'Some people would rather die than think' - Bertrand Russell

Look, Bertrand makes a pretty good point in the above quote and hopefully it inspires everyone to get a library membership, check out a couple of book and attempt to get your grey matter churning. On the other hand, when you have a baseball academic like the Defensive Specialist doing all the heavy lifting, who needs to think? So sit back, soak up what the Defensive Specialist is breaking down and get smarter by osmosis – its that simple.

There are always a few doubters out there, people who for whatever reason and despite all evidence refuse to believe. As a means to prove the Defensive Specialists brain power perhaps now is an opportune time to discuss the series predictions the Defensive Specialist threw out before the first round of fixtures: 

• Perth Heat Vs. Brisbane Bandits- you’re old pal predicted a 3-1 series win to the Heat. And the actual result? Yep you guessed it, 3-1 to the Heat. TICK. The Heat went to Brisvegas, dropped game 1 then reeled off 3 consecutive wins to take the series.
• Melbourne Aces Vs. Adelaide Bite – continuing the Midas touch, the Defensive Specialist called a 3-1 series win to the Bite. TICK……. Oh wait, the Defensive Specialist capitulated and hedged his bets by calling a 2-2 series result. Mental Midget. Didn't matter, the Bite swept the series.
• Canberra Multiculturalists Vs. Sydney Blue Sox – ok, this whole exercise is doing the Defensive Specialist no favours by this stage. The prediction was a 3-1 series victory to the Blue Sox and it almost looked like it may happen in the last game as the Multiculturalists came out firing. Unfortunately for the Defensive Specialist’s credibility, the Blue Sox had too much firepower and too much pitching which resulted in a win and a series sweep. 

So that didn’t help, but as Theodore de Bouville said “Those who do nothing are never wrong”. With that in mind, lets do something, lets delve deeper into the Defensive Specialist’s game notes and come up with a couple of key insights in a post we here at Deep in the Hole like to call “What has the Defensive Specialist Learnt?”

1. Having an Ace is important. Yeah, the Defensive Specialist knows this was a key learning from last week, but as Chris Oxspring demonstrated again, having a big arm that can chew up a chunk of innings not only gives your ball club a chance to win each time out but also spares the bullpen, which is critical over a 4 game series. You need only look at recent World Series victors the San Francisco Giants, who rode their 3 guns to a championship with rag tag offensive support, to understand how important good starting pitching is. Oxspring was a little rocky early on, giving up a big fly to Nick Kimpton but once he settled he was lights out and in command through 8 innings. He maintained his velocity and even flirted with 92 mph twice during the game.

As an additional highlight for readers, the Defensive Specialist stumbled across this pretty cool video detailing the Multiculturalists opening game. However it gets even better at the 7.51 minute mark when Multiculturalist manager Steve Schrenk says to an unidentified player (who very much resembles Nick Kimpton):

“That Oxspring is probably the best pitcher in the league.”

To which Kimpton replies:

“You know what, he’s not that good.”

Ahh Nick, you may have taken him yard, but he’s just shoved the bat up your team’s rectum on two occasions now. It’s safe to assume that Oxspring may have that little sound bite stored in his memory bank for future reference.

2. The Multiculturalists need to get their staff in order. Look it’s early in the season and you’d expect teams to be a little rough and tumble early on, but as the Canberra team demonstrated, if you don’t get solid starting pitching early on a series can unravel mightily quickly. Steve Kent has the potential to be an ace, but if he can’t go more than two innings per outing he is leaving the bullpen exposed over the course of a contest. As the Defensive Specialist mentioned in an earlier post, perhaps his best use would be out of the pen to lock down any leads the Multiculturalists may have.

