B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 44 – August 27, 2026
Venue change and schedule updated: Effective Tuesday September 8, B League games will be played at Krieg Field 6 (PDF map of the Krieg complex attached).
No games on Monday September 7, which is Labor Day; the schedule on September 8 will be:
10:00 a.m.: Orange at Gray, Green umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Green at Blue, Gray umpiring
Noon: Red at Maroon, Blue umpiring
Purple will have the bye.
Jeff Stone forwarded the updated ASSL rules, which will soon be up on the league web site as well. Of particular note:
Infield Fly: The infield fly rule exists to protect the offense. If the umpire fails to call an infield fly, he (or she) should call it after the play ends. If the umpire put runners in jeopardy by not calling it on time, he needs to fix the error by placing the runners where they would have been had the infield fly call been made at the correct time. The situation can get tricky depending on whether the defense dropped the ball, whether runners tagged, etc. It comes down to an umpire’s judgment call. It’s always good to call both managers together and explain the ruling when changing how the play went down.
The infield fly is ruled when the ball reaches the highest point based on the position of the closest fielder regardless who makes the play.
Run-through rule: The word “appeal” was taken out because this rule applies to the ASSL run-through rule only. This is not an appeal and was confusing as written. The two ways to put that runner out are: 1. The runner may be tagged out; or 2. a defender possessing the ball in his hand or glove while on the base prior to the runner getting back to the base.
Courtesy runners: If either the batter or the courtesy runner is physically assisted in, or prevented from advancing to first base by any other offensive player or coach, they shall be called out for interference by the umpire, the ball shall remain live and runners may advance at their own risk.
If any runner is physically assisted in, or prevented from advancing or returning to any base by any other offensive player or coach, they shall be called out for interference by the umpire, the ball shall remain live and runners may advance at their own risk. This is umpire judgement and not subject to appeal.
The key here is the rule deals with all runners at all bases. The umpire must decide if the runner is physically assisted in or prevented from advancing or returning to any base by any other offensive player or coach. This is a subjective decision by that umpire and is not subject to appeal.
Each Courtesy runner may only run once per inning for another player. Exception: In any inning where a team “bats around” and a batter comes up a second time in the same inning, the runner that ran for him in his first at bat in that inning may run for him again, to aide in players with physical limitations or medical conditions.
Players lottery system: All players wishing to be selected to play in the upcoming game MUST be present and have their chips in hand or placed on the table 15 minutes prior to the start of the next scheduled game. If they are not present 15 minutes prior to the next scheduled game, they forfeit the ability to have their chips selected for that game. They may put their chips in for the game after that if they wish. This is to allow managers time to select players in time to put a lineup together, and to get on the field at the end of the previous game.
Games of Thursday August 27:
10:00 a.m.: Blue (7-9) at Green (12-5):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 0 5 3 0 1 0 9 Green 0 1 1 0 0 3 5 Pitchers: Blue – Alan Peacock; Green – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Blue – Anthony Galindo, Alan Peacock, and Ralph Villela; Green – George Brindley, Hal Darman, Jim Foelker, Ray Pilgrim, Paul Rubin, Steve Sandall, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Scott Wright and David Pittar; bases – Steve Browne. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Tom Bellavia (3 for 3) and George Romo (4 for 4).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 85, feels like 92; humidity 63%; wind from the SSE at 4 MPH; partly cloudy – a bit cooler, but humid.
Ten mercenaries in this low-scoring battle, seven playing for Green. Neither team scored in the first, Spike Davidson leaving George Romo and Donnie Janac stranded after they knocked two-out singles in the top half, Trent Peacock working around a two-out walk to Rex Horvath in the bottom half.
Blue grabbed the lead with five runs in the top of the second, its first five batters hitting safely and scoring. David Brown and Tom Bellavia led off with singles, David scored on Ralph Villela’s double, and Tom came in on Anthony Galindo’s single. Trent Peacock drove a ball to right-center, over the head of (terrible) right fielder Jack Spellman and to the fence, both Ralph and Anthony scoring on the double. Trent took third on Daniel Baladez’s ground out to third baseman Ivan Budiselic, then scored on Larry Young’s sacrifice fly to George Brindley in right-center field.
Trent Peacock doubles to right, driving in two in the top of the second.
