B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 54 – October 1, 2026
Department of Corrections: I made a point of saying I’d credited Trent Peacock with a single on an odd play Monday, then missed that this meant he was a perfect 2 for 2 at the plate for Blue. The Picayune regrets the error.
Games of Thursday October 1:
With a severe storm front headed our way, C and B League presidents Paul Rubin and George Rubin were closely monitoring the meteorological feeds this morning.
Word came at 7:00 that PARD had cleared us to play in the anticipated brief opening. C League got their games in, start times pushed back half an hour, and B League got under way at 10:30-ish.
10:30 a.m.: Purple (2-5) at Orange (3-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Purple 5 2 5 0 0 0 12 Orange 4 0 3 0 1 0 8 Pitchers: Purple – Ray Pilgrim; Orange – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Red – Purple – George Brindley, Steve Browne, and Daniel Carvajal; Orange – Rich Bredahl, Anthony Galindo, Doc Hobar, Trent Peacock, George Romo, and Luis Sanchez. Umpires: home – Scott Wright; bases – Ken Brown and David Pittard. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Steve Browne (3 for 3 with a double), Shane Hill (3 for 3 with a triple), and Rick Jensen (2 for 2 with a walk).
A tale of runners left on base: Orange stranded 11 over six innings, while Purple scored five times in two of its first three at bats and only left five runners on base in its other three.
Purple jumped off to a quick lead, scoring five runs without making an out in the top of the first on five singles, Peter Sundquist’s walk, and Patrick Schmidt’s two-run double.
Orange got four back in the bottom of the first, five consecutive batters reaching base after Tommy Deleon grounded out to third baseman Rick Jensen to start the inning: Jack Spellman singled, Matt Levitt walked, and Orange’s latest addition, David Schneider, singled in Spellman; Doc Hobar and Anthony Galindo followed with back-to-back doubles, three more runs scoring. Ray Pilgrim got both George Romo and Trent Peacock to ground out to end the inning, Anthony stranded at second.
Know Your B-Leaguers:
David Schneider and Rich Brendahl are new additions to the league. David has been assigned to Orange and made his debut with the team today, knocking a run-scoring single in his first at bat. Rich was first out of the bucket and will be permanently assigned soon.
Purple added two runs on four consecutive one-out singles in the top of the second, then blanked Orange in the bottom half, Ray Pilgrim working around Tommy Deleon’s two-out single.
Purple then put the game out of reach with another five-run outburst in the top of the third. Shane Hill led off with a triple to right-center, and six of the next seven batters hit safely, five singles and an RBI double by Steve Browne. With four runs in and the bases loaded, Mike Malay hit a two-hopper to shortstop Jack Spellman’s backhand; I fielded the ball cleanly, should have just thrown home for the force there, but Steve Browne ran up and within reach of my tag, and I got too cute by half – I tagged Steve, then hurried a throw home, but too late to get George Brindley, who scored the fifth run. There’s a moral to the story, but I’ll just quote Sun Tzu: “Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
Orange got three runs back in the bottom half of the third. Matt Levitt led off with a single and scored from first on Doc Hobar’s well-struck one-out double that gapped the outfielders in left-center. Anthony Galindo flied out to left field, Patrick Schmidt making a good catch. Mercenaries George Romo, Trent Peacock, and Luis Sanchez followed with clutch singles to get two more runs across.
That got Orange to within five runs, and Tommy Deleon shut out Purple over the next three innings, but Orange was unable to generate enough offense to mount a serious comeback.
Fourth inning: Purple loaded the bases with one out on two singles and a walk to Rick Jensen, but Tommy got Patrick Schmidt to ground into an inning-ending 6u., 6-3 double play, close play at first. Tommy singled and Jack Spellman walked to start the bottom half, but Ray Pilgrim retired the next three batters, getting Matt Levitt to hit a two-strike foul, David Schneider to line out to right-center (a great diving catch by Rick Kahn, best defensive play of the day), and Doc Hobar to ground into a 5-4 force, Rick Jensen to Mike Malay.
Fifth inning: Tommy Deleon retired the side in order in the top half – Ray Pilgrim on a fly to David Schneider in left field, Billy Hill on a 5-3 ground out to George Romo, and George Brindley on a liner to second baseman Doc Hobar. Orange loaded the bases to start the bottom half, on singles by Anthony Galindo, George Romo, and Trent Peacock. Luis Sanchez squared up on a pitch, but second baseman Mike Malay made a good play to snag his low liner for the first out. Rich Brendahl grounded back to the box, Ray Pilgrim knocking the ball down and throwing to third to put out George for the second out. A single by Tommy Deleon re-loaded the bases, but Jack Spellman grounded to shortstop George Brindley, who tossed to Mike covering second for the inning-ending out, Orange leaving three runners stranded.
