'Complexity creates confusion, simplicity, focus.' Edward de Bono

We live in a world loaded with information thanks to the ease with which technology delivers it to us and if that sounds a little deep for you on a Monday night / Tuesday morning, take a deep swig of your drink / coffee and consider your old pal on Saturday night. The Defensive Specialist basked in a downpour of information as he sat and watched the Blue Sox take on the Heat. Thanks to the wonders of the modern world, the Defensive Specialist watched the ball game while writing a blog post, checking the scores of other games, registering on eHarmony, accessing real time stats and checking Facebook status updates. 

However, bombarding oneself with information isn’t for everyone – it creates confusion and clouds issues. And that’s where the Defensive Specialist comes in. After attending a series, the Defensive Specialist likes to collate all relevant data and then report key findings back to the loyal readers in a simple and efficient manner. The simplicity allows focus! And my word wasn’t there a plethora of facts, figures and themes to digest after the first placed Blue Sox squared off against the 4^th placed Heat.

The Defensive Specialist has mentioned it numerous times before but it stands to reason to raise it again. In general, teams look to win the series at home (3 out of 4) and to split on the road (2 out of 2) (obviously this changes when playing lesser opponents). It’s not easy to win a series outright and even tougher to go on the road and do it. So when the Blue Sox travelled to Perth and blew the Heat away 4-0, eyebrows were raised around the league and surely doubts began to creep into the Heat camp. Then, just as they had their backs to the wall, the Heat roared back and stole 4 games from the Blue Sox at Olympic Park. When something like this transpires, you know the Defensive Specialist will have a take on it. So with no further ado, your old pal presents “What the Defensive Specialist Learnt”.


1. You can run on the Blue Sox. Andy Graham’s throwing has regressed from years past and while Stone Hands Maat has a decent arm, his catch, release and footwork slows things down. However, blame is not entirely leveled on the Sydney catchers! Oxspring is ridiculously quick to the plate (in the 1.3 range) but for the most part the rest of the Sydney staff can be run on. When you couple that with the arms behind the plate, teams are definitely able to exploit the chink in the Blue Sox armour. The most telling example occurred in game 2 with David Welch on the mound. Obviously with a lefty on the hill, the runner is going on first move and takes the risk that the pitcher will not pick off. On a couple of occasions, Heat runners got such great jumps that no throw was even made to second base. Welch was forced to speed up his motion, which may have unsettled his rhythm and definitely reduced his velocity and control.


2. Is there such a thing as home field advantage? Usually playing at home presents a huge advantage to teams as they have familiar surroundings, better fan support and creature comforts. Yet over the course of 2 weeks we have seen two strong teams hit the road and sweep a series. The Defensive Specialist began to think that there may in fact be an advantage to being on the road – think about it, in the ABL the vast majority of players actually have to maintain some form of gainful employment to supplement the meagre earnings they make playing baseball. When at home, players are rushing to the yard from work, trying to wedge baseball into their lives and fulfil various other commitments like friends, family and loved ones.  On the other hand, the minute the team boards the plane to travel interstate, all of those other issues go out the window and the focus is totally on baseball and the games ahead (oh and where to have a drink once the series is over).To confirm the Defensive Specialist’s hypothesis, the theory was raised to Heat manager Brooke Knight:

“I really like our team on the road. We’re cohesive, we don’t have distractions, and we’re at the yard working on our game as a team. There are definitely advantages to travelling in this league”.

Don’t get the Defensive Specialist wrong, it’s highly unlikely that any team would turn down the chance of a home final, but there is something to be said for getting your team together as a unit and going to battle for 4 concentrated days.

3. The ABL really could be the Second Chance Saloon. Already we’ve seen pitchers Oxspring and Adam Bright salvaged off the pitching scrap heap following outstanding performances Down Under. After seeing the Heat’s Daniel Schmidt dial his fastball up to 90 against the Blue Sox with significant run and control, you’d have to think that he’d have a chance to catch on somewhere since effective lefties don’t grow on trees and he’s still relatively young at only 22.

4. The Heat pitching staff is perched precariously on the ledge. Imports Trevor Caughey and Matt Zachary both made huge contributions for the Heat on Thursday and Sunday respectively. Unfortunately the reason they are in Australia is to play club baseball, which means once their local competition starts up again, their availability will be severely compromised and the Heat pitching staff further weakened. Schmidt and Cole McCurry provide arms at the front of the rotation but the Heat bullpen is lessened if Liam Baron and his rubber arm is forced back in to the rotation. Manager Knight will likely have to closely monitor the local competition and snap up imports as their rotations permit (in WA, imports can only pitch every second game). Not an optimal situation to say the least.

5. The Sydney Big 4 is still vaunted; it’s the guys behind them that’s the concern. Oxspring, Welch, Lundgren and Anderson form a dominant rotation, giving their team a chance to win every time out. Dae-Sung Koo is a crafty veteran who knows how to pitch. After that, there is a whole bunch of uncertainty in the Blue Sox pen. Obviously with such a solid frontline staff the pen will rarely be exposed but as the weekend showed, once a team gets in there, trouble can ensue. There’s word on the street that Matt Williams may be shut down for the remainder of the season, which removes another pro arm from manager Glenn Williams arsenal. You’d like to think that Rich Thompson will be more effective than he showed on the weekend, to give Williams another big arm to call upon.

6. Never underestimate the effect of 27,000 beats per minute. Techno Tim Auty was left off the roster until he replaced Trent Oeltjen later in the series and the lack of lights, lasers, smoke machines and pulsating beats had the noticeable effect of deflating the crowd. Trent Schmutter tried unsuccessfully to accept the mantle but there is only one Techno Tim Auty. Perhaps Blue Sox management need a Techno Tim Auty night for the upcoming series against the Adelaide Bite to get the crowd performing “big fish, little fish, cardboard box” with vigor and restore life to the venue. Start with a stirring rendition of Barbara Streisand by Duck Sauce if necessary.

7. Speaking of music, the Blue Sox sound team tried every emasculating song in the book to break the Heat hitters down, but in this series the line up finally came to life. Almost 1 through 9 contributed across the series, which is what we’ve been expecting from the Perth boys all season. With Luke Hughes firmly entrenched in the line up, Knight was able to run out a fairly consistent squad – only playing lefty righty matchups with his left fielder (Brandon Dale and Ryne Price).  With the Heat pitching questionable, the hitters need to bang to keep them competitive. What is more telling is that the bats got going against the best staff in the league.

Right, the Defensive Specialist has kept things as simple as possible and hopes that the loyal readers have been able to maintain focus. Things get exciting this weekend as the Heat travel to Melbourne to face the up and down Aces . Interestingly, the Defensive Specialist happened to see a piece on the Blue Sox on the 7.30 Report as they played the Aces at the Showgrounds. My word, that playing surface looked absolutely disgraceful! The Defensive Specialist can appreciate that the Aces are lucky to have a new home base close to the CBD but that field did not look conducive to good baseball (happy to hear the thoughts of those who have attended games in Melbourne on the playing field). The Blue Sox play host the to league leading Adelaide Bite which will tell a lot about both teams. The Bandits have the chance to knock the Multiculturalists out of playoff contention and vault themselves into the 4.

Until then