Deep in the Hole

Savin’ Me

2011-12-06T20:25:00.001+11:00

What an interesting week in Australian baseball. Wehad the upstart Canberra Cavalry landing in Perth and stealing 3 out of 4 fromthe previously undefeated Heat. We had the Blue Sox taking steps to right theirseason by winning 3 out of 4 against the Bandits (with a little hand from theirfans) We had Adelaide and Melbourne split even though slugger Denny Almontedropped 12 rbi’s on the Aces across the 4 game series.

Unfortunately, all of that was over shadowed by evenbigger news – Aussie big leaguer Peter Moylan getting into a Twitter stoushwith the rock band Nickelback. Seems Moylan was suitably inspired by a recentFoo Fighters gig to call out Nickelback:

"Note to @nickelback please attend a @foofighters concert.That's how's it should be done chad,"

Unfortunately for Moylan, Nickelback fired back andfired back in style!

"@PeterMoylan Foos are killer for sure. We're doing justfine too thanks. ? for you Pete, is watching Kimbrel better from the bench oron TV?"

Zing!

Nickelback 1, Moylan 0

Anyway, enough injured relief pitchers and Canadian softrock bands; lets get back to the ABL.

Heat VCavalry

The Defensive Specialist suggested in a recent post thatthe Heat’s recent foibles in Asia could lead to a Cavalry upset. Unfortunatelyyour old pal also predicted that the winless trip abroad would fire the Heat upand lead to a demolition of the Canberra outfit… Canberra were having none of that, shutting down the Heatoffensively in the first 3 games and having their way with the Heat pitchingstaff to the tune of 25 runs in the first 3 games.

Blue Sox VBandits

Keen meteorologists will tell you that Sydney iscurrently in the midst of the coldest December in recent memory. As a result,the Blue Sox faced the proposition of playing the Bandits in wet and wildconditions. While the inclement weather threatened the contest across theweekend it also allowed the Blue Sox to expand their roster to 145 as the localfans came out onto the field to assist pulling the field tarp across thediamond. In more serious news, theweekend saw the Blue Sox take steps towards respectability by adding 4 games tothe win column. The key additions of Mitch Denning, Joe Hage and Brandon Barnespaid dividends immediately and manager Kevin Boles will hope and pray thisnewfound offense can be sustained.

Bite V Aces

Adelaide will be less than impressed after splitting ahome series with the last placed Melbourne team although centerfielder DennyAlmonte definitely gave the home fans something to talk about, exploding for 12rbi’s across the series The highlight was obviously game 2 when he hit a grandslam, mixed in an RBI single and them ended the game with a walk off 3 runblast. That’s the sort of game you hang your hat on!

Denny Almonte enjoying a big series

After 5 years of continued success and prosperity inSydney, the Defensive Specialist is pleased to announce that the entire Deep inthe Hole operation will be relocating to Western Australia as of next week.While the logistics of moving a franchise are daunting, the DefensiveSpecialist is confident that a seamless transition can be made. The DefensiveSpecialist has a a single Blue Sox season membership available to anyone who’sinterested, simply drop the Defensive Specialist an email with your mailingaddress and it’ll be sent through at no cost – well actually there will be acost, you’ll likely be accosted by autograph hounds who’ll mistake you forAustralia’s preeminent baseball blogger – don’t worry, you’ll grow to love it!

Stinky Tofu and Baseball – The Asian Series

2011-11-27T21:34:00.001+11:00

With nobaseball taking place in the Emerald City this weekend, the DefensiveSpecialist was forced to camp out in front of the Deep in the Hole SuperComputer with a bowl of Stinky Tofu to watch the Perth Heat take part in theAsian Baseball Series. Aside from the fact the commentary was in Taiwanese, itwas a surprisingly pleasant experience. The camera work was professional, the graphics were solid and best ofall there was a message board in real time next to the screen which allowed theDefensive Specialist to road test all of the gags you’ll read throughout thispost.

(Editors note: the message board wasnon-English speaking)

TheAsian Series came at an interesting time for the Heat – smack bang as they’vereeled off 11 consecutive wins and shaped as the form team of the competition.While the Defensive Specialist is sure Heat Manager Brooke Knight would haveliked to stay downunder to continue punishing the local teams, the Asian Seriesdid present an opportune time to showcase the Australian Baseball League and tomeasure up against Asia Pacific’s best teams.

Unfortunatelythe Asian holiday didn’t run to script as the Heat dropped all 3 of theirgames. Other than a blow out late in game 1, the contests remained fairly closeand the WA lads will take some comfort out of knowing that they can compete atthat level. What the series did do was raise a couple of questions that yourold pal has some thoughts on:

1) How will losing 3 games affectthe Heat when they get back to business in the ABL?

Interestingquestion and one that the Defensive Specialist is glad he asked himself.Momentum is a HUGE thing in baseball and the Heat had a whole lot of it afterthey finished boat racing the Blue Sox in Sydney last week. The vast majorityof the offensive line up was hotter than hell fire and the pitching staff hadlooked sharp throughout the series. The jaunt to Asia probably didn’t come atthe best time and may have 1 of 2 results when the Heat return to action

A) The 3 losses will shake the Heat’sconfidence and Canberra will ride into town to steal a couple of ballgames fromthe Heat on their home turf;

B) The Heat will return home,somewhat embarrassed after dropping all three games and drop a severe beat downon the Cavalry in revenge.

Youoften hear teams that are running off a ridiculous winning streak state thatthe first loss was almost necessary. That’s an easy thing to say immediatelyafter an L but when you think about it, it does make some sense. Winningmultiple games in a row can often allow complacency to creep in and see teamsgoing through the motions. Theadvantage the Heat has is that the games they’ve lost mean nothing (other thana blow to the Australian baseball psyche). The net result may be that the Heatevaluate some of their weaknesses, make the necessary adjustments and get backon the horse this weekend (and yes that was a clever metaphor about the Heatpumping the Cavalry).

2) What did the 3 losses expose inthe Perth Heat?

Defense,defense, defense

The Heatmay swing it with the best of them but their defense hurt them at almost everyturn. 9 errors in 3 games is just not going to get it done when you’re playinga quality opponent and with a pitching staff that relies on command and controlrather than brute force, additional outs are not so easily overcome with thestrike out.

Mitch Graham's hitting is outperforming his defense

Whileshortstop Mitch Graham has been a revelation at the plate early in the season(.435 AVG, 4 HR, 16 RBIs, 10 runs), his unreliability in the field (6 errors onthe season, 2 during the Asian Series) at a premium position is something thatthe team cannot afford. Manager Knight obviously saw about as much as he couldstomach as Graham finished out the Asian Series at second with Mychal Givenstaking over at short. Moving forward second base may be a much better fit forGraham (assuming Givens can handle short) but this poses a problem with LukeHughes returning eventually. If Graham continues to hit, it’s a nice problem tohave!

3) Was the Heat pitching staffexposed in Taiwan?

Simply –No

Asstated above, the Heat doesn’t have a staff full of guys who blow 94mph butwhat they do have is a bunch of guys who can pitch. By pitch the DefensiveSpecialist means they throw strikes, work quickly and limit the damage. BothBen Moore and Trevor Caughey yielded only 1 earned run (unearned runs were adifferent story) and while Daniel Schmidt was a little less effective thannormal he only gave up 3 unearned. The Heat bullpen could really do with apower arm or two because the plethora of finesse guys has a tendency to allblend into one meaning that hitters can sit on a certain speed however thereturn or Brendan Wise at some stage definitely boosts the Heat pen. At the endof the day, the Heat proved last year that the control guys who ate up inningswere the way to the Championship so why deviate from a proven formula?

Ben Moore provided another solid outing

Nomatter the result, the Asian Series is a great opportunity to showcase baseballand specifically the ABL. While it would have been great to win a couple ofball games, the break from regular competition could be the revitalizing shotthe Heat need…… or it could completely derail their season. We’ll soon see.

Laser Show

2011-11-20T20:47:00.000+11:00

As you could probably tell from the absolute lack of activity here atDeep in the Hole, the Defensive Specialist has been suffering from a seriousmotivational issue. When you’ve been at the top of your game for a countlessnumber of years, it’s tough to keep finding challenges to spur you on. Ifanything was going to get your old pal back behind the keyboard, it was a visitto Sydney by the league champs – the Perth Heat.

The Defensive Specialist has been hearing the hype regarding the offensivejuggernaut brewing over in the West so this was a chance to get a look firsthand, especially since they’d be squaring off against the usually pitching richSydney Blue Sox. The Defensive Specialist definitely got to see the Perth boysroll the pole as they exploded in game 1 of the Saturday double header for 24hits, and then backed it up in the Sunday session with another lazy 20 knocks. Insteadof a comprehensive review, the Defensive Specialist is going to keep it fresh andreal with a number of key insights:

Key Insight 1

There wasn’t a great deal happening during the offseason regarding theABL – well unless you count fraudulent player movements as interesting, but onething that caught the Defensive Specialist’s attention was the news that theHeat had snagged last year’s MVP Jamie McOwen. Either McOwen was a clubhousecancer with a body odour problem or the Heat paid a king’s ransom to get him –how else could you explain the Bite allowing him to move? Turns out McOwen is agood dude who paid his own way down under just so he could keep playing duringhis off season. It’s a good thing table setting lead off hitters grow ontrees……. The Defensive Specialist was left scratching his head as to what theAdelaide brains trust was thinking especially as McOwen scored 8 runs in 4games. Rumour has it they had no spots available with a new set of importsbeing sent down, so McOwen was forced to shop himself around and foot the bill.

Have MVP award will travel

Key Insight 2

After handing out a pasting last year regarding some of the uniforms, itwas great to see Major League Baseball take the Defensive Specialist’ssartorial advice and splurge on some new sets. The Blue Sox looked virginal intheir all white home uni’s and the new red road jerseys the Heat were sportinglooked pretty damn good!

