B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 49 – October 3, 2024
Games were moved to Krieg field 2 due to a water leak at field 2 that soaked the area around third base.
Games of Thursday October 3:
10:30 a.m., Green (3-4) at Red (3-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 3 0 3 5 5 3 19 Red 2 0 5 0 4 1 12 Pitchers: Green – Tommy Deleon; Red – Eddy Murillo. Mercenaries: Green – George Brindley; Red – Jim Maloy, Mike Mordecai, and Scott Wright. Umpires: home – Rick Jensen and Tom Kelm; bases – Dave Berra and Mike Velaney. Perfect at the plate: Green – George Brindley, Tommy Deleon, and Jack McDermott (all 4 for 4), Mike Garrison (4 for 4 with a triple), and Ralph Villela (4 for 4 with two doubles); Red – Tim Bruton (5 for 5 with two doubles).
Jack Spellman’s weather report: 81 degrees (Heat Index 83), 59% humidity, bright sun, no clouds, but the sun is behind the fielders at field 3, posing no difficulties.
Close game through three. Green won the first inning, scoring three times on a game-opening double by Ralph Villela, three singles, and Jack Crosley’s sacrifice fly to right-center in the top half, then holding Red to two runs on four singles in the home half. Tim Bruton led off with a single, took second on Mike Malay’s hit, and scored on Eddy Murillo’s knock up the middle, though a strong relay home by shortstop Ralph Villela almost beat him.
Neither team scored in the second. In the top half, Eddy Murillo, who I’m not sure ever actually reads these recaps because he claims to never be mentioned in the Picayune (this is mention number two), retired the first two batters, then allowed a single to George Brindley. Ralph Villela then hit a pop-fly double a little ways behind first base that spun into foul territory – I thought George might try for home, but he elected to hold at third, and wound up stranded, as Eddy (third mention) got Mike Hill to pop out to shortstop Tim Bruton. Similarly, Tommy Deleon retired Red’s first two hitters in the bottom half, allowed singles to Scott Wright and Tim Bruton, then escaped the jam when he got Mike Malay to ground a ball to the 5-6 hole – Ralph Villela made a nice play to his right and threw to third for the force.
Green scored three times in the top of the third on four singles and Jack Crosley’s second sacrifice fly. Red shortstop Tim Bruton made a fine play on Daniel Baladez’s grounder deep into the 5-6 hole, then making a strong cross-body throw to second for the inning-ending out.
Red grabbed the lead with five runs in the bottom of the third, all scored after two were out, on five singles, Donald Drummer’s walk, and Mike Malay’s drive over the left fielder’s head to drive in the fifth run from third – technically a single, but in my mind an extra-base hit.
Red led 7-6 at the halfway mark, but Green dominated the final three innings, scoring five, five, and three while holding Red to zero, four and one.
Green got five on six hits without making an out in the top of the fourth, with extra-base hits by George Brindley (lead-off double) and Mike Garrison (two-run triple to deep left field), Mike scoring the fifth run on the third of Tommy Deleon’s four perfectly placed singles to right field. Tommy then worked a scoreless bottom half, getting Denny Malloy and Hal Darman on fly balls to left-center and left after giving up a one-out single to Eddy Murillo (fourth mention).
Green kept hitting in the fifth, pushing across five more runs on eight singles while making only one out. Red got four back in the home half, as five of its first six batters hit safely, five singles and a double by Tim Bruton, his second of the game. Morgan Witthoft popped a ball to short left field, but Ralph Villela ran it down for the second out. Eddy Murillo (fifth mention) singled, putting runners on the corners for Denny Malloy, but Ralph made another nice play, grabbing Denny’s liner to his left for the third out.
Entering the buffet, Green led 16-11. They added three more runs on four singles, but Red escaped the inning thanks to a fine 9-4-6 relay, Denny Malloy to Scott Wright (I think) to Tim Bruton on George Brindley trying to stretch his fourth single of the game into a double.