Green got a single run back in the bottom of the second. George Brindley singled with one out, then was forced out at second on Paul Rubin’s grounder to shortstop David Brown; Paul took second when second baseman George Romo’s throw got past first baseman Larry Young. Paul then scored on Ray Pilgrim’s single.
Blue won the third inning as well. They scored three runs after two were out in the top half. George Romo led off with a single. Spike Davidson retired both Donnie Janac and Larry Shupe on fly balls, to George Brindley in right-center and Paul Rubin in left-center, but singles by David Brown and Tom Bellavia brought George around, and both David and Tom scored on Ralph Villela’s second double. Anthony Galindo drove a pitch to deep left field, but Steve Sandall, who’d arrived after the game started and took over in left field at the start of the inning, made an excellent running catch to end the inning.
Green again managed just a single run in the home half. Steve Sandall singled with one out and easily scored from first on Spike Davidson’s drive to the fence in the left-center, technically a single because Spike took a runner from home. Trent Peacock then retired both Ivan Budiselic and Rex Horvath on fly balls, to Ralph Villela in right-center and Anthony Galindo in left field.
Neither team scored in the fourth. Spike Davidson allowed a lead-off single to Trent Peacock to start the top half, then a two-out single to George Romo, but stranded the runners by getting Donnie Janac to fly out to Steve Sandall in left field. Boo Resnick and Jack Spellman opened the bottom half with singles, but Trent retired George Brindley on a fly to Tom Bellavia in left-center, then got a double-play grounder from Paul Rubin – David Brown ranged to his left, fielded the well-struck ball, stepped on the bag, and threw to first for the 6u., 6-3 DP.
Green extended its lead to 9-2 with a single run in the top of the fifth. Larry Shupe led off with a single. David Brown lined a ball to the 3-4 hole that (relocated) second baseman Jack Spellman fielded on the short hop, only just missing catching it on the line. Larry had correctly frozen at first and was an easy 4-6 force-out at second. Tom Bellavia followed with a single, and he and David both moved up on Ralph Villela’s fly to George Brindley in right-center. Anthony Galindo singled to drive in David.
Trent Peacock shut out Green again in the bottom of the fifth. He allowed one-out singles to Jim Foelker and Hal Darman, then got both Steve Sandall and Spike Davidson to fly out to Anthony Galindo in left field.
Spike Davidson kept Blue from adding to its lead and flip-flopping by throwing a scoreless top of the buffet inning, working around back-to-back one-out singles by Larry Young and George Romo, George completing a 4-for-4 game. Spike got both Donnie Janac and Larry Shupe to pop out, Donnie to shortstop Rex Horvath, Larry to third baseman Ivan Budiselic, who made the catch in foul ground.
Green came up needing seven runs to tie, eight to win. Stranger things have happened, but not today. Ivan Budiselic and Rex Horvath led off with singles. Boo Resnick popped out to shortstop David Brown, who moved back and to his right to make the catch on the edge of the outfield grass, home plate umpire David Pittard belatedly, correctly, and hilariously calling it an infield fly. Jack Spellman singled, Ivan scoring. George Brindley also knocked a single, both Rex and Spellman scoring. But Trent Peacock retired Paul Rubin on a fly to Anthony Galindo in left field – Anthony’s fourth catch, and the eighth batter Trent retired on a ball in the air – and then got Ray Pilgrim to ground out to shortstop David Brown to end the game.
Final score: Blue 9, Green 5, Blue keeping Green from clinching first place for Session 3.
11:00 a.m.: Maroon (11-5) at Red (7-9):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 1 0 4 5 5 X 15 Red 2 1 0 3 2 0 8 Pitchers: Maroon – Luis Sanchez; Red – Trent Peacock. Mercenaries: Maroon – Jim Foelker, Luis Sanchez, Jack Spellman, and Larry Young; Red – Rex Horvath, Mike Malay, and George Romo. Umpires: home – David Brown; bases – Donnie Janac. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Scott Wright (4 for 4); Red – Anthony Galindo (3 for 3 with a triple) and Mike Malay (3 for 3).
Dave Berra’s weather update: 90 degrees, feels like 98; humidity 53%; wind WSW at 6 MPH; partly cloudy – not too bad.
Close and low-scoring in the early going, but Maroon found its footing and scored 14 of a possible 15 runs in its final three at bats to put this one away.