The virginal Blue Sox

The Heat rocking the red

Key Insight 3

Regular readers will recall the Defensive Specialist lamenting the lackof offensive firepower from the Sydney line up last year. In a busy off seasonthey went out and added…..1 bat. Granted, Mitch Dening has not returned toactive duty but his bat alone is not going to dig the Blue Sox out of theoffensive quagmire they currently reside in. There was not a single Blue Soxplayer who could have cracked the Heat line up over the course of the weekend.There – the Defensive Specialist said it!

While the Defensive Specialist is all for allowing the Aussies to play,surely Sydney could find a big league club prepared to send down at least a fewprospects to beef up their line-up? With every club adding internationaltalent, it’s baffling to see Sydney stick with locals who don’t necessarilymatch up to the level of talent on offer from other teams.

Key Insight 4

Speaking of the Heat line up, it’s stacked. The team bangs 1 through 9especially with the addition of Brenden Webb who arrived just in time to playin game 1 of the series. In fact Webb was lucky to play at all since no one wasat the airport to pick him up from the US. A charming smile enabled him accessto a hire care computer terminal where he used the internet to locate the ABLphone number and managed to make contact with someone who then arranged a pickup - after a 3 hour wait.

To make matters worse for opposing ball clubs, Luke Hughes is still toplay meaning that the Heat are able to add a major weapon to an already potentline up. It will be interesting to see how manager Brooke Knight manages hismen with so many bats at his disposal.

Key Insight 5

The Blue Sox have made some reasonably major changes to their field withthe addition of primo seating directly behind home plate and down the foullines. The new seats are a really nice addition that allows fans to get muchcloser to the action and the Blue Sox to expand their fan base with additionalvantage points. Of course if the Sox continue to get swept on their home turf,they may need to take them out quick smart because there will be a lot of spareseats.

Key Insight 6

With last year’s no-hitting ace David Welch no longer on the roster andstalwart Chris Oxspring working out of the pen, the Sydney rotation iscurrently thinner than rice paper. The Heat essentially took batting practicein games 2 and 4, lacing balls all over the yard and taking advantage of aseries of arms lacking velocity and control (not a good combination). Arotation headed by Oxspring and Wayne Lundgren will allow the Blue Sox to becompetitive but they need another big arm if they hope to get through theseason in any sort of winning form.

Key Insight 7

The Heat are trying something unique with their imports this season. Asthe Defensive Specialist discussed last year, having pro arms can be moretroubling than it is useful with pitchers on strict inning counts and often notavailable come playoffs. The Heat have obviously read the Deep in the Hole SWOTanalysis and this year invested their import allotment towards the offensiveside of the game. With 5 bats in the line up they are set to score a plethoraof runs. The approach to pitching is right out of the Defensive Specialist playbook– find a bunch of solid non pro arms and ride them to the play offs. The Heatmanaged to bring back Trevor Caughey and Matt Zachary to play for them and thenwork their relationships with local clubs to borrow the likes of Jacob Clem andGeoff Brown. When you add these pitchers to local arms like Daniel Schmidt andWarwick Saupold you have a bunch of solid inning eaters that are available allyear and who keep their team in the contest.

All in all it was an interesting series to attend, mainly to see thestacked Heat line-up go to work. The old adage goes “good pitching beats goodhitting” but the Defensive Specialist is prepared to suggest that there may notbe enough pitching in this league to stop the Heat bats in a 3 game finalsseries.

The Rumour Mill

2011-09-01T19:11:00.001+10:00

The hustle and bustle of living a double life is absolutely impacting the Defensive Specialist’s ability to provide content – who’d have thought being a highly successfully business man would take up so much time? Anyway, a couple of interesting rumours have come to the Defensive Specialist’s attention that may make for interesting discussion.

Despite a long relationship with the Baltimore Orioles, it appears that the talent pipeline has been severed and the Perth Heat will be looking for a new source of imports. This will be a disappointment to the fan base who have enjoyed watching high level talent come through Perth via the Oriole organization. The team suffers as they relied heavily on the output generated by Widlansky, Curry and Welty. Many will speculate that Don Kyle’s move back to the corporate sector was the trigger for the relationship breakdown but the Defensive Specialist was informed ‘off the record’ that the ABL requested more funding from the Orioles (likely to assist with housing and supporting the players) and the Orioles decided to spend their money elsewhere. Whatever the reason it’s a huge blow to the reigning champions who’ll either have to find another source of professional talent or rely on an array of former pro’s to fill the gaps.
Word on the street is that the Sydney Blue Sox will be appointing a new manager for the upcoming season. The Defensive Specialist is unsure as to why Glenn Williams is not continuing but the replacement manager is likely to be Kevin Boles who’s currently managing the Portland Sea Dogs – the Double A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. The upside to such a move for the Blue Sox and their fans is greater access to Red Sox affiliated professionals who may aid in boosting last seasons anemic offense.

The Defensive Specialist should reiterate that these nuggets come from a series of networks that have no true link to either franchise so make sure you have ample water available to assist with the ingestion of the grain of salt.

Is More Less?

2011-07-26T21:43:00.000+10:00

After making the foolish promise to up the output froma blogging perspective, the Defensive Specialist has been pacing back and forthin front of the Deep in the Hole super computer desperately trying to come upwith decent ideas to waffle on about. Mired in the dead of winter is nothelping the creative juices flow and the Defensive Specialist fights a dailybattle against the urge to comfort eat. Fortunately Tuesday saw a breakthroughwith the genius idea to talk about the 2011/2012 schedule!

Before you click off the page in disgust, remember theDefensive Specialist also committed to shorter posts (in order to avoidrepetitive strain injury after a lengthy lay off). So even if it’s a crappytopic, you’ll only have to endure 500-750 words on the matter as opposed to theusual 1500-2000. That’s a win win right?

The biggest change from last season is the addition of6 more games, increasing from 40 games (20 home / 20 away) to 46 (23 home / 23away). Regular readers of this fine, upstanding site will know that theDefensive Specialist has long championed the idea of playing more games. Forthose disinclined to read through the archives to find these well-written gemsand in order to pad the word count, let your old pal quickly rehash the topic.

If Major League Baseball wants to run an offseasonleague that’s taken seriously by its franchises then it has to offer moregames. The reason? MLB teams who want their prospects to play offseason baseballare looking for 3 things: 1) quality competition, 2) quality standard of livingand environment and 3) volume. We all know that you get better at baseball byplaying it a lot (hence the 162 game MLB schedule). Teams want to get gamesinto their prospects against solid competition. The more games they play(particularly offensive players who don’t need to rest their arms as pitchersdo), the greater the benefit. There is a huge advantage to Australianprofessional players as well as they now have a legitimate offseason league tocontinue their development in. Think back a couple of years when an Australiankid’s offseason program included club ball and a week long Claxton Shieldtournament. Now compare that to a 46 game season with games running 5 days aweek!

So this new schedule is a good thing right?

Yes and no.

Obviously from a players perspective it’s a greatthing. As outlined above, playing every day is only going to ratchet up thedevelopment time and skills of all players involved. It’s going to exposeAustralian youngsters to good baseball and allow our professional players tohone their talents. From an imports perspective, they get to continue theirgrowth in Australia during summer while drinking better beer.

So what’s the downside you ask? Well there are acouple of issues the Defensive Specialist sees:

Firstly, playing more games actually impacts theability of both non-professionals and professionals to hold down regular jobs.We all know that minor leaguers are not paid any sort of princely sum andrequire off-season work to survive. We also had a decent level of non-professionals/ amateurs taking part in the league last year who work first and play baseballsecond. With games now taking place on Wednesdays, players are effectively onlyable to work 2 days per week (when on the road). There aren’t many gigs aroundthat A) support working 2 days per week and B) pay enough. What we’re likely tosee is the number of mature non-professionals / amateurs decline and anincrease in younger players (bankrolled by mum and dad!) and non-professionalimports (sponsored by local clubs).
The effect of extended series on crowd support. Whencontacted by the Sydney Blue Sox to continue membership, one of the sellingpoints to re-up was the addition of games. “Instead of 4 games per series, youget 5!!” went the spiel. That looks good on paper until you consider thethought of attending 5 games a week from Wednesday to Sunday. In fact attendingthat many games in a week would lead to divorce papers, which wouldn’t look sogood. Obviously most people wont be attending all 5 games in a series unlessthey have a child or loved one playing so the effect on crowd numbers will beinteresting to study. Will more games allow fans greater accessibility andoptions or lead to apathy? You know what they say -increasing supply decreasesdemand.
From a revenue perspective, franchises will beexpected to give fans and supporters a great show no matter the day of theweek. You’d expect numbers tosuffer on Wednesday and Thursday nights which means that the bottom line may hurtas teams aren’t pulling $$$ from concessions, alcohol, parking and the gate.Teams can’t afford to cut back on the bells and whistles on Wednesday andThursday because they cant afford to give fans a reason (other than the nightof the week) to not show up.

Another interesting scheduling curiosity to note isthe ABL continuing with the New Years Eve / Day scheduling. The DefensiveSpecialist can think of nothing better than bringing in a new year watchingbaseball. Unfortunately not all family and friends may agree. Adelaide,Brisbane and Melbourne are the teams scheduled to host the games over the NewYear period, which is also interesting. A case can definitely be made forAdelaide who have a rapid fan base that are likely to turn out in droves (plusthere’s bugger all else to do in Adelaide anyway). Both Melbourne and Brisbanehad sketchy attendance numbers last season so when you couple that fact with atough date are they asking for trouble (or did they have a huge offseason membershipdrive that influenced the scheduling?)? Surely teams with stronger attendancefigures (Canberra and Perth) wouldhave been better choices to host on these dates as they have a better chance toat least pull a crowd.

The Defensive Specialist has blown out his target of500-750 words and is starting to cramp up. At the end of the day, more baseballgames is a good thing for the players involved and for the perception of theleague. It’s the hard to measure things that bare watching as the seasonprogresses.

