NO!

Under normal circumstances the Defensive Specialist would bang out this post on Saturday morning. Tonight wasn’t a normal circumstance.  How often do you get to witness a no hitter? More importantly, how often do you get to witness a no hitter during a playoff game (don’t answer that Phillie fans)?

Sitting at Blacktown Olympic Park it truly felt like the Defensive Specialist was inside a barbeque with all 4 burners on high heat. Seriously, it was ridiculously hot with stifling humidity to boot. Perhaps it was the weather but the crowd for a playoff game was once again disappointing with numerous empty seats along the third base line section of the stands. The conditions seemed to be taking a toll on the home side as well. They contributed one of the sloppiest pre games the Defensive Specialist had seen in a long time, which didn’t bode well.

Your old pal was left scratching his head at the wholesale changes that Manager Glenn Williams had made to his Blue Sox line-up. Gone was the uber hot January bat of Trent Schmutter, replaced with Moko Moanaroa. Gone was Mark Holland, replaced at second by Trent D’Antonio. Josh Dean was added to the line-up at third and rightfielder David Kandilas was promoted to the two-hole.  Drastic alterations like these are often deemed panic moves and not what you’d expect from a league leading team in a playoff series.

Fortunately the one constant all season for the Sydney team has been starting pitching and no one has been steadier than David Welch. The lefty had an outstanding season and was expected to shoulder the load for a Blue Sox team that just couldn’t find a way to manufacture any runs.

Mark Brackman was given the starting assignment for the Bite and things did not get off to the start he or his manager were hoping for. D’Antonio led off with a crisp single to centre which was followed by a Kandilas walk. Mitch Dening then took 35 seconds to stroll to the plate but wasted no time in punching a 2 run double down the left field line. Alex Johnson punched out and clearly demonstrated that he and sliders can never be in a serious relationship. Brendan Kingman and his bandaged together body dumped a fist shot into right to put runners on first and third for Dean who grounded out to short to score Dening.

3-0 Blue Sox.

The second inning provided no respite for Brackman as Michael Lysaught singled to right with one out and D’Antonio mashed a homerun to straight away rightfield. Kandilas grounded out and Dening picked up his second knock before Johnson made the final out of the inning

5-0 Blue Sox.

Brackman went out for the third and after a Kingman groundout he surrendered a singled to Dean and a walk to Moanaroa before he was lifted for Dushan Ruzic. Ruzic immediately gave up a scorched double to the right centre gap off the bat of Stone Hands Maat. Dean scored on the double while Moanaroa advanced to third. Lysaught grounded out with the infield in and D’Antonio picked up his third knock with a line drive to right that scored Moanaroa. Assuming that Maat would be waved home (he wasn’t) , D’Antonio continued to second. He would have been out easily if the Bite first baseman had cut the ball but by this stage the Bite’s wheels had well and truly fallen off.

7-0 Blue Sox.

Both pitchers settled into a groove and began working their way through the innings. The Defensive Specialists sent his first “Welch = dealing” text message during the 5^th inning and by the 6^th the Defensive Specialist had moved to the edge of his seat sensing that Welch was on the cusp of something special. The 7^th inning was interesting because there was  a noticeable drop in Welch’s velocity (the stadium radar gun made a welcomed return!) which obviously indicated that the veteran was tiring (not surprising considering that he may have sweated 15-20 litres of body fluid).

The Blue Sox crowd started to dial in on the occasion by the 8^th when Welch forced Josh Cakebread into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

The atmosphere in the park took on a whole new turn in the 9^th with Welch on the verge of a no no and the heart of the Adelaide line up at the plate. Jeremy Cresswell struck out to get things going. Stefan Welch then popped out to second. With Jamie McOwen striding to the dish, the crowd was on its feet. Welch managed to get McOwne flailing which resulted in a high chopper back to the mound. The pitcher leapt and snagged the ball as McOwen hustled down the line, desperate to break it up. Perhaps not realising he had more time or perhaps experiencing some severe sphincter tightness, Welch rushed himself and launched the ball down the line.

ERROR!

What should have been a routine final out to complete a no hitter all of a sudden became a farcical mistake that resulted in a runner on base and the big hitting righty Quincy Latimore at the dish. Welch was clearly running on empty as his fastball was now at 82 (he had it up to 88 earlier in the contest) and was almost solely reliant on his breaking ball. After falling behind 0-2, Welch pumped a slurve for a strike and then followed with another. With the count 2-2 he went to it again and Latimore pounced sending a towering fly ball to left that immediately sucked the sticky air out of the ballpark. Replacement leftfielder Trent Schmutter drifted back to the wall and the fans held their breath. And then all of a sudden the ball dropped from the sky into Schmutters glove on the warning track.

Game over – no hitter!

The Blue Sox mobbed their starter (who didn’t seem to know who to hug first - finally settling on his catcher Stone Hands) on the field, performing a very nice dog pile on the mound in celebration.

Obviously the Defensive Specialist Player of the Game goes to David Welch who not only tossed a complete game no hitter, but also racked up 10 strikeouts in a game that Sydney really had to have in order to get them off their recent schnide and put them in a commanding series position. All momentum sits in the Blue Sox dugout now as the mighty Adelaide line up must now find a way to get two wins on the road against Craig Anderson and Wayne Lundgren as well as a newly confident Sydney attack. Not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination!