You can tell where a batter's head is at by the height of his socks. When he's in a groove, seeing the ball and making good contact, he wants to keep that going. His gameday routine will remain the same, sometimes painstakingly so. But, if the ball has been hard to pick up, or his bat's been moving too slow, a player will decide it's time to shake things up.
The socks are usually the first target. It's an easy change to the routine - hike up the pant bottoms and flash some high hose. Suddenly it's a whole new feeling, that breeze on the legs, the air of freedom. Maybe it turns things around. Maybe brings a bit of luck too - some flickering spark still in the air from a bygone era when everyone wore 'em high.
In their last few games, several of the Maple Leafs have been sporting high socks, so you know what that means. Trying to shake things up, get something going and bust out of this losing streak. Shake, shake, shake...
Before game time yesterday, there were bigger shakeups afoot. News of a trade between the Maple Leafs and Barrie Baycats hit the social media. The Leafs had sent outfielder Jordan Castaldo and pitcher Brett Lawson to Barrie in exchange for outfielder Jon Waltenbury in a bid to bolster their struggling offence. Waltenbury played for the Leafs in 2011 and leads the league this year with 6 home runs. His 16 RBIs are second in the league. Shake, shake, shake...
The Leafs' batting order was also shuffled around for their game against the London Majors at Labatt Park last night. Shake your lineup!
However, it was starter Marek Deska who led the team with a stellar performance. Deska pitched 6 shutout innings, giving up only 3 hits while striking out 7 and walking one.
Deska was matched inning-for-inning by Majors starter Jordan Townshend, who bested his opposite with a complete game, five-hit shutout as the Majors won 2-0. The game was lost on two errors on one play in the bottom of the 8th.
Recap*:
This one was a pitchers' duel. London Majors starter Jordan Townshend and Toronto Maple Leafs starter Marek Deska traded scoreless innings through the first six.
Deska was relieved by Adam Garner, who kept the Majors off the board through seven.
The Leafs meanwhile could not muster any runs, scattering five hits over the game.
The game unraveled for the Leafs in the bottom of the 8th. Garner walked a man, and the next batter bunted back to the mound as the lead runner ran for second. Garner fielded it, then threw the ball away from first baseman Will Richards' grasp. The ball was quickly pounced on as the lead runner broke for third. The throw to third eluded third baseman Sean Mattson and the run came all the way around to score. Another run was tacked on to make it 2-0, and the game was over.
Townshend wrapped it up in the 9th for a complete game shutout, sending the Leafs to their sixth straight defeat.
The Leafs are now 4-8, good for 5th place in the league, and 7 games behind the Brantford Red Sox. Their next game is against the Hamilton Cardinals at Christie Pits on June 9th.
*Apologies for the quickie recap - the Pointstreak website is acting funny this morning.
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