102 Days

2011-07-17T21:08:00.000+10:00

102 Days....

That’s how long your old pal has been off the interweb much to thechagrin of the loyal readership. That’s more time off than someone on longservice leave! There’s a plethora of conspiracy theories as to why theDefensive Specialist has been absent floating around so this is probably thebest forum to debunk a number of them:

No – the Defensive Specialist was not leading Seal Team 6 in the huntfor Osama Bin Laden.

No – the Defensive Specialist was not busy creating the wedding gown forKate Middleton.

No – the Defensive Specialist was not working with the Australian PrimeMinister to draft the new carbon tax.

In all honesty, the Defensive Specialist was side tracked by a 10-month-oldbaby who decided that she flat out did not enjoy sleeping. Long time readersprobably just regurgitated their morning lattes hearing the news that one ofthe games sharpest minds was waylaid by an infant. In response to your snort,the Defensive Specialist offers this statement:

“There is a reason why sleep deprivation is used as torture”

Anyway with the sleep issues now in the past, the Defensive Specialistthought it was time to ease himself back into the drivers seat and startpumping out some content. Today, lets take a look at a couple of Aussies in thebig leagues.

Luke Hughes

Back when the Defensive Specialist used to write more, you may remembera post outlining how tough Hughes plight was going to be playing the role ofutility man. Inconsistent at bats makes keeping ones swing fine-tuned prettytough to do. Fortunately Hughes managed to pick up some regular playing timebefore being demoted back to AAA. The stint in the minors lasted briefly andHughes was back in the show playing predominantly at first base but alsofilling in around the infield. The thing that really stood out in the earlydays of Hughes season was his steadfast desire to get on the fastball ASAP (andwho can blame him, it beats the hell out of flailing against hellaciousbreaking stuff). The downside to this approach is that you don’t really giveyourself much of a chance to walk resulting in a paltry on base percentage. WhileHughes is not being confused with Rickey Henderson of late (second all timebase on balls), the number of pitches he is seeing each at bat is increasingwhich means he’s either developing more of a discerning eye or his manager hasgone all junior baseball on him and told him not to swing until he has astrike!

Josh Spence

Spence was the second person from the 2010 MLB draft called to the bigleagues, which is pretty damn impressive when you consider the feat. Makingthings more interesting is that he doesn’t fit the mould of a “quick to the bigleagues” reliever. Instead of a polished power arm, Spence comes at hittersfrom numerous arm angles with an array of breaking balls and a reliance ontouch, feel and command. In 12 appearances Spence has allowed a solitary run (abig fly to Andre Either of the Dodgers) while punching out 7. It seems he’llplay the role of LOOGY (lefty one out guy) meaning that he’ll take on theopposition’s big lefty bats late in the game. The Defensive Specialist isintrigued to see if Spence can survive as a reliever without power stuff at thebig league level.

Before the Defensive Specialist develops RSI from all this typing, it’simportant to make you aware of an outstanding show featuring the San FranciscoGiants currently playing in the US. Called “The Franchise” it chronicles theGiants trials and tribulations during the 2011 season. So far the DefensiveSpecialist has only been able to find the show on YouTube. Check it out:

Send in the S.W.O.T Team (Part 4)

2011-04-06T21:48:00.001+10:00

Well the Luke Hughes watch fizzled out from about thetime the Defensive Specialist hit the “post” button on the last offering.You’re old pal isn’t suggesting that he put the kybosh on Luke’s push to makethe Twins big league roster but if you reflect back on the Defensive Specialist’sefforts to pick winners and forecast the future you’d see a trail of despairand destruction. The good news is that Hughes is one twanged hamstring awayfrom a call up to the Big Leagues!

Today’s post is the final instalment of the SWOTanalysis the Defensive Specialist has been working on for what seems like thepast 8 weeks. The topic for consideration on this occasion is the threats tothe growth and success of the ABL. The Defensive Specialist isn’t one totypically dedicate a post to anyone, but today seemed an appropriate time torecognise arguably the most unpopular man in Australian baseball – Matt Tolbert,the guy who beat out Hughes. Here’s to you Matt!

Arguably the biggest threat to the success of the ABLis a lack of fan support. Without punters coming through the turnstiles, theleague will never be self-sustaining and eventually Major League baseball willgrow disgruntled, cutting the cheques and severing the purse strings. Individual teams and leagueadministrators have to build on year 1 attendance figures and drive customersthrough the gates with creative marketing and solid on-field entertainment. MLBcannot and will not play the role of sugar daddy forever so it’s imperativethat teams set up solid fan bases and generate consistent revenue streams toensure long-term viability.

Recently the Defensive Specialist received a friendlyemail from Sydney Blue Sox administrators informing him that foundation membershad to re-up their memberships before April 30 if they wished to maintain theirexisting seats. The reason for the push so early in the year? Apparently demandfor memberships is so high that there’s a chance all seating will be taken upby members in 2011 / 2012. While the Defensive Specialist is sceptical of thedemand for memberships after seeing a multitude of empty seats during theplayoffs, it does pose an interesting question: “Is it a good thing to use upall seating on members?”

On one hand the franchise is guaranteed revenue (evenif the total amount is less than what would be generated if seats were sold tocasual fans) for the season which allows efficient and accurate budgeting andfranchise management from a financial perspective – you have a fixed revenuestream from the outset of the season even if people don’t show up to the game.On the other hand, you are denying the casual fan who shows up for a game apremium experience because they’re likely to land a seat in a less than optimalposition down one of the baselines (for those unaware, the Blacktown Olympicfacility does not have seating down the foul lines). Would this experienceresult in them not returning?

Personally the Defensive Specialist would take theguaranteed full house and a thriving membership book any day of the week!

While expansion is most definitely an opportunity forthe ABL, it also poses a serious threat. The thought of taking the game todifferent markets (NZ, regional Australia) is exciting but also fraught withtrouble. While baseball fans would love to double the numbers of teams in thecompetition, serious questions have to be asked first:

Can the locationsupport the team from a fan and spectator perspective?
Will local sponsorsget on board?
Can the Australianpool of talent support more teams?

Obviously the first 2 points relate to the financialwellbeing of clubs. The last point is just as salient as the availability ofquality Australian players is finite and if clubs cannot field competitiveteams then fans and sponsors will not show up.

Adding additional teams also increases cost – traveland accommodation being the most significant. While it sounds great in theoryto have a team in New Zealand, the cost of getting a team there from Perth issubstantial (mind you the strength of the Australian dollar reducesaccommodation expenses!). The same can be said for having teams in Asia ortougher to reach Australian locations. Careful consideration has to be given toa multitude of factors before any new franchise can be added.

While every existing team was able to secure their ownhome, questions have to be raised over the quality and location of some ofthem. Quality plays a role not only in fan experience but also in determiningwhether or not MLB teams will send down their better prospects. The higherquality prospects we have in Australia, the better the standard of the game andthe more fans that will be drawn. There is no way that a Major League teamwould look at the Melbourne Showground sandpit and sign off on one of theirupper echelon prospects playing on it – there is simply too much to risk healthwise.

Location is surely a factor in attendance. In placeslike Western Australia and NSW the facilities are located some distance fromthe CBD, which works for part of the general public, but add in lack of publictransport and it causes problems for the remainder. Crowd numbers may be strongat the moment, but location may impact each franchise’s ability to increasethese figures.

While it was important to have a MLB representativeheading up the new ABL in year 1, eventually the lack of Australian leadershipmay prove to be detrimental. It is yet to be proven that an Australian caneffectively administrator a competition like the ABL. At some stage MajorLeague Baseball is going to want to take the training wheels off and see ifthis thing can walk on its own. While the jury is out on the management styleof the current regime, the fact remains that the league got off the ground andran successfully in its first year. Moving forward and to be trulyself-sustaining, Australians need to step up in to management roles andadminister the league in a profitable manner and the biggest threat is thatthey’re not being groomed and prepared to do so.

If you see any potential threats that the DefensiveSpecialist may have missed, add them in the comments section below.

Send in the S.W.O.T Team (Part 3)

2011-03-21T22:41:00.000+11:00

Apologies for the lack of activity last week – therigours of travel and a Luke Hughes vigil consumed the Defensive Specialist’stime and prevented any form of creative output. Hughes is obviously getting alot of press at the moment with his scorching hot Spring Training (second inhomeruns and RBI’s) but the Defensive Specialist wanted to spare a paragraph ortwo to discuss his plight. Forthose of you unaware, Hughes is currently in a battle to win the utilityinfielder role with the Minnesota Twins. His plight seems to resonate with the Australian baseball communitybecause we’ve not seen a position player earn a roster spot out of SpringTraining for some time and because it would be totally cool to have an Aussiehitter on a big league roster with some regularity!

Ideally what you’re looking for in a utility guy issomeone who plays multiple positions (to cover for injury and provide a rest tothe regulars) and who can swing it a little. While his manager indicated thathe’d never be a gold glover, he’s given Hughes time at second, third,leftfield, first base and short stop to get a real look. The knock against him is that hedoesn’t profile as a guy who could handle shortstop (primarily due to a lack ofrange and arm) but that may be purely academic as the Twins have other optionsto mitigate that problem. If you scan big league rosters, the back up infielderis generally an “all field, no hit” type of player so Hughes flies in the faceof this by being more offensively minded which provides another weapon to hisskipper.

Baseball fans will know all of the above so as perusual, the Defensive Specialist wants to take things a little deeper bydiscussing just how tough it is to play the role of a bench guy. If you look atHughes’ numbers this spring, you’ll see that he is at the top end of at bats onthe Twins. This indicates that he’s getting plenty of game time and therepetitions necessary to keep his bat going. And herein lies the rub – as abench guy, he may only play 2-3 times per week meaning that it will be tougherto find a rhythm and stay in tune with his swing. No measure of battingpractice makes up for the daily live pitching that regulars see. If Hughes takesan 0-4 in AAA, he’s back in the line-up the next day ready to make amends. Atthe major league level, he may sit on that 0-4 for a couple of days before hegets a chance to get back out there which makes it very difficult to work outthe kinks and maintain any semblance of timing.

