B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 48 – September 30, 2024
League president Anthony Galindo has announcements:
1. Effective on Monday, we have a revised rule for courtesy runners from the plate (aka the David Kruse Rule lol). The rule now states “The runner must keep his feet behind the line in a stationary position and may not get a running start.”
2. Also on Monday, two new players are being assigned to their teams. Chris Waddell, who played with Red on Thursday, has been assigned to the Gray Team to replace Frank Delmonte; and Tom Bellavia is replacing James Chavana on the Maroon Team. Welcome Chris and Tom to the B League.
3. We’ve been asked by PARD to please lock the driveway bollard behind the field after driving our equipment to the storage container. The code for unlocking the bollard is 0911.
4. The Parks Department is working with a contractor to restore power to the scoreboard and other fields in the complex.
5. The banquet on 10/24 is less than a month away, so it’s time to start taking a head count. Please let your managers know if you plan to attend and if you’re bringing any guest. The cost per guest is $25. Managers, please report your team count to TerryThompson and how many play in both B & C leagues.
Games of Monday September 30:
10:30 a.m., Red (2-4) at Orange (3-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET EXTRA FINAL Red 5 1 4 0 1 4 2 17 Orange 5 5 0 0 1 4 1 16 Pitchers: Red – Gil Delossantos (innings 1-2) and Eddy Murillo (3 to end); Orange – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenary: Red – Scott Wright. Umpires: home – Jack Kelly and Jack Spellman; bases – Donnie Janac and David Kruse. Perfect at the plate: Red – Tommy Langa (4 for 4), Mike Malay (4 for 4 with a double), and Bobby Miller (5 for 5 with two doubles); Orange – Rex Horvath (4 for 4 with three doubles), Jim Maloy (4 for 4 with a double), and Larry Shupe (3 for 3 with a walk).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 82 degrees (Heat Index 84), 48% humidity, bright sun and negligible cloud cover, wind 2 MPH out of the north.
What a game this was – one of the best of the season. Looked at the start like it would be a total slugfest, each team scoring five times on seven hits in the first inning, Red making one out, Orange not making any. Bobby Miller led off the game with a double to right field and scored the first run on Tim Bruton’s single. Morgan Witthoft hit into a 5-4 force, but the next five batters singled cleanly. Orange was even more impressive in the home half, knocking a single, a triple by Larry Fiorentino, and five doubles (by Doc Hobar, Peter Atkins, Gary Kubenka, Rex Horvath, and Jim Maloy – Jim’s was over the heads of the drawn-in outfielders and drove in the fifth run).
Red knocked four more singles in the top of the second, but came away with only one run – Scott Wright’s single to right-center was turned into a 9-6 force out. Orange then scored five again, drawing three walks and getting two more singles and two more doubles, the two-baggers by Matt Levitt leading off and Rex Horvath driving in the fifth run, again over the drawn-in outfielders.
Red tied the score in the top of the third with four runs on Denny Malloy’s lead-off walk, five singles, and Bobby Miller’s second double. The first single, by Tommy Langa, actually went through the legs of both third baseman Peter Atkins and shortstop Rex Horvath – highly entertaining. Two good defensive plays prevented a fifth run from scoring. Tommy was actually thrown out 8-4, Matt Levitt to Doc Hobar, trying to stretch his single into a double, Matt making a quick, accurate throw in that just beat the runner for the first out. The inning ended with Bobby Miller trying to score on Tim Bruton’s single to right-center, but he was cut down on a fine 9-6-2 relay, Larry Fiorentino to Rex Horvath to Dave Berra, two excellent throws.
That set the tone for the middle innings, which saw both teams play excellent defense. Eddy Murillo took over on the mound for Red in the bottom of the third, and retired Ray Pilgrim on a grounder to shortstop, first baseman Hal Darman making a nice play of Tim Bruton’s short throw. Red loaded the bases on singles by Jim Maloy and Larry Shupe and a walk to Matt Levitt, but Eddy escaped the jam by starting a 1-2-3 double play on Dave Berra’s grounder back up the middle, Gil Delossantos, having moved to catcher, making a strong throw to first.
