Savin’ Me

What an interesting week in Australian baseball. We had the upstart Canberra Cavalry landing in Perth and stealing 3 out of 4 from the previously undefeated Heat. We had the Blue Sox taking steps to right their season by winning 3 out of 4 against the Bandits (with a little hand from their fans) We had Adelaide and Melbourne split even though slugger Denny Almonte dropped 12 rbi’s on the Aces across the 4 game series.

Unfortunately, all of that was over shadowed by even bigger news – Aussie big leaguer Peter Moylan getting into a Twitter stoush with the rock band Nickelback. Seems Moylan was suitably inspired by a recent Foo Fighters gig to call out Nickelback:

"Note to @nickelback please attend a @foofighters concert. That's how's it should be done chad,"

Unfortunately for Moylan, Nickelback fired back and fired back in style!

"@PeterMoylan Foos are killer for sure. We're doing just fine too thanks. ? for you Pete, is watching Kimbrel better from the bench or on TV?"

Zing!

Nickelback 1, Moylan 0

Anyway, enough injured relief pitchers and Canadian soft rock bands; lets get back to the ABL.

Heat V Cavalry

The Defensive Specialist suggested in a recent post that the Heat’s recent foibles in Asia could lead to a Cavalry upset. Unfortunately your old pal also predicted that the winless trip abroad would fire the Heat up and lead to a demolition of the Canberra outfit…  Canberra were having none of that, shutting down the Heat offensively in the first 3 games and having their way with the Heat pitching staff to the tune of 25 runs in the first 3 games.

Blue Sox V Bandits

Keen meteorologists will tell you that Sydney is currently in the midst of the coldest December in recent memory. As a result, the Blue Sox faced the proposition of playing the Bandits in wet and wild conditions. While the inclement weather threatened the contest across the weekend it also allowed the Blue Sox to expand their roster to 145 as the local fans came out onto the field to assist pulling the field tarp across the diamond.  In more serious news, the weekend saw the Blue Sox take steps towards respectability by adding 4 games to the win column. The key additions of Mitch Denning, Joe Hage and Brandon Barnes paid dividends immediately and manager Kevin Boles will hope and pray this newfound offense can be sustained.

Bite V Aces

Adelaide will be less than impressed after splitting a home series with the last placed Melbourne team although centerfielder Denny Almonte definitely gave the home fans something to talk about, exploding for 12 rbi’s across the series The highlight was obviously game 2 when he hit a grand slam, mixed in an RBI single and them ended the game with a walk off 3 run blast. That’s the sort of game you hang your hat on!

Denny Almonte enjoying a big series

  

After 5 years of continued success and prosperity in Sydney, the Defensive Specialist is pleased to announce that the entire Deep in the Hole operation will be relocating to Western Australia as of next week. While the logistics of moving a franchise are daunting, the Defensive Specialist is confident that a seamless transition can be made. The Defensive Specialist has a  a single Blue Sox season membership available to anyone who’s interested, simply drop the Defensive Specialist an email with your mailing address and it’ll be sent through at no cost – well actually there will be a cost, you’ll likely be accosted by autograph hounds who’ll mistake you for Australia’s preeminent baseball blogger – don’t worry, you’ll grow to love it!

Stinky Tofu and Baseball – The Asian Series

With no baseball taking place in the Emerald City this weekend, the Defensive Specialist was forced to camp out in front of the Deep in the Hole Super Computer with a bowl of Stinky Tofu to watch the Perth Heat take part in the Asian Baseball Series. Aside from the fact the commentary was in Taiwanese, it was a surprisingly pleasant experience.  The camera work was professional, the graphics were solid and best of all there was a message board in real time next to the screen which allowed the Defensive Specialist to road test all of the gags you’ll read throughout this post.

(Editors note: the message board was non-English speaking)

The Asian Series came at an interesting time for the Heat – smack bang as they’ve reeled off 11 consecutive wins and shaped as the form team of the competition. While the Defensive Specialist is sure Heat Manager Brooke Knight would have liked to stay downunder to continue punishing the local teams, the Asian Series did present an opportune time to showcase the Australian Baseball League and to measure up against Asia Pacific’s best teams.

Unfortunately the Asian holiday didn’t run to script as the Heat dropped all 3 of their games. Other than a blow out late in game 1, the contests remained fairly close and the WA lads will take some comfort out of knowing that they can compete at that level. What the series did do was raise a couple of questions that your old pal has some thoughts on:

1) How will losing 3 games affect the Heat when they get back to business in the ABL?

Interesting question and one that the Defensive Specialist is glad he asked himself. Momentum is a HUGE thing in baseball and the Heat had a whole lot of it after they finished boat racing the Blue Sox in Sydney last week. The vast majority of the offensive line up was hotter than hell fire and the pitching staff had looked sharp throughout the series. The jaunt to Asia probably didn’t come at the best time and may have 1 of 2 results when the Heat return to action

A) The 3 losses will shake the Heat’s confidence and Canberra will ride into town to steal a couple of ballgames from the Heat on their home turf;

Or

B) The Heat will return home, somewhat embarrassed after dropping all three games and drop a severe beat down on the Cavalry in revenge.

You often hear teams that are running off a ridiculous winning streak state that the first loss was almost necessary. That’s an easy thing to say immediately after an L but when you think about it, it does make some sense. Winning multiple games in a row can often allow complacency to creep in and see teams going through the motions.  The advantage the Heat has is that the games they’ve lost mean nothing (other than a blow to the Australian baseball psyche). The net result may be that the Heat evaluate some of their weaknesses, make the necessary adjustments and get back on the horse this weekend (and yes that was a clever metaphor about the Heat pumping the Cavalry).

2) What did the 3 losses expose in the Perth Heat?

Defense, defense, defense

The Heat may swing it with the best of them but their defense hurt them at almost every turn. 9 errors in 3 games is just not going to get it done when you’re playing a quality opponent and with a pitching staff that relies on command and control rather than brute force, additional outs are not so easily overcome with the strike out.

Mitch Graham's hitting is outperforming his defense

While shortstop Mitch Graham has been a revelation at the plate early in the season (.435 AVG, 4 HR, 16 RBIs, 10 runs), his unreliability in the field (6 errors on the season, 2 during the Asian Series) at a premium position is something that the team cannot afford. Manager Knight obviously saw about as much as he could stomach as Graham finished out the Asian Series at second with Mychal Givens taking over at short. Moving forward second base may be a much better fit for Graham (assuming Givens can handle short) but this poses a problem with Luke Hughes returning eventually. If Graham continues to hit, it’s a nice problem to have!

3) Was the Heat pitching staff exposed in Taiwan?

Simply – No

As stated above, the Heat doesn’t have a staff full of guys who blow 94mph but what they do have is a bunch of guys who can pitch. By pitch the Defensive Specialist means they throw strikes, work quickly and limit the damage. Both Ben Moore and Trevor Caughey yielded only 1 earned run (unearned runs were a different story) and while Daniel Schmidt was a little less effective than normal he only gave up 3 unearned. The Heat bullpen could really do with a power arm or two because the plethora of finesse guys has a tendency to all blend into one meaning that hitters can sit on a certain speed however the return or Brendan Wise at some stage definitely boosts the Heat pen. At the end of the day, the Heat proved last year that the control guys who ate up innings were the way to the Championship so why deviate from a proven formula?

Ben Moore provided another solid outing

No matter the result, the Asian Series is a great opportunity to showcase baseball and specifically the ABL. While it would have been great to win a couple of ball games, the break from regular competition could be the revitalizing shot the Heat need…… or it could completely derail their season. We’ll soon see.