Maple Leafs Weekly Recap - July 29 to August 4, 2024
Justin Marra had a game for the ages and the Toronto Maple Leafs continued their postseason push in Week 12.
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| Justin Marra's 3-home run, 7-RBI rampage in just one game put him in the running for IBL Player of the Week honours. |
It is three months into the IBL season. The subconscious starts to play fast and loose. I've spent enough time watching, photographing and reading about the Toronto Maple Leafs that they are starting to seep into my dreams.
One night I watched them play a tournament game somewhere on a mountaintop diamond perched insanely high up in the Rockies, with the rest of the continent spread out below us.
Other nights I have conducted fantastic brotherly interviews with Leafs players, not remembering a single scoop or quote after waking up.
The wildest dream was the one where I was a combat photographer, scrambling for cover behind burning wreckage while the Leafs went to war against a Nazi Lizard Army in some hellish nighttime wasteland. There were exploding volcanoes all around the battlefield as the Leafs laid waste to Nazi scum. Absolutely wild.
In real waking life, Justin Marra put together a performance like something out of a dream. Saturday night in Chatham, he hit three home runs in two innings. His final blast was a grand slam that broke the backs of the Barnstormers. Seven runs batted in. If Marra doesn't win Player of the Week, you might as well cancel the league. Cancel everything.
Other than that, the Leafs held steady in seventh place, good enough to remain in the running for a postseason spot with the regular season two weeks from its conclusion.
And now, here is a recap of Week 12 in Toronto Maple Leafs baseball.
Wednesday, July 31, 2024 - Hamilton Cardinals vs Toronto Maple Leafs
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| Landon Leach delivers early in the Wednesday Nighter against the Hamilton Cardinals. It was a rare sighting of Leach, who didn't make it out of the second. |
Oh, if only this one could be written off as a dream.
The Hamilton Cardinals descended upon Christie Pits like a lethal murmuration out of Hitchcock. They shit-bombed the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 18-5. That result flatters the Leafs, who were outmatched both on the mound and at the plate.
The onslaught was instantaneous. Luis Bernardo, the second batter of the game, hit a solo home run off Toronto starter, newcomer Landon Leach.
In the top of the second inning, Leach loaded the bases on two walks and a single. Manager Rob Butler strode out from the Leafs bench with an early hook. Wilgenis Alvarado entered the game. He walked in one run. A shot to third base by Hamilton's Dennis Dei Baning got past Johnathan Solazzo and two more came in. After two innings, the visitors were off to a 4-0 lead on a muggy Wednesday Nighter.
The beatdown continued.
In the third inning, Alvarado gave up five hits and five runs. 9-0 Hamilton.
In the fourth inning, new signing Alex Lanigan took to the mound for the home side. He fared slightly better, giving up three runs on four hits. 12-0 Hamilton.
Lanigan pitched a scoreless fifth. In the sixth, the Cardinals put up another three-run, four-hit inning. 15-0 after six.
Meanwhile, Hamilton's ace Takaki Eguchi shut down the Leafs. He pitched six scoreless innings, giving up five hits and walking two while striking out four.
The Leafs were happy to see Eguchi relieved by Rich Corrente to start the seventh inning. With two outs, shortstop Jose Vinicio drew a walk. Pinch hitter Mike Cecchetto singled. Solazzo followed with a single that scored Vinicio. Pinch hitter Greg Carrington kept the rally going with a single of his own. That brought backup catcher Dionysius Chialtas to the plate. The 22-year-old rookie hit an oppo taco shot that cleared the fence in left for his first IBL homer. He rounded the bases with the swagger of a veteran who had just hit his hundredth. That cut the score to 15-5 after seven innings.
The Chialtas bomb turned out to be the highlight of the night. The Leafs scored no further. The Cardinals scored three more and flew off with an 18-5 FINAL.
Leach took the loss, Eguchi the win, and it was not all just a dream. Toronto's three-game win streak came to an end.
Hamilton 18 19 0
Toronto 5 11 2
W - Eguchi (7-2, 2.87)
L - Leach (0-2, 4.69)
Saturday, August 3, 2024 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Chatham-Kent Barnstormers
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| The Toronto Maple Leafs welcome Justin Marra back from his third round trip in two innings on Saturday night in Chatham. Marra drove in seven runs, all off homers. |
You can call them the Toronto Marra Leafs.
Following the loss to Hamilton, the team cleaned the stains off their uniforms and travelled down to Chatham. There, they delivered the perfect response and destroyed the Barnstormers 22-11.
Fans in Chatham will remember this one as The Marra Game.
