Leafs Fall, Season Ends

Kitchener Panthers @ Toronto, August 17 (Round 1, Game 6)

After battling through an expanded 42-game schedule, and a first round playoff series that stretched to six games, the Toronto Maple Leafs 2013 season ended last night at Christie Pits.

Game Six was the best one of the series.  It was a tense back-and-forth affair that saw four lead changes and a 6-5 final for the Kitchener Panthers.

Full congrats to the Panthers who slugged their way to a 4-2 series win, outscoring Toronto 64-50 over six games.

The game will stand out in many ways.

The Leafs jumped out to a lead thanks to Jon Waltenbury's two-run home run in the 1st inning.

The same Jon Waltenbury was thrown out of the game in the bottom of the 7th for arguing balls and strikes.  When Waltenbury approached the home plate umpire to give him a piece of his mind, the ump shoved him and set off a brief fracas involving several players, coaches and umpires.  Madness.

Upon seeing this, the Christie Crazies rose up in full voice, berating the umpire with a season's worth of pent-up rage.  Even the mild mannered team statistician leapt to his feet and roared abuse at the umpire from behind the infield fence.  A few other fans lost their cool and harangued the ump from behind the fence for several innings. 

When order was restored, the Leafs were down to their final outs.  Sean Mattson had belted two homers in the game including one in the 8th, but he went down on a strikeout in the 9th.  Game over, series over. 

After the victors' team pileup and the handshakes between clubs, the players didn't linger.  They gathered their bats and gloves and hastily left the field.

One deranged fan - who was quite literally deranged, or maybe drunk - raged on into the night, his voice carrying on long after he'd disappeared somewhere into the darkness beyond the left field fence.

Before making one final climb up from the Pits, I watched the team staff gather up all the equipment and load it into a wheelbarrow.

Back on Opening Day, the groundskeeper was the very first character to appear in these write-ups.  As I cast my final glances around the park, I watched as he was the last one to leave.  He rolled the equipment-laden wheelbarrow slowly back to the clubhouse, to put it all away until next spring.


Recap:

The Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Kitchener Panthers at Christie Pits for Game Six of their first round playoff series.

Without poring over the stats at this hour, and despite the ultimate result of this game, I'll go ahead and say it was one of the best outings of the season for Toronto starter Marek Deska.

Deska mowed through the first three batters to start the game, striking out two.

In the bottom of the opening frame, Jon Waltenbury knocked a screaming two-run home run off Kitchener starter Matt McGovern.  2-0 Leafs.

Panthers DH Bryon Bell returned the favour in the top of the 2nd inning, hitting a two-run blast of his own to tie the game 2-2.

Both starters pitched scoreless 3rd and 4th innings.

In the top of the 5th, Darnell Duckett doubled and Mike Andrulis drove him in with a single to give the Panthers their first lead of the game, 3-2.

Toronto responded immediately.  Waltenbury drew a walk, then third baseman Sean Mattson hit a two-run home run to put the Leafs back ahead.  Catcher Damon Topolie then hit what looked like a double to keep the rally going, but he failed to touch first base when rounding for second, and was called out.  4-3 Leafs after 5 innings.

A scoreless 6th led to a critical top of the 7th.  Rick Murray reached first on a throwing error by Mattson, then moved to second on a wild pitch.  A single by Duckett brought him in and knocked Deska out of the game.  Duckett then stole second off new pitcher Justin Cicatello.  Another single by Andrulis drove him home and the Panthers were back ahead 5-4.

The Leafs went down in order in the bottom of the 7th, and Waltenbury was ejected for arguing with the umpire.

Each team scored a run in the 8th, with Mattson hitting an opposite field solo shot that made it 6-5 going into the 9th inning.

With two outs, the Leafs got a brief rally going.  Rob Gillis, batting for Waltenbury, was hit by a pitch, and then DH Sean Reilly singled.  But Mattson struck out to end the game with a 6-5 final for Kitchener, and a 4-2 series win by the Panthers.

Toronto's season is over, while the Panthers move on to the semi-finals against IBL pennant winners the Brantford Red Sox.

