TORONTO \u2014 Like fellow 22-year-old Trey Yesavage, Matthew Knies was a late-season call-up who had tiptoed through only three regular-season games before making his playoff splash for Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that doesn\u2019t mean Knies will dare equate his own rookie situation with the Maple Leafs in 2023 to young Yesavage\u2019s no-hit performance for the Blue Jays in Sunday\u2019s 13-7 romp over the New York Yankees in the American League Divisional Series.<\/p>\n
\u201cPitcher is so much different. There\u2019s so much pressure on you. You control the whole game. I had a lot of guys to help me carry me in that game. He\u2019s by himself on the mound. So, it\u2019s pretty impressive he did that,\u201d beams Knies, one of a suite full of Leafs in attendance for Game 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was sick. I watched the grand slam and seven or eight home runs. Pretty sick to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
As was the scene in most local workplaces Monday morning, Leafs headquarters was still buzzing about the Blue Jays\u2019 statement weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard (Yesavage) started the season in single-A or something. How crazy is that?\u201d pipes longtime Jays fan Steven Lorentz, who attended \u201ca bunch\u201d of games at Rogers Centre this summer. \u201cPretty good year for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rare in these parts, with 48 hours remaining before their home opener, that the Maple Leafs aren\u2019t the hottest ticket in town.<\/p>\n
And so, as part of one final team-bonding excursion prior to puck drop, the hockey players are drawing inspiration from what their brethren on the west side of York Street are accomplishing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn unreal vibe in the city. The way the boys played, it was an unbelievable atmosphere,\u201d says John Tavares.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Toronto native says he got \u201cgoosebumps\u201d seeing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. smash a second-deck grand slam and the ice-veined Yesavage deal 11 strikeouts in five-plus innings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A good day at the ballpark has accelerated the itch for Wednesday\u2019s showdown versus the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou take it in from a different perspective, right? Going in and enjoying the game and being a fan, it gives you a different perspective,\u201d Tavares continues. \u201cA great way to finish off training camp and enjoy the playoff baseball the Jays have brought to the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a great way to come together, enjoy the city, and enjoy how much Torontonians love their team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A baseball fan since boyhood, Leafs coach Craig Berube has been down to the Dome a few times over the summer, chatting with Jays manager John Schneider, rightfielder George Springer, and others. Berube had tickets to Game 2 as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I gave them to my kids to go \u2014 because I\u2019m a good dad. I stayed on the couch and watched,\u201d Berube chuckles. \u201cGo Jays. They\u2019re looking great, and it was a great game to watch. And I was glad all our guys went and got together. It\u2019s always good for them. But we\u2019re all proud of the Jays and cheering for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
And probably cheering for them to dispatch the Yankees in Game 3 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, the Leafs\u2019 home opener will surely be Toronto\u2019s second-most-relevant sporting event on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen teams are doing well here, the whole city is going to know it. It\u2019s good to see a big crowd,\u201d Lorentz says, excitedly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m sure all the bars are packed. Everyone watching the game, it\u2019s always good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Like fellow 22-year-old Trey Yesavage, Matthew Knies was a late-season call-up who had tiptoed through only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-193561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}