Buffet: Steve Browne opened the frame with a grounder to the 5-6 hole; Jack Spellman made the play to his backhand and came up throwing, but Luis Sanchez couldn’t handle the short-hopped throw and Steve was safe with a single, completing a 3-for-3 game. No matter, as Tommy Deleon retired the next three batters – Daniel Carvajal and Mike Malay on force-out grounders, and Peter Sundquist on a fouled two-strike pitch. Orange came up needing four to tie, should have been do-able, but proved not to be. Matt Levitt beat out an infield single to start the inning, but was forced at second on David Schneider’s grounder to third baseman Rick Jensen. Doc Hobar singled. Anthony Galindo also grounded to Rick, for another 5-4 putout. George Brindley drove a pitch to left-center, right at Peter Sundquist, who made the catch for the final out.
Final score: Purple 12, Orange 8
11:00 a.m.: Maroon (6-2) at Blue (4-4):
1 2 3 Maroon 2 5 5 Blue 0 4 Pitchers: Maroon – David Pittard; Blue – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Maroon – Larry Fiorentino and Trent Peacock; Blue – Rich Brendahl, Ray Pilgrim, Patrick Schmidt, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Tommy Deleon; bases – Matt Levitt. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Ken Brown and Larry Fiorentino (both 2 for 2 with a triple), Steve Browne and David Pittard (both 2 for 2 with a double), Dale Fugate (1 for 1 with a walk), and Scott Wright (2 for 2); Blue – Rich Brendahl (1 for 1 with a triple), George Romo (2 for 2), and Ray Pilgrim, Patrick Schmidt, Jack Spellman, and Larry Young (all 1 for 1).
Ray Pilgrim got two quick outs to start the game, retiring Tony Garcia on a high pop to short right field (Jack Spellman made a pretty good catch going back, making him about 1 for 20 on such plays for the season) and George Brindley on a grounder to shortstop George Romo. Maroon then got two runs, as Steve Browne singled, Ken Brown tripled him home, and Scott Wright singled in Ken.
David Pittard worked a quick bottom of the first. George Romo singled leading off, but was erased on a 4-6-3 double play on Lawrence Page’s grounder to Scott Wright, Tony Garcia making a nice pivot, Lawrence out on a bang-bang play at first. Donnie Janac then popped out to Tony.
Maroon increased its lead with a five-run outburst in the top of the second, on six singles and a double by hot-hitting Steve Browne, 5 for 5 on the day today, with a pair of two-baggers. His hit in the second set up Ken Brown’s two-run single that brought in the fourth and fifth runs.
Blue just about matched that with a two-out rally in the bottom half. Larry Young singled leading off. Daniel Baladez flied out to Larry Fiorentino in right-center, and Larry Shupe hit a two-strike foul. The next five batters hit safely: Ray Pilgrim, Jack Spellman, and Patrick Schmidt singled, Larry (or maybe a pinch-runner, I can’t recall) coming around to score; with the bases loaded, Rich Brendahl ripped his first B League hit, a bases-clearing triple; and George Romo followed with his second hit of the game, which would have scored Rich, except Rich hadn’t received the memo about running to the home line, not to the mat, and was called out for stepping on home. (So many rules for the new guys to internalize.)
Maroon came up in the third with storm clouds rolling in from the west and put up another five-spot. Scott Wright and Alan Phillips led off with singles, and David Pittard followed with an RBI double. Dale Fugate drew a walk to load the bases, and Larry Fiorentino cleared them with a triple to left-center field that gapped the outfielders and rolled to the fence. (Larry probably could have coasted in with a home run, but got mixed signals from his teammates as he reached third.) Trent Peacock grounded out 4-3, Larry holding at third. Tony Garcia then tripled in Larry with the fifth run.
At that point, it started to rain, there might have been a lightning flash, and weather interns Liz and Eva were on the horn from ASSL Meteorological HQ, telling us to call it a day, which we did. Paul and George were understandably bummed out, but it was a good call to send everyone home – within minutes, it was raining very heavily.
Noon: Gray (5-2) at Green (2-5):
Game cancelled. Stay dry and safe, everyone!