The Defensive Specialist doesn’t raise this point topoo poo his effort – the fact is, being a bench guy is a tough job thatrequires a special sort of resilience to be ready when the manager pencils yourname in. Of course, the 400k+ salary makes swallowing that pill a littleeasier!

All right, lets get back on track and continue thein-depth SWOT analysis that your old pal has been cooking for a few weeks now.Today’s instalment is probably the Defensive Specialist’s favourite section –Opportunities. In this component, its time to look at the avenues the ABL couldtake to improve and grow the competition moving forward.

The Defensive Specialist has mentioned it repeatedlybut it bears stating again – television coverage. Telecasting the Grand Finalseries and doing it well highlighted the opportunity to take the game to awider audience if done properly. As much as it pains the Defensive Specialistto say it, its pretty obvious that trying to broadcast every game would befinancially ruinous, but strategically showing big games, key matchups or finalseries is definitely a way to market the competition. The Defensive Specialisthas spent plenty of time thinking about the best format to showcase the game onTV and surely it has to be a “game of the week” and then a highlights type showthat is lighter on content but higher on razzle dazzle. The benefit of doingsomething like this is that it reduces the cost (a game of the week requiresonly one crew and on air talent), which then allows a more polished production.The ultimate goal of this strategy is to capture the casual observer and keepbaseball front of mind for the kids who the ABL desperately need to draw intothe game.

Expansion. On one of the Defensive Specialist’s manyjaunts to New Zealand over the past 6 months there was a back page news storyon softball, which referred to Baseball New Zealand’s quest to have a team inthe ABL. With 6 teams currently in play in Australia’s largest markets there isa definite opportunity to expand into other regions such as New Zealand, Asiaand regional Australia. Logical expansion destinations would include northernNSW and New Zealand (although that would be a killer road trip from Perth).Asia is probably the biggest jewel in the expansion crown due to the passionincited by baseball in that region and the money that sponsorship and crowdscould generate.

Playing more games is a definite opportunity for theABL, and arguably it’s the lack of games that currently prevents some of thebetter MLB professionals being sent down under to get their offseason works in.If the ABL could present 5-6 games per week and effectively recreate aprofessional environment (in terms of volume of games) then there issignificant value to prospects participating in the competition. Obviouslythere is significant cost and effort involved in staging that many games perweek for each team as well as travel and accommodation expenses but theopportunity to be a premier offseason league is not too far off. The benefit ofhaving higher profile prospects taking part is that they bring with them “higherups” from their respective clubs, which has the carry on effect of exposingmore Australians to the eyes of key decision makers.

With year one under the belt and reasonably solidcrowd numbers in play around Australia, there is a definite opportunity to rampup the marketing and suck more and more kids into the sport. Baseball sawfantastic growth in the halcyon days of the first ABL with teeball seeingrobust participation rates. Now is the time to leverage the ABL by pumping upthe profiles of local talent, promoting our professionals and showcasingAustralian Major League players to junior competitions. It’s obviously toughpromoting the ABL when the season runs through the school holidays and theoffseason (the time when school visits and camps would normally be conducted)sees our talent ship off to their US seasons, but nonetheless, the time isright to promote the game hard and jack up the number of kids taking part.

The carry on effect from this marketing is a growth incrowd numbers. Increased promotion to children as well as a television presencewill surely increase the number of punters pushing through the turnstiles. Morefans in the stands equals greater club profitability, which allows teams toinvest both on and off the field and improve the product.

Leverage the relationship with Major League Baseballand run more sanctioned events like camps and coaching seminars. Flying out acouple of MLB stars, running educational coaching sessions or conducting skillscamps is only going to benefit the game. The ABL was successful in using mostlyhome grown coaching staffs but how much access does the average coach have totheir skills and expertise? Imagine having an MLB hitting or pitching coach runa session on their specific skill set and the value it would bring to theAustralian baseball community? It’s these big ticket names that will draw moreand more people to the ball park and inspire kids, coaches and parents to beinvolved in the game.

The Defensive Specialist promises to come back withthe 4^th instalment in a more timely fashion – unless of course LukeHughes lands himself a starting gig, then all bets are off. As usual, if theDefensive Specialist has missed any opportunities, hit the comments sectionbelow.

Send in the S.W.O.T Team (Part 2)

2011-03-09T21:37:00.000+11:00

If you’re just tuning in you’ve landed smack bang inthe middle of a complex SWOT analysis designed to peer deep inside the ABLafter its inaugural season. Before you scramble to click off the page, todaythe Defensive Specialist is covering “weaknesses” which generally seems to holdpeople’s attention more than any other part of the breakdown. As with any startup venture, there are ups and downs – before you’re old pal dives into thedowns, a couple of strengths were sent in by reader Wagga Mick that theDefensive Specialist kicked himself for missing:

Internet streaming – the ABL did a great job ofbringing real time scores and plays to baseball fans around the country throughtheir own and each club’s website.
Using the MLB website format as a platform for localteams’ sites. The upgrade happened overnight and absolutely took theaccessibility and professionalism to another level (although content wassometimes lacking but this can be attributed to lack of resources available toproduce content).

All right, lets roll up the sleeves and get into thejuicy stuff…

WEAKNESSES

Although another anonymous reader suggested that themarketing was good, the Defensive Specialist has to disagree. Readers only needcast their mind back to mid 2010 when baseball fans were scrambling forinformation about the ABL and the Defensive Specialist was receiving thankyouemails for speculating on team names. Baseball people were genuinely excitedand the ABL could have played on that by strategically and creatively dripfeedinginformation. It’s undeniable that teams absolutely made the best of a poorsituation in terms of promoting themselves but it’s also undeniable thatoverall publicity and marketing was probably not where it should have been.Having said that, it’s worth considering who the ABL was trying to market to.If the first year goal was to get the baseball community buzzing, then it’s fairto say that was achieved. If the goal was to draw in the uninitiated then theview would be significantly different. The Defensive Specialist is surmisinghere that the year 1 goal was to get baseball people on board and then leveragethat group to attract feeder groups like teeball, softball etc. Once you have asolid fan base then you can expand to a broader market and hope that Joe Publicshows some interest and gets hooked on the product, but until you have thebaseball community involved there’s no point even bothering for the uninitiated(either way, you’re old pal has just invented a sweet excuse for the ABL ifever questioned on publicity “yeah, our first year goal was to get baseballpeople….”)

The powerbrokers at ABL HQ have to have concerns aboutattendance in a number of key states. The Blue Sox failed to sell out numerousgames in a final series and attendance appeared to be an issue in Melbournethroughout the season. While franchises like Canberra and Adelaide enjoyedsolid numbers and enthusiastic crowds, the league will never be consideredsustainable until fan support is consistently high across the board. The onlyways for teams to break even is to have sponsors on board and punters streamingthrough the gates… or a bunch of poker machines. With the two largest marketshaving splotchy attendance figures, the viability of the league has to bequestioned. Speaking as a season ticket holder, the Defensive Specialist canattest to the quality of the product both on and off the field as well as theaffordability of the event in Sydney – so there must be other factors keepingfans away (location, brand, venue etc) that have to be addressed.

(File this one under minor weakness) The DefensiveSpecialist lives by numerous credos, none more important than: “the body is atemple”. So you can imagine the Defensive Specialist’s dismay when thehealthiest options on a ballpark menu were green apples and bottled water.Seriously, the Defensive Specialist took to packing a picnic dinner so as toavoid greasy burgers, chips and myocardial infarctions. Obviously catering toeveryone’s dietary tastes is not the easiest and cheapest thing to achieve butsurely you’re old pal isn’t the only person who doesn’t have the tastes of themorbidly obese? Why kill the fans you’re attracting to games?

Professionals on the roster. HOLD UP!!!! Ok, soprofessional hitters are fantastic to have on your ballclub, it’s the pitchersthat seem to cause a problem. Let the Defensive Specialist explain.Professional arms are typically on a fairly strict innings restriction, meaningthat by the last month of the season their workloads are being reduced orthey’re being shut down. This is all well and good if you’re team isn’t goingto make the playoffs, but if the ABL Championship is a goal then not havingyour best arms available is definitely detrimental. We saw the Perth Heat winthe flag on the backs of 2 former pros who were neither restricted by pitchcounts nor inning restrictions. There isn’t really any way around this issueunless you play it like the Bite did with Brandon Maurer which was to start himout with a small workload and gradually build him to a 5 inning starter.Fortunately for the Bite they mashed early in the season and had some decentarms to cover the load. So how do you fix it? The Defensive Specialistuncharacteristically doesn’t have a clear-cut answer. If a team brings out animport they are here to get their work in and will do so under instruction fromthe parent team. Australian pro’s are governed by the same rules so you canteven rely on home-grown talent to fill the innings.

Which leads us to the next weakness – imports beingpulled from local competitions. Teams will evaluate how the Heat won thechampionship and see that they relied heavily on imports that came from thelocal leagues to fill out their roster and play key roles during the finalscampaign. While its safe to assume that local teams consented to their importsbeing made available (its important to remember that the vast majority of localimports are flown out and supported at the clubs’ expense), there may come apoint when local teams refuse participation. What we saw with the Heat is thatformer pro’s are durable, proficient, reliable and a huge asset. Expectfranchises to explore this resource in greater detail next year.

The number of games played across the course of theyear (40 plus finals) was a step up from the Claxton Shield in years past butmay actually be counterintuitive to attracting the very best professionalprospects to our shores. As baseball fans know, baseball is a sport best playedon a daily basis, which means that until the ABL can offer more than 4 gamesper week, the best talent will elect to play elsewhere. The problem we face inAustralia is A) the cost of teams playing 6 out of 7 days per week (travel,accommodation, meals etc) and B) getting crowds to midweek games. If teamscould count on solid attendance mid week then the idea of a 60 game seasonbecomes more palatable although it severely impacts the availability of non-professionalplayers who still have to pay their bills by working regular jobs.