That left Red chasing eight runs. Hal Darman and Donald Drummer started the inning with infield singles, but Tommy Deleon got Jim Maloy to pop out to second baseman Mike Hill and Mike Mordecai to ground into a 6-5 force. Scott Wright drove in Donald with a single up the middle, and Tim Bruton followed with his fifth hit in as many at bats, an opposite-field single, but the game ended with Mike Malay grounding out to Mike Hill. Final score: Green 19, Red 12
Mike Malay’s delightful grandson T-Bone took part in the post-game handshake line. Photo credit: Daniel Baladez.
11:30 a.m., Purple (2-4) at Maroon (4-3):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 5 1 1 2 1 10 Maroon 2 3 0 2 0 7 Pitchers: Purple – Tom Kelm (1 through the first batter of the buffet) and Eddy Murillo; Maroon – Chunky Wright. Mercenaries: Purple – Tim Bruton, Tommy Gillis, and Eddy Murillo; Maroon – Hal Darman, Donnie Janac, Mike Malay, Jack McDermott, and Phil Stanch. Umpires: home – Donald Drummer; bases – Denny Malloy. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Tom Kelm (1 for 1 with two walks); Maroon – Marvin Krabbenhoft (2 for 2 with two walks) and Chunky Wright (3 for 3 with a walk).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 88 degrees (Heat Index 90), humidity 46%, wind SE 2 MPH, SUNNY!
Purple scored five times in the top of the first on seven singles and several missed defensive opportunities (bobbles and almost-but-not-quite catches) by Maroon, and wound up leading pillar to post. Maroon looked poised to tie the game in the bottom half: its first five batters reached base and two scored, on three singles and two walks, with the bases loaded and no out, but Tom Kelm got Jack McDermott to hit a groundball to the 5-6 hole that Rick Jensen turned into a smart 6-5-2 double play, Rick to Eddy Murillo (sixth mention) to Rip Wright, effectively killing the rally.
Eddy Murillo (seventh mention) then opened the second with a double to left field, his pinch-runner advancing on Jim Foelker’s single and scoring on Clint Fletcher’s ground ball out. Maroon took advantage of a bout of wildness by Tom Kelm in the bottom of the inning, drawing four consecutive two-out walks to push across three runs.
Tom and Purple somewhat returned the favor in the top of the third, Tom and Rick Jensen drawing lead-off walks from Chunky Wright. A single by Rip Wright and a force-out grounder brought Tom’s pinch-runner around to score.
Maroon loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the third on singles by mercenaries Mike Malay, Phil Stanch, and Hal Darman. Eddy Murillo (eighth mention) got Scott Wright to hit an infield fly to shortstop Rick Jensen. Jack Spellman then hit a sinking line drive to right field that the base umpire ruled Tim Bruton caught on the fly.
Quote of the Day: Tim Bruton: “I think I caught it.”
Both teams scored two times in the fourth inning. Jim Foelker led off the top half with a single. Clint Fletcher drove a ball to deep left field that Donnie Janac made a fantastic catch of, moving back and to his left and at the last moment raising his mitt, the ball sticking to the pocket – the best catch of the day, one of the best of the 2024 season. Daniel Carvajal also flied out to Donnie, a relatively routine play, but walks drawn by Mark Hernandez and Tom Kelm loaded the bases for Rick Jensen, who delivered a clean single to right field to drive in Jim and (I think) Mark’s pinch-runner. Maroon got those runs back on four singles and Jack McDermott’s hard-hit double to right field, but for the third consecutive inning left the bases loaded.
Purple led by two entering buffet and added one, as Tommy Gillis led off with a single, took second on Tim Bruton’s fly to right field (good catch by Alvin Gauna), and scored on a single by Eddy Murillo (ninth mention).
