B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 53 – September 22, 2025
Games of Monday September 22:
10:30 a.m., Purple (2-3) at Blue (1-3):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 1 0 5 5 1 12 Blue 2 5 5 2 X 14 Pitchers: Purple – Raul Deleon; Blue – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Purple – Ken Brown, Donnie Janac, Mike Malay, Jack McDermott, Peter Sunquist, and Scott Wright; Blue – Peter Atkins and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Jack Crosley; bases – Jack Kelly and Tommy Gillis. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Henry Flores (3 for 3 with two doubles), Mike Malay (2 for 2 with a walk), and Scott Wright (3 for 3 with a double); Blue – George Brindley and Steve Sandall (both 3 for 3 with a double) and Jimmy Sneed (3 for 3).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 85 degrees, felt like 92. Humidity 68%, wind from the South at 9 MPH. Partly cloudy – bearable!
Purple was a bit slow to get untracked and wound up spending most of the game chasing Blue and never quite catching up. They scored one run on three singles in the top of the first, Tommy Deleon getting three outs on balls in the air – a liner back to the box by Rick Jensen, and flies by Raul Deleon, to Peter Atkins in left-center, and Ken Brown, to George Brindley in right-center. Blue then won the inning by scoring two runs on singles by its first four batters, followed by Jim Foelker’s sacrifice fly to Matt Levitt in left field.
In fact, Blue’s 1-3 hitters, Steve Sandall, Jimmy Sneed, and George Brindley, proved unstoppable in this game, each going a perfect 3 for 3 at the plate, combining to score eight runs and drive in six. Basically they continually circled the bases like a jolly troop of motorcycle riders smilingly terrorizing the populace, as seen here:
“It’s not a motorcycle, baby – it’s a chopper.”
After holding Purple scoreless in the top of the second – Tommy Deleon worked around a one-out single by Scott Wright – Blue scored five runs on seven hits in each of the next two innings: six singles and Peter Atkins’s double in the bottom of the second, Tommy Deleon capping the rally with a two-out, two-run single; and four singles, Steve Guzman’s walk, and doubles by Steve Sandall and George Brindley in the bottom of the third.
That second outburst came after Purple scored five times in the top of the third on five singles, Mike Malay’s walk, and a two-run double by Henry Flores. That briefly cut Blue’s lead to one run.
Purple scored five times again in the top of the fourth, on Matt Levitt’s walk, four singles, and another double by Henry Flores. Blue got two runs back in the home half. Tommy Deleon singled with one out and Steve Guzman with two out, and Steve and Tommy’s pinch-runner both scored on Jack Spellman’s pop-fly triple to right, which squibbed away from Donnie Janac.
That gave Blue a 14-11 lead heading into the buffet. Tommy Deleon got two big outs to start the inning, on fly balls by Ken Brown to Jim Foelker in right field and Jack McDermott to Peter Atkins in left-center. Scott Wright doubled, completing a 3-for-3 game, and Peter Sundquist and Donnie Janac followed with singles, Scott coming around to score. Purple had the tying run on base, but Tommy got Matt Levitt to swing at an inside pitch with two strikes, resulting in a foul pop down the third-base side, unnecessarily caught by Jack Spellman for the final out.
Final score: Blue 14, Purple 12
11:30 a.m., Gray (2-2) at Orange (3-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 Orange 5 5 2 2 X X 14 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Orange – Terry Thompson. Mercenaries: Gray – George Brindley, Raul Deleon, Henry Flores, and Jack McDermott; Orange – Jim Foelker, Matt Levitt, Steve Sandall, and Phil Stanch. Umpires: home – Rex Horvath; bases – Rick Jensen. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Henry Flores and Jack McDermott (both 2 for 2); Orange – Peter Atkins (3 for 3 with a double), Marvin Krabbenhoft (3 for 3), and Steve Sandall (2 for 2 with a walk and a double). Home run: David Brown (inside the park) (6).
Weather update: 87 degrees, felt like 95. Humidity 60%, wind from the South at 8 MPH.
The Orange juggernaut be juggernautin’, crushing a pair of five-run innings to start the game and holding Gray scoreless over the final four innings to post a decisive 14-3 victory. Gray led briefly, scoring two runs on three singles in the top of the first inning. The second was very nearly an out: George Brindley, running for Johnny Lee, whose would-have-been-an-extra-base-
That was one of only two speed bumps Orange encountered. The second came in the home half of the first. Jack Kelly retired Clint Fletcher on a fly to left fielder George Brindley to start the inning. David Brown then stepped up and smoked a line drive to right field that looked like a certain triple or homer, only for David to trip and take a header while rounding first base, as seen here:
Not saying Johnny Lee tripped David, but also not saying you can’t interpret the picture that way.
