in and runners on first and second, Jeff Stone bore down and escaped the jam, getting Peter Atkins to ground into a 1-6 force and Marvin Krabbenhoft to hit a humpback liner (thanks, Dave Berra!) to the right side, second baseman Mike Malay moving back and to his left to make the catch.
Gray did not score in the top of the second – Ray Pilgrim allowed a lead-off single to Jack Crosley, then retired the next three batters. Orange then solidified its lead with another four-run outburst, on five singles and a walk to Daniel Carvajal. Morgan Witthoft in right-center field made a good catch of Ray Pilgrim’s liner to his left, denying Orange a fifth run.
Gray won the third inning, scoring twice in the top half on Paul Rubin’s lead-off double, sliced to left field and spinning into foul territory, and three singles. The first out of the inning came on an excellent play by second baseman Terry O’Brien, who moved to his right to field Adam Reddell’s hard grounder, then made an accurate, 15-foot backhanded flip to David Brown covering second for the force there. Orange scratched one run back in the home half: Peter Atkins drew a lead-off walk; Marvin Krabbenhoft lined a ball off pitcher Jeff Stone’s glove to second base, Mike Malay fielding the ball and flipping to Jim Aaron for the force at second, very nice play, just beating Peter’s pinch-runner; Marvin’s pinch-runner, David Brown, took third on Boo Resnick’s single to right field, then tagged and scored on Larry Shupe’s liner to Paul Rubin in left-center field.
Orange’s strong defense kept Gray from scoring in both the fourth and fifth innings, each frame ending with a double play. Jack Crosley and Morgan Witthoft singled to start the fourth. Jack was erased on Hal Darman’s grounder to third baseman Ken Mockler, who ran Jack back toward second and tagged him out. Jeff Stone then hit a sharp grounder to second base; Terry O’Brien made a nice play to glove the ball, then once again made a long, perfectly placed backhanded throw to David Brown covering second; David’s throw to first beat Jeff, completing a beautiful 4-6-3 double play.
In the top of the fifth, Tommy Gillis and Jim Aaron singled with one out, each completing 3-for-3 days at the plate, but Ray Pilgrim made a good play on Adam Reddell’s grounder back to the box and started a 1-6-3 double play, David Brown on the pivot.
Orange won each of the fourth and fifth innings by scoring twice on three singles in the home halves. In the fifth Marvin Krabbenhoft singled and Boo Resnick walked to start the inning. Larry Shupe hit a sharp grounder to third base that deflected off Adam Reddell’s glove to Jim Aaron, who quickly threw back to Adam to put out David Brown, running for Marvin – not by tagging the base, but with a swipe tag as David passed him, a head’s-up play. Clint Fletcher’s single loaded the bases. Orange got one run in on Daniel Carvajal’s 4-6 force-out grounder – stop the presses, it was the first time in living memory that, with a runner on third and less than two out, Daniel didn’t elevate the ball for a sacrifice fly – and the second on David Brown’s single to right-center.
Entering the buffet, Gray trailed by eight. They got two runs in and the bases loaded with five consecutive one-out singles, Jack Crosley completing a 3-for-3 game. But the game ended with Orange turning its third consecutive inning-ending double play, David Brown fielding Jeff Stone’s grounder to his left, stepping on second, and throwing to first.
Final score: Orange 13, Gray 7
Terry O’Brien played a terrific game for Orange, going 3 for 3 with a couple of outstanding defensive plays. And Ryan Gosling’s thumb’s-up confirms that Terry is not a renegade replicant from Blade Runner 2049.
11:30 a.m.: Red (24-33) at Green (28-27):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 5 5 0 3 4 X 17 Green 4 2 1 1 0 0 8 Pitchers: Red – Joe Bernal; Green – Chunky Wright. Mercenary: Green – Don Solberg. Umpires: home – Terry Watts; bases – Larry Young and Larry Fiorentino. Perfect at the plate: Red – Jim McAnelly (3 for 3) and Peter Sundquist (4 for 4); Green – Doc Hobar (4 for 4).
Dave Berra’s weather update: 80 degrees, felt like 84. Humidity 64%, wind from the south at 11 MPH, partly sunny – beautiful November day!
Red posted the league’s full-season worst run differential, -96, 56 runs worse than next-worse Purple, and avoided the worst seed by only three points of full-season winning percentage, .421 to Gray’s .418. Green’s +18 run differential was the league’s fourth best, they were one of three teams to finish above .500 for the season, and they won their final five games in a row to do so, one of those wins an 18-2 shellacking of Red.
Red jumped on top, scoring five times while making one out in the top of the first on four singles, back-to-back walks to Jack Spellman and Anthony Galindo, and Jack McDermott’s well-struck triple to right-center, which drove in Peter Sundquist with the game’s first run.