Morgan Witthoft led off the fourth with a single, but Ray Pilgrim got the next two batters to ground out, Eddy Murillo hitting into a 6-4 force and Gary Kubenka making an outstanding play on Denny Malloy’s hard grounder down the first-base side – Gary fielded the ball cleanly, tagged first for the out there, then fired a strike to Rex Horvath to complete the 3u., 3-6 double play.
Orange did not score in the bottom half of the fourth, Eddy Murillo working around Larry Fiorentino’s one-out single.
Both teams scored a single run in the fifth, and the score remained tied. Tommy Langa and Mike Malay led off the top half with singles, and moved up to second and third on Gil Delossantos’s ground out to second baseman Doc Hobar, who made an excellent play ranging far to his left for the ball. Hal Darman hit a sharp grounder to shortstop Rex Horvath, and Tommy broke for home; Rex threw him out, 6-2, but I agree with Tommy’s decision – I think Tommy’s chances of being safe at home, which I’d peg at about 25%, were better than Hal’s chances of being safe at first if Tommy had held and Rex had been able to take his time and throw over – I’d say under 10%. The run probability of second and third with two out is a little bit better than first and second with two out, but worth the risk. (This concludes the Moneyball portion of today’s Picayune.) In any event, Scott Wright drew a walk to load the bases, and Red got one run out it, as Bobby Miller topped a ball down the third-base side and everyone advanced a base. The inning ended with Tim Bruton grounding out to second baseman Doc Hobar.
Orange tied the game with a run on four singles in the home half, also leaving the bases loaded.
On to the buffet, tied 11-11. Red’s first five batters hit safely and four scored, on three singles and doubles by Denny Malloy and Mike Malay. Ray Pilgrim kept Red from adding any more, getting both Gil Delossantos and Hal Darman to ground out to shortstop Rex Horvath. Mike advanced to third on Hal’s grounder, but was stranded when Scott Wright grounded out to second baseman Doc Hobar.
Orange was chasing four in the home half, and its first four batters reached. Larry Fiorentino walked, Peter Atkins singled him to third, and both scored on Gary Kubenka’s double, a deep drive to the base of the fence in right-center. Rex Horvath skied a ball to left field that Scott Wright lost in the brutal sun, Gary (or his pinch-runner, can’t remember) scoring to make it a one-run game, Rex winding up at second with a solar-aided double, his third of the game.
Ray Pilgrim scorched a line drive down third-base way, but Mike Malay snagged it – looked like he caught it more in the palm than in the web, ouch. Jim Maloy then hit a Texas League single to right-center, Rex reading the ball well off the bat and easily scoring the tying run. Matt Levitt flied out to Bobby Miller in right-center; Jim tagged and tried for second, but was cut down by Bobby’s strong throw to Tommy Langa for an inning-ending F-8, 8-4 double play, the fourth twin killing of the game.
So it was on to an extra inning. Red started it with Scott Wright at second, one out, one-pitch rules in effect. Bobby Miller hit a shot back up the middle that Ray Pilgrim made a good play to knock down, though there was no play to be made on Bobby, who tore up the line while Scott held at second. Tim Bruton hit into a 6-4 force, Rex Horvath to Doc Hobar, Bobby out at second, Tim only narrowly beating the relay to first, and Scott taking third on the play. Morgan Witthoft took a pitch for a walk, loading the bases. Eddy Murillo then smacked a single to left field, both Scott and Tim scoring. Denny Malloy grounded out to Doc at second for the third out.
