East Coast V West Coast

“You done put two of America's most wanted in the same

motherf*ckin place at the same motherf*ckin time” – Tupac Shakur

Much like the world of hip-hop there is a contentious relationship between the east coast and west coast when it comes to baseball in Australia. Granted you’re unlikely to see players gunned down in drive-by’s ala Biggie and Tupac but that doesn’t mean that rivalries aren’t fierce and full of venom. As one of the few transcendent figures in Australian baseball, the Defensive Specialist manages to straddle the void and successfully wear both caps. Despite hailing from the left coast, don’t think for one second that the Defensive Specialist wasn’t secretly pumped that the Sydney Blue Sox finished the regular season in first place. Why you ask? Home finals right underneath the Defensive Specialist’s highly trained nose! As hard as it is to comprehend, the world of baseball blogging isn’t as lucrative as you are often led to believe meaning that the Defensive Specialist was staring down the barrel of no more baseball if the Sox didn’t end up in first place. While the Defensive Specialist was holding out in the hope that MLB would recognise the mass fan appeal and fly the Defensive Specialist around the country, the Blue Sox 3-1 series win over the Multiculturalists negated any need for Bud Selig to open his wallet.

Of course the other upside to a major semi final being held in Sydney is that the Defensive Specialist gets to relate comprehensive breakdowns to the masses! And as the Tupac quote at the start of the blog suggests, we have the two best teams (Perth Heat & Sydney Blue Sox) in town making things extremely tasty. Obviously the series predictions earlier in the season were an absolute abortion but as the old saying goes “if at first you don’t succeed…. keep firing away until you eventually get it right or get it really close to being right”. The season series ended in a split with both teams sweeping on the road, so the head to head result makes it tough to identify a clear favourite. It’s these situations that bring out the best in the Defensive Specialist – now more so than ever is an opportune time to run through both teams and determine who has the best shot to head straight into the big dance. Let’s run through each position and see who holds the edge (Biggie / Blue Sox or Tupac / Heat).

Catcher

Blue Sox catcher Andy Graham’s season ended when his pinky exploded in game 1 of the Multiculturalists series. Since he was hitting well below his weight, it was an opportune time to insert Pat “Stone Hands” Maat into the line up. This would have been all well and good if it was January 2010 when Stone Hands was tearing up the Claxton Shield, but unfortunately it’s January 2011 and he’s sputtering along at a .196 clip with a strikeout per game and next to no power. The other option for the Sox is Trent D’Antonio who’s seen some time behind the plate but pulling him from 3^rd tends to open up other holes in the Sydney line up.

Allan De San Miguel sat over .300 for the vast majority of the season only to see his average dip as the grind of 40 games wore on him. Playing in all 40 games, the Perth catcher posted a .286 average with 5 homeruns and 26 runs scored, and became a fixture in the 2 hole. Backing up De San Miguel are the Kennelly brothers (Tim and Matt) who provide Manager Brooke Knight with incredible depth and flexibility as all 3 backstops are solid defensively.

Edge: 

 

First Base

Sydney manager Glenn Williams was lucky to avoid criminal charges last week as the Australian Baseball Hall of Fame reported a break in and mysteriously a non-mummified Brendan Kingman made an appearance for the Blue Sox. While circumstantial evidence had Williams the lead suspect, investigators couldn’t find any hard evidence to back their case. Either way, you know times are tough when you have to wheel a fossil out to fill a hole. Fortunately the old guy can still roll the pole as evidenced by his 5- 11 showing with 2 bombs. Josh Dean has come on of late and has provided a reliable option at either first or third, especially with the Bossman sidelined by injury.

Matthew Kennelly spends the vast majority of time at first base for the Heat and in 2010/2011 it could be said that he enjoyed his break out season. While not showing the power levels you’d normally expect from a first baseman (2 homeruns), he did manage to drive in 24 runs while scoring 27 and batting .306. Defensively he submitted an errorless season.

Edge: 

Second Base

It’s tough to get the edge in a positional matchup when you’re going up against a guy who made it to the big leagues in the past 12 months. For the Heat, Luke Hughes mans second base and despite only playing half a season managed to bop 5 homeruns and score 16 runs. While he may never be known as a slick defender, Hughes’ bat more than makes up for any defensive deficiencies he may have.

Hard to hang with a big leaguer

For Sydney, second base is a wide-open gaping hole from a production standpoint. Mark Holland received the vast majority of playing time there this season with Shannon Pender grabbing some AB’s late in the season. Either way, Williams will hold his breath and hope for a random knock here and there and pray that their defence contributes something to the cause as neither bat can be relied upon.

Edge: 

Third Base

If not forced into action behind the plate, D’Antonio provides solid defence and a gritty lead off hitter for the Blue Sox. The lefty swinger wouldn’t be overly pleased with his season totals (.239, 20 runs scored)  but he grinds at bats, walks a ton and can steal a base here and there. If he’s asked to catch, Josh Dean gets a shot at the hot corner and while he’s not as good defensively, his bat has really been playing up of late.

The Heat run out Evan McArthur to third and despite being absolutely allergic to taking a walk, he did provide some offensive grunt with 7 home runs and 20 RBI’s. Defensively he impressed the Defensive Specialist earlier in the year with some nifty glove work and an ability to make the big play.

Edge: Tie

Shortstop

Michael Lysaught scuffled through most of the regular season both offensively and defensively but started to get hot in January – just when it started to count (.355 average). Lysaught paced the team in runs scored with 22 and popped 4 homeruns. The downside is that he struck out 39 times and posted an on base percentage of .291. Defensively he shows good range but his 11 errors are much higher than manager Williams would have hoped for.

Speaking of porous defence, Perth’s Mitch Graham had his share of miscues with 13. He did lead the Heat in RBI’s (25), which is interesting because he spent a large part of the season hitting out of the 9-hole.  Graham did start the season leading off, but an ice cold November and December saw him cast down to the depths of the line up which obviously agreed with him as he reeled off an impressive January (.359 average, 9 RBI’s). Like Lysaught, he really has a knack for punching out (42 in 38 games) but his pop and speed provide a valuable asset at the tail end of the order.

Edge: Tie

Part 2 Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning. Adelaide Vs Melbourne Wednesday night / Thursday morning