B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 5, Issue 22 – May 25, 2023
Games were delayed by an hour to give PARD time to prep Krieg field 2. (They did a pretty good job of it, I think.)
Weather: Not uncomfortably hot, 72 degrees when we began play at 11:30, partly cloudy with 85% humidity. It stayed humid and cloudy throughout the day’s games.
Injured list:
Blue team: Stan Fisher – Dupuytren’s contracture
Gold team: Jeff Stone – broken left pinky finger
Gray team: David Kruse – sprained ankle
Maroon team: Rex Horvath – sciatica (unconfirmed); Chris Villareal – hamstring
Games of Thursday May 25:
11:30 a.m., Red (7-5) at Maroon (9-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Red 2 2 1 1 0 1 7 Maroon 0 1 4 4 4 X 13 Pitchers: Red – Jack Kelly; Maroon – Tom Kelm. Umpires: home plate – Jack Spellman and Joe Roche; bases – Dave Berra and Mike Garrison; scoreboard – Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Red – Paul Rubin (4 for 4); Maroon – Johnny Lee (3 for 3) and Peter Sundquist (4 for 4 with a double).
Red opened the game with two runs in each of its first two at bats, knocking nine singles, but also leaving the bases loaded in the first and two runners stranded in the second, and turned double plays in each of the first two home halves. Peter Sundquist led off the bottom of the first with a single, then was forced out at second on Scott Wright’s grounder to first baseman Hal Darman. Peter Atkins flied out fairly deep to Terry Thompson in left-center; Scott tagged up and tried for second, but was out on a fine 8-6-4 relay, Terry to shortstop George Brindley to second baseman Daniel Baladez.
Mike Velaney led off the bottom of the second with a single. Ken Brown grounded a ball up the middle, a bit left of second base; George Brindley fielded it, beat Mike to second for the force there, then threw to first, but Ken just beat the throw. Ken took third on Johnny Lee’s single to right and scored on Dave Jaffe’s base hit. With runners at the corners, Jack Kelly got out of the inning by getting Tom Kelm to ground to shortstop; George Brindley threw to second for the force on Dave, and Tom was called out because he had a runner from home but crossed the commit. (I scored it a 6-4-3 double play.)
Red increased its lead to 5-1 with a run in the top of the third, on singles by Donald Drummer, Daniel Baladez, and, after Scott Sovereen grounded to third base, Peter Atkins tagging the bag to force out Donald, Sam Baker. Scott Wright started a 6-4-3 double play, nice pivot by Mike Velaney, on Hal Darman’s grounder to end the inning.
Maroon finally began to hit in the bottom of the third, and put up three consecutive four-run innings, on six singles in the third, five singles in the fourth, and four singles and Peter Sundquist’s double in the fifth. That double capped a 4-for-4 game by Peter, who also made me think of Enos Slaughter in the 1946 World Series when he scored from first in the fourth inning on Scott Wright’s single to right. (Sorry, Red Sox fans, I know it’s too soon to revisit that wound.) Scott wound up driving in four runs, two each on his singles in the fourth and fifth.
Meanwhile, Red managed just a single run in the fourth and was shut out in the fifth. Gene Nelson led off the fourth with a triple to right field, held there when Jack Kelly grounded out 1-6-3, and scored on Terry Thompson’s single. An infield hit by Paul Rubin put runners on first and second. George Brindley hit a fly to Dave Jaffe in right-center; Terry tagged and tried for third, but was out 9-6-5, Dave to Scott Wright to Peter Atkins. (There was a lot of good outfield play today.) Ken Mockler and Donald Drummer led off the fifth with singles, but Tom Kelm got two force outs and a foul third strike to escape the jam.
Entering the buffet, Red was down 13-6. Hal Darman and Gene Nelson led off with singles, putting runners on the corners. Jack Kelly grounded to second baseman Mike Velaney, who got the force at second, Hal (or his pinch-runner, I don’t recall) scoring. Terry Thompson popped a ball behind third base, and Peter Atkins made a fine catch for the second out – that’s a difficult play, a pop straight behind the fielder that he has to backpedal to get to. George Brindley lined a ball to right-center that Dave Jaffe caught for the final out. Final score: Maroon 13, Red 7, Maroon extending its winning streak to six games.
