B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 21 – June 13, 2024
$1.75 (Prices in Hawaii may be higher)
Games again were played at Krieg 6 due to construction and parking issues at Krieg 3.
Weather: Temperature was at 82 degrees at the start of the 10:30 game, mostly sunny, humidity still high, around 93%. The temperature rose into the high 80s, the humidity might have abated a bit. Might just be me, but Krieg 6 feels hotter than Krieg 3.
Games of Thursday June 13:
10:30 a.m., Purple (7-4) at Green (8-5):
1 2 3 4 5 6 BUFFET FINAL Purple 2 0 1 1 1 5 0 10 Green 1 0 0 4 0 1 5 11 Pitchers: Purple – Jeff Stone; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenary: Green – Donnie Janac. Umpires: home plate – Scott Wright and Anthony Galindo; bases – Dave Berra and Joe Roche. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Gregory Bied (4 for 4 with a double); Green – Jack Crosley (4 for 4).
A terrific game to determine the Session Two champion, and it fittingly came down to the last batter.
A pitchers duel in the early going. Three of Purple’s first three hitters singled, and Gregory Bied and Clint Fletcher scored, in the top of the first, and Purple was able to maintain the lead until the bottom of the fourth, as Jeff Stone held Green to one run over the first three innings. That came in the bottom of the first, when Ralph Villela doubled leading off and scored on Paul Rubin’s hard single past second base. After Mike Hill flied out to Gregory Bied in right, David Pittard knocked a single to right-center, Paul halting at second. But Jeff retired the next two batters, getting Mike Garrison to hit into a force at third base and Tommy Deleon to hit a two-strike foul.
Tommy Deleon retired Purple in order in the top of the second, the third out coming when shortstop Ralph Villela fielded Tom Kelm’s grounder and snapped a throw to first that just beat pinch-runner Clint Fletcher. Jack McDermott led off the bottom of the second with a single, but Jeff Stone retired the next three hitters.
Tommy got two outs to begin the top of the third, running his streak to seven consecutive batters retired, but Gregory Bied, Peter Sundquist, and Clint Fletcher hit two-out singles, Gregory coming around to score. Peter’s hit was on a grounder to short – Ralph Villela fielded it cleanly and probably could have beaten Gregory to the bag, but at the last moment flipped the ball to second baseman Mike Hill from just a body length away, and Mike was unable to get a handle on it, Gregory safe at second.
Green did not score in the home half of the third. With one out, Paul Rubin got a hit on an opposite-field liner to left field that Clint Fletcher got a glove on but couldn’t corral; Paul tried for second and Clint threw him out. Mike Hill followed with a single, but Jeff Stone fielded David Pittard’s bouncer back to the box and threw to first for the third out.
Purple loaded the bases on singles with one out in the fourth, but came away with just one run, which scored on a 6-5 force out at third base, Ralph Villela ranging way into the 5-6 hole on Tom Kelm’s grounder. Another force out, 4-6 on Rip Wright’s grounder, ended the frame.
Green broke through and took the lead with four runs on six consecutive singles – by the bottom five batters in the order and Ralph Villela – in the bottom half. (Daniel Baladez scored the fourth run from second on Ralph’s single to right-center.) With runners on second and third and one out, Green looked assured of getting five, but Purple turned a superb double play to end the inning: Paul Rubin grounded to second baseman Mike Velaney, who threw to first for the out there; Daniel Carvajal then snapped a throw home to catcher Tom Kelm that beat Donnie Janac trying to score: 4-3-2. Still, Green led 5-4 through four.
Purple tied with a single run in the top of the fifth. Jim Foelker singled leading off, took third on Gregory Bied’s single to right-center, and scored on Peter Sundquist’s force-out grounder to third baseman David Pittard – Mike Hill had to make a fully extended stretch to catch David’s throw, and did so, Gregory out by half a step at second. Clint Fletcher also grounded into a 5-4 force. Jeff Stone singled up the middle, Clint taking third, but the inning ended with Tim Coles hitting a towering fly to left field that Mike Garrison, playing deep, hauled in.
Jeff Stone threw a scoreless bottom of the fifth, working around David Pittard’s one-out single. Clint Fletcher made an excellent play on Mike Garrison’s fly to left for the second out.
There were two minutes left on the clock when Tommy Deleon grounded into an inning-ending force, so this became a seven-inning game. Purple broke through in the top of the sixth, scoring five times. Daniel Carvajal and Mike Velaney opened the frame with infield hits, Daniel off third baseman David Pittard’s glove, Mike off first baseman Daniel Baladez’s, pinch-runner Gregory Bied racing to third on that play. Ralph Villela turned a 6u., 6-3 double play on Rick Jensen’s sharp grounder up the middle, Gregory scoring to put Purple ahead. The next five batters followed with hits: Tom Kelm and Rip Wright singled; Jim Foelker doubled off Mike Garrison’s glove in left, Tom’s pinch-runner scoring; Gregory Bied doubled to right field, Rip and Jim scoring; and Peter Sundquist singled in Gregory.