3. A position battle may be brewing in the Blue Sox camp. A reader launched a vociferous campaign in support of Alex Johnson who made his ABL debut in game 3 of the series and hit a big 3 run bomb in game 4. The basis of the argument was that he provides more with the bat that Pat ‘Stone Hands’ Maat which definitely was the case in this series just gone. Stone Hand’s bat looked slow and sluggish and he really laboured to catch up to mid 80’s fastballs. Johnson on the other hand looked dialed in during his AB’s with consistently hard contact. Adding to his case, he looked serviceable at first base. In Stone Hand’s defence (and that term is used very loosely when discussing Stone Hands), he has a proven track record at this level and surprised the Defensive Specialist with his outing behind the plate, displaying good receiving skills and a strong arm.

So what’s a manager to do? Well skipper Glenn Williams really has 4 of the same sort of player – that is, big corn-fed mules. Andy Graham, Stone Hands, Johnson and the Bossman are all solid units who look to pull fastballs and contribute limited amounts on defence (Graham contributes a bit more behind the plate admittedly). At the moment Johnson and the Bossman are the ones bringing it offensively (although it looks like Moanaroa will hit sporadically against lefties) so you’d have to say both have earned longer looks. Perhaps you platoon Stone Hands and the Bossman and let Johnson play out his hot hand. It’s not the worst scenario for a manager to have – 4 guys competing for 3 spots (C, 1B, DH).

4. If the Korean imports don’t start to hit, the Multiculturalists may need to send an envoy to the local embassy to keep the peace because there could be some foreign relation disasters after they get sent packing. Moon, Lee and Jang all had a woeful series with Moon registering 2 hits, Lee 1 and Jang taking the schnide. All 3 guys bail out on almost every swing meaning that from time to time they may run into something and hit it hard but for the most part they’re out in front rolling over the ball or missing it altogether. Lee and Moon seem to run ok, but its not like they’re even putting the ball in play consistently. If the Multiculturalists want to get anywhere, they need their Korean connection to figure it out and start hitting.

5. The catcher pop up may be dying art. The Defensive Specialist woke up on Sunday morning with a crick in his neck as a result of cringing too hard when both coaches butchered every attempt at the dime piece. It’s like everything in life really – practice makes perfect. Get a crate of balls, stand at home plate and don’t leave until your hands are bleeding and you’re consistently drilling balls 200 feet in the air and bouncing them on home plate. The Defensive Specialist is looking to clear his schedule in order to conduct a one on one workshop on the art of the pop up. Details and pricing to come.

6. Although their pitching has a lot of question marks, the Multiculturalists have the makings of a decent offensive ballclub. The addition of Michael Collins was always going to be big and he demonstrated his worth immediately going a lazy 6 for 11. Kimpton is a tough hitter and as the video demonstrates a confident one who’ll provide solid output in the middle of the order. If Didi Gregorious manages to put the ball in play and get on base he’ll do some damage with his speed. Until Moon figures out how to hit, the Defensive Specialist would be tempted to plug Andrew Schmidt into the 2 hole as he seems to be a scrapper who’ll find a way to get on. Donald Lutz has some pop, and Tom Vincent proved he can knock it around. And don’t forget D Wash is hidden on their roster, just waiting for an opportunity!

7. The Defensive Specialist wasn’t in attendance and usually doesn’t include 3^rd party information in “What has the Defensive Specialist Learnt”, but after seeing the result of the Adelaide Melbourne series, you’d have to say that either the Bite are the second coming of the Bronx Bombers or the Aces are a little underdone on the mound. The Bite put a legitimate beat down on the Aces and while the Defensive Specialist would like to think that we may have an offensive juggernaut on our hands this season, word from those in attendance suggests that the Aces just couldn’t compete on the mound. It will be interesting to see what the Aces can do to right the ship because no one would have predicted that last year’s champ would have been beaten like a rented mule in the first series of the season.

The Defensive Specialist will not be in attendance at any series next weekend due to Deep in the Hole budgetary constraints so if there are any philanthropists out there who enjoy reading unbelievably comprehensive baseball reviews, the Defensive Specialist is more than happy to accept your donation and make the trip. But do not fret, even if no sugar daddy steps forward with access to their private jet, the Defensive Specialist will still conjure some magic and provide your weekly baseball fix!