B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 32 – July 20, 2023
Weather: Nothing but sunshine today. It was 86 degrees with 68% humidity at the start of the 10:00 game, and it warmed steadily, into the upper 90s by the time we finished, and in triple digits by the time I got home.
Injured list:
Blue team: Stan Fisher – Dupuytren’s contracture
Gold team: manager Dave Berra – knee surgery
Green team: Jeff Broussard – recovering from heart surgery
Alvin Gauna – broken finger
Blue team’s Larry Fiorentino is out indefinitely due to a death in the family – our thoughts, prayers, and condolences are with Larry at a difficult time.
Returned to action:
Red team: George Brindley
Games of Thursday July 20:
10:00 a.m., Green (4-2) at Maroon (2-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 2 4 0 1 0 3 10 Maroon 1 2 4 4 2 X 13 Pitchers: Green – Tommy Deleon; Maroon – Tom Kelm. Umpires: home plate – Jack Kelly; bases – Jack Crosley. Perfect at the plate: Green – Boo Resnick (1 for 1 with two walks) and Don Solberg (4 for 4).
The first of the day’s three hard-fought, close games, and the one for which I have a scoresheet for both teams (looks like hieroglyphics from my chicken-scratch notes), so it’ll get the day’s best recap. Five of the game’s first six hitters singled, resulting in two runs for Green in the top of the first, but the inning ended with a beautiful 4-6-3 double play on Jeff Fisher’s hard ground ball, Mike Velaney to Rex Horvath to Johnny Lee, Rex throwing a laser to first. Peter Sundquist led off the bottom half with a single to left-center, tried for a double, and was thrown out on a perfect relay, 8-6-4, Jeff Fisher to Mike Hill to Boo Resnick. Rex Horvath followed with a double and scored on Scott Wright’s single.
Green increased its lead with four runs in the top of the second. (So much happened in this half-inning.) Chunky Wright led off with a single to the 5-6 hole, and Boo Resnick and Reed Durant walked to load the bases. Tim Balke’s grounder to the left of second took a hop over shortstop Rex Horvath’s glove (Rex, speaking for every infielder who’s struggled with bad hops on the Krieg 2 infield: “God damn!”) Mike Hill followed with a hard grounder to the right of second base that looked like a sure hit, but was robbed by Mike Velaney, who made a spectacular diving play to his backhand and threw to second for the force, Boo scoring.
Mike Velaney teases me for being upbeat and accentuating the positive, but he truly made a great play, and I say that even though Mike literally is an ogre, as seen in this picture.
Donnie Janac followed with a grounder to shortstop Rex Horvath, who threw to Mike Velaney to second for the force; Mike’s throw pulled Johnny Lee off the bag at first, and Donnie was safe, extending the inning. Gary Coyle singled to center, Reed scoring. Don Solberg followed with a single to right field. Right-center fielder Scott Wright charged the ball, played it on one hop, and ran the ball into the infield; Donnie stopped just past third base, but Gary kept running for third, which meant Scott had what looked like a sure out in front of him – Donnie had no choice but to try for home, and Scott had all the time in the world to line up and make a good throw to catcher Billy Hill. Except he didn’t – he threw past Billy, Donnie scored, and Gary wound up on third.
Tom Kelm was able to strand the two runners by getting Ray Pilgrim to hit a short pop in front of shortstop; Rex Horvth was able to field it in on a bounce and throw Ray out. Maroon got two runs back in the bottom of the inning with a two-out rally, Tom Kelm delivering an RBI double to right and Billy Hill and Peter Sundquist following with singles.
A baserunning gaffe hurt the visitors in the top of the third after Green loaded the bases with one out on a lead-off walk to Tommy Deleon and singles by Jeff Fisher and Boo Resnick that sandwiched Chunky Wright’s lineout to second base. Tim Balke was pinch-running for Tommy and was on third when Reed Durant came up and hit a fly to Peter Atkins in left field; not only did Tim not tag up, he actually started for home, thinking the ball would fall in. It did not – Peter first made the catch and then a strong throw to third baseman Marvin Krabbenhoft that beat Tim back to the bag, for an inning-ending F-7, 7-5 double play.
Maroon took full advantage, scoring four times on six singles in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-6 lead. Green tied with a run in the to of the fourth, Mike Hill knocking a double and scoring on Gary Coyle’s single through the 5-6 hole, but Maroon scored four more in the bottom half, on a walk and five singles, to take an 11-7 lead into the final five-run inning.