Jack McDermott singled to start the bottom of the sixth. After Jack Crosley flied out to left field, Clint Fletcher making a basket catch, Jack was forced out at second on Daniel Baladez’s soft grounder to shorstop, Rick Jensen making a quick, accurate flip to Mike Velaney at the bag. Donnie Janac singled up the middle, Mike Velaney making a futile but entertaining effort to kick the ball as it skipped past him. Daniel stopped at second, then (impressively, running on contact) scored on Ralph Villela’s Texas League single to short left field – Daniel’s second time scoring from second on a single in this game. Paul Rubin grounded out to Mike Velaney to end the inning, and Purple led 10-6 going into the buffet.
It looked like they would extend the lead when Clint Fletcher and Jeff Stone singled to open the inning, putting runners on first and second, but they advanced no further as Tommy Deleon retired the next three hitters on balls in the air: Tim Coles popped out to shortstop Ralph Villela, Daniel Carvajal flied out to Mike Garrison in left field, and Mike Velaney hit a foul pop down the third-base side that David Pittard grabbed.
Green was chasing four to tie, five to win in the bottom of the buffet. Mike Hill led off with a grounder down the third-base line; Tim Coles made a good play with the glove, fielding it cleanly, and threw across the diamond, but first baseman Daniel Carvajal was unable to catch the just-short throw cleanly, and Mike was safe. David Pittard drew a walk. Mike Garrison punched a ball over the head of right-center fielder Jim Foelker, Mike Hill scoring and David halting at third. Purple led 10-7.
Tommy Deleon was next, with Ralph Villela running from home, and he ripped a single to right field, David scoring to make it 10-8, Mike Garrison advancing to third.
Jack McDermott came up, and he also singled to right field, Mike Garrison scoring, making it a one-run game, Ralph racing to third.
Jack Crosley followed, and hit a fly to Gregory Bied in fairly short right field. Ralph tagged up, though he wasn’t going to run on Gregory’s arm, but after making the catch coming in, Gregory stumbled and kind of shoveled the ball in to second baseman Mike Velaney; Ralph made a belated try for home, and beat the relay from Mike to Jeff Stone to catcher Tom Kelm, scoring to tie the game.
Daniel Baladez was next. He hit a grounder to shortstop, not hard; Jack McDermott was off from first on contact and just beat the throw to second, a very close play.
Donnie Janac popped out to second baseman Mike Velaney.
Ralph Villela came up for the fifth time, and for the fourth time in this game knocked a clean hit, a single to center field. Here’s the video: https://www.facebook.com/reel/478989814810870
Jack McDermott was off on the crack of the bat and easily beat the throw home, scoring the winning run. Green manager Jeff Broussard reports that at the moment Jack crossed the home line, light shone down from on high:
Final score: Green 11, Purple 10. Green’s victory means that idle Gray is the Session Two champion, with an 8-4 record and a winning percentage of .667, ahead of Green (9-5, .643). I think this makes Donnie Janac, Gray mercenary helping Green prevail, the day’s MVP.
11:30 a.m., Maroon (7-6) at Orange (2-10):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 5 0 1 5 0 1 12 Orange 1 2 5 1 0 1 10 Pitchers: Maroon – Jack Kelly; Orange – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Maroon – Jack Kelly; Orange – Tommy Gillis and Johnny Lee. Umpires: home – Jack Crosley; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Buddy Gaswint (3 for 3), Jimmy Sneed and Scott Wright (each 4 for 4); Orange – Larry Fiorentino (4 for 4 with a double and a triple).
Maroon, with Anthony Galindo and Joe Dayoc back in the fold after recent absences, jumped to a quick lead, scoring five runs on seven singles in the top of the first inning, James Chavana scoring the fifth run on Alvin Gauna’s RBI grounder to second base. Orange got one back in the bottom half on one-out extra-base hits by Larry Fiorentino (double) and Rex Horvath (triple). Jack Kelly, filling in on the mound for still-absent Chunky Wright, stranded Rex at third, retiring Eddie Ortiz on a grounder to third baseman Scott Wright (excellent play) and a liner by Ray Pilgrim to shortstop Jimmy Sneed.
