I wrote a dozen long, borderline-psychotic paragraphs raving about what a miserable day I had in Guelph today. The working title of today's post was "Guelph! WHY??"
Then I realized no one wants to read that shit, so I deleted all of it. The title seems to have stuck, for lack of a more engaging alternative.
In brief, I had a shit day having shitty experiences from the moment I arrived in Guelph. Gloomy shopping, unwelcoming pubs, losing baseball... a day of joylessness and despair. It was the most un-Guelph-like day I've ever had in Guelph. A day spent in Guelph is usually an awesome day. But today, all of it was shit. If anyone really wants to know, I can e-mail the full tirade on request.
Anyway, here's the unavoidable part of today's shitness.
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Guelph Royals this afternoon at Hastings Stadium. The 4-3 loss was the Leafs' third in a row, and they have slid down to a .500 record on the season.
Starter Adam Garner coughed up some early runs and he also gave up what proved to be the winning run on Royals Sleeman Throwback Day. The Leafs clawed back late and got to within one run, but they couldn't get the winning or even the tying run across the plate.
The Leafs' offence was held to six singles - two by John Waltenbury, and one each from Damon Topolie, Tyler Mitchell, Tony Alvarez and Darryl Pui. Toronto's three runs on the day were driven in by Topolie, Mitchell and Raul Borjas.
It was one of those games where the lead slipped away early and the other team held on long enough to stay ahead. The game was closely fought and remained tight all the way to the end, indicative of these clubs' position in the standings (Guelph #2 and Toronto #3 behind the Barrie Baycats).
Side Note -
The Maple Leafs have now completed 1/3 of their 36-game schedule for 2014, and they are the first club to do so.
Games played as of June 7:
Toronto - 12
Guelph - 11
Kitchener - 11
London - 11
Barrie - 10
Burlington - 9
Hamilton - 9
Brantford - 7
The only reason I bring this up is because of how the Maple Leafs' regular season schedule ended last year. A slew of rainouts resulted in a brutal final week of makeup games that left the team (and its followers) exhausted going into the postseason. This year, things are looking a lot better, and it will be other teams that suffer the end-of-season pile-on.
Game Recap:
The Toronto Maple Leafs visited Guelph for the first time this season, where they faced starting pitcher Jason Martyn.
Martyn held the Leafs scoreless for the first three innings. His opposite, Adam Garner, pitched a scoreless 1st, then ran into trouble in the 2nd inning. With one out, Royals rightfielder Chandler McLaren reached first base on an error by shortstop Tyler Mitchell. An error at third by Sean Mattson put firstbaseman Jonathan Palumbo aboard and moved McLaren all the way to third base. McLaren then came in to score on a double by catcher Patrick Coughlin that gave the Royals a 1-0 lead.
Guelph added two more runs in the 3rd inning. Hot-hitting shortstop Keith Kandel and leftfielder Bruce Yari each singled. Kandell then scored on a single by secondbaseman Josh Garton, and Yari scored on a sac fly by McLaren. 3-0 Royals after the 3rd.
The Leafs got a run back in the 4th inning. Mattson and firstbaseman Topolie each drew two-out walks. Mitchell then singled off Martyn to plate Mattson. 3-1 Royals after the 4th.
The Royals extended their lead in the 5th, as DH Sean Valeriotte singled, moved to second on a walk, stole third, then scored on a groundout by Garton that made it 4-1.
Martyn pitched seven innings for Guelph and turned it over to Lucas Bannon who started the 8th inning. Bannon walked secondbaseman Dan Marra and gave up a single to DH Jon Waltenbury (each of whom moved up a base on the play). That was it for Bannon, who got a quick hook in favour of Scott Price. However, Price could not keep Bannon's baserunners from scoring. Marra scored on a sac fly by leftfielder Raul Borjas, and Waltenbury scored a wild sliding run on a single by Topolie. That made it 4-3 Royals after the 8th.
Price pitched a perfect 9th to nail down a save and a 4-3 final for Guelph.
Toronto 3-6-2
Guelph 4-10-1
W - Martyn (2-1)
L - Garner (1-1)
S - Price (1)
BOXSCORE
The Maple Leafs are now 6-6 and 4 games behind the 9-1 Barrie Baycats. The home-and-home series against the Royals concludes tomorrow, on June 8 at Christie Pits.
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