Blindfolded Darts

As expected, the Defensive Specialist got a less than resounding response from General Managers in regards to line ups and projected starting rotations. Obviously things are a little hectic in each of their offices as they prepare for their season openers however Deep in the Hole wasn’t voted “Australia’s Greatest Baseball Blog” because it looks good. No, it requires solid content so if you happen to know a GM, manager or coach tell them to hook the Defensive Specialist up. In fact, even if you don’t know a GM, manager or coach make every effort to corner them the next time you see them and brow beat them until they hook the Defensive Specialist up. It’s in their best interest…and yours.

Adelaide Bite Manager Tony Harris and Perth Heat Manager Brooke Knight were kind enough to share some thoughts on their teams make up as they head into battle so that helps the situation. As for the Bandits and the Aces, well the Defensive Specialist is just going to have to freestyle on it and hope the dart hits the board!

Aces V Bite

Adelaide Bite

Once the Defensive Specialist recovered from the shock inflicted by Harris’ admission that he’d never read Deep in the Hole, it was time to get down to business – actually the Defensive Specialist spent 30 minutes telling Harris how he would benefit from having Australia’s leading baseball blog saved in his bookmark menu. It’s common knowledge that lefty Paul Mildren will get the start for the Bite since his mug appears on the nifty new ABL website as the projected starter. Mildren had a fantastic season last year in the ABL and is expected to anchor the Bite rotation as staff ace. Darren Fidge, the ageless warrior gets the ball in game 2 of the series and will hope that his 36-year-old body can withstand the rigours of battle. After that Harris was a little cagey as to how things will play out. Having the likes of last year’s finals hero Ryan Murphy available to start or relieve provides a great deal of flexibility as Harris could use him to lock down potential wins in games 1 & 2 or back him up to start a game later in the series. Dushan Ruzic and Seattle import Brandon Maurer provide similar opportunities although Maurer is slowly working back into game shape so his output is likely to be limited.

Assuming that Ruzic makes a start and Maurer is restricted, the bullpen strikes the Defensive Specialist as a little short on arms. The Bite will be hoping that their starters can stretch it out because if it’s turned over to the pen early in the series it could be completely gassed by game 4.

Offensively Brandon Bantz will start behind the plate with Stefan Welch and import Todd Gossage engaging in a game of rock, paper, scissors prior to BP to determine who plays first and who gets third. Matthew Smith and Jeremy Cresswell form the double play combination albeit a light hitting one. Imports Quincy Latimore and James McOwen will be in left and centre respectively with an arm wrestle between Tom Brice and Daniel Wilson deciding who gets to play rightfield. Much to the Defensive Specialist’s relief, Ben Wigmore gets to leave his concrete laden glove in his equipment bag and concentrate on being a professional hitter as a DH.

Harris wouldn’t go so far as spelling out a hitting line up but Latimore appears to have some pop so you’d expect him to anchor the middle of the order with Welch, McOwen, Gossage and Bantz filling out the rest around him. The Bite dont look bad on paper as an offensive team although the middle of the infield is extremely light hitting

Melbourne Aces

Righto, here we go. Two things we do know, Adam Blackley is going in game 1 and Justin Huber will hit in the 3 hole. After that it’s all an educated guess. Fortunately, the Defensive Specialist is highly educated. You’d have to assume that some combination of Matthew Blackmore (after his solid year last season) and Donovan Hendriks will see action as a starter, with one of the Japanese arms to fill out the last spot. The bullpen seems solid with a healthy Asian infusion and old pro Adam Bright to go after lefties.

Offensively Huber will anchor the line up with Matthew Lawman, Josh Davies and Andrew Russell all looking to continue last year’s form. Grant Karlsen is likely to be behind the dish with the two Japanese imports featuring somewhere in the mix.

And that’s really about all the Defensive Specialist has to offer on the Aces without any idea of how they’ll line up. See how a little cooperation goes a long way? In better news, they’re still carrying 16 coaches on their staff so expect a plethora of signals.