Orange came up needing two to tie, three to win, with Matt Levitt on second, one out, one-pitch rules in effect. Larry Shupe coolly took an outside pitch for a walk. Dave Berra grounded a ball to Rex Horvath’s right; Rex made the play in the hole and threw to Mike Malay to force Matt out at third. Matt then pinch-ran for Dave. Doc Hobar came up and hit a pop behind the 3-4 hole, I don’t think even ten feet beyond the dirt, but out of reach of both first baseman Hal Darman and second baseman Tommy Langa. The ball landed with enough spin to send it rolling out of fair territory. Larry Shupe scored on the play, and Dave Berra, now coaching third base, waved Matt around. Matt told me later that he’d slowed down a bit heading into third – with his back to the play, he didn’t know how far the ball had travelled after landing – but he got back in gear and headed for home. Tommy meanwhile hustled hard after the ball, retrieved it, and made a quick throw to Eddy Murillo. Eddy turned and fired it home, one-hopping catcher Gil Delossantos, but Gil made an excellent, clean grab of it as Matt’s foot was still about four inches above the home line. Matt was out, 4-1-2, to end the game, perhaps the most dramatic conclusion of a B League game this season.
Final score: Red 17, Orange 16
Alvin Gauna (left) and Jack Crosley (file photo, right) won the raffle for HEB gift cards for their umpiring efforts in Session 3.
11:30 a.m., Gray (3-3) at Blue (5-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 1 3 0 0 0 5 9 Blue 5 0 2 3 5 X 15 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenary: Blue – Mark Hernandez. Umpires: home – Larry Fiorentino; bases – Rex Horvath. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Joe Bernal and Jeff Fisher (both 3 for 3). Home run: Ken Brown (inside the park).
Crikey, it’s almost 8:00 and I’m just starting in on recapping this game. The 12:30 game was almost as epic as the 10:30 game. I’m on pace to be up till midnight unless I start cutting corners, and that’s going to be for this game, which, while plenty interesting, was not as close as the others. Apologies for giving it relatively short shrift.
Joe Bernal retired Ken Brown and David Kruse to start the game, then allowed four consecutive singles. Gray only got one run out of it, however, as Don Solberg was pretty much accidentally thrown out trying to score on Johnny Lee’s single to right-center – Steve Sandall overthrew the cutoff, and the ball rolled in to catcher Billy Hill before Don reached the line. Blue then scored five runs on seven singles in the home half to establish a lead it never gave up.
Gray scored three runs in the top of the second to get within one, Mike Mordecai driving in the first with a pop-fly double to center field, David Kruse driving in the second and third with a two-out single up the middle, taking second on the late throw home. Joe Bernal stranded David thanks to a fine defensive play by third baseman George Romo, who charged Tommy Gillis’s grounder and played it cleanly on the short hop, then threw to first for the out.
Blue went out in order in the bottom half, but Gray wasn’t able to take advantage, as Joe Bernal shut them outt over the next three innings, leaving the bases loaded in the third, working a 1-2-3 top of the fourth (Richard Battle made a nice play on Ken Brown’s fly to left for the second out), and allowing a lead-off single to Tommy Gillis in the fifth but getting Donnie Janac to ground into a 6u., 6-3 double play to George Brindley, making his return to shortstop.
Blue meanwhile added to its lead with two runs in the third (Steve Sandall and George Brindley led off with back-to-back doubles and both scored), three runs in the fourth (on Steve Sandall’s two-out, bases-loaded-and-clearing double), and five runs in the bottom of the fifth (on George Romo’s lead-off double,five singles, and a sacrifice fly by Mark Hernandez, making his B League debut. I’ll hear about if I don’t mention that Jeff Fisher, 3 for 3 in the game, tried to stretch his single into a double, but was thrown out by 7-4 by Don Solberg, who doubtlessly subsequently reenacted the play at Juan in a Million.
Know Your B Leaguer: Here’s Mark Hernandez batting in the first inning. He singled in the fourth and drove in Blue’s fifth run in the fifth with a sacrifice fly.
Gray trailed 15-4 entering the buffet. Johnny Lee drew a lead-off walk, but Joe Bernal got the next two batters to ground into force outs. A walk to Mike Mordecai and a single by Mark Dolan loaded the bases for the top of the order. Ken Brown came up and ripped a drive to right-center that skipped between the outfielders and rolled to the fence, Ken easily legging out an inside-the-park grand slam that doubled Gray’s run total for the game.
