B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 51 – October 9, 2023
Games of Thursday October 5 were cancelled due to overnight rain.
Correction: I wrote in Issue 50 that Green’s 11-9 win over Maroon on Monday October 2 was the first extra-inning game of Session Four. Wrong! Maroon defeated Gold 13-12 in an extra-inning game on September 28. (I don’t know how I could be expected to remember something that happened four whole days earlier.)
Quote of the Day: Dave Berra, when I explained my planned correction: “Nobody reads that stuff but you.”
Weather: Oh, man, so beautiful today: 67 degrees with 56% humidity and clear blue skies at the start of the 10:30 game. Some cloud cover by the end of the 12:30 game, temperature up to a very pleasant 80 degrees, humidity dropping to just 38%. Possibly the best day of the entire season, weather wise.
Games of Monday October 9:
10:30 a.m., Gold (2-2) at Green (1-3):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Gold 4 1 3 0 0 8 Green 5 3 5 5 X 18 Pitchers: Gold – Gil Delossantos; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Gold – Rick Jensen, Pat Scott, and Peter Sundquist; Green – George Brindley and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home plate – Tom Kelm; bases – Jim McAnelly. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Peter Sundquist (3 for 3); Green – George Brindley (2 for 2 with a walk and a homerun), Jeff Fisher (4 for 4), and Donnie Janac and Boo Resnick (both 3 for 3). Homerun: George Brindley (inside the park).
Gold kept it close in the early going, missing out on a five-run inning in the top of the first thanks to a strong 8-4-2 relay (Jeff Fisher to Clint Fletcher to Boo Resnick) that cut down Rip Wright trying to score on Pat Scott’s base hit, Gold’s eighth single of the inning. I think Rip’s foot was over the line but hadn’t come down when Boo caught Clint’s throw to end the inning.
Green then scored 18 out of a possible 20 runs in its four at bats, the lineup going a combined 24 for 31 (.774 batting average) with four walks (.800 on-base percentage), making only seven outs all game. Green’s first 12 hits were singles, but in the third inning they began to air it out: doubles by Jack Spellman and Don Solberg and an inside-the-park homeruns by George Brindley; and Tommy Gillis’s two-run triple was the big hit in the fourth inning, Tommy scoring the fifth run on Jeff Fisher’s fourth hit of the game.
Mercenaries Jack Spellman (double) and George Brindley (inside-the-park homerun), on loan from Red team, knocked Green’s first two extra-base hits, in the third inning.
Gold got a single run in the second, when Tim Bruton tripled with one out, then scored on Gil Delossantos’s single; and then put across three runs in the third on five consecutive one-out singles. But Tommy Deleon held them scoreless in the fourth, working around a two-out single by Mike Garrison followed by a walk to Rip Wright. With Green up by ten runs after scoring five times in the bottom half and just one minute left on the clock, the teams proceeded to the buffet inning. Peter Sundquist led off with his third hit of the game. Pat Scott took a called third strike, a ball that looked to me, a hundred feet away, like it just nicked the front of the plate. Rick Jensen grounded into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play, Clint Fletcher on the pivot. Final score: Green 18, Gold 8
Exchange of the Day:
Gold manager Dave Berra: “Boo, you killed us.”
Boo Resnick: “It was a pleasure.”
11:30 a.m., Maroon (2-2) at Gray (1-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 5 0 4 4 0 6 19 Gray 0 4 5 0 0 2 11 Pitchers: Maroon – Joe Bernal; Gray – Jerry Mylius. Mercenaries: Gray – Carl Gallagher, Tommy Gillis, and Paul Rubin. Umpires: home plate – Donald Drummer; bases – David Ferley. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Joe Bernal and Johnny Lee (each 4 for 4), Pat Cook (4 for 4 with a triple), and Dave Jaffe (3 for 3 with a walk); Gray – Carl Gallagher (3 for 3 with a double and a homerun) and Paul Rubin (3 for 3 with a triple). Homeruns: Scott Wright and Carl Gallagher (both inside the park).
Maroon came out en fuego, scoring five runs without making an out in the top of the first on eight consecutive singles, seven of them line drives to center or right field. This set the tone for the game, as Maroon’s 1-7 hitters went a combined 24 for 27 with a walk, the 4-7 hitters all perfect on the day. Gray did not score in the bottom of the first, thanks to the acrobatics of shortstop Scott Wright. After Doc Hobar singled leading off, Scott fielded a ball deflected by pitcher Joe Bernal and got a force at second, then took the throw from Mike Velaney on a 4-6 force, and then made a terrific play to the 5-6 hole to field Rick Kahn’s grounder and flip to Mike for the 6-4 force. (Said Boo Resnick: “He looked like Baryshnikov.”)