Green looked poised to match that in the home half, as its first six batters singled, four runs scoring, the fifth run on third base, another runner at second, none out. But Joe Bernal managed to escape the jam. He got Chunky Wright to pop out to shortstop, Jack Spellman actually making the routine catch look routine, to the general astonishment. Steve Browne then hit a two-hopper to Spellman at shortstop; I tried to look Chris Waddell back to third base, but I had to hurry a throw to first to beat speedy Steve to the bag, which I did; Chris took off on my release, but first baseman Dale Fugate snapped a throw to catcher Jim McAnelly that Jim caught while Chris’s foot was in the air, for an inning-ending 6-3-2 double play.
Red kept hitting in the second inning, scoring another five runs without making an out, on five singles and Jack Spellman’s double to right field. Green’s first four hitters reached in the bottom half – Greg Lloyd and Don Solberg singled, Ralph Villela doubled in Greg, and Doc Hobar singled in Don – but Joe Bernal retired the next three batters, stranding Ralph and Doc. Doc’s hit I want to say didn’t get through the infield, I think it might have been a grounder to second baseman Mark Dolan that came up on Mark on the last hop, keeping him from making a play on Doc; Don scored on the play, but Ralph held at second. Mike Garrison flied out to Jack McDermott in left field, the runners holding. Rick Kahn flied out to Peter Sundquist in right-center, Ralph tagging and moving to third. Joe then got Chris to hit a two-strike foul to end the inning.
Gary Coyle and Joe Bernal singled to start the third, and at that point Red batters were 13 for 14 with two walks. But Chunky Wright found his groove and retired the next three hitters, getting Rolando Rodriguez to fly out to Steve Browne in left-center, very good catch, Mark Dolan to fly out to Rick Kahn in right-center, and Dale Fugate to ground out to shortstop Ralph Villela. Green then won the inning by scoring a single run in the home half. Donnie Janac and Chunky Wright led off with singles. Steve Browne flied out to right field, good catch by Rolando Rodriguez moving to his left, Donnie tagging up and taking third. Greg Lloyd followed with a double to right field, driving in Donnie; Chunky took third and then tried to score when Rolando’s relay skipped past Joe Bernal and Jack Spellman, but it went to third baseman Gary Coyle, who alertly fired home, a good throw to Jim McAnelly’s glove side that Jim caught cleanly with the runner’s foot still in the air, for a 10-5-2 out. Don Solberg, batting right-handed, hit a short infield pop that Spellman was able to come in and grab for the third out.
Red increased its lead to 13-8 in the fourth inning, scoring three runs on four singles, Gary Coyle’s walk, and Joe Bernal’s walk in the top half, Joe again holding Green to a single run in the bottom – Ralph Villela and Doc Hobar knocked back-to-back lead-off singles, and Ralph scored on Mike Garrison’s deep fly to Jack McDermott in left field. Chris Waddell’s two-out single moved Doc into scoring position, but the inning ended with Donnie Janac grounding to shortstop, Spellman flipping to Joe Bernal covering second, just beating Ralph Villela, running for Chris. (I’m about 75% confident I’ve got that right.)
With the bottom three in its order reaching to start the inning, Red scored four more in the top of the fifth, the final five-run inning. Mark Dolan singled, Dale Fugate walked, and Jim McAnelly singled, loading the bases for the top of the order – Jim completed a 3-for-3 game, and both Mark and Dale reached in two of their three plate appearances, and the trio combined to score five runs. Peter Sundquist’s fourth single of the game drove in Mark and Dale’s pinch-runner. Jack McDermott grounded to third baseman Mike Garrison, who stepped on third for the force there. Jack Spellman dinked a singled to right field, Peter scoring easily from second, Jack McDermott following when the relay in wasn’t handled cleanly. I should have taken second on the play, but didn’t, and wound up not scoring on Gary Coyle’s two-out single. The inning ended with Joe Bernal squaring up on a pitch and lining it to left field, right at Don Solberg.
Joe then returned to the mound and retired Green in order in the bottom of the fifth. He got Chunky Wright to fly out to Rolando Rodriguez in right field and Steve Browne to hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Gary Coyle, who made a strong throw to first that beat Steve by a step. Then he caught Greg Lloyd looking at a called strike three that just clipped the edge of the mat.
With Red up by nine, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. Don Solberg led off with a single. Steve Browne ran for Don and nearly reached second on Ralph Villela’s grounder to shortstop – Spellman’s flip to Joe Bernal covering beat Steve by half a step, if that. Doc Hobar singled, completing a 4-for-4 day. Mike Garrison for the third time in a row lofted a fly to left field, and Jack McDermott for the third time in a row was well positioned and made a good catch, for the second out. Rick Kahn came up and lined a ball to right field; I thought off the bat it was a sure hit, but Rolando Rodriguez got a terrific jump on the ball, charged in, and caught the sinking liner at knee height for the final out.