David managed to pick himself up and get to second, commencing a rally that saw each of the next five Orange batters hit safely, with Peter Atkins and Steve Sandall knocking run-scoring doubles.
Gray scored its third and final run of the game in the top of the second, on singles by Jack McDermott, Raul Deleon, and Henry Flores. Raul tried to score from second on Tommy Gillis’s two-out single to left field, but was cut down on a 7-6-2 relay, Matt Levitt to David Brown to Marvin Krabbenhoft, who this time held on for the out.
Orange pushed across five more runs in the bottom of the second, on seven hits. Mercenaries Matt Levitt, Phil Stanch, and Jim Foelker opened the innings with singles, Matt scoring on Jim’s. Phil took third on Clint Fletcher’s fly out to Jack Crosley in right. David Brown then came up and did what he intended to do in the first inning, lining a ball to right field and circling the bases for a three-run inside-the-park home run, his sixth, as he took over the season home run race.
The next three batters singled and Terry Thompson delivered Orange’s fifth run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to Morgan Withhoft in right-center field.
Orange won the third and fourth innings 2-0 each. Terry Thompson retired the side in order in the top of the third, and worked around Jack McDermott’s one-out single in the fourth. In the bottom of the third Steve Sandall drew a lead-off walk and scored from first on Matt Levitt’s double; Matt took third on Phil Stanch’s infield hit and scored on Jim Foelker’s sacrifice fly to Raul Deleon in right-center. Jack Kelly then retired both Clint Fletcher and David Brown on fly balls, good plays made by left fielder George Brindley, running to his left to track down Clint’s drive, and Jack Crosley in right, hauling in David’s opposite-field shot. Orange scored two runs on four more singles and another sacrifice fly, by Matt Levitt to George Brindley in left, in the bottom of the fourth.
Henry Flores led off the fifth with a single, another line drive to left field. Nothing but line drives off Henry’s bat all day today – it’s worth mentioning that Henry was perfect at the plate in each of the day’s first two games, as was Steve Sandall, achievements which I’ve commemorated by creating the following image for you all to color in yourselves:
Steve Sandall and Henry Flores went a combined 10 for 10 with a walk and four doubles over the day’s opening two games.
Henry was forced out at second on Jack Crosley’s grounder to second baseman Steve Sandall. Steve then started an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play, David Brown on the pivot, on Tommy Gillis’s hard grounder.
With Orange holding an 11-run lead, the teams did a double flip-flop and moved into the buffet inning. Morgan Witthoft led off with a single, but was doubled up on Johnny Lee’s liner back to the box, Terry Thompson making a terrific play and snapping a quick throw to first baseman Larry Shupe before Morgan could scramble back. Mike Malay followed with a single, but the game ended with Larry Shupe snagging Jack Kelly’s liner down the first-base side.
Final score: Orange 14, Gray 3
12:30 p.m., Red (2-2) at Green (2-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Red 0 1 5 3 1 10 Green 1 5 4 5 X 15 Pitchers: Red – Tommy Deleon; Green – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Red – Tommy Deleon and Clint Fletcher; Green – Rick Jensen, Johnny Lee, and Morgan Witthoft. Umpires: home – David Brown; bases – Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Red – Mark Dolan (3 for 3 with a double) and Peter Sundquist (2 for 2 with a walk); Green – Donnie Janac, Rick Jensen, and Johnny Lee (all 3 for 3) and Ralph Villela (3 for 3 with two doubles).
Dave Berra’s weather update: 90 degrees, felt like 98. Humidity 54%, wind from the South at 8 MPH. Partly sunny. Summer still with us.
While this game was being played, it really didn’t feel like Red was in it, but the final score was fairly close, and in fact Red only had one really bad inning, the second.
Not that the first inning was good for Red, as Greg Lloyd retired the side in order to open the game. Ralph Villela led off the home half with a double and Greg Lloyd followed by drawing a walk, but Tommy Deleon did a good job of limiting the damage after that. He retired Mike Garrison on a foul pop to third baseman Clint Fletcher and got Phil Stanch to line out to second baseman Don Williams. Steve Browne’s single drove in Ralph with the game’s first run. Donnie Janac’s grounder to shortstop took a bad hop, resulting in a single that loaded the bases, but Billy Hill’s grounder, to about the exact same spot, avoided pebbles and was successfully fielded for a 6-4, inning-ending force.
