B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 23 – June 1, 2023
Weather: Pretty pleasant late-spring day, the humidity not too terrible. Toward the end of the 12:30 game it was 84 degrees with 57% humidity, partly cloudy. Got some breezes during the day’s play, very pleasant.
Injured list:
Blue team: Stan Fisher – Dupuytren’s contracture
Gold team: Jeff Stone – broken left pinky finger
Maroon team: Rex Horvath – sciatica; Chris Villareal – hamstring
Purple team: Tommy Deleon – strained quadricep
Alvin Gauna – broken finger
Returned to action: Gray’s David Kruse and Gold’s Denny Malloy
Games of Thursday June 1:
10:30 a.m., Gold (8-4) at Blue (5.5 – 7.5):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gold 5 0 5 1 0 0 11 Blue 0 0 3 4 0 0 7 Pitchers: Gold – Jack Kelly; Blue – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Gold: Jack Kelly and Ken Mockler; Blue – George Brindley, Hal Darman, Sscott Sovereen, and Terry Thompson. Umpires: home plate – Tom Kelm and Scott Wright; bases – Peter Sundquist and Mike Velaney. Perfect at the plate: Gold – Jack Kelly (3 for 3).
Gold jumped on top with five runs in its first at bat, with Tim Bruton’s lead-off double followed by seven of the next eight batters knocking singles. The inning’s only outs came on a beautifully turned double play by Blue third baseman Dale Fugate, who made a nice play to his left of Larry Young’s hard-hit bases-loaded grounder, stepped on third for the force there, and threw home to Fritz Hensel for the out there. Singles by Joe Dayoc and Ken Mockler completed the rally, however.
Jack Kelly shut out Blue over the first two innings, working around a two-out single in the first and lead-off singles by Fritz Hensel and Spike Davidson in the second. In that frame Jack recorded the first out, snagging George Brindley’s hard-hit grounder up the middle and throwing to second for the force. He then got Terry Thompson to pop out to shortstop Tim Bruton, who ranged to his right and back into short left field for the ball, and retired Scott Sovereen on a fly to right-center fielder Mike Garrison.
Spike Davidson threw a scoreless second inning, but Gold scored five again in the third, on Mike Garrison’s lead-off double, a walk to Larry Young, and four singles, the last three with two out. That left Blue in a 10-0 hole before their tenth batter had come to plate for the first time. That batter was Hal Darman, whose single started a three-run rally in the bottom of the third, as Blue’s first five hitters reached base, on four singles and a walk to Dale Fugate. With the bases loaded, no out, and the fifth run at first base, Jack Kelly again did a great job of mostly escaping the jam, getting Fritz Hensel to ground to second baseman Jack Spellman, a run scoring on the unassisted force at second, Spike Davidson to pop out to Tim Bruton (very similar play to the one Tim made in the second, ranging into short left field behind third base), and George Brindley to line out back to the box (quick reaction time by Jack to make the inning-ending catch).
Gold got what turned out to be its final run of the game in the top of the fourth, when Jack McDermott led off with a double (a grounder off shortstop George Brindley’s glove and into short left field, Jack able to leg it to second) and scored on Joe Roche’s single up the middle. Blue got four back in the bottom half, on four singles, Larry Fiorentino’s double, and Dale Fugate’s sacrifice fly, cutting Gold’s lead to 11-7. But it turned out to be the final scoring of the game. Gold, per its season-long MO, failed to add to its lead, wasting two singles in the top of the fifth (including Jack Kelly’s third in as many at bats) and another in the buffet, but played good defense in the bottom of the fifth (Mike Garrison making a good play on Anthony Galindo’s drive to right-center for the third out).
Working with a four-run lead in the bottom of the buffet, Jack Kelly worked his magic: He got Larry Fiorentino to foul a two-strike pitch down the left-field line; induced a fly to left from Morgan Withhoft, who’d singled hin each of his first three at bats; gave up a single to Dale Fugate; then got Fritz Hensel to ground to shortstop Tim Bruton, who threw to second for the game-ending force. Final score: Gold 11, Blue 7
11:30 a.m., Maroon (10-3) at Green (5-8):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 3 0 2 2 0 1 8 Green 5 5 1 2 0 X 13 Pitchers: Maroon – Tom Kelm; Green – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Maroon – Tim Bruton; Green – George Brindley, Anthony Galindo, and Paul Rubin. Umpires: home plate – Spike Davidson; bases – Larry Fiorentino. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Tim Bruton (3 for 3); Green – George Brindley (3 for 3 with a double and a homer) and Paul Rubin (3 for 3 with a double). Homerun: George Brindley (inside the park).
Green came out hitting and scored five times in each of its first two at bats, thanks to a slew of clutch hits – all five runs in the first were scored with two out, on a total of five singles, Reed Durant’s double, and Greg Lloyd’s walk, and two-out singles by Boo Resnick, Greg Lloyd, and Paul Rubin capped the second-inning rally. Maroon had opened the game with three quick runs, as its first five batters reached base, on four singles and a walk to Peter Atkins, the third run scoring on Johnny Lee’s ground out for a force at second base. The rally was killed by a beautifully turned 5-4-3 double play, Clint Fletcher (who made an excellent play on a bad hop) to Boo Resnick to Reed Durant, on Marvin Krabbenhoft’s hard grounder to Clint’s left (excellent glove play). Then Greg Lloyd shut out Maroon in the second, working around Tim Bruton’s two-out single.
