Back on the Beat

(but not the Twins' beat!)

The first round of the IBL playoffs was surprisingly academic – the first through fourth seeds advanced, and the fifth through eight seeds were eliminated. As I remember it, in addition to Brantford sweeping the Twins, Guelph and Barrie beat Oshawa and Kitchener respectively in five games, and Toronto knocked out the defending pennant winners (and seventh game championship losers) London.

Interestingly, Kitchener got close – very close, even – against Barrie, even if the 4-1 series win doesn’t show it. Two of their losses were by a single run, another was by 2 and the third by five. For a team that started the season 8-8 and then only won a single game the rest of the way, that ain’t bad at all.

So, the second round (semi final, actually) pairings feature Brantford against Guelph and Barrie against Toronto. Both series are already underway, and to recap:

Brantford dropped game one at home by a count of 5-1, but bounced back to win game 2 on the road 4-2. They had a week’s layover between their sweep of the Twins and game one, and let’s face it – they hadn’t had to play hard for the back half of the Twins’ series, either. Until Guelph can prove otherwise, I’m going to say that Brantford was just shaking off a bit of rust and are good to go for the rest of the playoffs.

I’m not too sure what the storyline going into the Toronto-Barrie series is. Toronto had a very see-saw six game first round against London, and there’s no question they had to be locked in all the way to the end. That would suggest to me that they carry some momentum into the Barrie series. As for the Baycats, though, I think their far-from-overpowering showing against Kitchener may have something to do with how early they clinched and the fact that they were on cruise control for what must have been a long time in a league like the IBL. Maybe the Kitchener series was just them getting back into the swing of meaningful baseball, and they could well be newly awakened giants from here on out.

Barrie won game one by a count of 8-7, so that could well bear my argument out. Game two goes tomorrow (Sunday) at Christie Pits at 2 PM, and I’m planning on being there. I fully expect an exciting game and great atmosphere tomorrow, as well as a competitive series the rest of the way!

Taking it Home

The Mississauga Twins clinched their first ever playoff berth in my first ever non-Christie Pitts road game, doing so with a 5-4 win over Kitchener. It is now mathematically impossible for the Hamilton Thunderbirds to finish the season tied with the Twins for the eighth seed – and final playoff spot – in the IBL.

The win also means that I’ll be skipping tomorrow’s home finale against Guelph in favour of the cottage – is it that tough of a choice, really? – but I’ll be back for the playoffs!

The game tonight was a bit sloppy – a few runners thrown out on awkward plays where they probably shouldn’t have been running (or obviously shouldn’t have been running, in hindsight), but that applied to both teams. Both teams loaded the bases with nobody out and failed to capitalize one time apiece, as well. Kitchener booted the ball around a bit – with crisper defence, Mississauga wouldn’t have built up the 4-0 lead that it did in the top of the first and we would be looking at an entirely different outcome (and playoff picture) right about now.

Shane Cole was as good as I’ve ever seen him, both in terms of stuff (his ball was both quick and lively) and results – he pitched five innings, only allowing three runs and picking up the W. Adam Banski pitched three awesome innings of relief (including the bottom of the ninth) and he again proved himself to be GM Kelcher’s best mid-season pick up. The Twins would literally have 2 or 3 (maybe as many as 4) fewer wins than they now do without him; giving him a chance to play again after Tommy John surgery was literally a season-saving decision on their part.

Darryl Pui hurt himself early in the game (a pulled hamstring, I’m told) and the Twins will need him back for the playoffs. Jeff Macleod, normally strictly a pitcher, filled in in right field and didn’t look a beat off tune the whole time. He was also smooth with the bat, having extra bases taken away from him by the Kitchener centre fielder late in the game.

His real contribution, though, came in the bottom of the ninth, when he hosed an ill-advised Panther who attempted to turn a single into a double at second base. It was actually a close play – I’m thinking it wasn’t altogether an awful decision by Kitchener to force the issue – and Macleod threw both a rocket and a strike to nail him. Without that throw, Kitchener would have had the tying run in scoring position with no one out and we could well still be playing.

The Twins and Panthers are now tied for seventh. I’m told, however, that Kitchener has the edge in a hypothetical tiebreaker, so if both teams lose tomorrow the seventh seed goes to them and the Twins fall to eighth.

That said, if Mississauga beats Guelph and Kitchener loses to Brantford tomorrow, the Twins finish the year with sole possession of seventh.

I’m not really sure anymore that there’s a real advantage to playing Brantford over Barrie in the first round. Mathematically, though, Toronto and Guelph are both still in the running for second place – so we’ll have to see how it all shakes out.

Oh yes – I didn’t update the blog to reflect some scheduling changes made on Sunday: the Twins did wind up getting in their make-up against Brantford, playing in Brantford on Monday night and losing 7-1. They were sloppy in doing so, making four errors over the course of the game.

The playoff schedule is still very much up in the air – the tentative (home) schedule that I saw had the Twins at home on Monday the 3rd, and then the following Wednesday and Saturday. But tonight there were rumours of a Saturday home game (which will be tougher for me to make, but I just might still do it anyways), so at this point I really don’t know.

I’ll try to update the blog to inform ya’ll of the dates and times of the Twins’ home games once they are confirmed, though!