Red got on the board with a run on three singles in the top of the second. But Green took control of the game by scoring five times without making an out in the bottom of the inning. Mercenaries Rick Jensen, Johnny Lee, and Morgan Witthoft opened the frame with singles, Rick coming around to score. Ralph Villela and Greg Lloyd knocked back-to-back doubles, three more runs coming across. Greg then scored the fifth on Mike Garrison’s drive to the fence in left-center, a ball that almost certainly would have been a triple or homer if the fifth run wasn’t trotting home ahead of Mike.
Red responded with five runs in the top of the third, on five singles and walks to Tommy Deleon and Dale Fugate, briefly tying the game. But Green went back ahead with four runs in the home half. The first three batters singled, loading the bases. (The third single was by Donnie Janac, another bad-hop grounder that ate me up at shortstop.) Billy Hill hit a hard bouncer back to the box; Tommy Deleon fielded it and made a quick throw home, so quick that Billy didn’t have a chance to get clear of the batter’s box, and wound up being between Tommy’s throw and catcher Jim McAnelly. Plate umpire David Brown immediately and firmly called interference on the play, declaring the runner coming from third out and advancing the others one base. It was a correctly made call, no drama, and the game proceeded – a rare enough occurrence that I feel like it’s worth mentioning.
Rick Jensen and Johnny Lee followed with singles, Rick’s driving in one run, Johnny Lee’s two. Clint Fletcher caught Morgan Witthoft’s pop to the third-base bag for the second out. Ralph Villela singled in Rick. Greg Lloyd hit a looper down the first base side that Dale Fugate made a good play on, reaching into foul territory to catch it for the third out.
Red cut Green’s lead to just one run by scoring three times in the top of the fourth, on Clint Fletcher’s lead-off double, three singles, and Peter Sundquist’s walk. Clint scored the first run on a fielder’s choice, a 1-6 force off the bat of Jack Spellman, a truly terrible at bat in which I swung at a low 2-1 pitch. A single by Rolando Rodriguez and Peter’s walk extended the inning, enabling Don Williams to deliver a big two-out, two-run hit.
But once again Green came up with a big inning to give itself some breathing room, scoring five runs on Mike Garrison’s lead-off walk and five singles, the last three – by mercenaries Rick Jensen, Johnny Lee, and Morgan Witthoft again; they were a combined 8 for 9 in the game – coming with two out and delivering the last four runs of the inning. Here’s a highly accurate rendering of Rick’s hit:
Donnie Janac, Rick, and Johnny Lee all completed 3-for-3 games with hits in this inning.
Red entered the buffet needing six runs to tie, not the most impossible ask ever, and Mark Dolan doubled (completing a 3-for-3 game) and Jim McAnelly singled to open the inning. Mark tagged and scored on Clint Fletcher’s sacrifice fly to Phil Stanch in right-center. Tommy Deleon crossed up the scouting reports by lining Greg Lloyd’s first pitch to him to left field, but Mike Garrison got a great jump on the ball and raced in and to his right to catch it on a dead run for the second out. Jack McDermott then stepped up and hit a sharp grounder to Ralph Villela at shortstop for a game-ending 6-4 force. (I don’t think Jack will mind my pointing out that he and I were a combined 2 for 7 in this game, which is a lot of the reason why Red came up short.)