Maroon drew first blood, as Steve Browne led off the game by legging out a double to right, tagging and taking third on George Brindley’s fly to Anthony Galindo in right-center, and scoring on Scott Wright’s single. Maroon loaded the bases with two outs on a single by Fritz Hensel and a walk drawn by David Pittard, but Jack Spellman got under an inside pitch and flied out to left fielder Richard Battle.
Red then won the inning, as Ralph Villela and Trent Peacock singled and both scored on Anthony Galindo’s triple. Ray Pilgrim stranded Anthony at third, retiring Johnny Lee on a grounder to shortstop and getting Richard Battle to fly out to George Brindley in left-center.
Trent Peacock retired Maroon mercenaries in order in the top of the second on three balls in the air: Luis Sanchez flied out to Mark Dolan in right field, a very good catch by Mark moving to his right; Larry Young popped out to shortstop Rex Horvath behind third base (Rex made us laugh by accusingly telling third baseman George Romo that that was his ball); and Jim Foelker flied out to Ralph Villela in left-center.
Red extended its lead to 3-1 with a run in the home half: George Romo doubled with one out, took third on Rex Horvath’s fly to Jim Foelker in right-center, and then scored on Mike Malay’s single up the middle.
Maroon’s bats came to life in the third inning, and they outscored Red 14-5 the rest of the way. In the third they pushed across four runs on six singles, the last two, run-scoring hits by Jack Spellman and Luis Sanchez, coming after Anthony Galindo made a good catch, his second of the inning and third of the game, on David Pittard’s fly to right-center for the second out. Trent Peacock then shut Red out in the bottom of the frame, working around Anthony Galindo’s two-out single, getting the third out on a good catch by Steve Browne in left field of Johnny Lee’s fly ball.
Maroon scored five runs while making just one out in the top of the fourth, on four singles, David Pittard’s walk, and two-run doubles by George Brindley (driving in the first two runs) and Jack Spellman (driving in the fourth and fifth, on a poke down the right-field side, a couple feet fair).
Red got three runs back in the bottom of the fourth as its first five batters hit safely – four singles and a two-run double by George Romo – and seemed poised for a five-run inning with the top of its lineup coming up, the fourth and fifth runs on base, and none out. But Luis Sanchez got Ralph Villela to fly out pretty deeply to Steve Browne in left field, Steve’s strong throw to third base holding Rex Horvath at second. Mark Dolan hit a short pop to the shortstop side of second base, caught by Jack Spellman; Rex thought there were already two out and took off for third on contact and was doubled up at second, the inning ending on the F-6, 6u. double play.
Maroon kept hitting in the fifth inning, scoring five runs again. Singles by Luis Sanchez, Larry Young, and Jim Foelker loaded the bases for the top of the order. Steve Browne got the first run in with a sacrifice fly to right fielder Mark Dolan, making another good catch. George Brindley’s single re-loaded the bases. Scott Wright’s single, his fourth in four at bats in the game, brought in the second run. Alan Phillips then cleared the bases and ended the inning with a well-struck three-run double, I believe to the fence in left-center.
Maroon marks the 143rd anniversary of the eruption of Mount Krakatoa by exploding for 14 runs over three innings.
Red got two back in the home half. Trent Peacock lined a double to right to open the inning and scored on Anthony Galindo’s single. Both Johnny Lee and Richard Battle grounded into force outs, the runners on first out at second. Marvin Krabbenhoft ripped a ball to center field, past the outfielders, and Richard scored from first. Luis Sanchez finally was able to cool the fire that was George Romo, getting George, who’d hit safely in his first six at bats over the day’s first two games, to pop up, Luis making the catch himself in front of the mound.
With Maroon leading by seven and the day’s heat increasing as the morning clouds burned off, the teams agreed to flip-flop for the buffet. Rex Horvath and Mike Malay opened the inning with singles, Mike completing a 3-for-3 game, but Luis Sanchez stranded them, getting Red’s 1-3 hitters to each fly out – Ralph Villela and Mark Dolan to Steve Browne in left field (four putouts in the game), and Trent Peacock to Jim Foelker in right-center to end the game.
Final score: Maroon 15, Red 8, Maroon winning the Session 3 title by half a game over Green.