Maroon didn’t score in the second, Carl Gallagher at shortstop making a nice play on Mike Velaney’s grounder following Larry Shupe’s one-out single, managing to deflect it to second baseman Doc Hobar, who threw back to Carl for the force at second. Gray then scored four times in the bottom half: Jerry Mylius single, Alex Valles walk, Carl Gallagher RBI single, Paul Rubin two-run triple, Tommy Gillis double. The inning ended with Ken Brown making good plays for 5-3 outs on balls hit by Doc Hobar and Greg Lloyd.
Maroon scored four ties in the third, as the first six batters reached base: four singles, Pat Cook’s triple, and a walk drawn by Dave Jaffe. Mixed in was an out on the bases, Joe Bernal thrown out 8-6-5 (Rick Kahn to Carl Gallagher to Rick Jensen) trying for third on Johnny Lee’s single. Pat scored the fourth run of the inning on Marvin Krabbenhoft’s grounder to shortstop, a 6-4 force at second. Singles by Tom Kelm and Larry Shupe loaded the bases, but Jerry Mylius got Mike Velaney to ground to third, Rick Jensen taking the easy force at third for the third out.
Gray tied the score with five runs in the home half. Rick Kahn led off with a triple to right field. Rick Jensen hit a hard grounder to the right side, fielded cleanly by Mike Velaney, but rather than take the easy out at first, Mike threw home trying to get Rick, his throw sailing past catcher Marvin Krabbenhoft. Jerry Mylius lined back to pitcher Joe Bernal, but the next four batters hit safely: an infield single by Jim McAnelly (fielded by shortstop Scott Wright, but he ran into third baseman Ken Brown and made no throw (because he had no chance) on Jim’s pinch-runner), a single up the middle by Alex Valles that loaded the bases, a two-run double to right by Carl Gallagher, and a two-run single to right-center by Paul Rubin.
That was the high-water mark for Gray as Maroon took the lead right back in the top of the fourth. Billy Hill drew a lead-off walk, and his pinch-runner scored from first on Ken Brown’s drive to the fence in left-center (only a single, as Ken also took a pinch-runner from home). Tommy Gillis in left field made a terrific catch of Peter Sundquist’s drive for the first out, and Doc Hobar got the second when Scott Wright popped a ball behind first base – Doc ranged to his left and got to the ball, couldn’t hold on, but was able to throw to second for the force there. Gray had a chance to get out of the inning when Joe Bernal grounded a ball to the left of second base, within reach of shortstop Carl Gallagher, but the ball took a bad hop and everyone was safe. Johnny Lee’s Texas League single to right field scored Scott, Pat Cook’s base hit scored Joe, and Dave Jaffe’s line single to left scored Johnny Lee’s pinch-runner.
Joe Bernal worked a scoreless bottom half, Pat Scott in left-center making a terrific running catch of Tommy Gillis’s drive for the first out. Neither team scored in the fifth, Jerry Mylius retiring Maroon 1-2-3 in the top half (Doc Hobar making an excellent catch of Tom Kelm’s pop behind second base), Joe Bernal working around Jim McAnelly’s two-out single in the home half. Joe fielded balls back to the box for the first and third outs, and on the day had four assists and two putouts – he’s flat-out a great fielding pitcher, and as he reminded me, he spells his name B-E-R-N-A-L.
Maroon led 13-9 entering the buffet, and proceeded to run the score up to 19-9, eight straight batters hitting safely and six scoring before the flip-flop was called. (Billy Hill started the rally with his second hit, capping a perfect day at the plate. It’s totally secondhand, but I will report the following exchange as fact: Someone asked Billy if he got laid last night; Billy replied, “I got laid this morning.”) (Don’t tell me this isn’t true.) The big hit was Scott Wright’s three-run inside-the-park homerun to right-center. Carl Gallagher led off the bottom of the buffet with a drive to left field and circled the bases – third baseman Ken Brown might have had a shot at Carl at home if he’d turned and fired home the relay from Dave Jaffe, but he hesitated (possibly not believing Carl would take a chance on the bases with his team down by ten) and Carl scored easily, ensuring Gray would score in the double digits.
