B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 41 – August 7, 2025
We learned this week of the passing of our softball brother James Chavana, a great teammate and friend.
President Anthony Galindo updates player assignments:
Alvin Gauna is being reassigned to the Blue Team in place of Joe Dayoc, who is having shoulder surgery and is out for the rest of the season. Good luck, Joe.
And our new player, David Corsi, will start playing with Maroon. Welcome to the B League, David.
Here’s the newest B Leaguer, Dave Corsi, debuting with Maroon today.
Games of Thursday August 7:
10:30 a.m., Blue (3-8) at Gray (6-5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 1 2 1 1 0 5 Gray 2 0 1 4 X 7 Pitchers: Blue – Tommy Deleon; Gray – Spike Davidson Umpires: home – Chunky Wright and Phil Stanch; bases – Peter Sundquist. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Bobby Miller (2 for 2) and David Pittard (2 for 2 with a walk); Gray – Spike Davidson (2 for 2) and Adam Reddell (3 for 3).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 87 degrees, felt like 95; 62 humidity; wind from the South at 7 MPH; sunny, hot, and humid.
Another low-scoring game, as the summer heat has done a number on our batting abilities.
Steve Sandall led off the game with an infield single, I think/sort of recall, and took second on an overthrow. One out later he scored on George Brindley’s base hit to center, which gapped the outfielders; George tried for two, but was thrown out 8-6, Adam Reddell making a strong throw to George Romo, George B.’s foot still in the air as George R. made the catch. Tom Brownfield singled and David Pittard walked, but Daniel Baladez hit a foul pop, caught by catcher Hal Darman, to end the inning, Blue coming away with just the one run.
Gray took the lead with two runs in the bottom of the first, as its first three batters – Paul Rubin, Tommy Gillis, and Adam Reddell – each singled, Paul coming around to score. Tommy scored on Jack Crosley’s force-out grounder, nearly a 6u., 6-3 double play, only Daniel Baladez was unable to hold on to Jimmy Sneed’s relay.
Blue reclaimed the lead with two runs in the top of the second on Steve Sandall’s two-out, two-run double, which scored both George Brindley, running for Tommy Deleon, and Bobby Miller, Tommy and Bobby having opened the inning with singles. Tommy Deleon then blanked Gray in the home half. Larry Fiorentino doubled and Spike Davidson singled to put runners on the corners with one out, but Tommy got Paul Rubin to ground a ball up the middle; moving to his left, shortstop Jimmy Sneed fielded the ball, stepped on second, and threw to first for an inning-ending 6u., 6-3 twin killing.
Both teams scored a single run in the third. In the top half, George Brindley led off with a double, tagged and took third on Tom Brownfield’s fly to Jack Crosley in right-center, and scored on David Pittard’s single. Gray got that back with a run on consecutive singles in the bottom of the frame by Adam Reddell, George Romo, and Jack Crosley. The inning ended with a 6-4-3 double play that we on the field thought was a 6-4-3-5 triple play: Johnny Lee grounded sharply to Jimmy Sneed, who threw to Tom Brownfield, whose throw beat Johnny Lee’s pinch-runner – Paul Rubin, I think – to first. George was not running hard for third, and first baseman David Pittard’s cross-diamond throw beat him to the base, but we’d collectively forgotten that the inning had started with Tommy Gillis hitting a two-strike foul for the first out. So: never mind.
Blue scratched out a single run once again in the top of the fourth: Bobby Miller singled, took third on Jack Spellman’s single to right-center, and scored on Steve Sandall’s sacrifice fly to right fielder Morgan Witthoft.
Green put together the game’s most impressive rally in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four runs after two were out. Hal Darman singled with one out, then was forced out at second 5-4 on Larry Fiorentino’s one-hop grounder to third base. The next five batters singled, a succession of balls hit just out of the reach of Blue fielders by Spike Davidson, Paul Rubin, Tommy Gillis, Adam Reddell, and George Romo, Spike and Adam completing perfect days at the plate. The last four hits drove in one run each, and Gray took a 7-5 lead to the buffet.