Rolando Rodriguez makes the game-ending catch, as rendered by Georges Seurat, because it was a work of art.
Final score: Red 17, Green 8
12:30 p.m.: Purple (26-29) at Blue (27-29):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 0 0 0 3 3 0 6 Blue 5 4 0 3 2 X 14 Pitchers: Purple – Spike Davidson; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Purple – Jack Spellman; Blue – Joe Bernal. Umpires: home – Terry Watts; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Jack Spellman (3 for 3); Blue – Joe Bernal (3 for 3 – Ohtani Award) and Jimmy Sneed (4 for 4).
Dave Berra’s weather update: Great day continues, just ask Red!
These teams had only half a game’s difference in their full-season records even though Blue had the second-best overall run differential (+46) and Purple the second-worst (-40).
Some controversy over Blue’s decision to take Joe Bernal as its mercenary and have him pitch, moving David Pittard to third base. The alternative would have been to have David pitch and pick up an infielder. I wasn’t present for the drawing and remain agnostic on the issue. In the end I don’t think it materially affected the outcome of the game, though I understand Purple’s frustration, as the game opened with Joe throwing three shutout innings, allowing two hits in each inning and stranding three, two, and two runners.
Meanwhile Blue jumped to an early and, it turned out, insurmountable lead, scoring nine of a possible ten runs over its first two at bats. They pushed across five runs on seven consecutive one-out hits – six singles and Jim Foelker’s double to deep left – in the first inning, then four runs in the second as five of its first six batters reached base, on three singles (the third, Jimmy Sneed’s, drove in Rip Wright and Joe Bernal, or their runners, after they’d moved up on Steve Sandall’s fly to left fielder Matt Levitt) , Tom Bellavia’s walk, and George Brindley’s two-run double.
Blue didn’t score in the third, Rip Wright and Joe Bernal stranded after knocking two-out singles, and Purple finally got on the board in the top of the fourth, scoring three runs on Rick Jensen’s lead-off walk and three singles.
Blue got those runs back in the bottom half, on singles by its first four batters, David Pittard’s walk, and Jim Foelker’s sacrifice fly to Matt Levitt in left field.
Purple put up another three-spot in the top of the fifth, on Mark Hernandez’s lead-off double, a shot to the fence in deep left-center, and four singles, the last a pop fly to right field by Jack Spellman that Jim Foelker reached, but wasn’t able to hold on to, allowing Spellman to become the only hitter to be perfect at the plate for Purple.
Blue scored twice in the bottom of the fifth. Joe Bernal led off with a single, completing a 3-for-3 game at the plate and setting up the top of the lineup. Steve Sandall and Jimmy Sneed both singled, Joe’s runner scoring on Jimmy’s hit, his fourth in as many at bats. Steve and Jimmy moved up on Tom Bellavia’s fly to Matt Levitt in left-center. George Brindley followed with a fly to Jack Spellman in right-center; again the runners tagged and advanced, Steve scoring; Jimmy tried to surprise Purple and follow him in, but was thrown out, Spellman to Raul Deleon to Rick Jensen to Fritz Hensel, for an odd double play, SF-9, 9-4-6-2.
The angelic ghost of Philadelphia Karen whispered in Fritz’s ear, “Don’t f*** this up, man.”
Purple was chasing eight runs entering the buffet. When the first two batters went out – Richard Battle flied out to Tom Bellavia in left-center field, and Raul Deleon grounded out to second baseman Tom Brownfield, who had a good game in the field – old salt/team cook Rick Jensen stood on the deck of the Edmund FitzPurple, saw a main hatchway caved in, and declared…
It wasn’t quite over, as Mark Hernandez extended the inning with his third straight hit. Spike Davidson’s grounder to shortstop Jimmy Sneed, for a 6-4 force, was what ended Purple’s season.