DJ Wally's K-Town Hit Parade

Maple Leafs @ Kitchener, August 15 (Round 1, Game 5)

I arrived at Jack Couch Park last night to find one baseball team on the brink of elimination, and another on the verge of winning their first round playoff series.

But what I saw was interesting.  Several Kitchener Panthers were clacking around the clubhouse building with tense looks on their faces, mouths twisted tight.  Out in right field, the Toronto Maple Leafs were having a calm, relaxed warmup.  Some jokey banter seen earlier in the day on Twitter carried with them to the ballpark.

One team was edgy, the other was loose.  Guess what happened.

Jon Waltenbury, aka "DJ Wally" led the Leafs hit parade, blasting two home runs and a double as he racked up seven RBIs on the night.  Raul Borjas was right behind him with four hits and five RBIs.  Borjas also climbed the wall in left field to haul in what was a sure home run, and shut down a Panthers rally in the 5th inning. 

In total, the Maple Leafs clanged out 15 hits in a 17-11 win that takes this series to a sixth game.  That's solid gold.

The Panthers actually got one more hit than Toronto, but pitchers Adam Garner and Jas Shergill combined for seven and three innings respectively to limit the damage and pull out the win.

One thing is for sure: this series has seen the Maple Leafs and Panthers wail away on each other like nobody's business.  The way it's been going, they could break the all time scoring record for any series in the history of baseball, ever.*

Wednesday night's defeat at Christie Pits was kind of jarring.  It didn't sink in until the game had ended that it might have been the Leafs' final home game of the season.  As the players trudged to the clubhouse and fans vanished into the night, I lingered behind the home bench, not wanting to leave.  I wasn't ready to leave.  I hoped we would get at least one more game at the Pits this year.  I moped about it all day yesterday.

And the Leafs have delivered.  The Christie Crazies will be back together one more time, and who knows, maybe there are still more games to come in this crazy-ass season.

It all starts tomorrow night, with Saturday Night's Main Event.

* I have no idea what I'm talking about.


Recap:

The Kitchener Panthers sent Mike McGillivray out to the mound to start this game, and he put the Toronto Maple Leafs away easy in the 1st.

Adam Garner did not fare as well in the bottom of the inning.  The Leafs starter gave up a home run to leadoff man Mike Andrulis.  A double by first baseman Mitch Delaney led to another run, after he was driven in on a single by centerfielder Tanner Nivins.  Kitchener led 2-0 after the 1st inning.

McGillivray pitched a scoreless 2nd inning, then the Panthers scored two more.  A leadoff double by Bryon Bell was followed by an RBI single by catcher Rick Murray.  Shortstop Mike Glinka drove in another run on a single and the Leafs were on the ropes early, down 4-0 after two innings.

The game took a sudden turn in the top of the 3rd.  Rightfielder Steve Coates led off with a single, then shortstop Branfy Arias reached first on a fielder's choice that erased Coates.  Centerfielder Glenn Jackson then drew a walk.  Arias and Jackson both scored on a single by leftfielder Raul Borjas.  Then, with a full count, first baseman Jon Waltenbury blasted a home run to make it a whole new ballgame, tied 4-4 after the 3rd.

Borjas and Waltenbury inflicted more damage in the next inning.  With two outs, Coates and Arias both singled and Jackson drew another walk.  Borjas drove in the first two with a single, and then Waltenbury blasted another home run, this one good for three more runs.  The Leafs led 9-4 after the 4th.

Some sloppy play by the Panthers led to another Leafs run in the 5th.  An error by Glinka allowed third baseman Sean Mattson to reach first, then an error by third baseman Mat Taube allowed catcher Damon Topolie to get all the way to second, Mattson taking third.  A single by second baseman Dan Marra drove in Mattson and knocked McGillivray out of the game with a 10-4 score.  Topolie came home from third on a groundout by Coates to make it 11-4.

Garner had settled down after the first couple of rough innings, but he was tagged for a two-run homer by Delaney that made it 11-6 Leafs after 5 innings.