Blue had the middle of its lineup due, but Spike Davidson got two quick outs, getting George Brindley on a fly to Tommy Gillis in left field and Tom Brownfield on a grounder to shortstop George Romo. David Pittard singled, and Daniel Baladez hit a grounder back to the box that Spike Davidson couldn’t get a handle on, both runners safe. But Spike made a clean play on Tommy Deleon’s bouncer back up the middle and threw to first for the game-ending out. Final score: Gray 7, Blue 5
11:30 a.m., Green (5-6) at Maroon (8-3):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET EXTRA FINAL Green 3 5 0 2 1 0 11 Maroon 4 0 5 0 2 0 11 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Green – Tim Coles, Jack McDermott, and David Pittard. Umpires: home – Jack Crosley; bases – Adam Reddell. Perfect at the plate: Green – Tim Coles (3 for 3 with a double and a home run) and David Pittard and Phil Stanch (both 3 for 3); Maroon – Ken Brown and Jeff Stone (both 3 for 3) and Bobby Miller (3 for 3 with a double). Home runs: Ralph Villela (inside the park) (3) and Tim Coles (inside the park) (5).
Weather update: 90 degrees, felt like 98; 52% humidity; wind from the South at 6 MPH; sunny.
What a battle this one turned into, neither team able to put away the other. Both came out hitting, Green scoring three runs as its first four hitters of the game hit safely: Ralph Villela and Mike Garrison both lined doubles to left field, and Phil Stanch and Buddy Gaswint followed with singles. But Bobby Miller, playing shortstop for Maroon, turned a 6u., 6-3 double play on Donnie Janac’s grounder, and after allowing a single to Chunky Wright, Jeff Stone got Billy Hill to pop out to second baseman Dave Corsi. Maroon then came back with four runs in the home half, its first five hitters hitting safely, a double by Bobby Miller and four singles resulting in three runs in and runners on second and third. But Chunky Wright retired the next three hitters, the fourth run scoring on Tom Kelm’s sacrifice fly to Donnie Janac in left field.
Green responded with five runs in the top of the second on seven hits – five singles and doubles by Tim Coles and Mike Garrison – without making an out, and Chunky Wright retired Maroon in order in the bottom half.
The script got flipped in the third inning: Green didn’t score in the top half – Jeff Stone worked around singles by Chunky Wright and Tim Coles, Jeff making a good play to knock down Jack McDermott’s liner back to the box and throw to third for the force there for the third out – and Maroon scored five times on six singles without making an out in the bottom of the frame. The first five hits were all to the right side; Don Solberg, batting right-handed, drove in the fifth run with a line single through the 5-6 hole.
Maroon led 9-8 through three. Green went back ahead with two runs in the top of the fourth on an inside-the-park home run by Ralph Villela on a drive to deep right field, David Pittard scoring ahead of him – the ball wasn’t within 20 feet of the infield by the time Ralph crossed the improbably thick home-plate line.
Donnie Janac presents Ralph Villela with a Pluckers coupon following Ralph’s two-run inside-the-parker in the top of the fourth, Ralph’s third home run of the season. Donnie played stellar left field in this game, making four key catches.
Chunky Wright then shut out Maroon in the bottom of the inning. Ivan Budiselic and Jimmie Maloy singled with one out, but Donnie Janac made a good running catch moving to his right of Steve Hamlett’s fly to left field, and Ralph Villela fielded Dave Corsis’s hard grounder to his right and threw to third for the inning-ending 6-5 force.
Green led 10-9 entering the buffet. Jeff Stone got two quick outs on grounders to start the inning, but Green increased its lead by a run on Tim Coles’s inside-the-park home run to right-center, a very deep drive.
Ralph Villela passes his Pluckers coupon on to co-home-run hitter Tim Coles following Tim’s inside-the-parker in the top of the buffet. It was Tim’s fifth home run of the season, putting him atop the league leader board.
Maroon needed two to tie, three to win in the bottom of the buffet, and had the top of its order due up. Things looked good when Ken Brown and Bobby Miller led off with singles, each completing a 3-for-3 game. (Bobby was 2 for 2 in the 10:30 game.) Ken tagged up and scored on Tony Garcia’s deep fly to left field, Bobby tagging and moving to second. Scott Wright made a bid for a hit through the 3-4 hole, but Tim Coles made a terrific play to his left to field the ball and throw Scott out, Bobby moving to third.
