B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 47 – for September 8, 2026
As promised/threatened, a little late with these results, owing mostly to jet lag. Many thanks to David Brown for his dependably great recaps, and to Dave Berra and Terry Watts for their scoresheets.
Games of Tuesday September 8:
10:00 a.m.: Orange (1-1) at Gray (1-0):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Gray 3 5 5 4 X X 17 Pitchers: Orange – Tommy Deleon; Gray – Luis Sanchez. Mercenaries: Orange – Trent Peacock, Patrick Schmidt, and Scott Wright; Gray – George Brindley. Umpires: home – Larry Fiorentino; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Trent Peacock (2 for 2); Gray – Clint Fletcher (3 for 3), Jim Foelker and Luis Sanchez (both 2 for 2 with a walk; Luis earns an Ohtani Award), Mike Nagy (3 for 3 with a double), and Paul Rubin (3 for 3 with a double and a triple).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 88 degrees, feels like 97; 64% humidity; wind from the South at 8 MPH; sunny – heating up!
I played in this game, and took Dave Berra’s scoresheet as I headed out afterward, so this recap is mine. That said… there’s not much to say. It was the turn of meek Orange Mr. Hyde to show up and suffer a drubbing, held to one run by Luis Sanchez, that lone score coming on three two-out hits by Orange’s mercenaries in the top of the second: Scott Wright singled, took third on Patrick Schmidt’s double, and scored Orange’s only run on Trent Peacock’s single. Orange’s mercenaries went a combined 5 for 8 (.625 average, .750 slugging) in the game; actual members of Orange team managed just six singles in 21 at bats (.286 average).
Gray got more hits in each of its two five-run innings than Orange’s regulars managed for the game. They took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the first – Paul Rubin tripled in the first two runs and scored the third by beating the throw home on Scott Wright’s attempted double play, after walks to Luis Sanchez and Jim Foelker had loaded the bases and Jim McAnelly grounded to third, Scott getting one out on the play. In both the second and third Gray scored five runs on seven consecutive hits without making an out. Mike Nagy led off the bottom of the second with a double, and the next six batters singled. An inning later it was pretty much the same recipe: six singles and a double by Mike Velaney that drove in the first run. The final hit was Clint Fletcher’s hard one-hopper to shortstop Jack Spellman’s backhand; I fielded the ball cleanly and threw home, but the toss got past catcher Hal Darman, the fourth and fifth runs of the inning scoring.
Gray’s first five batters hit safely to start the bottom of the fourth, which is to say, 19 consecutive Gray hitters connected for hits, and 20 of 21 after Mike Nagy followed Mike Velaney’s sacrifice fly to Don Solberg in left field with an RBI single. Mike N. was one of five Gray players who were perfect at the plate in this game; no Gray player made more than one out.
With Gray leading by 16 runs after Orange went out in the top of the fifth, a double flip-flop was called. There’s been edifying discussion of the whys and wherefores, which I won’t recapitulate. Suffice to say, Orange wasn’t going to come back from this whupping, it was good to finish it up and let the next two games proceed.
Final score: Gray 17, Orange 1. In what may have been a first for this season, not a single Gray player was thrown out on the bases in this game. Looks like Clint Fletcher will be requesting a return and refund from Amazon for the dozen shock collars he unnecessarily ordered. (I appreciate that Jim McAnelly, who hasn’t run into an out this year, was put in charge of the remote.)
Luis Sanchez earned his first Ohtani Award of the 2026 season, going 2 for 2 with a walk while pitching Gray to victory. Prince Hisahito took time off from celebrating his 20th birthday to make the presentation.
11:00 a.m.: Green (0-2) at Blue (1-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Green 0 1 1 0 3 5 Blue 3 4 3 5 X 15 Pitchers: Green – Jeff Stone; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Green – Hal Darman, Shane Hill, Jack McDermott, Luis Sanchez, Don Solberg, and Jeff Stone; Blue – Tommy Gillis and David Pittard. Umpires: home – Clint Fletcher; bases – Jim Foelker. Perfect at the plate: Green – Doc Hobar (3 for 3); Blue – Tommy Gillis (3 for 3 with a home run) and Lawrence Page (3 for 3). Home run: Tommy Gillis (over the fence) (2).
Dave Berra’s weather update: Sucks. Hotter, a bit of breeze.
Dave Brown’s recap:
JC Schmeil returned from a shoulder injury after four months on the injured list and Blue was relieved to see that his glove still works. Green needed six substitutes after their Team Labor Day party got a little out of hand.