The Leafs added another run in the next inning.  Jackson doubled and was driven in by DH Sean Reilly, making it 12-6 after the 6th.

Matt Vickers replaced Mike Gatchene on the mound to start the 7th for Kitchener, but he got kicked around.  Topolie doubled and Marra walked.  Topolie then scored on a single by Arias.  An error by the shortstop then allowed Jackson to reach second while Marra scored.  The Borjas-Waltenbury tandem returned and they each drove in another run, making it 16-6 Leafs.

Jas Shergill relieved Garner and he pitched a scoreless 7th.

Rightfielder Darnell Duckett drove in a run to make it 16-7 going into the 9th inning.

Waltenbury drew a bases loaded walk that made it 17-7.

The Panthers got to Shergill for four runs in the bottom of the 9th, but it was too little too late.  Shergill slammed the door on his three-inning save, preserving the win for Garner with a 17-11 final score.

The series is now 3-2 for the Panthers.  Game Six will be played Saturday night, August 17 at Christie Pits.

The Pits Also Gaze

Kitchener Panthers @ Toronto, August 14 (Round 1, Game 4)

When you gaze long into the Pits, the Pits also gaze into you.*

One awakens to the question: have we gazed long into each other for the last time this fleeting summer? 

Last night's game at Christie Pits brought the Toronto Maple Leafs to the brink of elimination from their first round playoff series with the Kitchener Panthers.  In a familiar scene that fans on the Christie hillside have witnessed all season, the Leafs fell behind early and had to play catchup for the entire game.  A late rally was not enough to prevent a 12-6 defeat. 

The season could come crashing to a sudden end with one more loss at Jack Couch Park later tonight.

Have we drunk each other up, Christie?  I would drink more.
 
During last night's beating, one of the Leafs' weaknesses was exposed: not enough pitching.  Kitchener was able to trot out their fourth different starter - Adam Echlin - who shut the home side down over 7 scoreless innings.  Troy Marks, who emerged as a late-season ace for the club, made his second start of the series but he was not able to match Echlin's performance.  One cannot fault Marks entirely - apparently he was pitching at less than 100 percent. 

Another weakness was exposed last night: bats gone cold at the worst moment.  The IBL is a hitting league and this is the time to see crazy batting averages in the boxscores.  Kitchener has them in spades.  Three of their players are batting over .600 in this series.  The Panthers have scored 47 runs in four games.  A look at the numbers on the Toronto side of the boxscore shows that they haven't been able to match that firepower. 

Despite all this, at the end of last night's game a player on the Leafs bench reminded his teammates: "They have to beat us four times."

Yes they do.  Can the Leafs stop it from happening?  Yes they can.

The Leafs went into the bottom of the 9th down 12-0 last night.  A handful of boisterous fans began chanting "Yes we can!  Yes we can!"  Brutal satire, perhaps, but the Leafs broke the ice by scoring a run, then another, then a few more.  By the time the rally ended, the Leafs had cut Kitchener's huge lead in half.  Another inning and who knows what might have unfolded.

I think this club has another win in it.  Maybe even three more.  Stranger things have happened.

No Christie, we haven't seen each other for the last time.  We'll gaze into each other again on Saturday night.  The boys will see to it.


*Yeah, that's totally Nietzsche.  Baseball could use more Nietzsche.


Recap:

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Kitchener Panthers got off to a quiet start in this game.  Starters Troy Marks and Adam Echlin traded scoreless 1st and 2nd innings.

Kitchener pounced in the 3rd.  A leadoff walk to rightfielder Darnell Duckett was followed by a stolen base and a wild pitch, and a single by second baseman Mike Andrulis brought in the first run of the game.  The Panthers kept at it, and by the time the inning was over, 10 men had come to the plate and six runs had been scored on six hits.  The Leafs were in a hole early.

Marks was able to get through one more inning, then turned the ball over to Rick Brooks to start the 5th.  Brooks gave up a double to first baseman Mitch Delaney and a single to centerfielder Tanner Nivins.  Third baseman Mat Taube hit into a fielder's choice that allowed Delaney to score and it was 7-0 Panthers after the 5th inning.

