B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 3 – March 7, 2024
Weather: Guster called it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGsaCypIF9Q) – “Woke up today/to everything gray”: Another overcast day, temperature at 68 degrees with 91% humidity at the start of the 10:30 game. We got some light rain briefly during the 11:30 game, nothing we couldn’t play through. It cleared and was a pleasant 74 degrees with the humidity down to 72% during the 12:30 game.
Games of Thursday March 7:
10:30 a.m., Orange (0-1) at Red (1-0): “I know I’ve been half asleep/That won’t happen again”
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 0 2 4 4 2 9 21 Red 0 0 5 1 3 0 9 Pitchers: Orange – Spike Davidson; Red – Eddy Murillo. Mercenary: Orange – Tim Coles. Umpires: home plate – Daniel Baladez and Jack Crosley; bases – Paul Rubin and Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Larry Fiorentino (5 for 5 with three doubles) and Matt Levitt (4 for 4); Red – Rick Kahn (3 for 3 with a double). Homerun: Eddie Ortiz (over the fence).
No scoring in the first inning as both teams made sterling defensive plays. In the top half, following Larry Fiorentino’s one-out single, Red first baseman Gil Delossantos made a good play on Tony Garcia’s hard grounder to the right side, Gil throwing to second for the force there. Rex Horvath followed with a single, but Rick Kahn in left field made a terrific catch, moving to his left, of Eddie Ortiz’s line drive. In the bottom half, singles by Tim Bruton and Rick Kahn put runners on the corners with one out. Adam Reddell hit sharp grounder to shortstop; Rex Horvath threw to Howard Spates for the force at second, but Adam beat Howard’s relay to first; however, Tim Bruton broke late for home, and first baseman Tim Coles’ throw to catcher Matt Levitt beat the runner to the plate, for an inning-ending 6-4-3-2 double play.
Orange drew first blood with two runs on three singles and Tim Coles’ sacrifice fly in the top of the second, then blanked Red in the home half, Rex, Howard, and Tim turning a 6-4-3 double play after Morgan Witthoft drew a lead-off walk. Orange increased its lead to 6-0 with four runs in the top of the third, on six hits, including doubles by Larry Fiorentino and Rex Horvath. Red got on the board in the bottom half, scoring five runs on six consecutive one-out hits, Rick Kahn and Adam Reddell knocking back-to-back two-baggers between the right and right-center fielders.
That was as close as Red got. Orange scored four times on six hits to the left side in the top of the fourth, Larry Fiorentino smacking another double and Eddie Ortiz also knocking a two-base hit. Red got just one run back in the bottom half, suffering from some bad luck that short-circuited a potential rally. Gil Delossantos led off with a single. “Beltless” Denny Malloy lined a hit to right field and went for a double, but between first and second collided with base umpire Larry Shupe and wound up out on a 10-4-6 relay, Jim Maloy to Howard Spates to Rex Horvath. Boo Resnick followed with a single to right, but was erased on another 6-4-3 double play, the third twin killing started by Rex Horvath in four innings.
Matt Levitt opened the fifth by beating out a grounder to third baseman Adam Reddell. There was some back and forth about the play: Matt beat Adam’s throw to first, but ran to the right of the bags, misunderstanding the B League Commandment Thou Shalt Avoid Contact. Following consultation/disputation among the umpires and managers, Matt was finally allowed to remain at first. (Note: It was Tommy Deleon, not I, who suggested a do-over.) The next batter, Tim Coles, hit a ball to deep left field, Rick Kahn making the catch with his back practically up against the fence; Matt tagged and took second, but was called out for leaving first early. In any case, Orange wound up adding two runs on three two-out singles, Larry Fiorentino driving in a run with his third double of the game. Red in its half got three runs on two singles, a walk, and Adam Reddell’s second double of the game, but Spike Davidson retired Morgan Witthoft and Gil Delossantos on flies to right-center and left-center to strand Adam at second.
Entering the buffet leading 12-9, Orange put the game out of reach, scoring nine times while making only one out, Eddie Ortiz capping the rally with an over-the-fence homerun to left field.
Eddie Ortiz receives from Orange skipper Dave Berra a Pluckers coupon on the occasion of Eddie’s first B League homer.