Finally, a lack of television exposure is definitely aweakness for a professional league trying to get a footing in a busy sportscalendar. The Defensive Specialist has discussed on a number of occasions waysthat the game could be promoted without televising entire series or multiplegames per week (featured game of the week and a highlight show as examples) andwhile it is unrealistic to expect a huge television presence, it is critical incapturing non-baseball people. The impressive ads that hit the screens beforethe season commenced really didn’t drive people anywhere and this is where sometelevision presence would have filled the void and allowed those not familiarwith baseball to turn.

As per usual, the Defensive Specialist is interestedin hearing the readers thoughts on perceived weaknesses from year 1 of the ABL.Part 3 of the SWOT analysis will cover Opportunities – stay tuned.

Send in the S.W.O.T Team (Part 1)

2011-02-28T22:13:00.000+11:00

Right, 2 weeks seems an appropriate amount of time offbetween the conclusion of the ABL Grand Final series and the DefensiveSpecialist switching into off-season coverage mode. The past 14 days were agreat opportunity to recharge the batteries after the inaugural season andattend to the many goals and objectives the Defensive Specialist sets forhimself on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis – like reading the entireHarry Potter series! (Don’t laugh, that’s 4,176 pages in total or 298.28 pagesper day!) Anyway, loyal readers will know that inactivity and the DefensiveSpecialist cannot coexist in a mutually beneficial relationship, which is whyyour old pal has decided to cast an analytical eye over the first ABL seasonand conduct a SWOT analysis.

For those less academically inclined, a SWOT analysisis traditionally a planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses,Opportunities and Threats involved in a business venture or project. Before you role your eyes and click offthe page fearful of some egghead style analysis, please consider that theDefensive Specialist will not be adhering to any sort of structural guidelines(like internal or external factors) and promises to inject his rapier like witwherever possible. So let’s getthe ball rolling by considering the Strengths of the Australian Baseball leagueafter its first season:

STRENGTHS

Well first and foremost the fact that the leagueactually commenced has to be considered a strength doesn’t it? They say thefirst step is often the most important on a difficult journey (see theDefensive Specialist drawing Harry Potter like analogies onto this??) sogetting the ABL up and running was a huge achievement. The baseball communityhad been whispering about the reappearance of a MLB backed baseball league inAustralia for quite some time, but as each year passed it looked to be fancifultalk. By actually pulling teams together and getting the ball rolling there isevery chance that the competition will go from strength to strength (assumingcareful management and planning) and become an integral part of the game andits development in Australia. On top of getting teams out on the field in everymajor Australian market, the ABL and its franchises managed to create areasonably sound product (quality of games, entertainment etc) that will onlycontinue to grow.

You’d have to say that fan support was a real strengthin season 1 with towns like Adelaide and Canberra drawing consistent numbers,especially when you consider that games were spread across 4 days and oftenincluded a Thursday night event. It must be disconcerting that Melbourne,Sydney and Brisbane had splotchy numbers across the season but with a yearunder its belt, venues bedded down and hopefully television coverage the crowdswill increase.

While the Defensive Specialist wasn’t able to attendgames in each location (the Deep in the Hole budget is still feeling theeffects of the GFC), the general consensus was that franchises put a good producton the field every week. It was obvious that a lot of time and effort had beenput into in-game entertainment, game day activities and the team in general(solid uniforms, conditions, travel) which once again creates a solidfoundation for development.

Each team has a home. As amusing as that sounds,establishing facilities for each franchise was critical and although it camedown to the wire in Melbourne and Brisbane, they found homes. While many wouldsay that the Melbourne Showgrounds is a poor excuse for a baseball field, whatwere the alternatives? Road trips to Geelong again or worse yet Altona? Thefact that hitters can hit pop ups that drift out of the yard for homeruns isboth a pain in the backside and a quirk (much like Boston’s Green Monster) thatneeds to be embraced and incorporated into a team’s game plan. On the otherhand, all reports suggest that the field in Canberra has an amazing playingsurface and the makings of a fantastic facility.

A definite strength of the ABL was the level of localtalent. While every team had an infusion of imported talent (some more thanothers), the vast majority of squads were primarily constructed around localAustralian talent. For too many years our professional players returned home toAustralia and the only preparation they had for upcoming professional seasonswas to play in local competitions that in all likelihood did not present thedevelopment opportunities that they needed for advancement. By forming a leaguethat operates across the US / Asian offseason our young talent has the forum tocompete against their peers and enhance their skill sets. On top of this, nonprofessional players now have the opportunity to compete and measure themselvesagainst the best our baseball community has to offer.For too long we’ve been forced to trumpet the successof long retired players like David Nilsson and Graeme Lloyd because we haven’thad the stage to showcase our current players. While guys like Grant Balfourand Peter Moylan are probably past their ABL used by date (meaning they’reunlikely to ever play in it), the next wave of young players is given theopportunity to creep into the consciousness of children who can say theywatched them as a nobody now that they’re in the big leagues – that’s how youbuild and promote Australian baseball legends (wow, that was getting seriouslydeep).

Confirming the point on local talent was the fact thatplayers actually signed professional contracts while competing in the ABL. Thatmay not have been the primary objective of the competition but it has to makethe league powerbrokers warm and fuzzy in the trousers to see a number of guysextend their baseball careers. In what other way would 33 year old ChrisOxspring get an opportunity to sign with the Detroit Tigers if he didn’t havethe ABL? With greater access to high quality games, we can expect more signingsas players are able to showcase their skill sets.

The quality of imports has to be considered a realupside for the most part as each franchise benefitted in some way, shape orform by having foreigners on their roster (as evidenced by the Heat winning thechampionship behind the efforts of 2 import pitchers in game 2 &3). TheDefensive Specialist mentioned many moons ago how appealing a strong leaguedown under has to be to professional organisations who know its safe (notconsidering natural disasters), similar in culture to player’s homes (more sothe US) and has brilliant weather. While the imports definitely lifted thequality of competition, you’d have to think that the 40 additional games inAustralia assisted in their development. The Defensive Specialist will talkmore on imports in some of the other sections but for the most part, theiraddition to the league was a real benefit.

Ok, the Defensive Specialist is heading into novel territoryas the word count reaches 1200. Hit the comment section with any otherstrengths you saw in the ABL’s inaugural season while the Defensive Specialistsets to work on the next phase of the SWOT analysis – Weaknesses, which shouldappear later this week.

The Wrap Up

2011-02-13T22:19:00.000+11:00

The one advantage of playing the 3^rdand deciding game of the ABL Grand Final series at 12pm (West Coast time) isthat when you win, you can get a solid 6-8 hours of partying under your beltcompared to a regular 7pm start! You can rest assured that the Perth Heat willbe tilting numerous cold ones right about now as they celebrate theirresounding win against the Adelaide Bite in the inaugural ABL season. As perthe rest of the series, let the Defensive Specialist highlight a couple of keypoints:

You can bet ABL coaches around the countrywill be scouring the local competitions looking for the next Trevor Caugheysand Ben Moores. We discussed Caughey yesterday and we need to pour out some inkon his teammate who took the hill in game 3 and submitted a complete game, 10strikeout performance to lead his team to the Championship. Aside from a 9^thinning blast from Stefan Welch, Moore was in complete command surrendering only4 hits (1 was a can of corn pop-up that second baseman Luke Hughes should havecaught). The performances of Moore and Caughey highlight the kind of talentfloating around in local leagues and demonstrate how club teams have throwntheir support behind the ABL by allowing the talent that they’ve bankrolled toparticipate.

Moore needs more than one paragraph! the righty befuddled the Bite with his funky¾ delivery, Frisbee slider and roadrunner change up that had good hittersutterly confounded (see Latimore, Quincy as the prime example). Moore’s abilityto get ahead and throw any pitch in any count proved to be the difference as hequieted a fearful lineup that beat up numerous pitchers throughout the season.

The Heat managed to get on top of yetanother team in the fifth inning, this time putting Paul Mildren to the sword (whowas on a short leash in game 3 as ManagerHarris could not afford to let the game get out of hand). Mitch Graham wasextremely lucky with 2 strikes as he took a fastball down and in that couldvery easily have been strike 3. Mildren bounded off the mound expecting to getthe call. The very next pitch Graham drove a 2 run double into the right centregap to put the Heat ahead. As Al Pacino said in “On Any Given Sunday” – it’sall about inches!

Luke Hughes must have something going onwith the official scorers because he was credited with a double in the bottomof the 8^th when he singled to centre fielder James McOwen. TimKennelly running on second base was waved home by manager Brooke Knight onHughes’ ground ball up the middle. McOwen’s throw was cash money but Kennelly executed an outstanding slidethat saw him hook his foot around to touch the plate ahead of the sweeping tag(that actually missed making contact). Hughes being smarter than your averagebear continued around first and cruised into second base. A very intelligentpiece of base running but not something worthy of a double.

Kudos to umpire Brett Robson who got thebang bang call just right in signaling Kennelly safe at the plate.

Robbie Widlansky took some almighty hacksall series and finally brought the thunder in the 8^th inning as heblasted a Darren Fidge fastball out to centrefield. Widlansky is best describedas a professional hitter for 2 reasons 1) he swings it pretty good and 2) he isa butcher defensively as evidenced by the fly ball that he dropped in leftfield. Interestingly though,Widlansky’s ball would have been a long out 2 years ago – when the decision wasmade to bring the fences in by about 40 feet in centrefield. The shed viewerscould see behind the centrefield wall actually sits inside where the old fencewas. Talk about Death Valley.