Don Solberg stepped up and singled off the glove of third baseman David Pittard and into left field, driving in Bobby with the tying run. Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Tom Kelm was next, with a chance to drive in the winning run. He put a good swing on the ball, but his line drive to left field stayed up long enough for Donnie Janac to run it down. Here’s that video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
So it was on to an extra inning, the buffet inning’s last batter-runner on second, one out, one pitch. Jack McDermott was at second base to start the top half, and he took third on David Pittard’s pop-fly single to short right field. That brought up the top of the order for Green, with Ralph Villela needing a single to complete the cycle. Ralph squared up on a pitch, but his liner was hit right at third baseman Ivan Budiselic, who squeezed it for out number two. Mike Garrison was next: he jumped on an inside pitch, but his drive to left field hooked foul for strike three.
Maroon’s turn. Tony Garcia, who’d run from home for Tom Kelm at the end of the buffet, was at second base. Ivan Budiselic led off. He took a pitch, not a lot of arc, but enough, that landed at the front of the mat for called strike three, out number two. Jimmie Maloy took an inside pitch for a base on balls. Steve Hamlett pulled a grounder down the third-base side; David Pittard fielded it cleanly and easily beat Tony to the bag for the force at third. The game was declared a tie, the first of the 2025 season. Final score: Green 11, Maroon 11
12:30 p.m., Orange (8-3) at Red (3-9):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 4 5 0 5 4 X 18 Red 1 5 0 0 1 0 7 Pitchers: Orange – Ray Pilgrim; Red – Donald Drummer. Mercenaries: Orange – Johnny Lee and Jeff Stone; Red – Daniel Baladez and Phil Stanch. Umpires: home – Rick Jensen; bases – Jimmie Maloy. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Peter Atkins (4 for 4), David Brown (4 for 4 with a double and a triple), Ray Pilgrim (4 for 4 with a double), and Terry Thompson (3 for 3); Red – Jack Spellman (3 for 3 on three of the weakest-ass swings you ever will see) and Phil Stanch (2 for 2 with a walk).
The top of the Orange batting order did a number on Red in this blowout victory: 2-3-4 hitters Ray Pilgrim, Peter Atkins, and David Brown all went 4 for 4, and lead-off batter Clint Fletcher would have as well except for a well-timed leap by Red shortstop Jack Spellman to grab his liner heading for left field in the top of the second. The four of them scored 14 runs and drove in 12, Peter and David delivering at least one run with each of their eight hits, and they combined to hit three doubles and a triple.
Red couldn’t keep up, and Orange led pillar to post, scoring four times in the first inning while holding Red to a single run in the bottom half – Jack McDermott tripled leading off for Red and scored on a misplay on Jack Spellman’s bouncer back to the mound, which Ray Pilgrim threw past first baseman Johnny Lee. Spellman took second on the play and held there on Anthony Galindo’s fly to left-center. Gary Coyle grounded out to third baseman Jeff Stone; when Jeff threw to first, I broke for home, and Johnny Lee threw my slow white ass out, for a 5-3-2 double play.
Red managed to hold serve in the second inning, scoring five times on seven singles in the home half while making one out after Orange had done the same exact thing in the top of the inning, and again in the third, neither team scoring. But Orange put the game away in the fourth and fifth, outscoring Red 9-1. Red’s run came in the fifth, when Jack Spellman led off with a lame pop-fly single and then scored on Anthony Galindo’s triple. Gary Coyle followed with a walk, but was erased on a 1-6-3 double play, Ray Pilgrim to David Brown to Johnny Lee, Anthony holding at third. Mark Dolan hit a sharp grounder to the 5-6 hole, but third baseman Jeff Stone made an excellent play to his left to grab it and then a strong throw to first for the third out.