That made it 21-9, prompting umpire Jack Crosley to call for a flip-flop. Matt Levitt’s star continued to shine bright in the bottom half: Beltless Denny Malloy led off by topping a ball in front of the plate; catcher Matt pounced on the ball and made a strong throw to first that beat Denny by a step, not a play much seen in B League. Boo Resnick and Rip Wright each knocked their second line singles to the right side, turning over the lineup with two out, but Spike Davidson snagged Tim Bruton’s bouncer back to the box and threw to first for the final out. Final score: Orange 21, Red 9
11:30 a.m., Green (0-1) at Maroon (0-1): “The newsman gives information/Everything is under control”
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 5 0 5 0 3 0 13 Maroon 5 2 2 5 5 X 19 Pitchers: Green – David Pittard (first and second innings), Tommy Deleon (third inning on); Maroon – Chunky Wright. Umpires: home plate – Rex Horvath; bases – Howard Spates. Perfect at the plate: Green – no scoresheet, so I'm not certain, but I think Mike Hill and Jack Crosley were perfect; Maroon – Tom Brownfield, Marvin Krabbenhoft, and Joe Roche (each 3 for 3), and James Chavana (3 for 3 with a double). Homerun: Jimmy Sneed (over the fence).
This is what recaps look like when I’m in the game and no one keeps a scorebook for the opposing team. Both teams scored five times in the first, Jack Crosley’s triple the big hit for Green in the top half, Maroon in the bottom half not making an out while picking up six singles and a walk. That set the tone for Maroon, which put up crooked numbers in each of its at bats, as 5-8 hitters James Chavana, Joe Roche, Tom Brownfield, and Marvin Krabbenhoft went a combined 12 for 12.
Green scored five again in the top of the third, back-to-back triples by David Pittard and Jack McDermott the big hits, and then scored three times in the fifth as Mike Hill tripled and David Pittard doubled. That cut Maroon’s lead to 14-13 entering the bottom half, but four singles, a walk, and then (“You didn’t see it coming/Now who you gonna wave to?”) Jimmy Sneed’s screaming line-drive homerun over the fence in left, his second in as many games, gave Maroon a six-run cushion entering the buffet.
Jimmy Sneed socked his second over-the-fence homerun. To quote Guster’s drummer Brian Rosenworcel from later last night: “I am Thunder God, and this is my thunder song.”
Green got a lead-off single to start the buffet, but Chunky Wright kept the next three batters from reaching the green to nail down the victory, Maroon’s first of the season. Final score: Maroon 19, Green 13
12:30 p.m., Blue (1-0) at Gray (no record): “Gonna write you a letter/Gonna write you a book”
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 3 0 2 0 3 0 8 Gray 5 2 5 1 0 X 13 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Gray – Jack Kelly. Umpires: home plate – Chunky Wright; bases – Anthony Galindo. Perfect at the plate: Blue – George Brindley (4 for 4 with a triple); Gray – Tommy Gillis and David Kruse (each 3 for 3 with a double) and Johnny Lee (3 for 3). Homerun: Jeff Fisher (inside the park).
Blue jumped to a quick lead, scoring three runs in the top of the first on back-to-back one-out doubles George Romo and Jeff Fisher (Jeff’s off of Ken Brown’s glove in deep center field, would have been a tremendous catch). A line single off pitcher Jack Kelly by Joe Bernal put runners representing the fourth and fifth runs on the corners, but shortstop David Kruse turned a 6u., 6-3 double play on Dale Fugate’s grounder to the left of second base. Gray proceeded in their first at bat of the season to score five times, their first six batters knocking hits (four singles and doubles by David Kruse and Tommy Gillis. Johnny Lee drove in the fifth run with a single up the right side, a grounder that first baseman Dale Fugate got a piece of; Johnny Lee, running for himself, beat second baseman George Brindley to the bag while Tommy Gillis scored.
Gray turned another double play in the top of the second. Lucky Hoffman led off with a single. Billy Hill squared up on a pitch and lined it hard down the third-base side, but Gary Coyle snagged it and threw to second to double up Lucky. In the bottom half, Joe Bernal got two quick outs, but Ken Brown and David Kruse hit hard grounders that couldn’t be handled for singles, and both scored when Gary Coyle smashed a double.
Blue scored two runs in the third on this sequence: a one-out triple by George Brindley (another ball that sent Ken Brown deep and glanced off his glove); an RBI single to center by David Brown, a double high off the fence in left field by George Romo, David stopping after third after waiting to see if the drive might be caught; and a sacrifice fly to right-center by Jeff Fisher.
