B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 44 – September 16, 2024
Roster note: Tony Garcia is reassigned from Orange Team to Blue Team to replace David Brown, currently out with injury.
Weather: Temperature 81 at the start of the 10:00 game, rising steadily into the low 90s. Humidity was 72% to start, gradually lessening to 41%. Bright high sun throughout, tough on the outfielders in left and left-center.
Games of Monday September 16:
10:00 a.m., Red (1-2) at Blue (1-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 1 3 1 1 0 4 10 Blue 5 0 3 4 2 X 14 Pitchers: Red – Gil Delossantos; Blue – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Blue – Tommy Deleon, Donnie Janac, Jim Maloy, Paul Rubin, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Dave Berra and Joe Roche; bases – Marvin Krabbenhoft. Perfect at the plate: Red – Tim Bruton (4 for 4 with a double) and Donald Drummer (2 for 2 with a walk); Blue – Tommy Deleon (3 for 3) and Jack Spellman (3 for 3 with a double and a triple).
A well-played game. After holding Red to just one run in the top of the first – Bobby Miller led off the game with a double to left and scored on Tim Bruton’s single, but Tommy Deleon got Rick Kahn and and Adam Reddell to hit grounders, for a 4-6 force and a 6-4-3 double play, Jim Maloy making a nice pivot on the DP – Blue posted the game’s only five-run inning in the home half, on six singles and a walk to Paul Rubin, all the runs scoring after the second out was recorded, Terry Thompson making it in on Billy Hill’s 6-5 force out.
The teams played to a 9-9 draw the rest of the way. Red scored three runs on five singles in the top of the second, another 6-4-3 double play limiting the damage, then held Blue scoreless in the bottom half, Gil Delossantos getting three ground ball outs after allowing a lead-off single to Donnie Janac.
Red then tied the game, briefly, with one run on three singles in the top of the third. Blue reclaimed the lead with three runs in the bottom half, the first five batters reaching base on three singles, Billy Hill’s walk, and Jack Spellman’s RBI double to right field. Singles by Tommy Deleon and Paul Rubin drove in the second and third runs, but Gil Delossantos then got Jim Maloy to ground into a 4-6-3 double play and Donnie Janac to line out to second baseman Boo Resnick.
Red got another single run on three singles in the fourth, only to have Blue win the inning with four runs in the home half, on a walk, three singles, and Spellman’s triple to center. Again all the runs came across after two were out.
Tommy Deleon worked a scoreless top of the fifth, working around singles by Adam Reddell and Tommy Langa, the latter on a ball through shortstop Spellman’s legs. (I also made a bad throw to first to blow a double-play opportunity. I did manage to wrestle Hal Darman’s grounder to the ground and flip to second for the third out. Yay.) Blue’s first four batters hit safely in the bottom half: Jim Maloy doubled; Donnie Janac and Terry Thompson singled, Jim scoring; and Steve Sandall doubled, Donnie scoring. That made it 14-6 Blue, and the teams flip-flopped and went to the buffet.
Tommy Deleon snagged Boo Resnick’s line drive back to the box to start the inning, but Red’s next six hitters knocked clean hits – four singles and RBI doubles by Bobby Miller and Tim Bruton, Tim completing a 4-for-4 game. Four runs scored altogether, the last two on knocks to right field by Adam Reddell and Denny Malloy, before Tommy got Gil Delossantos to ground into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play, Blue’s third of the game. Final score: Blue 14, Red 10
11:00 a.m., Maroon (3-0) at Orange (3-0):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 3 5 2 2 5 X 17 Orange 1 4 0 2 0 0 7 Pitchers: Maroon – Terry Thompson; Orange – Tom Kelm. Mercenaries: Maroon – Tim Bruton, Jack Crosley, Hal Darman, Adam Reddell, and Terry Thompson; Orange – Daniel Baladez, George Brindley, Clint Fletcher, and Tom Kelm. Umpires: home – Donald Drummer; bases – Tommy Langa. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Jack Crosley (3 for 3 with a triple), Jimmy Sneed (3 for 3 with two doubles), Jack Spellman (4 for 4 with a double), and Terry Thompson (3 for 3). Home run: Peter Atkins (inside the park).
Nine mercenaries in this game, so it’s hard to ascribe a lot of meaning to the final result, as almost 50% of the players were not members of the two teams of record. Maroon as visitors got to pick first, and their mercenaries went a combined 10 for 14 with a triple and a walk, compared to Orange’s, a combined 4 for 10 with one walk. Maroon wound up winning every inning but the fourth, which it tied, and cruising to a 17-7 win, scoring eight of a possible ten runs over the first two innings – three in the first, Jimmy Sneed and Joe Dayoc doubling in the runs, and five on eight singles in the second, all the runs coming across after Orange turned a 6-4-3 double play, Clint Fletcher to George Brindley to Dave Berra.
After scoring a single run on three singles in the bottom of the first, Orange had its best inning of the day in the second. With one out, Clint Fletcher walked and Daniel Baladez and Tom Kelm singled, Clint coming around to score. Fritz Hensel lined out to Jack Spellman in right-center, which filled me with unmerited self-esteem. Peter Atkins then followed with a drive, also to right-center. Off the bat, I was certain it was back and to my left, so I took off that way, then turned to discover to my horror that while I’d judged the distance pretty well, the ball was actually about a dozen feet to my right. I had time to course-correct, but my feet got tangled and I wound up on my ass, the ball falling in safely and rolling to the fence. By the time I’d retrieved and made a futile throw into the infield, Peter had easily circled the bases with an inside-the-park three-run homer.
Peter Atkins accounted for almost half of Orange’s scoring with a single swing of the bat.
Quote of the Day: Hal Darman, in the visitors dugout at the conclusion of the inning: “Jack, you’re not looking comfortable out there.” (Fair.)
Maroon scored two runs on four singles in the third, Orange turning another 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Terry Thompson then threw a quick 1-2-3 bottom half. In the fourth, Maroon got two more, Jimmy Sneed’s second double the key hit – as it turned out, it was Jimmy’s third and final at bat, as he completed a 3-for-3 day. It followed the defensive play of the day, shortstop Clint Fletcher making a great backhanded catch of James Chavana’s line drive to his right – I still don’t know how Clint managed to snag it, as the ball looked like it was well past him. Great, great catch. Orange got the two runs back on three singles, one by Clint, in the home half.
In the fifth, Maroon scored five times on a walk to Adam Reddell, three singles, and back-to-back doubles by Jack Spellman and James Chavana. It was 17-7 at that point, and the flip-flop was invoked. Terry Thompson proceeded to throw two more scoreless innings, working around Larry Shupe’s two-out line single up the middle in the bottom of the fifth, then retiring Orange in order in the buffet. Joe Roche turned the tables on Clint Fletcher, the second batter of the inning, by making an outstanding defensive play on Clint’s grounder to third, then rifling a throw to first that beat Clint by half a step. Final score: Maroon 17, Orange 7
Scott Wright made the third-best catch of the day.
Noon, Purple (0-2) at Green (0-2):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 1 0 0 0 2 1 4 Green 1 0 5 0 5 X 11 Pitchers: Purple – Tom Kelm; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Purple – Peter Atkins, James Chavana, Hal Darman, Matt Levitt, Adam Reddell, Jimmy Sneed, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Dave Berra; bases – Jimmy Maloy. Perfect at the plate: Green – Jeff Broussard (2 for 2 with a walk), Jack Crosley (3 for 3), Mike Garrison (2 for 2 with a walk and two doubles), and Paul Rubin (3 for 3 with two doubles and a home run). Home run: Paul Rubin (inside the park)
Fortified by seven mercenaries, Purple had a pretty solid lineup on paper, but Green put on a defensive clinic behind Tommy Deleon, who got nine outs in the air, eight on the ground (one double play), and one on a two-strike foul, holding the visitors to just four runs over six innings. Seven of the airborne outs were caught by shortstop Ralph Villela and left fielder Mike Garrison, both showing off unfair range.
Both teams scored a single run in the first. Purple got on the board right away when Clint Fletcher singled and then tore all the way around the bases and scored on Jim Foelker’s base hit to left field. The bottom half started with third baseman Jimmy Sneed fielding Ralph Villela’s grounder down the line and rifling a throw to stretching first baseman Adam Reddell to just beat Ralph for the out – great play. Paul Rubin then lined an extra-base hit to left-center; he tried for third, and a good relay would have gotten him, but Clint Fletcher’s throw got past Jimmy and wound up in the visitors dugout – Paul was awarded home and the inside-the-park home run.
Green skipper Jeff Broussard presents Paul Rubin with a Pluckers coupon after the game.
Both teams were shut out in the second after loading the bases. Purple started the inning with singles by James Chavana, Jimmy Sneed, and Adam Reddell, but Tommy Deleon got Matt Levitt to pop out to shortstop and Hal Darman to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. Mike Garrison led off the bottom half with a double and took third on Jack Crosley’s one-out single. A walk to Jeff Broussard loaded the bases for Daniel Baladez. Daniel hit a hard one-hop grounder to the right but within reach of Jack Spellman, resulting in a 4-6-3 double play.
Tommy Deleon blanked Purple again in the third, working around a minor one-out jam. Clint Fletcher singled to start the inning and took second on Tom Kelm’s one-out knock. Tommy got Peter Atkins to ground to the shortstop hole, and Ralph Villela made a smooth move to his backhand to field the ball, then threw to Daniel Baladez for the force at third. Jack Spellman then flied out to Jack Crosley in right to end the inning.
Green grabbed the lead for good in the bottom half, scoring five runs one-out doubles by Ralph Villela and Paul Rubin followed by four two-out singles, with a rally-extending walk to Mike Garrison mixed in.
Neither team scored in the fourth, Green going out in order in the home half after Purple could manage only a two-out single by Adam Reddell in the top half.
Purple had its biggest inning of the day in the fifth, scoring two runs on four singles. Or “singles” – the second run scored on a two-out grounder to shortstop Ralph Villela by Jack Spellman, only safe because Ralph’s throw sailed past first baseman Jeff Broussard.
Green then put the game well and truly out of reach, scoring five runs without making an out on four singles, a walk to Tommy Deleon, and doubles by Paul Rubin and Mike Garrison, each completing perfect games at the plate (as did Jack Crosley and Jeff Broussard, their singles driving in the fourth and fifth runs).
Purple was chasing eight entering the buffet – shouldn’t have been out of the question, but given how well Green was playing, it felt like a big ask. Jimmy Sneed doubled to the fence in left to open the inning, and the Purple bench tried to spin this into a deflating event for a Green defense that must be feeling the heat and fatigue. (They weren’t.) Tommy Deleon got Adam Reddell on a grounder to second baseman Mike Hill, Jimmy advancing to third, then got Matt Levitt to pop out to shortstop Ralph Villela. Hal Darman’s single to left brought Jimmy in, and Clint Fletcher extended the inning with a single up the middle. But Tommy got Jim Foelker to ground into a game-ending 6-4 force to secure Green’s first victory of the session. Final score: Green 11, Purple 4
Standings – Session Four:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Maroon 4 0 1.000 — 54 33 +21 W5
Orange 3 1 .750 1 56 55 + 1 L1
Blue 2 1 .667 1.5 35 32 + 3 W1
Gray 1 2 .333 2.5 45 40 + 5 W1
Green 1 2 .333 2.5 36 33 + 3 W1
Red 1 3 .250 3 53 65 -12 L2
Purple 0 3 .000 3.5 26 47 -21 L4
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Maroon 2-0 2-0 1 0-0 2-0 1-0
Orange 1-1 2-0 0 0-0 1-1 1-0
Blue 1-0 1-1 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Gray 0-1 1-1 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Green 1-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Red 0-2 1-1 0 0-0 0-2 0-1
Purple 0-2 0-1 0 0-0 0-2 0-0
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 3 1 4 4 2 4 18
Gray 4 X 3 3 4 0 5 19
Green 3 2 X 4 2 5 4 20
Maroon 2 3 4 X 5 1 3 18
Orange 1 3 3 2 X 4 3 16
Purple 4 2 3 5 3 X 1 18
Red 4 2 3 1 4 4 X 18
_______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 18 15 17 19 22 16 20 127
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 6
David Kruse – 4
Ken Brown – 3
Tim Bruton – 3
Peter Atkins – 2
Gregory Bied – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Clint Fletcher – 2
Gary Kubenka – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Ralph Villela – 2
George Brindley – 1
David Brown – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Tommy Gillis – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Rex Horvath – 1
Denny Malloy – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
Eddie Ortiz -1
David Pittard – 1
Joe Roche – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Thursday September 19:
10:00 a.m.: Blue (2-1) at Green (1-2), Gray umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Gray (1-2) at Purple (0-3), Blue umpiring
Noon: Red (1-3) at Maroon (4-0), Purple umpiring
Orange has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: This will be the final set of games with 10:00/11:00/noon start times – on September 23 we go back to 10:30/11:30/12:30. Lots of players are still away at the Worlds in Las Vegas, so there will be plenty of opportunities to get into extra games, as a number of us did today. Will anyone still be yelling “Yargh!”after over-celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day on Wednesday? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Johnny Lee and Arctic Blues Band are performing tonight at Mr. Catfish, 1144 Airport Boulevard. You might have time to make it for the end of the performance!