Final score: Blue 14, Purple 6
Joe Bernal is remarkably animated as he receives his seventh Ohtani Award of the season from Satoru Gojo.
| Full-season standings (Sessions 1-4 plus Tourney Day 1) | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Run dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Orange | 34.5 | 22.5 | .605 | 0 | 689 | 615 | 74 | W1 |
| Maroon | 33.5 | 22.5 | .598 | 0.5 | 676 | 634 | 42 | W4 |
| Green | 28 | 28 | .500 | 6 | 654 | 645 | 9 | L1 |
| Blue | 28 | 29 | .491 | 6.5 | 655 | 601 | 54 | W1 |
| Purple | 26 | 30 | .464 | 8 | 628 | 676 | -48 | L5 |
| Red | 25 | 33 | .431 | 10 | 670 | 757 | -87 | W2 |
| Gray | 23 | 33 | .411 | 11 | 628 | 672 | -44 | L3 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Orange | 19-9 | 15.5-13.5 | 3 | 2.5-0.5 | 10-7 | 6-7 | ||
| Maroon | 17.5-10.5 | 16-12 | 6 | 0.5-0.5 | 10-5 | 8-5 | ||
| Green | 12-16 | 16-12 | 5 | 1-1 | 8-10 | 8-5 | ||
| Blue | 20-10 | 7-19 | 4 | 1-2 | 11-5 | 5-8 | ||
| Purple | 16-14 | 10-16 | 6 | 0-0 | 8-7 | 6-4 | ||
| Red | 11-17 | 14-16 | 2 | 0-0 | 6-16 | 7-5 | ||
| Gray | 11-15 | 12-18 | 4 | 0-1 | 7-10 | 6-12 |
Green and Maroon tied their game of August 7; Orange and Blue tied their game of August 28; Green and Blue tied their game of October 2; these are counted as half a win and half a loss for each team.
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 2 | 6.5 | 3 | 4.5 | 7 | 5 | 28 |
| Gray | 7 | X | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 23 |
| Green | 3.5 | 7 | X | 4.5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 28 |
| Maroon | 5 | 7 | 6.5 | X | 5 | 7 | 3 | 33.5 |
| Orange | 5.5 | 9 | 5 | 4 | X | 6 | 5 | 34.5 |
| Purple | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | X | 8 | 26 |
| Red | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 2 | X | 25 |
| TOTAL: | 29 | 33 | 28 | 22.5 | 22.5 | 30 | 33 | 198 |
2025 season home run leaders:
David Brown – 8
Mike Garrison – 8
Bobby Miller – 6
Ralph Villela – 6
George Brindley – 5
Tim Coles – 5
Jack Spellman – 5
Anthony Galindo – 4
Tommy Gillis – 4
Larry Fiorentino – 3
Doc Hobar – 3
Mike Malay – 3
Jack McDermott – 3
Paul Rubin – 3
Jimmy Sneed – 3
Tim Bruton – 2
Tony Garcia – 2
Rex Horvath – 2
Matt Levitt – 2
Terry O’Brien – 2
George Romo – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Scott Wright – 2
Jim Aaron – 1
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Ken Brown – 1
Gary Coyle – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Ken Mockler – 1
Ray Pilgrim – 1
Jeff Stone – 1
Mike Velaney – 1
Chris Waddell – 1
Chunky Wright – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Scott Wright – June 5
Walk-off grand slam:
David Brown (inside the park) – August 4
Ohtanis (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Jeff Stone – 10 (March 20, April 17, July 17, July 21, July 28, September 11, September 15 (2), September 29, November 6)
Spike Davidson – 7 (June 19, June 30, August 4, August 7, August 14, September 8, October 9)
Joe Bernal – 7 (March 3, April 3, June 5, October 2, November 3, November 6, November 17)
Tommy Deleon – 6 (March 3, March 13, April 14, April 28, May 12, September 8)
Tom Kelm – 4 (March 3, March 13, May 1, June 16)
Ray Pilgrim – 4 (April 14, August 4, August 7, October 16)
David Pittard – 3 (June 2, October 13, November 10)
Terry Thompson – 3 (July 31, September 15, September 29)
Chunky Wright – 3 (June 9, October 30, November 3)
Donald Drummer – 2 (May 1, August 11)
Jack Kelly – 2 (March 10, May 12)
Greg Lloyd – 1 (June 26)
Schedule for Tuesday November 18 (7-inning games):
10:00 a.m: #4 seed Blue (28-29) at #1 seed Maroon (33.5 – 22.5)
11:15 a.m.: #6 Red (25-33) at #2 Orange (34.5 – 22.5)
12:30 p.m.: lowest seed winner at highest seed winner (championship game)
Players from losing teams on Monday have first priority for the draw
Preview: Should be two great semifinal games tomorrow. At 10:00, Blue, which has the second-best run differential for the season, takes on Maroon – the number-one seed, but the third-best full-season run differential. Red, the only lower-seeded team to win, is rewarded with a game against Orange, which now has the best full-season record. The winners will face off at 12:30 to determine who will win the all-important tee shirts and never-to-be-forgotten bragging rights. (Remind me again, who won in 2022?) Who will George Brindley tap to start for Blue? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
The great Adam Reddell will be offering up this cedar walking stick that he crafted as part of a silent auction to benefit a local charity, presumably after he completes his epic quest to destroy the One Ring.