Gray got those back and then some in the bottom half, effectively icing the game. Four of the first five batters, Gray’s 5-10 hitters, singled, two scoring and the other three loading the bases for Ken Brown, who decisively unloaded them with a triple to left field that put Gray up 12-5.
Jack Kelly got two quick outs to start the fourth. Jerry Mylius singled and took third on Mike Garrison’s double (a line drive to left field that one-hopped the fence). Terry Thompson grounded a ball to the left of second base that David Kruse ranged for and caught; David’s throw to first was in the dirt, but Johnny Lee made a great scoop to cleanly catch the third out.
Gray scored a run on three singles in the bottom of the fourth.
In the top of the fifth, Jeff Fisher came up with runners on first and second and one out and lined a hit to right field that gapped the outfielders; both runners scored easily; Jeff took a wide turn at third, waited to see what would happen with the relay, then, when it wasn’t handled cleanly, raced home, completing a three-run inside-the-park homerun.
Jeff Fisher drove in five runs in three trips to the plate, the last three on his inside-the-park homer, all without cracking a smile.
Joe Bernal followed with a double and Dale Fugate with a single, Joe advancing to third. Lucky Hoffman grounded to shortstop; Joe made a move toward home, which drew David Kruse away from going for a double play; instead, David ran toward Joe, who advanced to but did not cross the commit line until David got almost to within tagging distance; as soon as Joe crossed the commit line, David tossed to catcher Frank Delmonte for the out. It was a smart play at both ends – Joe for derailing the double play, David for forcing Joe to commit. Jerry Mylius flied out to left for the third out, Gray’s lead at 13-8.
Johnny Lee singled to open the bottom of the fifth, completing a 3-for-3 day at the plate, but Joe Bernal got the next three batters to ground into left-side force out at second.
Jack Kelly got Mike Garrison to fly out to left field to start the buffet. Terry Thompson squared up on a pitch, but Jack snagged the liner for out number two. George Brindley (completing a 4-for-4 performance) and David Brown singled, but George Romo got just under a pitch and flied out to Ken Brown for the final out. Final score: Gray 13, Blue 8
“I want to wake you from your dream”: As if any additional indication was needed as to how aligned Beebe Sports is with the B League aside from myself, Monica Beebe also didn’t know who Guster was before this week. (For a glimpse of Guster’s greatness, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k-VAlIPzKg. They replicated the video live on stage last night as part of their “We Also Have Eras Tour.” There was an appearance as well by someone who may or may not have been legendary record producer Steve Lillywhite. It was all glorious.)
Standings – Session One:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Gray 1 0 1.000 — 13 8 + 5 W1
Purple 1 0 1.000 — 19 15 + 4 W1
Orange 1 1 .500 .5 36 28 + 8 W1
Blue 1 1 .500 .5 21 20 + 1 L1
Maroon 1 1 .500 .5 26 26 0 W1
Red 1 1 .500 .5 38 40 – 2 L1
Green 0 2 .000 1.5 32 48 -16 L2
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Gray 1-0 0-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Purple 0-0 1-0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Orange 0-1 1-0 0 0-0 1-0 0-0
Blue 1-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Maroon 1-0 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Red 0-1 1-0 0 0-0 0-1 0-0
Green 0-1 0-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0
Schedule for Monday March 11:
10:30 a.m.: Red (1-1) at Gray (1-0), Purple umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Purple (1-0) at Blue (1-1), Red umpiring
12:30 a.m.: Orange (1-1) at Green (0-2), Blue umpiring
Maroon has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview (“Don’t look back, don’t look back”): Green is struggling, but the rest of the league is off to a remarkably balanced start, six teams separated by half a game in the standings and a run differential of just seven. Green looks to notch its first win with a home game versus Orange at 12:30. Red at 10:30 versus Gray and Blue at 11:30 versus Purple look to knock off the two remaining undefeated teams. Reminder that Daylight Savings Time comes into effect overnight Saturday into Sunday. Will we be bleary-eyed and late arriving to Monday’s games? Only one thing is certain: Time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Lost and found: These shirts were left behind. Let Scott Wright know if one, the other, or both are yours.
Keggy hopes tomorrow is like today, and leaves you with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0TQVbiWeEs