Baycats win 1-0
A solo home run by Kyle DeGrace in the bottom of the 9th inning last night gave the Barrie Baycats a 1-0 semi-final series lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
DeGrace's walkoff homer broke a scoreless draw and sent a happy crowd of Barrie fans home from Coates Stadium.
Arguably, the evening had been ruined long before that for both the Leafs and the game's umpires. In the top of the 9th inning, a controversial play had ended a Toronto scoring threat - and with it, the Leafs' best chance to beat starter Adam Rowe.
With the bases loaded and one out, DH Damon Topolie came up to bat against Rowe. On an 0-1 count, Topolie popped one up, high overhead. An infield fly. Only, none of the umps called an infield fly.
Surrounded by silence, and three infielders, the ball plopped to the ground between home plate and the pitcher's mound. Not hearing any call made, Topolie continued running to first base. Instincts kicked in for the three other Toronto baserunners, and the man on third - Jon Waltenbury - ran for home, where he was tagged out. Was that one out or two? Toronto's players seemed uncertain, while Barrie's players immediately called it a double play.
The umpires themselves seemed confused by what had just happened, and required a conference to sort things out. Eventually, they called it an infield fly (second out of the inning), with the baserunner from third tagged out at home (third out, inning over).
The Leafs bench was irate and understandably so. A routine infield fly play had been umpired poorly, resulting in two outs instead of one.
All the umps had to do was call the infield fly, loud enough to hear. I don't know if the rules of baseball mandate a minimum volume at which calls must be made, but the etiquette of the sport would seem to require a clear, loud, infield fly call.
Any one of the gentlemen in black could have done that while the ball was in the air, but all three of them suddenly became shrinking violets. They went mute, or fell under the sway of their inner monologue. Whatever happened, it wasn't what normally happens on an infield fly. The routine became the exception. The play was allowed to develop beyond what should have been its natural result, ninety-nine times out of a hundred.
Ultimately the right call had been made, but a poor job of umpiring had influenced the game's potential outcome. It was the umps' collective moment of silence when they should have been vocal - the dreaded "human element" had intervened. The Leafs were naturally upset. The umpires had to go over to the visitors' bench twice to hear them out and quell the uproar.
That's baseball, and there was still a game to be played. The Leafs took to the field to try and extend it to extras. DeGrace led off the bottom of the ninth, and went on to launch a 2-2 pitch from Justin Lawrence over the left field fence. Then, there was no more game left to play.
Players from both teams poured onto the field. The Baycats congregated at home to celebrate the walkoff win. The Leafs beelined to the umps to let them know about a damn good movie they saw the other night.
It sucks that the umpires are the story here. To make it worse, the crucial non-called infield fly in the 9th was not their only blunder - it felt more like a culmination of blunders that had marred the game throughout. Earlier on, it was the Baycats who had been incensed by the officials. A pitch in the dirt was called a strike. A Baycat liner that bounced off the paint of the left field line was called a foul, to manager Angus Roy's dismay. As well, there were numerous questionable third-strike punchouts that had batters on both teams rolling their eyes and beseeching their deities.
One positive for the umps is that they didn't have to suffer the indignity of being chased down Bloor Street by a howling mob of day patients. So there's that.
It's over now. Round one to the Baycats. There is no questioning the play they scored on, nor their early edge in this series. Here's hoping we won't have to talk about the umpires the rest of the way.
Game Recap:
Not much else to add here. The Barrie Baycats welcomed the Toronto Maple Leafs to Coates Stadium in Midhurst (gateway to Staynor) for game one of this semi-final series.
Adam Rowe and Justin Lawrence both went the distance for their respective sides and they traded scoreless innings until the end. Rowe gave up three hits and Lawrence surrendered four, including the fateful walkoff by catcher Kyle DeGrace. The game was decided entirely in the ninth, as described above. It also finished in a brisk 1:55, for people who love fast-moving games.
Toronto 0-3-0
Barrie 1-4-2
W - Rowe (2-0, 0.56)
L - Lawrence (0-2, 2.81)
BOXSCORE
The Baycats take a 1-0 series lead in this semi-final. Game two will be at Christie Pits tonight, August 12 at 7:30 p.m.
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