Nivins and Taube each drove in another run in the 6th inning, and a sac fly by catcher Kaiden Bowers drove in one more to make it 10-0 Panthers.

Echlin stymied the Leafs' bats over seven innings, giving up just four hits and three walks.  He turned it over to Mike Gatchene, who pitched a scoreless 8th inning.

Kitchener added to their lead in the 9th when Nivins hit a two-run home run off reliever Cam Grey that made it 12-0.

Kaisuke Saito relieved Gatchene to start the inning.  Two errors allowed rightfielder Steve Coates and second baseman Dan Marra to reach base.  Centerfielder Glenn Jackson then drove in Coates with a double into center.  A single by leftfielder Raul Borjas then drove in Marra and Jackson.  First baseman Jon Waltenbury doubled, moving Borjas to third.  While DH Sean Reilly was at the plate, two wild pitches by Saito allowed both Borjas and Waltenbury to race home.  Reilly grounded out and that cleared the bases, but then third baseman Sean Mattson belted a solo home run to centerfield.  (I called that one - you could feel it coming all game.)  Mattson's dinger put the sixth run of the inning on the board and knocked Saito out of the game.  That would be all for the Leafs, though, as Matt Robertson came in and got out of the inning for a 12-6 final.

The Maple Leafs are now down 3-1 in this series.  They have a chance to keep it alive in Game Five tonight at Jack Couch Park in Kitchener. 

One That Got Away

Maple Leafs @ Kitchener, August 13 (Round 1, Game 3)

A baseball game is made up of hundreds of singular moments that impact its outcome.

Some are mundane - a routine fly, a pitch called for a ball.  Others are critical.  The Toronto Maple Leafs ended up on the wrong side of several critical plays last night in Game Three of their opening round playoff series against the Kitchener Panthers.  These singular moments combined to let the game get away from them, and put Kitchener ahead 2-1 in the series.

The Leafs got off to a great start at Jack Couch Park.  They tagged Kitchener starter Shaun Hancock with four solid hits in a row in the first inning to score three runs.  Kolossal!  Hancock was on the ropes early, and walked the next two batters to load the bases.  Toronto threatened to put the game away before it even began, but Hancock got a critical strikeout to end the inning.

That turned out to be the only big inning for the Leafs all game.  Hancock settled down and the Leafs' bats went as cold as this chilly evening in Sausageland.  Hancock held the Leafs scoreless all the way to the 7th inning, when they finally put another run on the board.

Marek Deska pitched just as well last night.  He gave up two runs in the 1st inning, but also settled down until the bottom of the 5th, when Bryon Bell hit a first-pitch solo home run to tie the score.

After the Leafs retook the lead in the 7th inning, they loaded the bases again, but Kitchener managed to wriggle out of it and three men were left on base.  Another missed opportunity to put them away.

Kitchener immediately responded with three runs in the bottom of the 7th, as this see-saw battle threatened to come down to a single play.  And it did.  With two out in the 9th inning, the Leafs were down 6-5 with a man on third.  Dan Marra hit what looked like a game-tying single to shallow right field, but it was fielded brilliantly by Panthers second baseman Mike Andrulis, who made the throw to first just in time to make the final out.  The Leafs could have won this game and several times it looked like they would, but it was one that got away.

So many singular moments that didn't go the Leafs way, and now they are down two games to one.  What looked like it might be a short series now looks like it will be a grudge match between two evenly-matched teams.  After two blowouts, each club has gotten a sense for the other.  Each of the remaining games could come down to a single play - a singular moment that will determine if the Leafs continue on in the playoffs or not.


Recap:

The Toronto Maple Leafs jumped out to an early lead against the Kitchener Panthers in this one.  Starter Shaun Hancock gave up four hits in a row: a single to first baseman Jon Waltenbury, a home run to DH Sean Reilly, a single that rightfielder Raul Borjas legged all the way to third base with the help of a fielding error, and a double to third baseman Sean Mattson.  All with two outs.  The Leafs were up 3-0, and a pair of walks loaded the bases, but Hancock struck out leftfielder Justin Gianfrancesco to end the threat.