Noon: Purple (6-11) at Gray (6-10):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 1 5 1 5 0 12 Gray 1 0 4 3 0 8 Pitchers: Purple – Ray Pilgrim; Gray – Luis Sanchez. Mercenaries: Purple – David Pittard, Trent Peacock, Larry Shupe, and Jack Spellman; Gray – David Brown, Hal Darman, Mrk Dolan, and Alan Phillips. Umpires: home – Richard Battle; bases – Ralph Villela. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Mike Malay (2 for 2 with a walk and a double), and Ray Pilgrim, Jack Spellman, and Peter Sundquist (all 3 for 3 – Ohtani Award for Ray); Gray – David Brown (3 for 3), Clint Fletcher (3 for 3 with a triple), and Paul Rubin (3 for 3 with a double).
Dave Berra’s weather update: 96 degrees, feels like 105; humidity 44%; wind SW 5 MPH; mostly sunny – hot now!
With the race for first place for the session determined by the results of the day’s first two games, it was left to Purple and Gray to battle it out to see who could avoid finishing last for the session.
Both teams scored a single run in the first inning. Luis Sanchez got the first two batters of the game, Jack McDermott and Jimmy Sneed, to both ground out to shortstop David Brown. Peter Sundquist knocked the game’s first hit, a single, moved up on Mike Malay’s walk, and then scored on Ray Pilgrim’s line-drive single to left center. Mike tried for third on the hit and was thrown out 8-6-5 – I believe Paul Rubin to David Brown to Clint Fletcher, Mike out by a full step on David’s strong throw. Paul then scored the tying run in the home half, as he ripped a one-out double to left field and scored on Clint’s single.
Purple took the lead with five runs in the top of the second on seven singles. With four runs in and a runner on first, Jimmy Sneed lined a ball to right-center that looked certain to be a gapper for extra bases, but Mark Dolan, moving to his right, made a terrific catch look easy, matter-of-factly flicking out his glove at the last moment to cleanly snag the liner. It took a pair of two-out hits, by Peter Sundquist and Mike Malay, to get the fifth run across.
Ray Pilgrim shut out Gray in the bottom of the second, shortstop Jimmy Sneed recording all three outs after David Brown and Alan Phillips opened the inning with back-to-back singles and Mark Dolan drew a walk to load the bases. Jimmy caught Hal Darman’s short pop for the first out, then turned a 6u., 6-3 double play on Jim Foelker’s hard grounder to Jimmy’s left – first baseman Mike Malay made an outstanding play to scoop Jimmy’s short throw. It was the ultimate Houdini by Ray, escaping a bases-loaded, no-out situation without allowing a run.
Purple scored a single run in the top of the third on two singles and Trent Peacock’s two-out RBI double. Gray then scored four times in the bottom half to cut Purple’s lead to 7-5, Gray’s first six batters in the inning hitting safely. With four in and runners on first and second, Ray Pilgrim again got out of a tough jam, getting Alan Phillips to ground into a 6u., 6-3 double play, the second turned by Jimmy Sneed in as many innings, and Mark Dolan to ground out to first baseman Mike Malay.
Purple gave Ray some breathing room by scoring five times in the top of the fourth on seven consecutive hits, not making an out. Jack McDermott led off with a triple to right-center; Jimmy Sneed singled Jack in; Peter Sundquist completed a 3-for-3 game with a single; Mike Malay doubled, Jimmy scoring, Mike completing a perfect game at the plate, with a walk, a single, and a double; Ray Pilgrim singled in Peter (or his pinch-runner, I can’t recall), Ray also completing a 3-for-3 game; Rick Jensen singled in Mike (or his pinch-runner, I can’t recall); and Jack Spellman singled in Ray’s pinch-runner (I know he took one, just can’t recall who it was).