Scott Wright led off the home half with a gutsy walk – he took a first-pitch strike, then laid off three pitches that narrowly missed the mat. Acting Purple manager Rick Jensen made a pitching change and scrambled his interior defense, moving Eddy Murillo (tenth mention) from third base to pitcher, Tom Kelm from pitcher to second base, Rip Wright from second base to catcher, and Mark Hernandez from catcher to first base. (There’s about a 10% chance I got this right.) Eddy (11th mention) got Jack Spellman to ground a ball to the right side – Tom Kelm knocked it down and threw to Rick at second, and the base umpire ruled that the throw did not pull Rick off the bag. Alvin Gauna popped out to Rick. Chunky Wright singled up the midde, completing a perfect day at the plate, Spellman stopping at second. Marvin Krabbenhoft also singled up the middle, also completing a perfect day, but the game ended with Spellman making a boneheaded running mistake: I took too wide a turn at third, even though my run was meaningless, and was caught in no-man’s-land when Tommy Gillis relayed quickly to Rick. I couldn’t get back to third, so I started for home, stopping before the commit line. Rick wasn’t fooled and started running toward me. I had no option but to try for home, and was beaten easily by Rick’s strong throw to Rip Wright, for the final out. Final score: Purple 10, Maroon 7
12:30 p.m., Orange (3-4) at Gray (3-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 0 5 0 0 0 3 8 Gray 3 3 2 2 0 X 10 Pitchers: Orange – Spike Davidson; Gray – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Orange – Daniel Baladez, George Brindley, and Phil Stanch; Gray – Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Scott Wright; bases – Chunky Wright. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Gary Kubenka and Phil Stanch (both 3 for 3); Gray – Gary Coyle (2 for 2 with a walk) and Donnie Janac and Mike Mordecai (both 3 for 3).
Well-played game, the difference coming down to Gray’s defensive play, as the home team turned double plays in three consecutive scoreless innings, the third through the fifth.
Jack Kelly worked a scoreless top of the first, allowing a lead-off single to Fritz Hensel and two-out, bases-loading singles to Gary Kubenka and Spike Davidson before getting Jim Maloy to fly out to Tommy Gillis in left-center. Gray then scored three in the home half, the first three batters reaching on singles (by Donnie Janac and Tommy Gillis to open the inning) and a walk (Gary Coyle), all of them scoring – Donnie and Tommy on Johnny Lee’s line single to center, Gary on Jack Kelly’s force-out grounder.
Orange erupted for five runs in the second, on six consecutive hits, Larry Fiorentino driving in the third and fourth runs with a double to center field and scoring the fifth on Peter Atkins’ single up the middle. Gray reclaimed the lead with three runs in the home half, all scored with two out, the first two on Tommy Gillis’s triple to deep left field, Tommy then scoring on Gary Coyle’s base hit.
Double plays took Orange out of its next three innings. Gary Kubenka led off the third with a single, but after Spike Davidson’s pop out to shortstop, second baseman Mark Dolan made a terrific play on Jim Maloy’s grounder to his left and then a perfect feed to shortstop for a 4-6-3 double play. Gray scored two runs on five singles in the bottom half.
In the fourth, singles by Larry Shupe and Phil Stanch put runners on first and second with one out, but this time Ivan Budiselic, who’d rotated to second base, was the one who made a good play, on Daniel Baladez’s hard grounder to his right, also feeding perfectly to shortstop for another 4-6-3 twin killing. Gray then scored two more runs on four singles. Spike Davidson got out of the inning thanks to a really good play by first baseman Gary Kubenka, who reached and grabbed Jack Kelly’s hard grounder to his backhand, then threw to second for the force.
Orange trailed 10-5 entering the final five-run inning. Larry Fiorentino hit his second double of the game, to right field, with one out. Peter Atkins flied out to right field, Donnie Janac ranging over to make the catch. Larry tagged up on the play, but was beaten to third base on a quick series of relays from Donnie to Mark Dolan to Jack Spellman to Gary Coyle, for an F-9, 9-4-6-5 double play, like you practice in spring training.
