Tuesday, January 18, 2011

What we learn with pleasure we never forget. 
 - Alfred Mercier


This may come as a big statement but let’s face it, the Defensive Specialist has never backed down from grandeur. Deep in the Hole brings pleasure, which means that you’ll never forget what you read here. Quite stunning when you stop and think about it really. Rest assured, the Defensive Specialist understands the impact that he’s having on your life and the lives of your friends and family who also tune in and that’s why, even after only catching one game this past weekend, your old pal is providing an abridged version of “What the Defensive Specialist Learnt”.

The Blue Sox affirmed what we all thought before the season commenced – they’re legitimate title contenders - by handily sweeping away the spirited yet undermanned Adelaide Bite. While that may sound cut and dry in print, when you lift the hood and peer in at the inner workings of the series you’ll see that things were much closer than the 4-0 result indicates. Both teams take positives and negatives from the series – let the Defensive Specialist spell a few of them out

1. Adelaide Manager Tony Harris has to be sitting in his office with a set of Rosary beads rocking back and forth, praying that the Q-Tip and James McOwen are available for the upcoming series against Brisbane. The heart of the Adelaide lineup was toothless with those two bats missing as Brandon Bantz and Stefan Welch combined to go 5-36 in the series. McOwen leading off allows the surprisingly frisky Jeremy Cresswell to slide back into the 2 hole where his bat plays much better, and the Q-Tip not only brings a power bat back into the lineup but also reduces the burden on Bantz and Welch. Adelaide has no chance of a championship if those two guys don’t play - simple as that.

2. Speaking of hitters, Blue Sox skipper Glenn Williams has to hope that Trent Oeltjen can get over his injury issues and get back onto the field because the Sydney line up could use one or two more rock solid bats in the middle. P.I.M.P Alex Johnson has shouldered a heavy load while Mitch Denning has been up and down. If Williams could insert Oeltjen in the 3 hole it allows Johnson to remain in the 4 spot and slides Denning to 5, giving the line up better balance and making it less susceptible to bullpen matchup’s late in the game. The lower 3rd of the order is still a black hole – sucking outs into the scorebook, but with Oeltjen in place the top 6 looks good on paper with D’Antonio, Utter Club Nutter Schmutter, Oeltjen, Johnson, Denning & the Bossman / Dean.

3. As the old saying goes “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck”.  Well Yong Sup Kwak, the Bites’ Korean import is about to be a dead duck in terms of his spot in the line up with his anemic .109 average and non existent production. It’s hard to see Harris taking at bats away from some of his other role players  (Gladstone, Pett and Gossage) as he has in the past with Kwak swimming in circles and a position the playoffs up for grabs.

4. Although the Defensive Specialist rated it as a strength earlier in the season, the Adelaide pitching staff has to be considered somewhat of a disappointment. The bullpen is littered with 7+ ERA’s, which led the team to break open the trophy cabinet and remove Adrian Burnside and Tom Becker from the formaldehyde. The starters Paul Mildren, Dushan Ruzic and Brandon Maurer have been up and down all season although Maurer has been much better in his last 4 starts (3-0, 4 earned runs). While the Bite line up banged early in the season the pitching staff could afford to yield more runs than you’d ordinarily like. However, as we all know, pitching and defense win championships so for the Adelaide boys to contend, the staff is going to need to turn it up a notch.

Unless a sugar daddy slips a couple of airfares under the Defensive Specialist’s door that’s it for the regular season games. This weekend’s fixtures have some dramatic ramifications for the play off picture. The Heat take on the tail spinning Aces in Perth with the opportunity to put the Melbournians to the sword. The much-anticipated Peter Moylan appearance in the inaugural ABL season appears to have fizzed out with his Twitter updates indicating that he’s back in Atlanta. Brisbane and Adelaide square off in a little 6 game dance in Adelaide with serious repercussions for both teams. If Adelaide can bang out 2 wins they’re fairly secure in the top 4. If Brisbane can steal a few and Melbourne continue their bad run, there’s chance that the young upstarts could sneak into the playoffs. The Multiculturalists play host to the Blue Sox who’d love to sweep or win the series and give themselves a chance at first place and home field advantage.





1 comment:

  1. I hope to see Trent Oeltjen back in action soon. The Cavalry versus Blue Sox series is going to have some fireworks!

    Back to the Adelaide Bite series, I was pleased to see Adrian Burnside in action. I have never seen him play before, despite following his career for close to ten years! He looked very sharp too.

    I have mentioned this previously but Adelaide can out pitch Perth, and Adelaide's full batting line up could out punch Perth's pitching...but only just. Perth are decent in the pitching department too, but their hitting is the best in the league. As mentioned in the above posting however, good pitching beats good hitting, and that's where Adelaide come finals time could pip the Perth Heat.

    The Blue Sox are going to be facing a determined fresh Cavalry team this week.

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