Check Swing: Quick Hits, Unfinal Battle
Carlos Verde is back with this week's edition of Check Swing
The Lead Off
Firstly, I owe an apology to the London Majors who have stormed to a 3-0 start: Roop Chanderdat’s club has its usual stud imports and I neglected to include them in my Welland-Barrie 1-2 punch prediction last week. The Majors face a challenging week with the Jackfish at home (Friday) and Baycats on the road (Saturday), but could very well be for real.
London’s Toby Simmons, just 20 years old and less than a year removed from the Marlins system, would be the early front-runner for Rookie of the Year if he were eligible (ROTY need to be Canadian and not previously signed to a pro-contract); the Bahamian can hit (.583), hit for power (three XBH in 12 trips), run and defend.
Dress to Impress
Credit to Ben Davy and Julius Hern, the Barrie broadcasters who went full-jacket in 22-degree weather for the Baycats’ home opener. Classy gentlemen who call an excellent, well-informed game up Hwy. 400.
Josh Matlow’s Barrie squad, however, has stumbled out of the gate and will hope its upcoming three-game home stand (Guelph, London, C-K) at the newly-named Athletic Kulture Stadium will offer an opportunity to right the ship.
The New (Old?) Pedro
Veteran Dominican left-hander Pedro De Los Santos appears to have found new life in Brantford, pitching to a sparkling 0.75 ERA through two starts and earning Pitcher of the Week honours.
Though far removed from his days as a Mets farmhand, a healthy De Los Santos could still very much alter the outlook of Brantford’s season if he can maintain his form from 2021, when he went 7-2 with a 2.19 ERA for London.
Closer Slash Closer
Dustin Richardson is unique, not just in the Intercounty where his 6-6 lefty frame and major league pedigree stand out but in baseball generally: It’s not every day a team’s closer is also its general manager.
How the big lefty manages this year’s roster in conjunction with field manager Rob Butler will be interesting; the Leafs have been rotating pitchers through an inning or two of work thus far, in lieu of a proper pre-season. What the rotation — and back end of the bullpen — will look like come August remains to be seen.
From the Vault: The Unfinal Battle
London's wild 16-15 win over the Leafs on Sunday at Christie took nearly four and a half hours to complete, and reminded this observer of a little-remembered slice of IBL goodness known as The Unfinal Battle.
For those who have not previously experienced ‘The Battle’, it has everything: Excitable Rogers TV announcers inventing calls on the fly — “spanked it, tanked it, drank it” is a personal favourite — hilarious errors and a sparse crowd at Christie all culminate in a glorious moment.
At 12:09 a.m., with the score tied 19-19 in the 12th inning and approximately four fans remaining on the bleachers, the camera zooms in on Burlington's runner at first base when:
“Ohhh! The lights have gone out here folks!”
The City of Toronto waits for no man, not even 18 engaged in an IBL playoff game, and the disgruntled parks and rec employee snapped the teams out of their five-hour haze.
Less than 24 hours later, the game resumed in Burlington; the Twins plated a pair of runs to make The Unfinal Battle’s final 21-19 — in a playoff game! Bandits third baseman Ryan Asis had nine plate appearances; Kyle DeGrace and Jon Waltenbury each had eight for Toronto, which would go on to win the series 4-2 and face Brantford in the second round.
When the lights cut out, the Leafs first baseman in the frame of Rogers TV’s shot? Jordan Castaldo, who 15 years later is hitting .500 for the Leafs. Time is a flat circle in the IBL.
The final word goes fittingly to The Battle’s colour commentator, his name lost to time, after the lights went out: “I’ve got ants in my pants, and I wanna dance!”
The Intercounty, indeed, brings out the best in all of us.