Ken Brown receives a Pluckers coupon from Ivan Budiselic.
David Kruse followed with a double to right field and scored on Tommy Gillis’s third hit of the game. Don Solberg extended the inning with his third hit, a Texas League single to short center field, but the game ended with Joe Bernal retiring Donnie Janac on a pop back to the mound. Final score: Blue 15, Gray 9
12:30 p.m., Maroon (4-2) at Green (2-4):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 3 5 0 4 4 16 Green 2 2 3 5 5 17 Pitchers: Maroon – Chunky Wright; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Maroon – Tommy Gillis, Johnny Lee, and Pat Scott. Umpires: home – Richard Battle; bases – Steve Sandall. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Tommy Gillis (3 for 3 with a double), Johnny Lee (3 for 3), and Scott Wright; Green – Tommy Deleon, Jim McAnelly, and Phil Stanch (all 3 for 3) and Ralph Villela (3 for 3 with two doubles and a walk).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 92 degrees (Heat Index also 92), 32% humidity, bright blue sunny sky, wind from the east at 4 MPH. Welcome to the desert!
Another barn-burner of a game. Maroon opened the game by scoring three runs on four singles, a double, and Marvin Krabbenhoft’s sacrifice fly. Green got two back in the home half, not for the last time taking advantage of a bad play by Maroon shortstop Jack Spellman.
After Ralph Villela led off with a double, Paul Rubin hit a sharp one-hop grounder to my right; I fielded it cleanly, had plenty of time to throw to first to get Paul, but Ralph had taken a step toward third. I didn’t properly sell my fake throw to first – I didn’t employ the Spellman Grunt ®, for one thing – and Ralph only took one more step when I pumped; my throw to second beat Ralph to the bag, but he got his foot in ahead of Alvin Gauna’s tag and was safe, as was Paul. Chunky Wright snagged Mike Hill’s liner back to the box and had a chance to double up Paul at first, but sailed his throw past Johnny Lee – Ralph scored on the play and Paul wound up at third and then scored on Jack McDermott’s sacrifice fly to right-center, which would have been the third out but for my bad judgment.
Maroon added to its lead in the top of the second with five runs on five singles and a double by Tom Bellavia, then held Green to two runs on four singles in the bottom half.
Tommy Deleon retired the side in order in the top of the third – it may have been a three-pitch inning, I’m not certain – on fly balls to Phil Stanch in right field, Paul Rubin in left-center, and Mike Garrison in left. Green then moved to within a run by scoring three times in the home half. With one out, Jack McDermott tripled, Tommy Deleon singled him in, and Mike Garrison doubled. Jack Crosley’s fly to Pat Scott in right-center brought in Tommy’s pinch-runner. Mike took third on the play and scored on Jeff Broussard’s single.
Maroon’s first six batters hit safely in the fourth inning, five singles and a double by Tommy Gillis, and four runs scored. Maroon had four in, runners on first and second, and none out, but Tommy Deleon prevented the fifth run from scoring. Anthony Galindo squared up on a pitch, but his liner was caught by shortstop Ralph Villela. Joe Dayoc’s single loaded the bases. Alvin Gauna hit another line drive too close to the wrong guy, Ralph grabbing it for the second out. Tommy then got Marvin Krabbenhoft to reach for a low, inside 3-2 pitch that probably would have been ball four, but instead was fouled off, ending the inning.
Green then scored five runs on six singles and Ralph Villela’s walk in the bottom of the fourth, tying the game. Maroon did make a good play for the second out, cutting down Mike Hill trying to score on Tommy Deleon’s single to right field, 10-6-2, Tommy Gillis to Jack Spellman to Joe Dayoc. That just postponed the inevitable, as Mike Garrison and Jack Crosley followed with run-scoring base hits.
Five of Maroon’s first six batters singled in the top of the buffet, four runs scoring, Tommy Gillis, Johnny Lee, and Scott Wright completing perfect games at the plate. Tommy Deleon got Tom Bellavia on a fly to Jack McDermott in right-center, allowed a single to Anthony Galindo, and then got Joe Dayoc to line out to human vacuum cleaner Ralph Villela.