Green opened the 1st with back-to-back singles by Doc Hobar and Mike Garrison. Larry Fiorentino then scorched a ball down the right field line that Blue 1B Larry Young snagged knee high before stepping on the bag to double off Mike. Green manager Chunky Wright noted a couple of innings later that was the play of the game as it converted a two-run double into two outs. Boo Resnick challenged JC with a chopper to 2B which resulted in a 4-3 groundout.
Tom Bellavia opened the bottom of the 1st inning with a blast to the fence in left center field which yielded a triple. Larry Young scored Tom on a groundout to SS Larry Fiorentino. Joe Bernal, JC Schmeil, Lawrence Page, and Daniel Baladez singled to score two more runs and put runners on 1B and 2B. Mercenary pitcher Jeff Stone limited further damage by inducing a ground ball to Larry Fiorentino, who threw out the lead runner at 3B, and a comebacker that Jeff turned into a 1-3 ground out.
Green sent their mercenaries to the plate in the top of the 2nd inning and scored their first run. Jeff Stone led off with a ground ball to SS which yielded a 6-3 ground out. Jack McDermott lined a single to RF and was forced out at 2B when Shane Hill hit a ground ball to SS. Luis Sanchez lined a single to RF and Don Solberg lined a single to LF to plate Shane and put runners on 1st and 3rd. Hal Darman grounded a ball to SS which resulted in another 6-4 force out.
Blue mercenaries Tommy Gillis and David Pittard opened the bottom of the 2nd with singles to put runners at 1st and 2nd. Larry Fiorentino made another nice play to force out the lead runner at 3B on a groundball to SS. Four of the next five batters singled to score four runs before Daniel Baladez ripped a line drive down the left field line that 3B Shane Hill caught to end the inning.
Green trailed 7-1 at the beginning of the third and got their first two batters on with singles, including a short fly ball to RF by Mike Garrison. I didn’t know Mike hit to the opposite field. Larry Fiorentino got a taste of his own medicine as his groundball to SS resulted in a 6-5 force out. With Boo Resnick up, Joe Bernal got a called first strike and a fouled second strike to record his first K of the game. Jeff Stone lined a single to CF which plated Green’s second run. Jack McDermott then lined a ball to the 5-6 hole which SS David Brown got an early break on and caught for the third out of the inning.
David Brown led off the bottom of the 3rd with a double to RF and scored on a line drive single by Donnie Janac. Up stepped Tommy Gillis, who blasted a fly ball into a light wind that cleared the fence in LF for his second home run of the season. Jeff Stone limited Blue to 3 runs by getting groundballs to 2B, P, and 1B.
Tommy Gillis hit his second over-the-fence home run of the season in the bottom of the third.
With a 10-2 lead, Joe Bernal did that thing he does where he strangles whatever hope remains in his opponent. Shane Hill opened the 3rd with a single to RCF, but two ground balls to SS resulted in a 6-4 force out and a 6u., 6-3 double play that produced a shutdown inning.
In its final at bat, the Blue offense scored five runs on six singles, including one from Tommy Gillis to complete a perfect game at the plate, a double by Tom Bellavia, and a sacrifice fly by Daniel Baladez.
Green entered the buffet facing a 15-2 deficit and had their best inning with four singles and a walk, which netted 3 runs. The best defensive play of the inning was a line drive up the middle which Joe Bernal got a glove on and re-directed, which forced JC Schmeil to have to change directions and glove the bouncer before throwing to Larry Young at 1B for the out.
Final score: Blue 15, Green 5
Noon: Red (1-0) at Maroon (2-0):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Red 0 1 4 0 2 7 Maroon 5 5 2 4 X 16 Pitchers: Red – Trent Peacock; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Red – Daniel Baladez, Larry Fiorentino, Clint Fletcher, and Jim Foelker; Maroon – Doc Hobar, Rick Jensen, and Jack McDermott. Umpires: home – David Brownb; bases – Larry Young. Perfect at the plate: Red – Clint Fletcher (3 for 3 with a double and a triple), Jim Foelker (3 for 3), and Candy Perez (2 for 2 with a walk); Maroon – Dale Fugate, Jeff Stone, and Scott Wright (all 3 for 3; Jeff earns an Ohtani Award), Rick Jensen (2 for 2), and David Pittard (3 for 3 with a triple).
Dave Berra’s weather update: Breezier still, hotter.