With Orange up by 11, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. Jeff Stone made two more good plays to start the inning, fielding Rolando Rodriguez’s grounder to his left and throwing him out, and then snagging Donald Drummer’s liner, also to Jeff’s left, about six inches off the ground. (Dave Berra informed Jeff that Jeff, having discovered his inner Aurelio Rodriguez, will no longer be pitching for Maroon.) Phil Stanch lined a single to left to extend the inning (and complete his second perfect game at the plate on the day), but the game and this very hot day ended with Daniel Baladez grounding into a 6-4 force play, David Brown to Terry O’Brien. Final score: Orange 18, Red 7
Session 3 standings:
| Session 3 | Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Orange | 9 | 3 | .750 | 0 | 134 | 101 | 33 | W3 |
| Maroon | 8.5 | 3.5 | .708 | 0.5 | 130 | 121 | 9 | T1 |
| Gray | 7 | 5 | .583 | 2 | 145 | 115 | 30 | W4 |
| Purple | 6 | 5 | .545 | 2.5 | 122 | 119 | 3 | W2 |
| Green | 5.5 | 6.5 | .458 | 3.5 | 110 | 122 | -12 | T1 |
| Blue | 3 | 9 | .250 | 6 | 113 | 130 | -17 | L3 |
| Red | 3 | 10 | .231 | 6.5 | 139 | 185 | -46 | L4 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Orange | 4-1 | 5-2 | 1 | 2-0 | 2-0 | 2-2 | ||
| Maroon | 5.5-1.5 | 3-2 | 1 | 0.5-0.5 | 2-0 | 2-0 | ||
| Gray | 3-3 | 4-2 | 0 | 0-1 | 3-1 | 1-3 | ||
| Purple | 5-1 | 1-4 | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-0 | ||
| Green | 2-4 | 3.5-2.5 | 1 | 0.5-0.5 | 1-3 | 1-1 | ||
| Blue | 2-3 | 1-6 | 1 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 2-4 | ||
| Red | 0-7 | 3-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 1-2 | ||
| Green and Maroon tied their game of August 7; it is counted as half a win and half a loss for each team. |
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 18 |
| Gray | 4 | X | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 16 |
| Green | 2 | 3 | X | 4.5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 17.5 |
| Maroon | 3 | 4 | 4.5 | X | 3 | 3 | 3 | 20.5 |
| Orange | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | X | 3 | 4 | 18 |
| Purple | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | X | 4 | 17 |
| Red | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | X | 13 |
| TOTAL: | 17 | 18 | 16.5 | 15.5 | 15 | 16 | 22 | 120 |
| Green and Maroon tied their game of August 7; it is counted as half a win and half a loss for each team. |
2025 season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 5
George Brindley – 4
David Brown – 4
Tommy Gillis – 4
Bobby Miller – 4
Anthony Galindo – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Ralph Villela – 3
Tim Bruton – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 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
Gary Coyle – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Tony Garcia – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Mike Malay – 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
Schedule for Monday August 11:
10:00 a.m.: Maroon (8.5 – 3.5) at Purple (6-5), Gray umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Gray (7-5) at Orange (9-3), Purple umpiring
Noon: Red (3-10) at Green (5.5 – 6.5), Orange umpiring
Blue has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Note that we move to an earlier schedule next week, first game to start at 10:00. Maroon’s tie today means Orange is in first place for the session by half a game. Orange plays Gray at 11:00 Monday, with the two longest extant winning streaks on the line – Orange has won its last three, Gray has won four in a row. Something’s gotta give. If Maroon can defeat Purple at 10:00, they have a shot at taking over first. Those two teams have split the six games they’ve played so far this year.
The second Monday in August, as all Rhode Islanders know, is V-J (Victory Over Japan) Day in the Ocean State, our own littlest and most problematically kind of racist Monday holiday. (Hurray for A-bombs!) (#littlerhodyrules) In the sad absence of Del’s Frozen Lemonade outlets in Austin, I’ll be celebrating by hitting bombs (maybe) at Krieg, in Red’s noon game versus Green. It’s the third time in a row Red has played in the day’s last game, in case you had any suspicion that Anthony Galindo has in any way weighted the schedule in favor of his own team. Mercifully, Red plays early game the remainder of this month. Will Red offer an unconditional surrender of the session in exchange for Anthony remaining Emperor? Only one thing is certain: Time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Power hitter Tim Coles in the past has been among those who have argued that inside-the-park home runs should be listed separately from over-the-fence home runs. He may be changing his tune after taking the season lead with an inside-the-parker today. It’s an interesting, difficult question – really it’s comparing the juicy, delicious, easy-to-peel oranges that are athletically driven inside-the-parkers to the sour, mealy, indigestible apples that are brute-force over-the-fence jobs. (Not that I have any personal stake in the issue.) (#3-ITPs-so-far) As I’m more than sufficiently challenged just to keep the most basic count, I’m going to continue lumping all home runs together.