Over the course of two innings, Justin Marra hit three home runs and racked up seven RBIs.
Dan Marra added two hits, two runs and two RBIs to the tally.
Adam Marra pitched three innings in relief of starter Sam Greene, giving up two runs on four hits to record his first win of the season.
Had a fourth Marra brother appeared to inflict further destruction, the fledgling Chatham franchise might well have folded after the game.
It was vintage, roundhouse IBL baseball from the get-go.
In the bottom of the first inning, Chatham took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Braxton Haggith.
In the second inning, both lineups went bananas. Toronto knocked starter Eric Pettipiece out of the game with seven hits and nine runs. Catcher Justin Marra hit two homers in the inning, and third baseman Johnathan Solazzo launched a three-run bomb. In the bottom of the inning the Barnstormers roared back with six runs to make it a 9-7 ballgame.
In the top of the third, reliever Catalin Morin loaded the bases, then walked in a run. That brought Justin back to the plate and he delivered the killshot: a grand slam to centerfield to make it 14-7 Leafs after three.
The Leafs piled on four more runs in the top of the fourth to go ahead 18-7.
In the bottom of the fourth, IBL home run leader Seth Strong belted his fifteenth of the season off Greene. Toronto's starter gave up one more run in the inning. His final line was four innings pitched, eleven hits, nine runs (eight earned) and three K's. After four innings the Leafs led 18-9.
Things settled down in the second half of the game. The Leafs tacked on four more runs while the Barnstormers added two. After a four-hour slugfest, the FINAL score was 22-11.
Justin Marra led with three hits and seven RBIs. He hit three round trippers, with Solazzo and right fielder Marcus Knecht each notching one. Knecht had five RBIs on the night and Solazzo four. Shortstop Jose Vinicio drove in three, second baseman Dan Marra drove in two, and left fielder Charlie Towers drove in one.
Adam Marra's three innings of relief earned him the win. Chris Nagorski and Alex Lanigan each pitched a scoreless frame to wrap things up.
Toronto 22 13 5
Chatham-Kent 11 16 1
W - A. Marra (1-1, 3.52)
L - Morin (2-1, 12.15)
Sunday, August 4, 2024 - Guelph Royals vs Toronto Maple Leafs
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| On a sweltering Sunday at Christie Pits, Charlie Towers broke up a shutout bid by the Guelph Royals with a ninth-inning RBI. |
Holiday long weekends usually mean quiet Sundays at Christie Pits.
Such was the case yesterday, on the hillsides as well as on the diamond.
A spell of midday drizzle led to a sweltering afternoon that left everyone feelish sluggish. The Bushmen - normally a contingent in the dozens - saw a single brave soul holding down the fort. After burning down the barn in Chatham the night before, the Toronto Maple Leafs played a quiet matinée against the Guelph Royals, going down to a 6-1 defeat. Even the ear-piercing cries of Toronto starter Angel Castro were muted.
It was "Boots and Bats" day, and fans and players at the Pits were accessorized in country/western style. Castro was matched up against Guelph rustler Jacob Kush, who spent the day putting goose eggs on the scoreboard. Castro was tagged for three runs in the first inning and the Royals never looked back.
Castro pitched six innings and surrendered four runs (one earned) off seven hits while striking out seven and walking one. Julian Valdez and Wilgenis Alvarado combined to pitch the final three innings of the game. Kush pitched seven scoreless and gave up just three hits. He struck out seven but walked five, even though the Leafs were unable to capitalize. They stranded 10 runners on base.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Leafs avoided being shut out. DH Ryan Dos Santos led off and was walked by Guelph reliever Yuki Narita. Pinch hitter Greg Carrington singled to move Dos Santos to second, and pinch hitter Charlie Towers singled to bring him home. On a hot, lazy afternoon, this proved to be the highlight of the game as the Leafs fell 6-1. Kush got the win and Castro took the loss.
Guelph 6 8 0
Toronto 1 5 4
W - Kush (5-1, 1.50)
L - Castro (2-5, 6.57)
Three months into the season, the weird dreams are likely to continue. The Leafs hold steady in 7th place in the IBL standings, 13 games behind the Welland Jackfish and two-and-a-half games out of the basement where the struggling Brantford Red Sox reside. The Leafs have a chance to slam the basement door shut as they have a couple of games against the Sox this week.
The week ahead:
Wednesday, August 7 - Barrie Baycats vs Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 PM at Christie Pits
Friday, August 9 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Brantford Red Sox, 8:00 PM or thereabouts at Arnold Anderson Stadium
Sunday August 11 - Brantford Red Sox vs Toronto Maple Leafs, 2:00 PM at Christie Pits
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