Grinding it out

Apologies for the Friday morning non-post - the Defensive Specialist can only imagine how disappointing breakfast / coffee / 2 hours of work time must have been for loyal readers without a comprehensive game review to chew on. Unfortunately the Defensive Specialist’s responsibilities of being Superdad and a highly successful businessman got in the way of posting. Nonetheless, the Defensive Specialist was in attendance for game 1 of the Heat Vs Blue Sox series and it would be a waste of detailed game notes not to write up the action.

*Before we go any further, the title of this post refers to grinder strictly in the baseball sense rather than the popular social networking site called Grindr (which the Defensive Specialist will allow you to explore at your own leisure).

Glad we cleared that up!

After Sydney put a Keyser Sose-like beat down on the Heat in Perth last week, the Defensive Specialist had serious concerns for the West Australian’s safety as they faced the daunting task of travelling to the east coast and taking on the most vaunted pitching staff in the league. Lead by Chris Oxspring and ably backed up by David Welch, Wayne Lundgren and Craig Anderson, the Blue Sox starting pitching is white hot at the moment and allowing the Sydney offense to grind out 2 or 3 runs per game. The Perth squad on the other hand faces numerous questions about its starting rotation and is perilously close to dropping below .500. Fortunately, the Heat features arguably the strongest “on paper” line up in the league and has to hope that they can out-bang their opponent.

Folks know how seriously the Defensive Specialist takes pregame (what better time to assess conditions, preparation and form?) so it was with great interest that the Defensive Specialist noticed Sydney coach Jason Popsicle had been banished from infield outfield duty and replaced by seasoned veteran, Graham Cassel. Perhaps with playoffs looming, manager Glenn Williams no longer wanted to “send a boy to do a man’s job”? Anyway, Cassel efficiently worked through innie outtie until the catcher pop up arrived. HIs focussed narrowed as he executed a solid ball toss and then drilled two decent pop ups - one that drifted just out of the cut out and the other that ran up the third base line. Not his best performance but not bad effort for a guy who hasn’t touched a fungo in 12 months. Perth Heat Manager Brooke Knight called a dime piece as the Defensive Specialist walked past the Heat dugout earlier in the day so he’d be bitterly disappointed and severely embarrassed withh is back net scraping effort.

Sydney 1-0

The Blue Sox were buoyed by the inclusions of Trent Oeltjen and Rich Thompson (which is typically the response you get whenever you add two guys who’ve recently played in the big leagues). On top of that, they had staff ace, Chris Oxspring making the game 1 start and from the first pitch he looked sharp which is exactly what you’d expect from a guy who’s 4-0 with a miniscule ERA. The Heat ran wiry lefty Trevor Caughey out to the mound for the first start of his ABL career. Describing Caughey as wiry is no exaggeration; he genuinely looks like a coat hanger with a uniform hanging off it! Anyway, despite his physique, Caughey shrugged off an early single and cruised through his first inning of work.

Both pitchers were on their game through 3 innings. Caughey ran into a spot of bother in the bottom of the 4th as Alex Johnson singled to left that Ryne Price seemed to lose in the lights and allowed Johnson to rumble into second. Mitch Denning then hit a sharp come backer to Caughey who deftly snagged it, only to uncork a 57 hopper to 1st base that ended up down the right field line and saw runners end up on second and third. Knight brought the infield up to cut down a potential run but Caughey took matters into his own hands by punching out the side. Oxspring and Caughey were in complete control through 5 innings, breezing along in just over an hour (and had the Defensive Specialist contemplating an early night in front of the Deep in the Hole supercomputer).

This changed in the top of the 6th. Oxspring committed two cardinal sins in one by walking the leadoff and the 9 hole hitter (Mitch Graham) to start the inning. After a Tim Kennelly strike out, Allan De San Miguel doubled off the base of the right field foul pole. With Luke Hughes at the dish, Sydney manager Glenn Williams pulled his infield in. Oxspring worked Hughes inside relentlessly and managed to punch him out. With 2 out, import Robbie Widlansky poked a ball through the 5.5 hole to score Graham and a hustling De San Miguel. Widlansky advanced on an errant throw from Trent Schmutter. Evan MacCarthur singled too crisply in the next at bat to wave Widlansky home and Oxspring escaped the inning by k’ing Ronnie Welty.

In the bottom of the 6th, Caughey ran into trouble as he surrendered a single to Mitch Denning and then allowed a scorched double to right centre by the Bossman to score Denning. Side arm slinger, Ben Grice was summoned from the pen to get righties Andy Graham and Mark Holland to end the inning.

Rich Thompson took over from Oxspring in the 7th and dosed the second hitter he faced –Ryne Price. Price then stole second and third and scored on an airmailed (emailed for Generation X’ers) throw by catcher Graham. The 7th inning wasn’t exactly smooth for the Heat either. Grice nailed the first hitter he faced only to give up singles to Trent D’Antonio and Schmutter. Lefty Liam Baron was called from the Heat pen to face Oeltjen who promptly bashed one off his leg that he managed to smother and record an out at first base on. Johnson then hit a towering fly ball down the right field line that looked like it would drift comfortably foul. Out of nowhere came rightfielder Tim Kennelly who ended up sliding feet first into the right field wall while simultaneously taking an amazing catch. Kennelly collapsed to the ground in a dazed state (the Defensive Specialist is unsure if he was dazed through injury or the wonderment of the catch) as his team mates rushed to congratulate / resuscitate him. Inning over and Defensive Specialist “Play of the Game” on Kennelly’s mantle.

Everything appeared peachy for the Heat as they called on recently returned closer, Brendan Wise to close out the 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th. 2 quick outs had the Defensive Specialist closing his note book which is a complete no-no in the Baseball Gods minds. They demonstrated their displeasure by forcing Wise to walk D’Antonio and Schmutter to bring Oeltjen to the plate (never a good move to issue two, 2 out walks to get to a big leaguer!). Wise then walked Oeltjen to load the bases for Alex Johnson. By this stage the Defensive Specialist had the notebook back out and Johnson promptly popped out to centre to end the game and preserve the 3-1 Heat lead.

For the Heat it was a crucial win on the road against a staff ace that puts them in good stead for at least a series split. The Blue Sox will shrug off the loss as merely a blip on the radar, safe in the knowledge that David Welch leads the league in ERA (0.97) and he has the ball in game 2. In terms of the Deep in the Hole “Player of the Game”, honours have to go to bean pole Trevor Caughey who went 5.1 innings, surrendering just 1 earned run and 4 hits while striking out 9 – congratulations!

The Defensive Specialist is going to attempt the unprecedented move of writing the game 2 post during the game (rather than simply compiling comprehensive game notes and writing from Deep in the Headquarters) which will allow it to go up much sooner on Saturday morning and make your breakfast / coffee all the more enjoyable.