Tom Kelm worked into and out of a jam in the top of the fifth, getting two quick ground ball outs to start the frame, then walking the bases loaded before inducing a grounder to shortstop by Tim Balke for a force at second that snuffed the rally. Maroon added to its lead with two runs in the home half, on two-out RBI singles by Mike Velaney and Peter Atkins.
That left Green chasing six entering the buffet. With the top of Green’s lineup due, Tom Kelm switched up Maroon’s outfield set, moving Larry Shupe from right to left field. Mike Hill immediately challenged Larry, lining a ball his way, but Larry tracked the ball and made an excellent, tumbling catch for the crucial first out. Donnie Janac followed with a single to left. Gary Coyle grounded a ball to the right of second base that Mike Velaney was able to get to, stepping on second for the force, out number two. Don Solberg (completing a 4-for-4 game), Ray Pilgrim, Tommy Deleon, and Jeff Fisher each singled, three runs scoring and bringing up Chunky Wright representing the tying run. Chunky grounded a ball to the 5-6 hill, but Rex Horvath made a nice play to his backhand, his throw to second beating Jeff to the bag for the game-ending out. Fnal score: Maroon 13, Green 10, Green’s four-game winning streak snapped.
Exchange of the day:
Scott Wright: “How was California?”
Mike Velaney: “Colorado was great.”
11:00 a.m., Gold (2-4) at Red (2-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gold 0 1 1 1 4 1 8 Red 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 Pitchers: Gold – Jeff Stone; Red – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Red – Johnny Lee, Eddy Murillo, Peter Sundquist, and Scott Wright. Umpires: home plate – Anthtony Galindo and Jack Crosley; bases – Richard Battle and Jack Crosley.
Red came out hot, Jack Kelly holding Gold scoreless in the top of the first, working around Joe Roche’s two-out single, his teammates scoring five times in the bottom half. I don’t recall a lot of details, just that there were a bunch of hits, Hal Darman delivering a key RBI with a line-drive single to left field. After that, however, Jeff Stone showed why and how he’s one of B League’s best pitchers, shutting out Red the rest of the way. Jeff retired Red in order in the second, making two of the outs himself (caught a liner and fielded a grounder back to the box). A rover-4-3 double play, Tim Bruton to Larry Young to Larry Bunton, ended the bottom of the fourth. Red left the bases loaded in the fifth.
Jeff’s run prevention allowed Gold to chip away and get back in the game, scoring single runs in the second (on James Chavana’s RBI double), third (Tim Bruton doubled with one out, took third on Jack McDermott’s hit, and scored on Joe Roche’s sacrifice fly to left-center field; Red turned an SF-8, 8-6-4 – Peter Sundquist to Paul Rubin to Adam Reddell – double play on that fly, Jack out trying for second base), and fourth (Denny Malloy RBI single). The Gold offense finally came fully to life in the top of the fifth, four runs scoring on five two-out hits, including doubles by Tim Bruton (his second of the game) and Jack McDermott.
That put Gold ahead 7-5 entering the buffet. Gold added a single run in the top half, on Joe Dayoc’s sacrifice fly to left. Jeff Stone then completed his stellar performance by retiring Red in order in the bottom half, on a grounder to short and two infield pops. The final out of the game came on a pop behind the pitcher’s mound – second baseman Larry Young and shortstop Jack Spellman converged on the ball, Spellman making a way-too-late “I got it” call; the ball bounced off Spellman’s glove, off Young’s chest, and back to Spellman, who managed to hold on for the final out, technically an F-6-4-6, Larry and I padding our stats. Final score: Gold 8, Red 5
Noon, Blue (4-2) at Gray (4-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 1 3 3 0 4 11 Gray 2 0 3 4 0 9 Pitchers: Blue – Jeff Stone; Gray – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Blue – Tim Bruton, Jack Spellman, and Jeff Stone. Umpires: home plate – Larry Young and Jeff Fisher; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Blue – George Romo (4 for 4 with a double) and Jeff Stone (3 for 3). Gray: ?