Maroon looked like the best team in the league today (which they are) by pairing excellent defense with a powerhouse offense. Mark Dolan led off for Red with a groundball to SS where mercenary Rick Jensen fielded the ball cleanly and threw to Dale Fugate at 1B for an out. In his return from injury, Anthony Galindo lined a single to LF. Maroon pitcher Jeff Stone hit the front inside edge of the mat with his first pitch to Tommy Gillis and then hit the back of the mat with his second pitch to dismiss Tommy, who walked back to the bench without swinging his bat. Candy Perez stepped to the plate with two outs and a runner at 1B. Wishing to avoid Tommy’s fate, Candy took a big swing on Jeff’s first offering and hit a six-hopper to SS. Candy’s trip to 1B was one of the more entertaining emotional journeys of the season:
Candy running with the ball skipping merrily toward Rick – “Oh my god!” 
Candy after the ball clanked off the heel of Rick’s glove – “Oh my god! What a hit!” 
Jeff ended the first-inning threat by inducing a groundball to Scott Wright at 2B who threw to Rick for the 4-6 force out.
Maroon’s first inning offense comprised singles by Steve Browne, George Brindley, Scott Wright, Jeff Stone, David Pittard, Dale Fugate, and mercenary Jack MacDermott which netted 5 runs and a 5-0 lead.
Marvin Krabbenhoft and mercenary Clint Fletcher led off the 2nd inning with back-to-back singles. Mercenary Jim Foelker plated Marvin’s pinch runner with a line drive up the middle, but Jeff Stone limited the damage by inducing three ground ball outs to Scott Wright at 2B.
Mercenary Doc Hobar led off the Maroon 2nd with a line drive to RF that yielded a triple. Rick Jensen scored Doc with a looped single to RF. Red pitcher Trent Peacock struck out Steve Browne on a fouled third strike before giving up three consecutive singles to score three and put runners on the corners. Up stepped David Pittard, who sliced a ball that landed a few feet fair in right field and kicked toward the corner. David coasted into 3B with a triple that would have been a home run if not for the fact that the fifth run of the inning scored in front of him. In this writer’s humble opinion, it’s time to strike down the Draconian rule that prevents all-around good guys like David from being recognized for home runs just because the fifth run of the inning happens to score in front of them. In the immortal words of Johnny Lee, “Change that rule!”
All right, back to business. Red trailed 10-1 entering the 3rd inning, when they got their offense into gear. Anthony Galindo led off with a line drive that gapped two outfielders and went to the fence. Anthony likely would have had a home run if he were not nursing a leg injury. Tommy Gillis hit a deep flyball to left field that allowed Anthony to tag and score from 3B. Candy Perez walked, Trent Peacock singled, and Clint Fletcher tripled on a line drive to right field to score two more runs. Mercenary Larry Fiorentino singled to RCF to bring in the fourth run of the inning for Red, but Jeff Stone limited further damage by retiring mercenary Daniel Baladez on a flyball to LCF George Brindley.
In the bottom of the third, singles by Dale Fugate and Rick Jensen plus a double by Doc Hobar plated two runs. Trent Peacock induced a 6-4 groundout and struck out two batters to get out of the inning. The third out of the inning came on a called third strike of a borderline low pitch to Steve Browne. Steve gave home plate umpire David Brown the stink eye, but walked silently to the dugout to retrieve his glove. Steve Browne’s a good guy.
Red had the top of their order up in the fourth inning and looked to reduce the seven-run deficit that they faced. Jeff Stone said, “Nope!” Batter #1 – fouled third strike. Batter #2 – Flyball to George Brindley in LCF. Batter #3 – Deep flyball to the gap in LCF that Steve Browne and George converged on and Steve caught on the run.
Maroon expanded their lead to 16-5 with four runs on five singles and a sacrifice fly from the middle of their order. Scott Wright, Jeff Stone, David Pittard, and Dale Fugate all completed 3-3 games with a combined 11 singles and David’s honorary homerun.
Red started the buffet needing 11 runs to tie the score. Candy Perez led off with a single and Clint Fletcher later doubled and Jim Foelker singled to score two runs, but Jeff Stone used a fouled third strike and two ground balls to Scott Wright at 2B to end the inning. The last out came on a hard chopper up the middle that Scott fielded on a dead run and stepped on 2B for the force out. There might have been a spiked ball and jutted jaw by everybody’s favorite bad boy before he joined the post-game handshake line.