Gray didn’t score in the home half, so Orange was still chasing five entering the buffet. Their bats finally came alive, five of the first six batters knocking singles, two runs scoring, as the team ran the bases cautiously. Gary Kubenka hit the first single and Phil Stanch the fifth, both completing perfect days at the plate. The bases were loaded with one out, the tying run at first. Daniel Baladez grounded to shortstop Jack Spellman, not hard enough to be a double-play opportunity; Spellman threw for the force at second; Mark Dolan bobbled the ball, but recovered and had control of it before Phil reached the base, for the second out. Fritz Hensel then scorched a grounder to the right of second base, to Mark’s left, and Mark made a terrific play on it, fielding it cleanly and easily beating Daniel’s pinch-runner to the base for the final out. (Not realizing it was the final out, Mark threw to first, and sailed the ball into the visitors dugout, but this amounted to just returning the ball to the bucket.) Final score: Gray 10, Orange 8
Standings – Session Four:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Blue 6 1 .857 — 93 68 +25 W5
Green 4 4 .500 2.5 114 103 +11 W2
Maroon 4 4 .500 2.5 102 94 + 8 L4
Gray 4 4 .500 2.5 114 114 0 W1
Purple 3 4 .429 3 79 90 -11 W2
Orange 3 5 .375 3.5 99 110 -11 L5
Red 3 5 .375 3.5 107 129 -22 L1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Blue 4-0 2-1 1 0-0 2-0 1-0
Green 2-2 2-2 1 0-0 1-2 1-2
Maroon 2-2 2-2 1 0-0 2-1 1-2
Gray 3-1 1-3 1 0-0 2-0 2-0
Purple 1-2 2-2 0 0-0 1-2 0-0
Orange 1-3 2-2 0 0-1 1-2 1-2
Red 0-4 3-1 0 1-0 1-3 1-1
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 4 2 4 5 3 4 22
Gray 4 X 4 4 5 0 5 22
Green 3 2 X 5 3 5 5 23
Maroon 2 3 4 X 5 1 3 18
Orange 1 3 3 2 X 4 3 16
Purple 4 3 3 6 3 X 2 21
Red 4 2 3 2 5 4 X 20
______________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 18 17 19 23 26 17 22 142
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 6
David Kruse – 6
Ken Brown – 4
Tim Bruton – 3
Peter Atkins – 2
Gregory Bied – 2
George Brindley – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Clint Fletcher – 2
Doc Hobar – 2
Gary Kubenka – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Ralph Villela – 2
David Brown – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Tommy Gillis – 1
Rex Horvath – 1
Rick Kahn – 1
Denny Malloy – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
Eddie Ortiz -1
David Pittard – 1
Joe Roche – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Monday October 7:
10:30 a.m.: Maroon (4-4) at Blue (6-1), Red umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (3-5) at Gray (4-4), Blue umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Purple (3-4) at Orange (3-5), Gray umpiring
Green has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Blue added half a game to its session lead without even playing today, as Maroon suffered its fourth consecutive defeat. Three teams are tied for second place at 4-4. Maroon will have its chance to end its slide Monday, facing Blue at 10:30. Red will try to get back on track at 11:30 against a Gray team that will try to win again despite the absences of 1-2 hitters Ken Brown and David Kruse. Purple, facing Orange at 12:30, can reach .500 with a third consecutive win. A number of players will be at the Huntsman Games or otherwise traveling next week, so teams will be depending on mercenaries to fill out their lineups – good chance to get extra reps! And for me to play shortstop! Will the coming weeks be my final B League games at the position? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
I think everyone’s seen this, but I’ll re-post the great Billy Hill’s email here anyway:
Guys,
Amy and I want to thank all of you for your continuing support and prayers for Amy’s health and recovery. This has been a tough year for the two of us — I can’t tell you how much your support has meant. She is improving every day and is on the list for a kidney transplant. We are hoping for the best.
Next Thursday the 10th after the last B Division game my son Shane and his wife Rachael are going to provide “snacks” for everyone.
Please join us and say hello to Amy.
Our thanks to you all,
Billy and Amy
I’m touched by the outpouring of support Billy and Amy have received. You guys are the best.