Spike Davidson blanked Maroon in the second, working around two singles, and allowed just a single run in the third, when Jimmy Sneed led off with a single, took second on Joe Roche’s fly to right field (excellent catch coming in and to his left by Larry Shupe), and scored on Buddy Gaswint’s two-out single. Orange scored twice in the bottom of the second, Tommy Gillis’s two-out triple the key hit: it drove in Larry Fiorentino, running for Spike Davidson, who’d led off with a single, and Tommy then scored on Johnny Lee’s infield single (grounder to third base – Scott Wright made a good play with the glove, but skipped his throw past first baseman Joe Dayoc).
Orange then briefly took the lead, 8-6, with five runs in the bottom of the third on seven singles, Eddie Ortiz’s double, and sacrifice flies by Ray Pilgrim and Tommy Gillis.
The lead was short-lived, as Maroon immediately responded with its own five-run inning in the top of the fourth. The frame began inauspiciously, with Maroon batting out of order: Alvin Gauna was on a phone call, and Joe Dayoc mistakenly batted, and knocked a single. Orange skipper Dave Berra at once clocked the mistake, and following the umpires’ consultation with Terry Watts, Joe was declared out and Alvin sent up to hit. He and the next five hitters knocked singles, five runs scoring, Maroon surging ahead 11-8.
Larry Fiorentino led off the home half with a triple and scored on one-out Eddie Ortiz’s single, but that was it, the inning ending with Jimmy Sneed starting a 6-4-3 double play on Ray Pilgrim’s grounder.
The score remained 11-9 in Maroon’s favor as neither team scored in the fifth. Maroon loaded the bases on singles in the top half, but was denied thanks to a fine defensive play: third baseman Ray Pilgrim deflected Joe Dayoc’s hard grounder to Rex Horvath, whose snap throw to second beat Alvin Gauna to end the frame. In the bottom half, Jack Kelly got two quick outs, allowed a single to Larry Shupe, then retired Tommy Gillis on a liner to left field, James Chavana getting an excellent jump and coming in aggressively to make the play.
Maroon added a single run on three singles in the top of the buffet inning, Jimmy Sneed driving in Scott Wright and completing a 4-for-4 outing.
That left Orange chasing three in the home half. Jack Kelly retired Johnny Lee on a sharp grounder to second base leading off, but Doc Hobar and Larry Fiorentino followed with singles, Larry completing a perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate. Rex Horvath flied out to James Chavana in left, the runners holding. Eddie Ortiz knocked his third hit, Doc scoring to make it 12-10. A single by Ray Pilgrim loaded the bases, the tying run at second and the winning run at first. But Jack Kelly got Spike Davidson to hit a fly down the left side; James Chavana got a terrific jump on the ball and caught it in foul territory, his fifth putout of the game, to put an end to things. Final score: Maroon 12, Orange 10
12:30 p.m., Blue (4-8) at Red (7-6):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 2 0 5 1 0 8 Red 3 5 3 0 X 11 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Red – Donald Drummer. Mercenaries: Red – Anthony Galindo, Jeff Stone, and Scott Wright. Umpires: Home plate – Rex Horvth; bases – Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Blue – George Rromo, Steve Sandall, and Terry Thompson (each 3 for 3), and Pat Scott (4 for4); Red – Tim Bruton (2 for 2 with a walk), Donald Drummer and Bobby Miller (each 3 for 3).
Surprisingly low-scoring affair for a game that featured seven different hitters being perfect at the plate. Red played really well defensively, the tone set early on, when Donald Drummer started a 1-6-3 double play, Tim Bruton on the pivot, after allowing a game-opening single to Pat Scott. The next four Blue hitters singled, two runs scoring on the fourth hit, David Brown’s line single to right field.
Red took the lead with three runs on five singles and Tim Bruton’s walk in the bottom half, the last two coming across on Denny Malloy’s base hit to right field.
Blue did not score in the second, Donald Drummer working around two singles, and Red took command with five runs in the home half, the last three on Denny Malloy’s bases-loaded double to left-center after Boo Resnick had worked a two-out walk.
Blue got back to within a run with five runs in the top of the third on seven singles. David Brown drove in two more runs with his second hit of the game, and Terry Thompson wound up scoring from first on a misplay: Jeff Stone made a good play on Jerry Mylius’s grounder, tagging third base for the force there, second out of the inning, but threw past second base, Terry loping home. Billy Hill extended the inning with a line single to center field, and Pat Scott drove in Jerry with the fifth run, on a single to right field.
Four straight one-out singles in the bottom of the third brought across two runs and put runners on first and second with the heart of the order due. Joe Bernal got Morgan Witthoft to ground into a 6-4 force for the second out. Donald Drummer singled to center field, Bobby Miller scoring the third run of the inning, but when left-center fielder Pat Scott bobbled the ball, Morgan attempted to score and was cut down 8-6-2, Pat to David Brown to Billy Hill – outstanding defensive play.