As for a series prediction? Well its going to be close because the Aces can bang it around and pitch it but the Defensive Specialist is going to climb on the Bite at home and suggest that they’ll take the series 3-1. We haven’t seen their imports in full effect but the heart of the order looks promising and they may jump on the Aces right out of the gate.  Of course if Mildren or Fidge get shelled early on and the bullpen comes into play in games 1 or 2 then all bets are off. Ok 3-1 seems a little ballsy when last year’s champ is in play so lets go 2-2.

Heat V Bandits

Perth Heat

The Heat plan to roll out a rotation of Liam Baron, Daniel Schmidt, import Cole McCurry and Warwick Saupold against the Bandits across the 4 game series. There are a lot of question marks on offer right there such as:

How will Liam Baron handle the responsibility of staff ace? How will youngster Warwick Saupold handle the pressure of an ABL start? And how many innings can McCurry provide? After the starters the Heat have Liam Hendriks, Brett Jacobson and Dean White out of the pen and then a bunch of youngsters all looking to prove themselves. The Defensive Specialist is sure Heat Manager Knight would love to have Hendriks’ live arm in the rotation and will likely have him available for only one outing in the series meaning that he’ll have to be used carefully.

The Heat will plug Luke Hughes into the 3 or 4 hole and hope that he fares better than he did in the warm up games where he punched out at an alarming rate (admittedly it was the first live action that he’d seen in months). Hughes will play second with Mitch Graham at short, import Evan McCarthur at third and Matt Kennelly at first. Brandon Dale will play centre, with import Robbie Widlansky in left and some combination of Elliot Hargreaves and Darcy Doyle in right. Allan De San Miguel will take charge behind the plate with old-timer Clint Balgera staying as far away from the defensive side of the game as possible and DH’ing.

Brisbane Bandits

The Defensive Specialist attempted to contact the Bandits on Wednesday afternoon but Optus advised that the number had been disconnected or was no longer active. As a result, the Defensive Specialist will have to provide a guestimate on how the Bandits will go about it for this series.

According to the Defensive Specialist’s Queensland source, James Albury is penciled in as the game 1 starter with Simon Morriss getting the ball in game 2. Both had fairly rocky seasons last year in the Claxton Shield. Drew Naylor is not on the roster, which is a big loss, but Phil Stockman and Ryan Searle provide power arms out of the pen. One of the Japanese imports is rumoured to have dialed it up to 95 in his one inning of pre-season work but unfortunately the Defensive Specialist isn’t sure which one it was (Yamada or Chikada) although the Defensive Specialist is prepared to guess that Perth left-handed hitters are going to have a real treat hitting against fuel the first time out in the season as both imports are left-handed. The Bandits’ pen actually looks to be a strong point so if the offense can scratch out some runs they’ll be competitive.

Offensively it’s a crapshoot for the Defensive Specialist. Joel Naughton is a certainty behind the plate and you’d expect youngster Alan Schoenberger to get a run. Fresh off his marriage to Lee Furlong, Shayne Watson will be looking to build on his 2009/2010 campaign in the outfield and Japanese imports Fukuda and Nakamura will make an appearance somewhere. As per the Melbourne Aces, the Defensive Specialist really doesn’t have much else he can bring to the table on this one.

Series prediction you ask? The Bandits pitching staff is a lot stronger than many expected but the offense looks positively anemic (unless the Japanese hitters are the second coming of Sadaharu Oh and Ichiro). The Heat probably has the weakest rotation they’ve rolled out in some time but their offense looks relatively strong especially with Luke Hughes in it. As for an outcome, how about the Heat 3-1?

The Defensive Specialist is keen to hear from readers regarding the series openers on Thursday night (game, atmosphere, entertainment, talent etc) so by all mean hit the email or comments box. The Defensive Specialist will be back on Friday with a series preview of the Multiculturalists V Blue Sox series.