Know Your B Leaguer: Tom Bellavia made his B League debut today, driving in three runs with a double and a single, and playing solid defense in left field.
Green was chasing four to tie, five to win in the bottom of the buffet, and pulled off an epic comeback. Jeff Broussard and Phil Stanch led off with singles, Phil completing a perfect day at the plate. (He was 4 for 4 last Thursday as well.) Daniel Baladez hit a sharp grounder to shortstop that Jack Spellman fielded cleanly; my feed to second baseman Alvin Gauna clanked off the heel of Alvin’s mitt, however, and everyone was safe. Jim McAnelly, another guy we couldn’t get out all game, followed with a single, Jeff’s pinch-runner scoring. Ralph Villela hit a grounder toward the 5-6 hole; it was within reach of my backhand, but I didn’t get my butt and glove down low enough, the ball did not hop, I was thinking about throwing home instead of just concentrating on keeping the ball in the infield, and it went through – two runs scored and Jim’s pinch-runner wound up on third and Ralph at second on what was generously scored Ralph’s second double of the game, but in my mind was a terrible E-6.
A semi-intentional walk to Paul Rubin loaded the bases. Mike Hill singled to right, Jim’s pinch-runner scoring the tying run. Jack McDermott’s clean single brought in Ralph with the winning run. Final score: Green 17, Maroon 16.
Standings – Session Four:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 6 1 .857 — 93 68 +25 W5
Maroon 4 3 .571 2 95 84 +11 L3
Green 3 4 .429 3 95 91 + 4 W1
Gray 3 4 .429 3 104 106 – 2 L1
Orange 3 4 .429 3 91 100 – 9 L4
Red 3 4 .429 3 95 110 -15 W1
Purple 2 4 .333 3.5 69 83 -14 W1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 4-0 2-1 1 0-0 2-0 1-0
Maroon 2-1 2-2 1 0-0 2-1 1-2
Green 2-2 1-2 1 0-0 1-2 1-2
Gray 2-1 1-3 1 0-0 2-0 2-0
Orange 1-3 2-1 0 0-1 1-2 1-2
Red 0-3 3-1 0 1-0 1-3 1-1
Purple 1-2 1-2 0 0-0 1-2 0-0
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 4 2 4 5 3 4 22
Gray 4 X 4 4 4 0 5 21
Green 3 2 X 5 3 5 4 22
Maroon 2 3 4 X 5 1 3 18
Orange 1 3 3 2 X 4 3 16
Purple 4 3 3 5 3 X 2 20
Red 4 2 3 2 5 4 X 20
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 18 17 19 22 25 17 21 139
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 6
David Kruse – 6
Ken Brown – 4
Tim Bruton – 3
Peter Atkins – 2
Gregory Bied – 2
George Brindley – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Clint Fletcher – 2
Doc Hobar – 2
Gary Kubenka – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Ralph Villela – 2
David Brown – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Tommy Gillis – 1
Rex Horvath – 1
Rick Kahn – 1
Denny Malloy – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
Eddie Ortiz -1
David Pittard – 1
Joe Roche – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Thursday October 3:
10:30 a.m.: Green (3-4) at Red (3-4), Purple umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Purple (2-4) at Maroon (4-3), Red umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Orange (3-4) at Gray (3-4), Maroon umpiring
Blue has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Four teams are tied for third place for the session at 3-4, and they play one another in the 10:30 and 12:30 games, guaranteeing that at least four teams, including idle first-place Blue, will finish the day at or above .500. Green and Red are both coming off emotionally lifting one-run victories today and will square off in the first game. Orange and Gray will try to end their losing streaks at 12:30. Maroon will try to end its four-game losing streak at 11:30 against Purple, which has a one-game winning streak but dropped into last place today due to being idle and despite having a better run differential than Red. Now that he can’t profit (or bet) on it, will Pete Rose get elected to the Hall of Fame? One thing is certain: It all comes down to turnout.