Down 10-3 through two, Maroon inched back into the game, scoring twice in the top of the third, on four consecutive one-out singles, and holding Green to one in the home half, on George Brindley’s inside-the-park homerun on a drive that gapped the right and right-center fielders, rolling to the fence. Green then loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, but couldn’t get the two-out hit they needed.
Greg Lloyd present George Brindley with a Pluckers coupon following George’s inside-the-park homerun in the bottom of the third.
Maroon scored twice more in the top of the fourth, as Tim Bruton singled, Peter Sundquist tripled, and Scott Wright singled to start the inning. The next three batters went out, however – Peter Atkins on a pop behind the mound that glanced off Greg Lloyd’s glove to shortstop Mike Hill, who threw to second to force Scott…
Quote of the Day (I): Scott Wright: “That’s chickenshit!”
…after which Mike Velaney lined out and Ken Brown grounded out back to the pitcher. Green got those runs back on George Brindley’s two-out, two-run double in the home half, and then George made a terrific catch in right-center on a drive by Johnny Lee leading off the fifth inning.
Also, tomorrow is George’s birthday – he brought cupcakes, as if he wasn’t already the day’s MVP.
Anyway, Maroon did not score in the top of the fifth, and neither did Green in the home half, which saw a 6-4-3 double play (Tim Bruton to Mike Velaney to Johnny Lee) after Clint Fletcher led off with a single. So going into the buffet, Green led 13-6. Maroon was able to get just a single run: Tim Bruton led off with his third single in as many at bats, was forced out on Peter Sundquist’s grounder back to the box; Peter took second on Scott Wright’s single up the middle, advanced to third when Peter Atkins grounded into a 6-4 force for the second out, and scored on Mike Velaney’s single to right field. Ken Brown came up and squared up on a pitch, but his line drive was right to second baseman Boo Resnick, who squeezed it for the game-ending out. Final score: Green 13, Maroon 8, Green defeating Maroon for the first time this season, ending Maroon’s six-game winning streak.
12:30 p.m., Gray (6-7) at Purple (3.5 – 9.5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Gray 5 5 3 3 X 16 Purple 4 3 0 2 2 11 Pitchers: Gray – Greg Lloyd; Purple – Mike Mordecai. Mercenaries: Gray – Mike Hill, Johnny Lee, Jack Spellman, and Scott Wright; Purple – George Brindley, Tim Bruton, Hal Darman, Reed Durant, Mike and Garrison. Umpires: home plate – Jeff Fisher; bases – Tim Balke. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Frank Delmonte (4 for 4), Mike Hill (3 for 3 with a double), and Johnny Lee and Jack Spellman (each 3 for 3); Purple – Mike Mordecai (2 for 2 with two walks).
Gray burst out of the gate with five runs in the top of the first on five singles and two walks, making only one out, added five more in the second on six singles and David Kruse’s double, and then scored three times on five hits in both the third and fourth innings. For the game, Gray hitters went 22 for 31 with three walks, for a .710 batting average and a .735 on-base percentage. It was too much for Purple, which hit decently well – every non-mercenary on the team had two hits, and overall Purple was 17 for 32 with two walks for a .531 average and a .559 OBP – but couldn’t keep up. Purple got four runs on six singles and Tim Bruton’s sacrifice fly (which actually drove in two runs) in the bottom of the first, three more on three singles and Tony Garcia’s triple in the second, yet still found itself trailing 10-7.
Quote of the Day (II): There was some dispute in the middle innings when a Gray runner from home was awarded second base when an infielder’s throw to first went into the visitors dugout. This is one of the three exceptions to the so-called Carl Gallagher rule that the pinch-runner cannot advance past first base (the others are for an over-the-fence homerun and an over-the-fence ground-rule double). The runner was awarded second, the rule was explained, and Tony Garcia rescinded his objection: “Don’t listen to me, I hardly show up.”
Greg Lloyd blanked Purple in the third, the third out coming when catcher Frank Delmonte made a nice catch, moving quickly to his left, of Hal Darman’s short foul pop. Two runs on three singles and a walk in the bottom of the fourth left Purple trailing 16-9 entering the buffet. The teams agreed to flip-flop, and Purple got singles from its first three batters, Mike Garrison, Reed Durant, and Hal Darman, Mike scoring. Doc Hobar’s sacrifice fly to left fielder Trey Wall scored Reed. Mike Mordecai completed his perfect day at the plate by drawing his second walk of the game, which got the tying run to the on-deck circle. But right-center fielder Scott Wright caught Tony Garcia’s liner for the second out, and David Kruse made a good play moving to his right to knock down Larry Bunton’s hard grounder to the 5-6 hole, throwing to third for the game-ending force out. Final score: Gray 16, Purple 11, Gray defeating Purple for the first time this season.