Another terrific game that came down to the final out. I was playing the field, so again I don’t have a lot of details about the home team’s run-scoring. Blue got a run on three singles in the first, gave up a pair of runs in the bottom half, then took the lead with a pair of three-run innings. In the second Blue loaded the bases with one out on two singles and a walk, then pushed across three runs on Richard Battle’s walk, Anthony Galindo’s sacrifice fly, and George Romo’s two-base hit. In the fourth the runs came on a walk to Fritz Hensel, three singles, and Jack Spellman’s double to left-center.
Gray cut Blue’s lead to 7-5 with three runs in the bottom of the third. The first two outs of that frame came after Blue had loaded the bases, when Jeff Stone snagged a line drive and snapped a throw to first that doubled up Tom Brownfield, who’d only gotten a step and a half off the base, but had no chance to reverse course fast enough. Then Blue ran itself out of a potential rally in the top of the fourth. Anthony Galindo and George Romo singled to open the inning, but neither heard the infield-fly call that was made on Eddy Murillo’s pop behind the pitcher. When the ball was not caught, Anthony thought he was forced and broke for third; Greg Lloyd threw to shortstop Rick Jensen, who tagged Anthony out to complete the double play.
Gray took the lead with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, time running out moments before the third out was recorded. That left Blue trailing 9-7 entering the buffet. The first four batters of the inning hit safely and scored: Fritz Hensel, Dale Fugate, and Jeff Stone each singled, loading the bases for Tim Bruton, who unloaded them with a three-run double. Jack Spellman took a called strike three (on a pitch I thought was way high, but I won’t re-litigate that here) for the first out. Tim took third on Richard Battle’s Texas League single to center field, then scored on George Romo’s two-out single to left, George’s fourth hit of the game. Eddy Murillo, whose delightful granddaughter Brooklyn assisted in the Blue dugout, squared up on a pitch and lined it to left field, but right at Doc Hobar, who caught it for the third out.
That left Gray chasing two. They got a lead-off single, but Jeff Stone retired the next three batters, on a pop to third baseman Eddy Murillo, a pop to first baseman Dale Fugate, and a fly to left fielder Richard Battle. Final score: Blue 11, Gray 9, Blue reclaiming first place for the session.
Quote of the Day: Richard Battle, with an awesomely straight face: “The game lost its integrity with the move away from metal spikes.”
Standings – Session Three:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 5 2 .714 — 97 83 +14 W1
Gray 4 2 .667 .5 76 70 + 6 L1
Green 4 3 .571 1 93 88 + 5 L1
Maroon 3 3 .500 1.5 62 63 – 1 W2
Gold 3 4 .429 2 75 82 – 7 W1
Purple 0 2 .000 2.5 29 33 – 4 L3
Red 2 5 .286 3 76 89 -13 L2
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 1-2 4-0 0 0-0 4-1 0-0
Gray 2-2 2-0 1 0-0 0-0 2-0
Green 1-1 3-2 0 0-0 1-1 1-0
Maroon 1-2 2-1 0 0-0 1-1 0-0
Gold 1-2 2-2 0 0-0 1-1 0-1
Purple 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1
Red 1-4 1-1 0 0-0 0-3 0-1
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 3 3 2 1 2.5 2 13.5
Gold 2 X 2 5 1 1 3 14
Gray 2 2 X 2 2 2 4 14
Green 2 1 2 X 1 4 4 14
Maroon 3 4 1 4 X 3 1 16
Purple 1.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 6.5
Red 3 1 1 1 3 3 X 12
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 13.5 12 11 14 9 15.5 15 90
Schedule for Monday July 24:
10:00 a.m.: Maroon (3-3) at Blue (5-2), Gold umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Gray (4-2) at Gold (3-4), Green umpiring
Noon: Green (4-3) at Red (2-5), Gray umpiring
Preview: Maroon has the league’s longest active winning streak (two!), and will look to extend that and knock Blue out of first place at 10:00. Gray can reclaim first if Blue falls at 10:00 and Gray is able to best Gold at 11:00 (never!). Red looks to end the league’s longest active losing streak (also two) at noon; if Green can win and both Blue and Gray lose, Green will move into a tie with Blue for first. Will the heat dome abate by Monday, or ever? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Keggy’s Kwiz!
Identify these six former Major League players whom Keggy is recruiting for B League*. One point for each correct identification, bonus points for indicating which two are in the Hall of Fame, and an easy bonus point for naming the team they all played for. Winner(s) will get the remainder of my undistributed Pluckers coupons.
* They’re not joining B League.