Session 4 standings:
| Session 4 standings: | Games | Runs | Runs | Run dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Maroon | 6 | 2 | .750 | 0 | 113 | 84 | 29 | L1 |
| Gray | 5 | 2 | .714 | 0.5 | 112 | 91 | 21 | W2 |
| Blue | 4 | 4 | .500 | 2 | 92 | 80 | 12 | W1 |
| Red | 4 | 4 | .500 | 2 | 109 | 114 | -5 | W1 |
| Purple | 3 | 5 | .375 | 3 | 106 | 113 | -7 | W1 |
| Orange | 3 | 5 | .375 | 3 | 59 | 100 | -41 | L1 |
| Green | 2 | 5 | .286 | 3.5 | 85 | 94 | -9 | L2 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | Last 5 | ||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | games: | ||
| Maroon | 3-2 | 3-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0-0 | WWLWL | |
| Gray | 3-0 | 2-2 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 2-1 | LWLWW | |
| Blue | 4-1 | 0-3 | 2 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 2-1 | LLWLW | |
| Red | 2-1 | 2-3 | 1 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 1-2 | WLLLW | |
| Purple | 0-4 | 3-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-1 | LWWLW | |
| Orange | 2-2 | 1-3 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 1-0 | LLWWL | |
| Green | 2-1 | 0-4 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-2 | LWWLL | |
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 4 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 29 | |
| Gray | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 19 | |
| Green | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 23 | |
| Maroon | 3 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 30 | |
| Orange | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 21 | |
| Purple | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 17 | |
| Red | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 20 | |
| TOTAL: | 17 | 25 | 23 | 15 | 24 | 30 | 25 | 159 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 10
Ralph Villela – 9
Steve Browne – 6
Trent Peacock – 5
Tony Garcia – 4
Mike Garrison – 4
David Brown – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Jack McDermott – 3
Alan Phillips – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Scott Wright – 3
Richard Battle – 2
George Brindley – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Tommy Gillis – 2
Rick Kahn – 2
Bobby Miller – 2
Scott Rokita – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
Ivan Budiselic – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Jim Foelker – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Mike Malay – 1
David Pittard – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Patrick Schmidt – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Ralph Villela – May 26
Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 8 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16, June 22, June 25, June 29, July 9)
Ray Pilgrim: 8 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1, July 2, July 9, August 17, August 27)
Spike Davidson: 6 (May 4, July 2, July 20, August 6, August 20, September 17)
Tommy Deleon: 6 (April 6, April 30, June 11, July 6, July 30, September 24)
Jeff Stone: 3 (March 2, July 9, September 8)
Trent Peacock: 2 (March 9, August 3)
Luis Sanchez: 2 (September 8, September 28)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Jack Kelly: 1 (August 3)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Schedule for Monday October 5:
10:30 a.m.: Green (2-5) at Purple (3-5), Red umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (4-4) at Gray (5-2), Purple umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Orange (3-5) at Maroon (6-2), Gray umpiring
Blue has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Reminder that Monday we return to start times of 10:30, 11:30, and 12:30, and discontinue the Extreme Hot Weather Rule of drawing up to 12 players.
Preview: With any luck, Krieg 6 will be sufficiently dried out for us to play on Monday. Purple moved out of last place for the session with its win today, and will try to maintain that momentum at 10:30 versus Green, currently in last and looking to escape. Green leads the season series 5-2. At 11:30, Red looks to extend its one-game winning streak and take down second-place Gray, which has won its last two. Red leads the season series 5-2. At 12:30, one of Orange or Maroon will end its one-game losing streak; Orange leads the season series 4-3 and is looking to knock Maroon out of first place. Monday is World Teachers’ Day, but also National Get Funky Day; the latter seems somewhat at cross purposes with the former. Will our funkiness result in a teachable moment? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Jack and Lisa McDermott were on vacation this week. Jack went fishing.
Podcast review: The Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul Insider Podcasts
I’ve reviewed every podcast I’m currently subscribed to that is still active, so I’ll move on to podcasts that are now inactive but perhaps of interest. The Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul Insider Podcasts were companion podcasts to the two great TV series. Both were started and initially hosted by Kelley Dixon, principal editor of Breaking Bad; fellow editor Chris McCaleb took over the Saul podcast. The podcasts explored the writing and production of the series, with interesting conversations with the creators and actors, and form a continuous behind-the-scenes project spanning 2009–2022. Show creaters Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould show up regularly to explain their creative choices, and are thoughtful and consistently funny. If you’re a fan of either or both shows, the podcasts are a great companion to a rewatch. New England content: None to speak of, it’s all New Mexico. Canadian content: Ditto (Walt should have vamoosed to the Great White North, but did not). Listening speed: 1X.
Rating: 