Leafs Rampage in Season Finale

Game 32: Brantford Red Sox at Toronto Maple Leafs, August 5, 2018 (rescheduled rainout)

Leafs win 20-7

Peaks and valleys, peaks and valleys. Every baseball season has them.

You want valleys? How about a ten-game losing streak for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the final month of the IBL season. By the end of the July slump, the Leafs had fallen out of the upper echelon of the standings and they found themselves battling to secure a decent playoff spot. During the ordeal, your humble correspondent spent many a night cursing the sport for ever being invented.

Well, July is over and the Leafs are playing a new tune. Vivat August!

The Leafs surfed into a new month on a pair of wins, clinching 4th place and a first round playoff matchup against the Guelph Royals with home field advantage. Peaking at the right time.

Yesterday, the Leafs absolutely pulverized the Brantford Red Sox, 20-7. Leading the pulverization was Grant Tamane (above), one of the Leafs' most reliable players in the clutch.

In his five seasons with the Leafs, Tamane has done virtually everything for the team. Dependable starter. Flexible backup. Super-utility guy. Playoff hero. He's done everything except pitch and yell "HEADS UP ON THE HILL" during play.

When the occasion demanded it, Tamane delivered again. He went 4-for-6 on the day and drove in six runs to lead the rampage.

Brantford actually led this game at one point. A couple of errors in the outfield and a wild pitch by starter Will Newton gifted the Red Sox a run in the top of the first.

The Leafs loaded the bases in the bottom of the first. Rightfielder Greg Carrington singled to drive in a run, and then Tamane drove in two more with a single to make it a 3-1 ballgame after one.

In the top of the third, a bases-loaded single by Daniel Jagdeo tied the game 3-3.

The Leafs started the bottom of the third with three straight singles. That brought Tamane to the plate again, and he hit a two-run single. Another run came in courtesy of an error that allowed DH Daniel Szpik to reach first safely. With two men on, first baseman Mike Reeves came to the plate, and he smashed the first pitch from Brantford starter Blake Kauer for a three-run homer. Six runs gave Toronto a 9-3 lead after three.

Nick DaSilva pitched a scoreless fourth inning in relief of Newton before turning it over to Adam Marra. Over the next three innings, the Red Sox would scrape out four runs to make it a 9-7 game through six-and-a-half innings of play.

At that point, the Red Sox moved Kauer to right field and outfielder Andris Rizquez to the mound. These moves were not sound. Three walks loaded the bases, and a run scored when third baseman Johnathan Solazzo grounded into a double play for Toronto's tenth run of the game.

The real damage came in the bottom of the eighth. The Leafs sent 14 men to the plate and battered Brantford pitching for 10 runs. Depending on your rooting interest, everything that could go wrong went wrong, or everything that could go right went right. Brantford committed three errors in the inning, and Toronto scored double digits on just four hits. Everybody got something -- even the ballpark's rogue scorekeeper, who won a free oil change in the coffee pot draw.

Andrew Simonetti calmly pitched the final two innings for Toronto to lock down the 20-7 FINAL.

Tamane and Reeves were the batting leaders on the day, combining for nine RBIs. Carrington went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Solazzo, left fielder Justin Marra, and catcher Zac Orchard each drove in a run.

And so, for the first time since 2014, The Toronto Maple Leafs and Brantford Red Sox will not face each other in the opening round of the IBL playoffs. As mentioned above, the Mapes will take on the Monarchists of Guelph with home field advantage for the first round. 


Brantford 7-12-4
Toronto 20-13-5

W - DaSilva (1-0, 1.12)
L - Kauer (0-1, 9.52)


BOXSCORE


The 16-19 Leafs finish the season in 4th place in the IBL standings. Stay tuned for the 2018 Maple Leafs leaderboard and playoff preview.

A Delicious Win

Game 19: Toronto Maple Leafs at Burlington Herd, August 2, 2018 (rescheduled rainout)

Leafs win 5-3 (11 innings)

R.J. Page was hungry.

We were into the fourth hour of last night's ballgame at Nelson Park. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Burlington Herd had been deadlocked at 2-2 since the second inning. The night was dragging on with no end in sight.

The tenth inning had just wrapped up, still tied. Page made his way to the cooler behind the Leafs bench to assemble a snack. 