Gray got three runs back in the bottom of the fourth. Hal Darman led off with a single, a line drive over third base that Jack Spellman, playing in a bit with David Brown running from home, couldn’t leap high enough to grab before it was past me. Jim Foelker grounded into a 6-4 force. Paul Rubin grounded a ball toward the 5-6 hole; Jack Spellman made a diving stop, catching the ball cleanly, but from my knees I failed to make a good throw, bouncing it on two hops to second baseman Rick Jensen. Rick boxed the ball, fumbled trying to pick it up, then did pick it up, all the while trying to maintain contact with the bag with his right foot, or his left foot, either, both. Jim, meanwhile, ran to the bag. It looked more or less like this:
Base umpire Ralph Villela called Jim safe. Discussing with witnesses after the fact, the jury was split 50-50 on this verdict. Two reasons why Jim should have been called out:
1. A diving catch of the grounder – you have to reward that.
2. Look how chewed up Rick’s right knee and my left were by this play:
Again, you have to award an out for, as Rick put it, “Purple warriors paying in blood.” Or, as I would put it, “Boo-boo knees.”
But no, Ralph insisted on making the “correct” call, on the “principle” that “getting it right” trumps the poetic justice of Purple warriors, we’re all mourning Dolly Parton, etc.
Harumph. Good sirs, I say harumph.
The next batter, Clint Fletcher, hammered a triple, both Jim and Paul scoring. Clint scored on Luis Sanchez’s single. That cut Purple’s lead to 12-8 entering the buffet.
Purple did not score in the top half of the buffet. David Pittard drew a lead-off walk and took third on Jack McDermott’s two-out double, but Luis Sanchez got Jimmy Sneed to fly out to Paul Rubin in left-center for the third out.
Gray came up needing four runs to tie. David Brown (completing a 3-for-3 game) and Alan Phillips knocked back-to-back singles to start the inning. Mark Dolan flied out to Peter Sundquist in left field, Peter making a good read of the ball of the bat and moving to his right to make the play. Hal Darman stepped up and lined a ball toward the 5-6 hole; third baseman Jack Spellman had the ball lined up, seemingly, but it clanged off the heel of my mitt; fortunately for Purple, it clanged directly to shortstop Jimmy Sneed, who tossed to Rick Jensen at second for the force there, 5-6-4 in the scorebook, for the second out. Jim Foelker came up and grounded to Jimmy, who fielded the ball cleanly and tossed to Rick covering second for the game-ending force.
Final score: Purple 12, Gray 8, Purple leapfrogging Gray to finish in sixth place for Session 3.
Ray Pilgrim earned his eighth Ohtani Award of the season, tying Joe Bernal for the league lead, by pitching Purple to victory while going 3 for 3 at the plate. He receives his award from Kitsune the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Final 2026 Session 3 standings:
| Session 3 final standings: | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Maroon | 12 | 5 | .706 | 0 | 216 | 179 | 37 | W1 |
| Green | 12 | 6 | .667 | 0.5 | 251 | 222 | 29 | L1 |
| Orange | 8 | 8 | .500 | 3.5 | 191 | 200 | -9 | W1 |
| Blue | 8 | 9 | .471 | 4 | 162 | 156 | 6 | W1 |
| Red | 7 | 10 | .412 | 5 | 206 | 217 | -11 | L1 |
| Purple | 7 | 11 | .389 | 5.5 | 208 | 243 | -35 | W1 |
| Gray | 6 | 11 | .353 | 6 | 185 | 202 | -17 | L2 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | Last 5 | ||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | games: | ||
| Maroon | 6-2 | 6-3 | 3 | 0-0 | 3-2 | 5-2 | WLWLW | |
| Green | 4-6 | 8-0 | 1 | 1-0 | 5-1 | 3-2 | LLWWL | |
| Orange | 5-3 | 3-5 | 3 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 3-3 | WLWLW | |
| Blue | 3-5 | 5-4 | 2 | 1-1 | 4-2 | 3-2 | WWLLW | |
| Red | 5-4 | 2-6 | 0 | 1-0 | 4-4 | 2-2 | WLLWL | |
| Purple | 2-7 | 5-4 | 2 | 0-0 | 2-6 | 2-3 | WWWLW | |
| Gray | 4-4 | 2-7 | 0 | 1-1 | 2-2 | 2-6 | LLWLL |
Total standings, Sessions 1-3:
| Combined standings Sessions 1, 2, and 3: | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 25 | 13 | .658 | 0 | 419 | 346 | 73 | W1 |
| Maroon | 24 | 13 | .649 | 0.5 | 471 | 383 | 88 | W1 |
| Green | 21 | 18 | .538 | 4.5 | 507 | 476 | 31 | L1 |
| Orange | 18 | 19 | .486 | 6.5 | 423 | 454 | -31 | W1 |
| Red | 16 | 21 | .432 | 8.5 | 458 | 473 | -15 | L1 |
| Gray | 14 | 23 | .378 | 10.5 | 435 | 479 | -44 | L2 |
| Purple | 14 | 25 | .359 | 11.5 | 463 | 565 | -102 | W1 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | Last 5 | ||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | games: | ||