12:30 a.m., Purple (3.5 – 8.5) at Gold (7-4):
1 2 3 4 5 6 BUFFET FINAL Purple 0 0 0 2 1 0 9 12 Gold 0 3 0 0 3 2 5 13 Pitchers: Purple – Tommy Deleon; Gold – Joe Roche. Mercenaries: Purple – Anthony Galindo, Donnie Janac, and Eddy Murillo; Gold – George Brindley and Peter Sundquist. Umpires: home plate – Scott Wright; bases – Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Anthony Galindo (4 for 4); Gold – George Brindley (2 for 2 with a walk and a triple) and Larry Young (4 for 4).
This was an insanely low-scoring game in the early going, the more so when you consider the lineups and mercenaries, yet somehow just 3-3 through the top of the fifth. A highlight, or maybe it was a low-light, came when Gold started the top of the second with just three outfielders, as George Brindley was finishing what was reported to be a turkey sandwich (mmm, Boar’s Head) and didn’t make it out to left-center until after Mike Mordecai’s lead-off single. Purple didn’t get its first runs until the fourth, when singles by Don Solberg (almost robbed by Peter Sundquist in right field, but he couldn’t hold on to the sinking line drive), Tommy Deleon (with two out, a base hit that got past Peter, allowing Don to score from first, but Tommy’s pinch-runner had to hold at first), and Larry Bunton (Tommy’s pinch-runner – Jim Aaron, maybe? – scored from first – ’46, Slaughter, sorry Red Sox fans).
Gold had scored three times in the second, on four singles and Rip Wright’s walk, after being blanked in the first (Jack Spellman hit into a rally-killing 1-6-3 double play), and then was shut out in both the third (retired in order on a pop to shortstop Jim Aaron and flies to left fielder Donnie Janac) and fourth (fly to Anthony Galindo in left-center; Larry Young hit an infield single, but was out trying for second on the overthrow of first; another pop to Jim Aaron).
Purple tied the game with a run in the top of the fifth, on Eddy Murillo’s RBI double, but Gold reclaimed the lead with three runs in the bottom half, when George Brindley walked with one out and Gold got two-out singles by Jack Spellman, Mike Garrison (first run scoring), and Joe Roche (second run scoring – half-assing it, I barely beat the throw home from first baseman Larry Bunton), and then a double by James Chavana (third run scoring).
Purple loaded the bases on three singles in the top of the sixth, by Don Solberg, Jim Aaron, and Tommy Deleon, but Joe Roche got Larry Bunton on an infield fly to shortstop Tim Bruton and Billy Hill on a grounder back to the box. Gold extended its lead to 8-3 with two runs in the bottom half. With two out, George Brindley tripled, scoring Peter Sundquist (on first after grounding into a force), and then himself scoring on Tim Bruton’s base hit.
The buffet inning was insane, both teams practically unable to make an out aftere spending the first six innings making not much besides outs. Purple sent 14 batters to the plate and wound up scoring nine runs on eight singles, two walks, and Doc Hobar’s triple. Anthony Galindo and Donnie Janac each had two hits in the inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Larry Bunton hit a grounder back to pitcher Joe Roche; rather than get the sure out at home, Joe threw to second, but it sailed past shortstop Tim Bruton, who said later he was so intent on throwing to first that he took his eye off the ball. Everyone was safe, six runs were in, and Purple had the lead. They added three more before finally running out of outs.
That left Gold needing four to tie and five to win. Gold’s first five batters in the bottom of the buffet singled: Joe Roche to right field; James Chavana and Rip Wright to left field, loading the bases; Larry Young with a squib to the pitcher, one run scoring; and Joe Dayoc to left field, another run scoring. Peter Sundquist then delivered the coup de grace, a bases-clearing walk-off three-run double. Final score: Gold 13, Purple 12, Gold recording its fourth walk-off victory of the session.
1:30 p.m., Green (5-7) at Gray (5-7):
1 2 3 4 5 6 BUFFET FINAL Green 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 4 Gray 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 5 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright; Gray – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Green – Don Solberg; Gray – Tim Bruton, Tom Kelm, Jack Spellman, and Peter Sundquist. Umpires: home plate – Dave Berra; bases – Mike Garrison.
Apologies up front: I played in this game, so I only have a scoresheet for Gray. It was another pitchers duel, scoreless through three (I can’t recall another B League game in which neither team scored over the first three innings), a barn-burner that came down to the final batter. Mick Parker led off the game with a single, but was erased when Mike Hill converted Greg Lloyd’s grounder to third into a 6-4-3 double play, Clint Fletcher on the pivot. Rick Jensen singled with two out, but did not advance. In the bottom of the second, Tim Bruton singled with two out, but did not advnce. In the bottom of the third, Mick Parker singled with two out, but did not advance.