So we have our first champion in the newAustralian Baseball League. It’sbeen an interesting season and the Defensive Specialist has thoroughly enjoyedhaving baseball back on the big stage. For all the skepticism before the seasoncommenced, it’s been a pretty solid product that can only continue to getbetter. While this sounds like the Defensive Specialist signing off for theoffseason, do not fret – your old pal has a couple of rock star blog posts uphis sleeve that will be sure to keep you engrossed for at least 15 minutes perweek.

Well done to the Perth Heat – 2010 / 2011ABL Champions

An Abbreviated Look

2011-02-13T10:35:00.000+11:00

The Heat and Bite went at it again and in somewhat ofa surprise the Heat put a beat down on the Bite and their ace Brandon Maurer,taking the contest 9-2. Let’s take a look at a couple of key points:

The Defensive Specialist was furiously ironing shirtswhen he commented at the top of the 5^th inning that the Heat couldbe in big trouble. After all Maurer was serving up 94 mph fastballs andcomplementing it with a hellacious slider on his way to striking out 6 through4 innings. Mrs The Defensive Specialist looked up from whatever it was she wasdoing and responded to her husband’s comment with “baseball is a funny game,you can score 6 runs in one inning”. And wouldn’t you know it, the Heat cameout and hung a 7 spot (Perhaps Mrs The Defensive Specialist should be writingthis blog!). It was startling how quickly the wheels fell off Maurer who hadbeen absolutely dominant until the point when Ronnie Welty went big fly to leadoff the 5^th. Whether it was fatigue or a mental breakdown, Maurerwas unable to get back on track and his good work through 4 came undone in onefoul inning.

The Defensive Specialist has seen his fair share ofgames at the Barbagallo Ballpark and can honestly say that even some of thebest lefthanded hitters have had a tough time getting balls out of that yard torightfield. All of a sudden a right handed hitter takes two balls out to thatvery area – one of which he was completely out in front of! So either someungodly jet stream decided to show up for game 2 or Welty has some seriousjuice in his bat. Despite Welty’s wiry frame, he has demonstrated the abilityto hit the long ball (18 in his last minor league season) and this was ondisplay in the top of the 5^th where he appeared to sit on a fastballand drove it with authority out to right field. The second at bat with thebases drunk was a little different as he got out in front of a breaking balland managed to flip a fence scraper out to right for a grand slam. Either way,the fact that he could put two out to the usually dead part of the ballpark isa testament to his bat speed and strength.

The Foxtel camera work is still a step behind theaction and some of the camera angle decisions are probably not the best butonce again the quality of the product has been very strong and definitely abuilding block for future broadcasts. The more the Defensive Specialist thinksabout it, the more it makes sense to show a ‘series of the week’ (assuming MLBand Foxtel have plans to continue their television coverage of the ABL). Forthe series of the week, Foxtel goes all out like this and really showcases thecontest. Single cameras could be dispersed to the other series in order tocapture highlights which could then be combined to form a highlight / baseballshow during the week which would be a great way to keep the game growing.

Trevor Caughey has proven that the local baseballcompetition can be a fertile ground for finding replacement players. The leftyhas been lights out since joining the Heat and held the formidable Bite line-upto just 1 run through 7 innings before conceding a junk run in the 8^th.Working backwards (breaking balls in fastball counts), kept the Bite line-upoff balance (particularly James McOwen and Quincy Latimore) en route to his 2^ndplayoff victory.

The Adelaide outfield seems to be having a very toughtime with balls in the air at Barbagallo Ballpark. Tom Brice in particularwould be better served with a shotgun rather than a glove as he continuallystabs at the ball and makes routine fly balls an adventure. Fortunately theball he dropped did not end up hurting the Bite at the time but he can’t bedoing much for his manager’s stomach lining. The wind does appear to be howlingat the ballpark (Welty’s second home run will attest to that) which is clearlymoving the ball around in the air.

Interestingly (and as part of the DefensiveSpecialists global reach), when the Defensive Specialist was in New Zealandlast week, there was a back page story in the newspaper about softball and howit needs to work with baseball. Anyway, that was a little boring but as theDefensive Specialist read on, mention was made of the Boston Red Sox signing asoftball catcher to a professional contract. Further reading also indicatedthat Baseball New Zealand had hopes of having a team competing in the ABL inthe next 2 years of so! While your old pal is sceptical of the quality of teamthat a New Zealand franchise could put on the field, the possibility ofexpansion is always exciting.

Right, so where does this all lead us? Well we’re atgame 3 for all the marbles! The Heat storm back to grab the momentum and theBite are left with the challenge of rebounding from a beat down (of their aceno less). The Heat will send Ben Moore to the mound, who was 1-1 during theregular season with a 3 ERA and 14 k’s in 12 innings. The DefensiveSpecialist’s advance scouting team suggests that Moore owns one of the funkiestchange ups you’ll likely ever see so look out for that. It would appear thatAdelaide will counter with lefty Paul Mildren who started the season as theBites ace but has been consigned to number 3 guy late in the season. Mildrencontributed a 2-6 record with a 4.58 ERA in 57 innings of work. Caughey sparedthe Perth bullpen last night by gobbling up 7.2 innings so almost every armwill be available in game 3. The Bite do appear to have the advantage if itbecomes a battle of the bullpens with Dushan Ruzic, Darren Fidge and Tom Beckerall fresh and ready.

Game 2 drew a crowd of approximately 3000 so you’dhave to assume that the Perth faithful will be out in force to push that numberup even higher (with local competition wisely rescheduled to accommodate thedeciding game). Since theDefensive Specialist has been firing blanks all season long on the predictionfront, let’s turn things over to the brains of the operation”

Defensive Specialist: “Who’ll win game 3?”

Mrs Defensive Specialist: (with resolve) “The Heat”

There you have it!

Quick Hits

2011-02-12T12:41:00.000+11:00

Quick hits from game 1 of the ABL Grand Final Seriesbetween the Perth Heat and Adelaide Bite that saw the Bite take a 1 – 0 lead inthe best of 3 contest.

The ABL and Foxtel went with the “Entertainment Approach” and in general the coverage was really good. There were some earlyproblems with graphics (both teams had multiple DH’s listed in their line ups),and the side-line reporter revealed a lack of baseball knowledge in the postgame interviews by asking MarkBrackman if he would be starting in game 2. Warren Smith was very good as theplay-by-play man with the only major issue occurring when his colleaguesreferred to him as ‘Waz”. John Deeble was serviceable as the ‘colour’ guy butcould have armed himself with more information on some of the players – particularlythe professionals. The real down side with the production was the lag betweenpitch and the cameras switching to pick up where the ball actually went. Thisis obviously as a result of the production team being inexperienced at puttingbaseball to air and would surely improve with practice. All in all it was anenjoyable broadcast and both the ABL and Foxtel should be pleased with thepackage they presented.
If you told the Defensive Specialist that both teamswould combine for 25 hits and only score 7 runs, you’d be laughed at. Bothteams came out swinging, only to see potentially large innings extinguishedthrough a lack of clutch hitting. The Adelaide 8 & 9 hitters (Wigmore andCakebread combined for 6 hits) while the Heat received major contributions fromDe San Miguel (4-5) and McArthur (3-5).
It appeared that Aaron Bonomi was safe at home plateon a bang bang play in the 8^th, which would have been the tying run.The ball clearly beat Bonomi to the plate although the throw from Jamie McOwendrew Brandon Bantz up the first base line preventing the catcher from properlyblocking the plate. To the Defensive Specialist’s highly trained eye, Bonomi’sleg went through Bantz’s leg before the tag was applied. This may all be a mootpoint if Bonomi hadn’t slowed down after rounding third. With 2 out and arunner on second, every third base coach is going to wind the runner home sothere was no excuse for Bonomi slowing.

Bonomi wondering "why'd I stop?"

Neither starters had their best stuff with Brackmansurrendering 10 hits and 3 runs in 5.2 innings and Schmidt giving up 9 hits and4 runs in 4.1 innings of work. Schmidt in particular appeared to lose his wayin the 5^th as he gave up 3 runs when his usually outstanding controldeserted him and he began elevating his fastball.
On the other hand, both teams received stellar supportfrom their bullpens. Adrian Burnside was fantastic over 3 innings while CameronLamb provided a sublime 4.2 innings of relief. Both pen-men held theiropponents scoreless for the remainder of the game.

So where to from here? Well Adelaide are mostdefinitely in the driver’s seat heading into game 2 with their most dominantpitcher Brandon Maurer set to take the ball. The Heat will likely send TrevorCaughey to the hill in the hope that he can continue his season-longexcellence. It’s hard to envision another 25 hits but both offenses are hot atpresent and a slugfest is not out of the question.

The Big Dance

2011-02-10T21:20:00.000+11:00

So here we are, Grand Final week – the Big Dance! The Defensive Specialist finds himself sitting in a New Zealand hotel pouring over line ups, statistics, scouting reports and tea leaves trying to find an edge. Of course both managers (Knight & Harris) have desperately sought the Defensive Specialist’s insight which has made a business trip to our neighbour timely as it would be unfair to assist one team over another. Buoyed by the successful series prediction last week (don’t kid yourself, your old pal was concerned after David Welch tossed a no no), the Defensive Specialist is ready to break down the series and spell out a winner for one more time this season.

With the series going live to air on cable television, it’s a big weekend for the ABL and baseball in general and nothing would be better than an action packed contest that stretches over 3 games. Both teams have a legitimate shot at the title and in a move away from the norm, both teams would be considered offensive ball clubs first and foremost. Following on from last week’s winning formula, let’s take a look at what factors could win or lose it for each team:

Why Perth will lose

2 weeks off without baseball is never a good thing! The inactivity will allow the pitching staff to freshen up but the last thing a highly functioning offense wants is a lengthy break – and in baseball 10 days is an eternity. You can play all the simulated games and two pitch you want but the best way to keep the bats hot is to swing them in anger. Manager Knight has to be anxious about the layoff and the effect it will have on his hitters timing. 1 through 9 the Heat line up had been popping and this break has the potential to put a number of the bats on ice. Sure a hitters may have found their way into local competition line ups but there is a significant difference in the sloppy seconds they’d be seeing down there from a pitching perspective and the higher level offerings they’ll see in the ABL

Why Adelaide will win

Momentum. We’ve discussed how powerful having the “MO” in your dugout can be and the Bite are riding a wave of it after taking it in the back passage in game 1 of the Preliminary finals and then storming back with 2 courageous wins to claim the series. Anytime you steal a 15 inning barn burner on the road you thank your lucky stars and look for your next challenge. Perth saw its own momentum stifled by a 2 week break and will need to get an early jump on the Bite to regenerate the buzz they built up after sweeping the Blue Sox on the road.