| Blue | 13-6 | 12-7 | 3 | 1-2 | 9-2 | 6-3 | WWLLW | |
| Maroon | 13-3 | 11-10 | 3 | 0-0 | 6-2 | 7-4 | WLWLW | |
| Green | 9-12 | 12-6 | 1 | 1-0 | 9-3 | 3-6 | LLWWL | |
| Orange | 11-8 | 7-11 | 4 | 0-2 | 2-7 | 7-5 | WLWLW | |
| Red | 9-11 | 7-10 | 2 | 2-0 | 6-8 | 5-4 | WLLWL | |
| Gray | 7-10 | 7-13 | 3 | 2-1 | 6-6 | 5-11 | LLWLL | |
| Purple | 4-17 | 10-9 | 4 | 0-1 | 3-11 | 5-5 | WWWLW |
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 25 | |
| Gray | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 14 | |
| Green | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 21 | |
| Maroon | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 24 | |
| Orange | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 18 | |
| Purple | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 14 | |
| Red | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 16 | |
| TOTAL: | 13 | 23 | 18 | 13 | 19 | 25 | 21 | 132 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 10
Ralph Villela – 8
Steve Browne – 4
Tony Garcia – 4
Trent Peacock – 4
David Brown – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Alan Phillips – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Richard Battle – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Rick Kahn – 2
Jack McDermott – 2
Scott Rokita – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Scott Wright – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
George Brindley – 1
Ivan Budiselic – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Jim Foelker – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Tommy Gillis – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
David Pittard – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Patrick Schmidt – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Ralph Villela – May 26
Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 8 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16, June 22, June 25, June 29, July 9)
Ray Pilgrim: 8 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1, July 2, July 9, August 17, August 27)
Spike Davidson: 5 (May 4, July 2, July 20, August 6, August 20)
Tommy Deleon: 5 (April 6, April 30, June 11, July 6, July 30)
Trent Peacock: 2 (March 9, August 3)
Jeff Stone: 2 (March 2, July 9)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Jack Kelly: 1 (August 3)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Schedule for Monday August 31:
10:00 a.m.: Red at Purple, Green umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Green at Maroon, Red umpiring
Noon: Orange at Blue, Maroon umpiring
Gray has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: First games of Session 4! As you can see from the combined full-season standings above, Blue is just half a game ahead of Maroon for the best season record, which will determine who gets a bye on the first day of the end-of-season tourney. The other five teams are separated by just seven games, so the tourney seeding is very much up in the air. Session 4 kicks off with Red and Purple playing at 10:00, having split their season series 3-3 to date. Maroon and Green, which finished 1-2 in Session 3 and are 2-3 in the full-season standings, play at 11:00. Maroon leads the season series 4-2. Orange and Blue, also 3-3 in their season so far, play at noon. Monday is National Trail Mix Day – will we be eating healthy snacks, or sticking with doughnuts? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
This is so cool: Ken Brown sets a new world’s record in South Korea:
https://youtube.com/shorts/
So is this: C League’s Morris Carter celebrated his 89th birthday today.
As is this: Boo Resnick and Hotcakes are playing at Donn’s Depot, 1600 West Fifth Street, Austin, this Saturday night, from 9:00 pm to 1:00 am.
Dolly wants the owner of this left-behind Demarini mitt to claim it Monday. (RIP, Dolly.)
Podcast review: Top Stories
A subset of The Bugle podcast, this twice-weekly podcast delves into the Bugle archives for the best bits of episodes going back to 2007, jumping around in no particular order and revisiting the original Andy Zaltzman–John Oliver era and later installments featuring Zaltzman with comedians including Alice Fraser, Nish Kumar, Hari Kondabolu, Tom Ballard, Helen Zaltzman, and others. Episodes are around ten minutes long, which I love. New England content: Not much; plenty of Old England content. Canadian content: Likewise. Listening speed: 1X. Rating: 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