Blue scored a single run in the top of the fourth, on David Brown’s sacrifice fly to Morgan Witthoft in right field. (It was David’s fifth RBI of the game; Denny Malloy also drove in five runs; the pair accounted for over half of the game’s scoring.)
Red did not score in the bottom of the fourth. Hal Darman led off with a single, but Boo Resnick lined out to third baseman George Romo, and Boo was forced out at second 5-4 on Denny Malloy’s grounder to the left side. Anthony Galindo singled, but the inning ended with first baseman Dale Fugate making an excellent backhanded play on Jeff Stone’s hard grounder down the first base side, then easily beating Jeff to the bag.
Blue was chasing three in the top of the buffet. Terry Thompson led off with a single through the 5-6 hole. Donald Drummer got the next two batters to hit into force outs, Jerry Mylius on a grounder to second baseman Boo Resnick, who threw to shortstop Tim Bruton , and Billy Hill on a grounder to Tim, who made the play at second himself. Pat Scott singled to right-center, extending the inning and bringing the potential tying run to the plate in Joe Bernal. Joe hit the ball hard down the first-base side, but Scott Wright made an excellent backhanded play of the ball, then threw a strike to Tim at second for the game-ending force there. Final score: Red 11, Blue 8. Purple, Red, and Maroon all finish two games above .500 for the session, essentially tied for third place.
Final standings – Session Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gray 8 4 .667 — 143 128 +15 W2
Green 9 5 .643 — 178 164 +14 W4
Purple 7 5 .583 1 155 123 +32 L1
Red 8 6 .571 1 203 182 +21 W1
Maroon 8 6 .571 1 184 176 + 8 W1
Blue 4 9 .308 4.5 140 165 -25 L4
Orange 2 11 .154 6.5 134 199 -65 L3
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gray 3-1 4-3 2 0-0 2-1 4-2
Green 4-4 4-1 3 1-0 1-1 3-2
Purple 4-3 3-2 0 0-0 1-2 0-2
Red 3-3 5-2 0 0-1 4-0 1-3
Maroon 2-5 5-1 1 0-0 1-2 1-1
Blue 2-4 2-4 1 0-0 1-1 1-0
Orange 2-4 0-6 0 0-0 0-3 2-2
Cumulative standings – Sessions One and Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gray 10 5 .667 — 177 166 +11 W2
Purple 9 6 .600 1 194 159 +35 L1
Maroon 10 7 .588 1 224 206 +18 W1
Red 9 9 .500 2.5 264 255 + 9 W1
Green 8 9 .471 3 226 242 -16 W4
Blue 7 10 .412 4 189 200 -11 L4
Orange 4 12 .250 6.5 188 234 -46 L3
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gray 5-1 4-4 3 0-0 2-1 5-2
Purple 5-3 4-3 0 0-0 1-2 0-2
Maroon 4-5 5-2 1 0-0 1-2 1-1
Red 3-5 6-3 0 0-1 4-2 1-4
Green 4-6 4-3 3 1-0 1-2 3-2
Blue 4-4 3-5 1 0-0 2-1 1-0
Orange 2-5 2-6 0 0-0 2-3 2-2
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 1 1 1 2 1 1 7
Gray 2 X 2 1 3 0 2 10
Green 2 0 X 2 1 2 2 9
Maroon 1 2 2 X 3 0 2 10
Orange 0 0 1 0 X 1 2 4
Purple 2 1 2 2 2 X 0 9
Red 3 1 1 1 1 2 X 9
________________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 10 5 9 7 12 6 9 58
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 5
Gregory Bied – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
David Brown – 1
Ken Brown – 1
Tim Bruton – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Clint Fletcher – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
David Kruse – 1
Denny Malloy – 1
Eddie Ortiz – 1
Dave Pittard – 1
Pat Scott – 1
Ralph Villela – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Monday June 17, first games of Session Three:
10:30 a.m.: Red at Purple, Green umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Green at Maroon, Red umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Orange at Blue, Maroon umpiring
Gray has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: These are the first games of Session Three, everyone starting with a clean slate. By an odd quirk of the schedule, Gray has the bye for the second date in a row, so it won’t be till next Thursday that they begin their session-title defense. The rest of the league will celebrate Bunker Hill Day on Monday by rooting against the Red(coats). Will the Green (Mountain Men) break out their Ethan Allen commemorative jerseys for the occasion?
One thing is certain: only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Mike Mordecai emcees and plays at the Elephant Room (https://elephantroom.com/calendar) Mondays from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.
Boo Resnick and Hotcakes will be at Donn’s Depot, 1600 West Fifth Street, this Saturday June 15 from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.