Scott Wright for Maroon (with skipper Tom Kelm) and Carl Gallagher for Gray each legged out inside-the-park homeruns in the buffet.
Paul Rubin followed with a single. Tommy Gillis lined out to second base; Mike Velaney threw to first, trying to double up Paul, but threw past the bag, and Paul took second. Doc Hobar flied out to Peter Sundquist in right-center. Greg Lloyd lined a single to right, Paul scoring. Rick Kahn hit a grounder sharply up the middle, to the right of second base; Mike Velaney made a good play to get to it, and flipped to Joe Bernal covering the bag for the game-ending force. Final score: Maroon 19, Gray 11
12:30 p.m., Red (3-1) at Blue (3-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Red 5 5 0 5 0 15 Blue 3 5 4 5 X 17 Pitchers: Red – Donald Drummer; Blue – Tom Kelm. Mercenaries: Blue – Tom Kelm, Peter Sundquist, and Scott Wright. Umpires: home plate – Marvin Krabbenhoft; bases – Dave Jaffe. Perfect at the plate: Red – Sam Baker (two walks), Gregory Bied (2 for 2 with a homerun and a walk), George Brindley (2 for 2 with a double and a walk), David Ferley (3 for 3), Jack Spellman (2 for 2 with a walk); Blue – Fritz Hensel (2 for 2 with two walks), and Jack Crosley and Dale Fugate (per Larry Fiorentino – we didn't have a scorecard for Blue). Homerun: Gregory Bied (inside the park).
The line score tells the tale: Red maxed out in three of its at bats, but didn’t score at all in the third or the buffet, while Blue never scored less than three times in an inning, their offense simply unstinting. Red just couldn’t keep up, even after scoring ten times while making just one out in the first two innings. Red left the bases loaded in the third, Tom Kelm getting outs on flyballs to left, right, and left-center, and that was a turning point – Blue went ahead 12-10 with four runs in the home half, and matched Red’s five in the top of the fourth (Gregory Bied’s inside-the-park grand slam the big hit) with an equal number in their at bat.
Red was chasing two entering the buffet, and on singles by Daniel Baladez and Mike Mordecai got the tying run on base with one out. But Tom Kelm got Terry Thompson to hit an infield fly (as called by Scott Wright himself) to third base for the second out, then retired Gene Nelson on a two-strike foul to close it out. Final score: Blue 17, Red 15, Blue extending its winning streak to four games and taking over first place for the session.
Gregory Bied hit an inside-the-park homerun and was one of four Red batters who were perfect on the day, notwithstanding which the team still fell to Blue.
Standings – Session Four:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 4 1 .800 — 70 55 +15 W4
Maroon 3 2 .600 1 60 53 + 7 W1
Red 3 2 .600 1 65 59 + 6 L1
Gold 2 3 .400 2 71 70 + 1 L3
Green 2 3 .400 2 60 64 – 4 W2
Gray 1 4 .200 3 43 68 -25 L3
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 2-0 2-1 0 0-0 1-0 1-1
Maroon 1-2 2-0 1 0-1 1-0 2-1
Red 2-1 1-1 2 0-0 1-0 2-1
Gold 1-1 1-2 0 0-0 1-0 0-2
Green 1-1 1-2 0 1-0 0-1 0-0
Gray 0-3 1-1 0 0-0 0-3 1-1
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 6 6 5 3 2.5 6 28.5
Gold 2 X 3 7 4 1 4 21
Gray 2 5 X 3 4 2 6 22
Green 3 4 4 X 4 4 4 23
Maroon 5 5 4 4 X 3 4 25
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 4 3 3 5 3 3 X 21
_______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 17.5 24 22 24 19 15.5 25 147
Schedule for Thursday October 12:
10:30 a.m.: Blue (4-1) at Gold (2-3), Maroon umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (3-2) at Maroon (3-2), Green umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Gray (1-4) at Green (2-3), Red umpiring
Preview: The Gold, with home-team advantage, is next to try to slow down the Blue juggernaut. The second-place teams face off at 11:30, the winner with a chance to move into a first-place tie if Blue stumbles at 10:30. Gray looks to right its ship at 12:30 against a surging Green team. Will we see an over-the-fence homerun before the big boppers return from the Huntsman Games? Only one thing is certain: Time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Plugging Our Own: Johnny Lee and the Arctic Blues Band will be playing at Mr. Catfish this coming Monday, October 16, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. The Beast from the East will be there.