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.
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