The game had started under partly cloudy skies with some flashes of sun. The Herd jumped on starter Justin Cicatello for two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Toronto got those two runs right back. First baseman/manager Damon Topolie led off the top of the second with a double. Centerfielder Zac Orchard was up next, and he reached safely when Burlington starter Trent Lunsford threw wild to first on a grounder. Topolie scored on the play. Orchard moved to third on a bunt by rightfielder Greg Carrington, then scored on a wild pitch to make it a 2-2 game through two.

Now, hours later, I watched as Page put some ham, lettuce, pickles and other good stuff on a nice bun.

It wasn't as if the Leafs hadn't had about a hundred chances to break the tie. Other than the second inning when they scored two runs, they had stranded runners on base every inning, racking up 14 LOBs through ten.

I don't believe in superstitions, jinxes or the other hoodoo that haunts an athlete's day from the moment they step out of bed, but something happened right after Page clapped those pieces of bread together.

Second baseman Dan Marra led off the eleventh with a walk, bringing leftfielder Justin Marra up to the plate. Justin worked the count to two balls and two strikes, then detonated the next pitch with his bat. The ball shot high into the night sky, soaring well over the right field fence. Orchard knew it was gone right away, and threw his hands up (above). A split second later, he and the rest of his teammates spilled out to welcome the Marras back to the bench. Page was beaming, for in his hand he held a new talisman of power -- the Rally Sandwich -- and it was delicious.

The inning wasn't over yet. Catcher Garrett Takamatsu doubled and came around to score on a single by Topolie. That made it 5-2 for the Leafs with the Herd down to their final three outs.

After his first inning hiccup, Cicatello kept Burlington off the board and departed after the seventh. Marek Deska, Dustin Richardson and Andrew Simonetti had combined to pitch three scoreless innings. Simonetti returned to the mound for the bottom of the eleventh. After the leadoff batter grounded out, the Herd got three straight singles and scored a run, but a double play ended the game for a 5-3 FINAL.

Simonetti got the win -- possibly the last one that the Leafs will ever notch at Nelson Park, as relocation rumblings have been coming out of Burlington in recent weeks.

Hopefully the Leafs will bring culinary provisions to every game from here on in.


Toronto 5-11-0
Burlington 3-8-2
(11 innings)

W - Simonetti (1-1, 3.75)
L - Bouillere-Howard (4-4, 5.48)


BOXSCORE


With a 15-19 record, the Leafs sit in a tie with the Guelph Royals for 4th place in the IBL standings. They return to Christie Pits this Sunday afternoon, August 5, for a makeup game against the Brantford Red Sox.

Home Plate Demolition Night

Game 36: Barrie Baycats at Toronto Maple Leafs, August 1, 2018 

(Play suspended in the 3rd inning)

Dark skies and swirling weed. Kids running on the field. The playing surface wrecked and unplayable.

Those were the scenes at Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in the summer of 1979.

Those were also, to a much milder extent, the scenes at Christie Pits, 39 years later.

The Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Barrie Baycats last night for the final Wednesday nighter of the regular season. There was plenty on the line. Both Toronto's place in the IBL standings and their first-round playoff opponent are yet to be determined.

So the Leafs took the field on a muggy night, shortly after a brief sprinkle of rain.

Zach Sloan was on the mound for the Mapes against Emilis Guerrero for Barrie. Both starters worked a pair of scoreless innings to start the game.

In the top of the third, the Baycats got on the board with a run as Ryan Spataro crossed home plate. That would be the last baseball action of the night.

As fans looked on from all around the park, a crowd gathered around the plate. It had come loose from its moorings. It had been newly-installed that morning, but the glue underneath had not fully set. 

We waited. Players, umpires, coaches and field staff gathered around like a team of conferring surgeons. No amount of manipulation, stomping or pleading could get the plate back into place.

During the delay, attempts were made to contact city staff for emergency repair work. Players intermingled in small groups. Fans bantered. Glenn Jackson's kids ran the bases.

After a half hour of delay, it was determined that the plate could not be repaired that night. The game was suspended, Home Plate Demolition Night was born, and it just as suddenly came to an abrupt end.

The game will be resumed if necessary to determine the final league standings.


Barrie 1-3-0
Toronto 0-2-0
(play suspended in the 3rd inning)


The Leafs play their final road game of the regular season tonight at Nelson Park against the Burlington Herd. First pitch is at 7:15.