Final score: Maroon 16, Red 7
Jeff Stone earned his third Ohtani Award of the season, going 3 for 3 (with three runs scored and three RBI) while pitching Maroon to victory. Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi took time out of reshuffling her cabinet to make the presentation.
Session 4 standings:
| Session 4 standings: | Games | Runs | Runs | Run dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Maroon | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 39 | 21 | 18 | W4 |
| Gray | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.5 | 29 | 12 | 17 | W2 |
| Blue | 2 | 1 | .667 | 1 | 32 | 17 | 15 | W1 |
| Red | 1 | 1 | .500 | 1.5 | 23 | 30 | -7 | L1 |
| Orange | 1 | 2 | .333 | 2 | 21 | 42 | -21 | L1 |
| Purple | 0 | 2 | .000 | 2.5 | 25 | 33 | -8 | L2 |
| Green | 0 | 3 | .000 | 3 | 27 | 41 | -14 | L4 |
| 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 | 3-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | LWWWW | |
| Gray | 2-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | WLLWW | |
| Blue | 2-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 0-0 | LWWLW | |
| Red | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | LWLWL | |
| Orange | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | LWLWL | |
| Purple | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | WLWLL | |
| Green | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | WLLLL |
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 27 | |
| Gray | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 16 | |
| Green | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 21 | |
| Maroon | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 27 | |
| Orange | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 19 | |
| Purple | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 14 | |
| Red | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 17 | |
| TOTAL: | 14 | 23 | 21 | 13 | 21 | 27 | 22 | 141 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 10
Ralph Villela – 8
Steve Browne – 5
Tony Garcia – 4
Trent Peacock – 4
David Brown – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Alan Phillips – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Richard Battle – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Tommy Gillis – 2
Rick Kahn – 2
Jack McDermott – 2
Scott Rokita – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Scott Wright – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
George Brindley – 1
Ivan Budiselic – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Jim Foelker – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Bobby Miller – 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: 5 (May 4, July 2, July 20, August 6, August 20)
Tommy Deleon: 5 (April 6, April 30, June 11, July 6, July 30)
Jeff Stone: 3 (March 2, July 9, September 8)
Trent Peacock: 2 (March 9, August 3)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Jack Kelly: 1 (August 3)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Luis Sanchez: 1 (September 8)
Schedule for Thursday September 10:
10:00 a.m.: Maroon (3-0) at Orange (1-2), Purple umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Purple (0-2) at Green (0-3), Maroon umpiring
Noon: Gray (2-0) at Red (1-1), Green umpiring
Blue has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: We’ll see whether Dr. Jekyll Orange shows up at 10:00 a.m. and puts a spanner in mighty Maroon’s drive for Session 4 dominance and current four-game winning streak. Somewhat surprisingly, Orange leads the season series 4-2. One of Green (four-game losing streak) or Purple (two-game losing streak) will post their first win of the session at 11:00. Green leads the season series 4-2. At noon, Gray returns from a bye to put its two-game winning streak on the line versus Red, which lost today but leads the season series 4-2. Will Tommy Deleon bring wieners instead of breakfast tacos by way of celebrating National Hot Dog Day? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Arrived in Germany early Wednesday after an overnight flight, and I’m running on jet-lagged fumes. I’ll have pictures and commentary about the trip soon enough.
Podcast review: Still Counting
This is the latest addition to my feed, a reboot/rebranding of the much mourned 538 Politics podcast, which shuttered two-plus years ago. That effort had already been sputtering along following the departure a couple years before that of 538 founder/maven Nate Silver, who, along with co-hosts Galen Druke and (the great) Clare Malone, has started Still Counting as a successor to 538’s data-driven approach to US politics. Silver is a terrific thinker and writer, and Malone, who’s keeping her day job at the New Yorker, is one of America’s great working journalists, so I have high hopes for this. The first episode drops tomorrow, Wednesday September 9, after they released preliminary/introductory effort last week. That was more a “What have we been up to?” and “Here’s what we’re planning to cover” effort than an actual conversation/investigation into the day’s political news, which they say will be driven by polling, statistics, prediction markets, and other data. New England content: TBD. The 538 podcast had a healthy amount, as co-host Harry Enten is a Dartmouth guy, but he’s at CNN now, and is the one member not involved in this reboot. Canadian content: I figure there will be some, what with the trade war much in the news as we bear down on the midterms. Listening speed: 1X. Rating: TBD; the trial episode was pretty good.