Why the Heat will win

They’re playing at home! Ok, that doesn’t guarantee the series win like you’d expect. The Heat were a .500 ballclub at their home park this season and decidedly better on the road. Earlier in the season, Manager Knight indicated that he liked his team on the road because they were free of the distractions and commitments generally associated with playing at home (work, study, family etc). Getting away as a unit is beneficial because the only focus is baseball. You’d like to think a thumping crowd plus a grand final series provides the edge that the Heat should have by being at home.

Why Adelaide will lose

Inconsistency around their pitching staff. Mark Brackman looked shakier than bambi on ice in game 1 of the preliminary finals which may have been a splash of bad luck or simply because his anus cramped under the bright lights of playoff baseball. The Adelaide trainer will be working around the clock to keep him loose so that the Bite doesn’t get a repeat performance. Brandon Maurer has evolved into the ‘sure thing’ for Manager Harris and it is somewhat surprising that he didn’t get bumped up to game 1. After these guys it looks like Paul Mildren gets the ball in game 3 but there is no certainty there.

Maurer has been a 'sure thing' for the Bite

Why Perth will lose

Uncertainty around their pitching staff. We know Daniel Schmidt will get the ball in game 1 and the lefty has shown that he deserves the honour. After him, it’s a bit of a crapshoot and you can be sure that Manager Knight has spent plenty of time this week calling local competition coaches asking if he can borrow their imports (Caughey & Zachary). Caughey has been a revelation for the Heat in limited appearances and if he is available Knight can then employ “Johnny Allstaff” to fill out game 3. If he isn’t available God only knows who gets the ball in game 2 which is a huge concern this late in the season.

Daniel Schmidt gets the ball in game 1

Why Adelaide will win

Because they bang! The Defensive Specialist knows that you shouldn’t start a sentence with because but it is as simple as that. Jeremy Cresswell, a rejuvenated Stefan Welch, Jamie McOwen, Quincy Latirmore, Brandon Bantz and Tom Brice give the Bite a legit 1-6. Cresswell works the count and grinds out AB’s, Welch is a nice 2 hole hitter who feasts on fastballs and McOwen, Latimore, Bantz and Brice provide the grunt. Not much in the way of a let up in that group which will definitely tax the Heat staff.

McOwen leads the Bite offensively

Why Perth will win

Because they bang harder! Based on end of season form, it’s safe to suggest that the Heat go 9 deep (which also sounds like the title of a porn film). The season numbers may not show it but a line up of:

Tim Kennelly
Alan De San Miguel
Luke Hughes
Robbie Widlansky
Evan McArthur
Ronnie Welty
Matt Kennelly
Lachlan Dale / Ryne Price
Mitch Graham

Luke Hughes needs to keep his eyes open and BANG

Is pretty damn solid and brings the noise! While the Bite line up drops away from 7 through 9, the Heat attack is unrelenting, especially with Graham finding form late in the season. Against the Adelaide pitching staff, the Heat offense could explode.

So who is the this baseball brain putting his weight behind in the 2011 ABL Grand Final? The Defensive Specialist will be fidgeting in his first class international seat on the flight home tomorrow evening, eager to get in front of the television (pending a late call from ABL CEO Peter Wermuth asking for the Defensive Specialist’s expertise on the broadcast) to watch these two offensive minded ball clubs tee off on each other. When your old pal gazes into his crystal ball he sees the Heat taking game 1, Maurer maintaining his hot streak to guide the Bite to a victory in game 2 and the local boys rallying to win game 3. Perth Heat inaugural ABL champions!

Television Adds 10 Pounds

2011-02-08T22:06:00.000+11:00

MLB commissioner Bud Selig must be reclining in hisplush leather office chair, feet perched proudly on his desk as he thinks aboutthe little old league he has running in some far fetched country called Austria/ Armenia / Australia. After all, its had decent press throughout the seasonand as the competition has headed towards its conclusion we’ve seen some hardfought victories, a playoff no hitter and to wrap up the Sydney / AdelaidePreliminary final a 15 inning barn burner that had both teams selling theirsouls to the baseball gods for a victory. To make things even better in Bud’sworld, the final series is being televised nationally! He can definitelycheck “establish an MLB outposting in a foreign country” off his things to do list while commissioner ofbaseball.

It’s definitely an exciting time for Australianbaseball and a buzz abounds with the final series being televised. However withnational exposure comes a big stage to expose both the good and the bad thatour sport has to offer in a time when getting buy-in is absolutely critical tothe league’s viability and growth. The Defensive Specialist thought now wouldbe a good time to consider a number of key points as the ABL and Foxtel getready to package this product.

Arethe ABL and Foxtel showcasing or educating?

There is a big difference between slickly packagingthe broadcast and allowing the game to speak for itself, or running an ‘idiotsguide to baseball”. Let the Defensive Specialist flesh this one out:

Showcasing the game – solid and informed commentary,slick camera work, timely replays and polished production (stats and packages) –think ESPN’s Sunday night baseball.
Educating the masses – explaining the rules of thegame, increased talking, basic information. More like a teaching the session,detailing every play.

In the Defensive Specialist’s esteemed opinion, it’sdifficult to do both well which is why you see cricket broadcasts do the ‘teaching’bit during lunch breaks or in packages rather than trying to do so during theactual game. The ABL really has a 3 game trial with Foxtel and the viewingmasses so it makes sense to put a polished package together that showcases thegame rather than trying to bring people up to speed with the ins and outs of baseball.You’d have to think that the vast majority of people tuning in will be baseballfans, however Foxtel and the ABL will hope to catch the attention of casualviewers who may stumble across the broadcast. Surely these people don’t want tolisten to commentators drone on about ‘tagging up’ and ‘how to grip a bat’ whenthere is a chance to see a well produced performance of baseball.

Peering into the future, perhaps next season theleague could feature a weekly highlights type show – 30 minutes of action,interviews, top plays etc that grabs viewers attention. This could besupplemented with a game of the week (which would reduce cost by limiting thenumber of games broadcast) and then to bring the casual fan up to speed maybeeven an educational type show that zeroes in on kids (although the DefensiveSpecialist believes that these would be better in cut down versions insertedinto some form of pregame show).

Willthe commentary be up to standard?

This really ties in to the above point regarding production.The Defensive Specialist hopes and prays that the commentary can be polishedand informative rather than inane and pointless conversation that we’ve seen onother occasions. We’ve seen MLB bring out US expertise to assist in running thefranchises and in game day preparation and it would be great to see someinfluence around commentary with well informed and educated people behind themicrophones. A good broadcast team includes a play-by-play announcer whoprovides a running overview of the game and a colour man who contributesanalysis and opinion. With other American sports played in Australia, we’veseen numerous instances where the commentary team simply couldn’t provide aprofessional and interest-holding dialogue for the duration of the contest.

The great thing about baseball is that it’s timeless.The worst thing about baseball from a commentary perspective is that it’stimeless! What does this mean? Well because baseball can be somewhat on theslow side, commentators have to deftly fill time without becoming a talkinghead that fills up the space with words. The real art is letting the game speakfor itself and using the words to fill the gaps (that was almost poetic in it’sbeauty!).

It’snot easy broadcasting baseball!

Think about the experience you have when you watch anMLB game on Foxtel or ESPN. Multiple camera angles, immediate tracking of theaction and almost instantaneous replays provide for an outstanding experience.In order to provide a close approximation of such an experience, you’d have tothink that Foxtel will require at least 5 camera’s (1 behind the pitcher, 1 behind the hitter, 1 behind first,1 behind 3^rd and 1 on the field). You can see right there the costassociated with broadcasting baseball games, especially across a 3 or 4 gameand why it’s a big deal if the league gets more games on air in coming seasons.It will be interesting to see how inexperienced camera operators and productioncrews (from a baseball perspective) handle the cut and thrust of a game. Canthey get the broadcast in the right place at the right time?

Whatabout the bells and whistles?

Being the first time the ABL has gone to air, will weget slickly produced player profiles, graphics and packages? If the ABL isaiming to showcase the product then you’d hope so. Baseball fans want to seeaverages and statistics. In order to promote the game, pre-packaged playerfeatures can be used adroitly to add value and launch local players into the public’sconsciousness. A brief pregame show would be an interesting wrinkle and allowthe BAL to show case local stars or leading baseball figures in Australia. Themore effort that’s put in around these types of features, the better theproduct will be.

At the end of the day, if the ABL and Foxtel can puttogether an outstanding broadcast, the game will benefit. The ABL has a smallwindow of opportunity to promote the game on a grand stage – lets hope thatthey’re able to do it right so that televised games become the norm rather thana bonus.

NO!

2011-02-04T23:55:00.000+11:00

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

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

Your old pal was left scratching his head at thewholesale 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 MokoMoanaroa. Gone was Mark Holland, replaced at second by Trent D’Antonio. JoshDean was added to the line-up at third and rightfielder David Kandilas waspromoted to the two-hole. Drasticalterations like these are often deemed panic moves and not what you’d expectfrom a league leading team in a playoff series.

Fortunately the one constant all season for the Sydneyteam 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 aBlue Sox team that just couldn’t find a way to manufacture any runs.

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

3-0 Blue Sox.

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

5-0 Blue Sox.