Final score: Green 15, Red 10
Session 4 standings:
| Session 4 | Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Orange | 4 | 1 | .800 | 0 | 74 | 49 | 25 | W1 |
| Maroon | 3 | 2 | .600 | 1 | 51 | 46 | 5 | W1 |
| Green | 3 | 2 | .600 | 1 | 58 | 56 | 2 | W3 |
| Red | 2 | 3 | .400 | 2 | 56 | 60 | -4 | L1 |
| Gray | 2 | 3 | .400 | 2 | 47 | 55 | -8 | L1 |
| Blue | 2 | 3 | .400 | 2 | 51 | 65 | -14 | W1 |
| Purple | 2 | 4 | .333 | 2.5 | 63 | 69 | -6 | L4 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Orange | 2-0 | 2-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 0-1 | ||
| Maroon | 2-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Green | 2-1 | 1-1 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-0 | ||
| Red | 2-1 | 0-2 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-0 | ||
| Gray | 1-2 | 1-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-1 | ||
| Blue | 1-1 | 1-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Purple | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-1 |
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3.5 | 4 | 5 | 22.5 |
| Gray | 5 | X | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 20 |
| Green | 3 | 5 | X | 3.5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 21.5 |
| Maroon | 4 | 4 | 5.5 | X | 4 | 5 | 3 | 25.5 |
| Orange | 4.5 | 6 | 3 | 3 | X | 4 | 4 | 24.5 |
| Purple | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | X | 6 | 22 |
| Red | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | X | 17 |
| TOTAL: | 21.5 | 23 | 21.5 | 18.5 | 18.5 | 22 | 28 | 153 |
Green and Maroon tied their game of August 7; Orange and Blue tied their game of August 28; these are counted as half a win and half a loss for each team.
2025 season home run leaders:
David Brown – 6
Tim Coles – 5
Mike Garrison – 5
Bobby Miller – 5
Ralph Villela – 5
George Brindley – 4
Anthony Galindo – 4
Tommy Gillis – 4
Larry Fiorentino – 3
Mike Malay – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Tim Bruton – 2
Doc Hobar – 2
Rex Horvath – 2
Matt Levitt – 2
Terry O’Brien – 2
George Romo – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Scott Wright – 2
Jim Aaron – 1
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Ken Brown – 1
Gary Coyle – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Tony Garcia – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Jack McDermott – 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
Department of Spellman’s OCD: I said I’d go through all this season’s recaps to determine who among the league’s pitchers have earned Ohtani Awards, for pitching their team to victory while being perfect at the plate, and so I have. Below are the Ohtani Standings, led by Purple’s Spike Davidson, who has seven Ohtanis to his name so far this season, one more than Tommy Deleon and Jeff Stone. You’ll note a stretch in the first half of August when Spike racked up four Ohtanis over 11 days. On August 11, Spike was perfect at the plate and pitched two innings in a game Purple ultimately lost – yowza. A remarkable stretch of play by a terrific ballplayer.
Ohtanis (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Spike Davidson – 7 (June 19, June 30, August 4, August 7, August 14 (2), September 8)
Tommy Deleon – 6 (March 3, March 13, April 14, April 28, May 12, September 8)
Jeff Stone – 6 (March 20, April 17, July 17, July 21, July 28, September 11)
Tom Kelm – 4 (March 3, March 13, May 1, June 16)
Joe Bernal – 3 (March 3, April 3, June 5)
Ray Pilgrim – 3 (April 14, August 4, August 7)
Donald Drummer – 2 (May 1, August 11)
Jack Kelly – 2 (March 10, May 12)
Greg Lloyd – 1 (June 26)
David Pittard – 1 (June 2)
Terry Thompson – 1 (July 31)
Chunky Wright – 1 (June 9)
Want to know what took me longer to create than doing the research to come up with the Ohtani Awards list? This image of the four pitchers with the most 2025 Ohtanis – left to right, believe it or not, Spike, Jeff, Tommy, and Tom – took me a couple of hours to get into this admittedly lame picture. Not to be all boo-hoo, poor-me about it, but the AI image creation programs are pretty bad at this.
Schedule for Thursday September 25:
10:30 a.m.: Gray (2-3) at Maroon (3-2), Red umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (2-3) at Blue (2-3), Gray umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Green (3-2) at Orange (4-1), Blue umpiring
Purple has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Vegas week continues, all the teams calling on mercenaries to fill out their lineups and making it nigh-on impossible to get a read on their strength entering Thursday’s play. Green has a chance to climb into a tie for first place if they can defeat Orange at 12:30. Maroon comes back from today’s bye and plays Gray at 10:30. One of Red and Blue will get back to .500 at 11:30. Will anyone else join me in pouring one out for the last eight victims of the Salem Witch Trials? Only one thing is certain: Time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Lost and Found: Two Wilson mitts and two bats, a Miken and the still-unclaimed Suncoast, are in the equipment cart, waiting to be reclaimed. Those sunglasses belong to Clint Fletcher, who repatriated them shortly after the picture was taken, then celebrated by getting a pumpkin spice latte and gazing upon the New England foliage. Happy first day of Autumn, and a joyous Rosh Hoshanah to those who celebrate.