Kitchener replied with a solo home run by second baseman Mike Andrulis leading off the bottom of the frame.  A sac fly by centerfielder Tanner Nivins made it 3-2 Leafs after one inning of play. 

Hancock and Leafs starter Marek Deska began trading scoreless innings  Both teams went down in order in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings, with a single in the 3rd by Reilly being the only disruption to the pattern.

The Panthers got another leadoff home run, this time in the bottom of the 5th by DH Bryon Bell.  That tied the game at three.

The Leafs loaded the bases in the top of the 7th.  Shortstop Branfy Arias was hit by a pitch, Waltenbury drew a walk, then Reilly was intentionally walked.  A sac fly by Borjas scored Arias to make it 4-3.  A single by Mattson loaded the bases and ended Hancock's night, but reliever Matt Robertson got out of the inning with no further damage.

The Panthers took the lead for the first time in the bottom of the 7th.  A leadoff triple by rightfielder Darnell Duckett was followed by an RBI single by shortstop Mike Glinka.  The Panthers then loaded the bases and Deska was relieved by Franco Pace.  The next man up was Nivins, who drove in two runs with a single to centerfield.  6-4 Panthers after the 7th.

Bell came in to pitch in the top of the 9th inning, but he gave up two walks and quickly got the hook.  He was relieved by Marcos Reyna.  The Leafs managed to squeeze one run out of the Panthers to make it a 6-5 score, but that was how it ended as Andrulis fielded what would have been a game-tying single by second baseman Dan Marra and threw to first to end the game.

The Leafs are down 2-1 in this opening round playoff series, and will have a chance to tie it up tonight in Game Four at Christie Pits.

Panthers Punch Back

Kitchener Panthers @ Toronto, August 11 (Round 1, Game 2)

One day after being demolished by the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Kitchener Panthers roared back with a demolition job of their own.  They won 19-1 at Christie Pits this afternoon to tie their opening round series at one game apiece.

Kitchener DH Bryon Bell led the assault with three home runs including a grand slam, as he racked up nine RBIs.  Catcher Rick Murray also homered and drove in five more.

The entire Leafs team misfired in unison today.  They committed four errors.  They got shelled for 16 hits and 15 earned runs.  They were held to just three hits over the first seven innings.  Their lone run of the game was "driven in" through a bases loaded walk.  That wasn't until the eighth inning, but by then it was far too late to get back in the game.

The game was blown apart in the third inning.  The Panthers mauled Toronto starter Justin Cicatello for seven runs off six hits and an error. 

There was a negative vibe at the Pits from the very start.  A constant stream of clouds passed overhead on a wind that was blew in all afternoon.  By the late innings, a massive dark formation appeared and it looked like it might rain to cap off a perfectly shit day. 

Once Kitchener started scoring, they kept scoring.  It sucked the life out of the place.  The players were quiet, the fans were quiet.  There was a brief, testy exchange behind the Kitchener bench between supporters of the two clubs.  Nothing came of it.

The bad news: it may have been the Leafs worst game as a team all season. 

The good news: they have never played even close to this badly as a team all season, which means we can write this one off as an anomaly.

As of now, it's a best-of-five series.


Recap:

I can either spend the next little while writing a detailed inning-by-inning recap of how the Kitchener Panthers amassed 19 runs on 16 hits today, with four Toronto Maple Leafs errors sprinkled throughout.

Or, I can enjoy a deluxe mac & cheese (with ham and green peppers) at a sensible hour, rather than at 1:00 in the morning.

Mac & Cheese wins this round.  My apologies to the literally zero readers who will be put off by not finding a detailed recap of today's bust here.  You can gawk and gasp at the boxscore on Pointstreak.com.

The next game of this series will be played Tuesday night, August 13 at Jack Couch Park in Kitchener.