Johnny Lee and his gargantuan first-base mitt, with which he recorded ten putouts over the course of the 11:30 and 12:30 games.
Standings – Session Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Maroon 10 4 .714 — 158 135 +23 L1
Gold 9 4 .692 .5 154 131 +23 W3
Red 7 6 .538 2.5 147 154 – 7 L1
Gray 7 7 .500 3 168 145 +23 W2
Green 6 8 .429 4 146 163 -17 W1
Blue 5.5 8.5 .393 4.5 159 173 -14 L3
Purple 3.5 10.5 .250 6.5 145 176 -31 L5
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Maroon 5-1 5-3 1 0-0 2-1 3-1
Gold 5-2 4-2 4 2-0 2-0 5-2
Red 4-2 3-4 1 0-0 2-2 1-1
Gray 3-3 4-4 2 0-2 3-2 2-3
Green 3-4 3-4 1 0-1 2-3 1-1
Blue 1.5-6.5 4-2 0 1.5-0.5 2-2 0-1
Purple 2-6 1.5-4.5 0 0.5-0.5 0-3 0-3
[Purple and Blue tied their game of May 11; it is counted as half a win and half a loss in the standings.]
2023 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gold Gray Green Maroon Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 2 2 1 0 2.5 1 8.5
Gold 2 X 2 3 1 1 1 10
Gray 2 1 X 2 1 1 2 9
Green 1 0 1 X 1 3 3 9
Maroon 2 2 1 3 X 3 1 12
Purple 0.5 1 2 0 1 X 1 5.5
Red 2 1 1 1 2 2 X 9
_______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 9.5 7 9 10 6 12.5 9 63
Schedule for Monday June 5:
10:30 a.m.: Maroon (10-4) at Gray (7-7), Green umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Green (6-8) at Blue (5.5 – 8.5), Gray umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Red (7-6) at Gold (9-4), Blue umpiring
Purple has the bye – players from that team will have priority out of the bucket.
Preview: Only three games remain in Session Two, and thanks to Green’s win over Maroon today, the session title is still very much up for grabs. The big game is at 10:30, when Maroon plays Gray, both teams with a +23 run differential, Gray with the home-field advantage plus the first draw out of the bucket. Green and Blue face off at 11:30, the losing team will finish the session under .500, the winner will still be able to reach that mark. At 12:30, Gold and Red square off, Gold with a chance to reclaim first place, depending on the 10:30 result, Red still with a puncher’s chance at tying for the session title despite a -7 run differential. Will first place change hands? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Keggy’s turning over the Korner, mostly, to Dr. Ken Brown, who shares Keggy’s frustration and pet-peevishness concerning a runner establishing a base path and not being obstructed during a rundown.
Ken points us to The Umpire Bible (https://umpirebible.com/index.php/rules-base-running/basepath-running-lane):
What is a base path?
The base path is defined in Rule 5.09(b)(1):
“A runner’s base path is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely.”
The wording is important. The base path is established (created) “when the tag attempt occurs.” In other words, until there is a tag attempt, there is no base path. And then this: The base runner is out if “running more than three feet away from the baseline to avoid being tagged.” At the moment the base path is established (when the tag is attempted), the runner cannot veer more than three feet to the left or right of the base path for the purpose of avoiding a tag.
It’s important that a base path only exists when a fielder is attempting to make a tag. At all other times there is no base path (no such thing) and in fact the runner is free (at his peril) to run pretty much anywhere he wishes. There are limits to this (see Rule 5.09(b)(10) regarding “making a travesty of the game”); however, the central point remains: The base runner creates his own base path.
Here’s where it gets tricky
It gets tricky in a pickle. When a runner is caught between bases and fielders have the runner in a pickle (a rundown), each time the fielders exchange the ball and the runner reverses direction, the runner has created a new base path. Each time you have this reversal you have a new base path because you have a new fielder attempting to make a tag (and therefore a new “straight line to the base”), and so you have to adjust your view of the base path accordingly. The umpire has to be mindful that, during a pickle, the base path is going to migrate every time there’s a throw. Depending on how long the pickle goes on, the base path can migrate quite a bit. When this happens, you invariably get someone shouting “He’s out of the base path!” These people don’t know what they’re talking about.
Obstruction:
The umpire must remain alert to obstruction, particularly if the rundown becomes extended with many throws and changes of direction. The fielder, once he throws the ball (and is no longer in possession of the ball), must not in any way impede the progress of the runner. If he does this by colliding or otherwise impeding the runner’s progress, you have obstruction. The award in this situation is the base beyond the last base legally held.
Obstruction in a rundown:
A rundown (“pickle”) can be tricky because each time the fielders exchange the ball and the runner reverses direction, the runner has created a new base path. This is relevant because each time this happens, the fielder who just threw the ball is now probably in the runner’s way, but is no longer in possession of the ball. That fielder, then, is in jeopardy of committing obstruction. The umpire has to watch for this because it’s easy to miss in the midst of a helter-skelter pickle, so (again) the umpire has to be mentally prepared and watch the fielders (not just the runner) as the pickle develops.
Keggy will just add this: The runner is allowed to attempt to avoid the tag, though he must remain within three feet of the basepath he/she has established.