Green was getting more hits – two hits in the each of the first and second innings – but not scoring. (In the second inning I took a hit away from Don Solberg with a diving play to my right; that was a pretty good play, but the really good play was by first baseman Tom Brownfield, who caught the terrible short-hopped throw I made from my ass, holding on for the out as Don was bearing down on him.) Green finally broke through with a run on three hits to start the fourth, but the rally was snuffed by an infield fly (on a ball that fell untouched behind the mound) and a 6-4-3 double play started by Tim Bruton. Gray tied the game with its first run in the bottom half: Tom Brownfield doubled to right-center with one out, took third on Rick Kahn’s fly to right-center, and scored on Trey Wall’s clutch single to right field.
Green took the lead with three runs on a bunch of hits in the top of the fifth. Third baseman Rick Jensen turned an unassisted double play with the bases loaded to prevent further damage, fielding a grounder up the line, tagging third for the force there, and then running down and tagging out the runner (Chunky Wright, maybe?) who’d started the play at third before he could reach the commit-to-home line. (Sorry I’m so light on details.) Gray got one run back in the home half: Peter Sundquist led off with a double and scored on Jack Spellman’s single. Chunky Wright retired the next three batters, and Green still led, 4-2.
Neither team scored in the sixth inning, Gray going out 1-2-3 on balls in the air (pop to first, fly to left, fly to right-center).
In the top of the buffet, Green got a lead-off single. Clint Fletcher hit a sharp grounder to shortstop Tim Bruton, who made a good play to his right and then an excellent feed to second for the force there; I threw to first, but Clint beat the play. Gary Coyle singled to center, and Clint tried for third, but Rick Kahn came up throwing and delivered an on-the-fly missile strike to third baseman Rick Jensen that beat Clint by a full step and a half – it was the defensive play of the day, and may have been the best outfield throw of the season to date. It kept Green from increasing its lead – the next batter made the third out – and left Gray chasing two to tie, three to win in the bottom half.
Trey Wall led off the inning with a double to right field. Tim Bruton, Peter Sundquist, and Jack Spellman each followed with singles, Trey and Tim scoring to tie the game. Tom Kelm popped out to second baseman Boo Resnick for the first out. Mick Parker then came up and knocked a hit to left-center, in between Donnie Janac and Jeff Fisher, who crossed paths, avoiding a collision but unable to cut the ball off, not that either one of them would have had much chance of gunning down speedy Peter Sundquist, who raced home from second with the winning run. Final score: Gray 5, Green 4
Standings – Session Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Maroon 10 3 .769 — 150 122 +28 W6
Gold 8 4 .667 1.5 143 124 +19 W2
Red 7 6 .538 3 147 154 – 7 L1
Gray 6 7 .462 4 152 134 +18 W1
Blue 5.5 7.5 .423 4.5 152 162 -10 L2
Green 5 8 .385 5 133 155 -22 L2
Purple 3.5 9.5 .269 6.5 134 160 -26 L4
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 5-2 1 0-0 2-1 3-1
Gold 5-2 3-2 4 2-0 2-0 5-2
Red 4-2 3-4 1 0-0 2-2 1-1
Gray 3-3 3-4 2 0-2 2-2 2-3
Blue 1.5-5.5 4-2 0 1.5-0.5 2-2 0-1
Green 2-4 3-4 1 0-1 2-3 1-1
Purple 2-5 1.5-4.5 0 0.5-0.5 0-2 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 1 X 2 3 1 1 1 9
Gray 2 1 X 2 1 0 2 8
Green 1 0 1 X 0 3 3 8
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: 8.5 7 9 10 5 11.5 9 60
No games on Monday May 29 – Memorial Day.
Schedule for Thursday June 1:
10:30 a.m.: Gold (8-4) at Blue (5.5 – 7.5), Maroon umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Maroon (10-3) at Green (5-8), Blue umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Gray (6-7) at Purple (3.5 – 9.5), Green umpiring
Red has the bye – players from that team will have priority out of the bucket.
Preview: We enter June with four dates left on the Session Two schedule, and Maroon almost ready to clinch the session title – a win against Green at 11:30, combined with Blue defeting second-place Gold at 10:30, should just about do it. Red, in third place and idle, has to be rooting for Green. Purple has the worst record for the session, but has yet to lose to Gray this season. Can they keep that record going? Only one thing is certain: time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Being a terrible pretend photojournalist, I failed to take any pictures today. Here are two pictures of an adorable African sand cat that resides at the Kansas City Zoo.