Leafs Bomb Berlin to Take Series Lead

Maple Leafs @ Kitchener, August 10 (Round 1, Game 1)

The Toronto Maple Leafs unloaded a barrage of metaphors at Jack Couch Park last night.

They tipped the apple cart, they broke serve, they caged the black cats.  Most importantly, they bombed Berlin with five home runs en route to a 16-10 victory in Game One of their opening round playoff series.

Temperatures dropped soon after the sun set, but the Leafs stayed hot all night.  Eight different men in the order got at least one RBI.  Glenn Jackson led the way with three hits and five ribbies.  Sean Reilly got three hits including two home runs.  Jon Waltenbury, Sean Mattson and Rob Gillis also homered.

On the mound, Troy Marks and Jas Shergill combined to keep the Kitchener Panthers from clawing their way back into the game.

The Leafs team that was assembled over the course of the season may have struggled to reach .500, but they had the look of a playoffs monster last night.  Their tactics were simple:

1) beat the tar out of Kitchener's pitchers

2) don't get outscored

3) smile for the cameras

Kitchener's fans, usually a raucous bunch, sat on their hands most of the night, shaking their heads and muttering to each other.  They started trickling out of the park after a devastating 9-run fifth inning for Toronto.  The trickle became a mass exodus after the evening's 50-50 draw.  Fate added insult to injury when the name of the draw winner was announced: it was out-of-town visitor Jack Dominico, incidentally, owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club.

And so, a statement has been made.  The Maple Leafs have come out swinging hard.  The Panthers took it on the chin and were not able to battle back.  If the scene is replayed again this afternoon at Christie Pits, the Leafs will be off to a huge early advantage in this series.

Recap:

Matt McGovern of the Kitchener Panthers and Troy Marks of the Toronto Maple Leafs traded scoreless innings to start the game.

The Leafs got on the board first.  In the top of the 2nd inning, McGovern gave up singles to leftfielder Raul Borjas and third baseman Sean Mattson.  Catcher Damon Topolie followed with a single into centerfield that brought Borjas home.  1-0 Leafs.

The Panthers replied in the bottom of the inning.  Centerfielder Tanner Nivins and third baseman Mat Taube singled, then catcher Rick Murray engaged in a long battle with Marks.  On a full count, he hit his seventh pitch from Marks deep over the centerfield fence.  Even though the ball was hit quietly, Glenn Jackson knew it was gone.  3-1 Panthers after the 2nd.

Both teams went down in order in the 3rd, creating an impression that this game might be a fast-moving pitchers' duel.

The impression was soon proved false.  The Leafs got to McGovern again in the next inning.  DH Sean Reilly and rightfielder Rob Gillis hit solo home runs, and Mattson added a two-run blast to put the Leafs back ahead 5-3.

The Panthers immediately reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the 4th.  Nivins led off with a walk and stolen base, then got driven in by Taube.  DH Bryon Bell then knocked one to right field and galloped all the way for a triple, scoring Taube.  Bell then scored on a sac fly by Murray.  6-5 Panthers after 4 innings.

It was as if the Leafs decided to stop pussyfooting around at that point.  They unleashed the fury of a million suns on Panthers pitching in the top of the 5th.  When it was over and done, 13 men had come to the plate, and the Leafs had knocked both McGovern and his replacemen Shaun Slemko out of the game.  They had scored nine runs on five hits and two errors.  Reilly and first baseman Waltenbury hit home runs.  Jackson hit a three-run triple.  The game was blown open and the Leafs were ahead 14-6.

The shellshocked Panthers could not reply, as Marks put them down in order in the bottom of the 5th.

Jackson added a two-run double in the 6th to make it 16-6.

Shortstop Mike Glinka responded with a two-run double that made it 16-8 after 6 innings.

Marks was relieved by Jas Shergill, who nailed down the three-inning save to close out the game.  Shergill gave up two runs in the 7th, but that would be all as the Leafs won a 16-10 final.

The Maple Leafs are off to a 1-0 lead in this series, and the action resumes at Christie Pits this afternoon.