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

7-0 Blue Sox.

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

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

The atmosphere in the park took on a whole new turn inthe 9^th with Welch on the verge of a no no and the heart of theAdelaide 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 resultedin a high chopper back to the mound. The pitcher leapt and snagged the ball asMcOwen hustled down the line, desperate to break it up. Perhaps not realisinghe had more time or perhaps experiencing some severe sphincter tightness, Welchrushed himself and launched the ball down the line.

ERROR!

What should have been a routine final out to completea no hitter all of a sudden became a farcical mistake that resulted in a runneron base and the big hitting righty Quincy Latimore at the dish. Welch wasclearly running on empty as his fastball was now at 82 (he had it up to 88earlier 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 followedwith another. With the count 2-2 he went to it again and Latimore pouncedsending a towering fly ball to left that immediately sucked the sticky air outof the ballpark. Replacement leftfielder Trent Schmutter drifted back to thewall and the fans held their breath. And then all of a sudden the ball droppedfrom the sky into Schmutters glove on the warning track.

Game over – no hitter!

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

Obviously the Defensive Specialist Player of the Gamegoes to David Welch who not only tossed a complete game no hitter, but alsoracked up 10 strikeouts in a game that Sydney really had to have in order toget 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 upmust now find a way to get two wins on the road against Craig Anderson andWayne Lundgren as well as a newly confident Sydney attack. Not an easy task byany stretch of the imagination!

Wait til I get my money right

2011-02-02T21:11:00.001+11:00

Things have gotten so bad that playoff team membersand supporters have been writing in to Deep in the Hole asking the DefensiveSpecialist to pick against them in the playoffs because if things hold true toform they’ll end up winning. For a certified “expert” at picking horseflesh,you have to know that this run of bad form truly troubles the DefensiveSpecialist. Your old pal has spent countless hours evaluating the process:

Rock solid analysis: CHECK
In-depth research: CHECK
Numerous hours of study: CHECK
A healthy dose of gut instinct: CHECK

Baseball is one of those sports that can totallyderail a player if he can’t ride the storm and keep his emotions in order. Asyou can imagine the Defensive Specialist is unwavering in his self-belief butstill turned to a mentor to get an assessment of the state of play:

Defensive Specialist: “I’m concerned that my analysisis off the mark”

Mentor: “It’s not”

Defensive Specialist: “But I’ve faltered on numerousoccasions this season”

Mentor: “You’ve got to keep swinging the bat my young apprentice”

Defensive Specialist: “I could be in a slump”

Mentor: “Stop that. In the words of the great KanyeWest – Wait til you get your money right”.

And with that, the Defensive Specialist felt a senseof calm. If the Defensive Specialist keeps doing the hard yards, the universewill correct itself and the Defensive Specialist will be an unstoppable forceonce again.

With Adelaide visiting Sydney this weekend, let theDefensive Specialist channel Kanye and tell you why each team can win and losethis contest.

WhySydney will win:

Starting pitching. The Defensive Specialist feels likea broken record having spoken about the combination of Oxspring, Welch,Lundgren and Anderson ad infinitum this season but the fact is, no team canline up 4 front line guys like them. Of course the spanner in the works here isthat Oxspring has been pushed into the bullpen in an effort to prepare himselffor spring training. His departure dents things somewhat for the Blue Sox butthe vast majority of teams would take a three headed monster featuring Welch,Lundgren and Anderson. Welch really is the key this series as he presents thebest chance of a win for the Blue Sox. His season has been flat out dominant andhe has shown that he can lock down even the best hitting teams. Manager GlennWilliams will be counting on Welch getting a win and eating innings so that hecan throw the rest of his staff at the Bite in games 2 and potentially 3.

David Welch

WhyAdelaide will win:

Because they’ve got an edge and they’re hungry. TheBite are riding a solid wave of momentum after pounding Melbourne at home inthe minor semi final and winning 7 of their last 8 games. Momentum can be apowerful force, especially during the playoffs (and if anyone doubts that, takea look at the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers who both ended up in theWorld Series despite being severe underdogs entering the playoffs). Numerousreaders have commented that the Bite just appear determined and edgy. It’sobvious that they can taste a championship and will do what it takes to achievethat goal (and yes, don’t be surprised if we see some physical fireworks) whichmeans we will see some boys selling out physically to win ball games whichmakes for compelling viewing.

WhyAdelaide will win:

The Bite bang the ball around the yard. With JamesMcOwen in the 3 hole and Quincy Latimore in the clean up position the Adelaideteam has some serious punch. Stefan Welch finally seems to have found some formwith the bat and with Jeremy Cresswell leading off, the Bite have runners onboard in front of their boppers. Brandon Bantz and Tom Brice have both been hotof late which means the Adelaide line up is dangerous 1-6 at the very least.

A frequently occurring event for the Bite offensively

WhySydney will lose:

They just can’t hit. Ok, that’s a bit hard but whybeat around the bush? Mitch Denning got it going against Perth (4-7), which isabsolutely critical to the cause but the Blue Sox need Alex Johnson supplyingsome thunder and more importantly Trent D’Antonio and Trent Schmutter have tofind a way to get on base in front of these two. After the top four it’s allquestion marks although Brendan Kingman has managed to run into a couple ofballs for clutch homeruns. If Dening or Johnson can be shut down, the DefensiveSpecialist doesn’t see anyone else shouldering the burden.

Holy white man line beard!

WhyAdelaide will lose:

Inconsistency in the starting pitching. Brandon Maurerreally found his groove late in the year and despite not having his best stuffin his first play off appearance still managed to punch out 8 in 6 inningswhile giving up 3 runs. Mark Brackman will take the ball in game 1 and the bigman will need to replicate his performance against Melbourne, especially whenyou consider that he’s going up against the miserly Welch. Knowing that hisopponent wont give up many, Brackman will need to be dialled in and prepared tokeep the Blue Sox to 2 runs or less. After those two, Manager Tony Harris has aquandary – does he use Paul Mildren (who’s been buried on the shelf for 2 weeksafter a poor outing against Brisbane on January 20^th)or DushanRuzic (who could be a weapon out of the pen, especially against righties)should a game 3 start eventuate? The Bite pitching has been up and down thisseason and the worse case scenario for their skipper is a bumpy outing from astarter that forces the pen into action early in the series.

WhySydney will win:

Home field advantage! Ok, so that was a cheap shot.Aside from being swept in the first round of the playoffs at home, the crowd supportwas less than optimal with large sections of the seating area empty for game 1last week. Adelaide reportedly had 3000 people at their 2^nd playoffgame while Sydney struggled to crack 1000. Without rapid home support, theAdelaide momentum will be allowed to run unchecked.

WhyAdelaide will lose:

Good pitching beats good hitting. If the Blue Soxstaff performs at its expected level they’re a tough group of arms tocontest. Remember a few weeks backwhen the Blue Sox shut down the Bite in 4 games (granted Latimore and McOwenwere missing). If the Bite can’t manufacture runs early and grind it outthey’ll face a tough challenge offensively because Williams can employ thelights out and rubber armed Dae Song Koo to close things out.

WhySydney will win:

They’re the regular season league leaders who pulledAdelaide’s pants down in their last meeting. The Blue Sox finished in firstplace for a reason and may relish the fact that they enter this series asunderdogs with the vast majority of baseball fans jumping on the Bite bandwagonfor this preliminary final. The underwhelming expectations for the team maylift some of the pressure and allow them to play better baseball. Strangerthings have happened!

So does the Defensive Specialist have his money right?Adelaide momentum + big bats Vs Sydney pitching + home field advantage. In theDefensive Specialist’s esteemed opinion, Adelaide wants it too much and willtake the series convincingly, setting up a grand final contest between the Heatand the Bite.

(Sydney fans now rejoice and start wagering heavily ontheir team to win!)

Ace in the Hole

2011-01-31T22:14:00.000+11:00

With a big couple of weekson the cards, the Defensive Specialist thought he’d kick things off by dippinginto the Deep in the Hole mailbag. The Defensive Specialist has alreadymentioned that pitching is often the key in playoff baseball and for anoffensively challenged ballclub like the Blue Sox it’s going to be critical –especially as they square up against one of the scarier clubs in thecompetition, the big hitting Adelaide Bite. Today’s question centres on one ofthe Blue Sox real strengths, having an Ace (or Aces) leading the staff.

Defensive Specialist,

I’ve been reading your website for a while now and you’ve referred toguys like Welch and Oxpsring as aces on a number of occasions. As a father of abaseball mad son, I was interested to know what makes an ace and what my boycan do to build arm strength and develop other pitchers like sliders andcurveballs.

Cheers

BT,

Thanks for writing in. It’stimely that you raise the topic of aces, as those in Sydney will have the chanceto see a couple this weekend. While the Defensive Specialist is generally afont of knowledge, it seemed appropriate to tap into your old pal’s extensivenetwork to provide a more “pitcher centric” take on the above question. The DefensiveSpecialist dialled up the US Correspondent for his thoughts:

Solid question BT, let mebreak it into 2 parts:

1) What makes an ace?

Felix Hernandez

Cliff Lee

Personally I don't think anAce pitcher can be "made". Traditionally a team’s Ace is the best guyon the staff, notice I didn't necessarily say the guy with the best"stuff". I honestly believe that being a true Ace is just as much amental mindset as it is having a set of physical skills. As coaches we identifyguys who we believe fit the mould of staff Ace and try to make them into that pitcher.But an Ace in my opinion truly separates himself with his leadership skills andhis ability to be mentally tougher than his opponent and competition. With thatbeing said an "Ace" does need to possess a certain set of skills thatwill separate him from the rest of the pack - whether that is unbelievablecommand like Cliff Lee, or flat out dominating stuff like a Felix Hernandez (ora combination of both like Roy Halladay!). On the flip side there are plenty ofbig leaguers who have potentially better stuff but can't reach the elite statusof being relied on as staff Ace. AJ Burnett doesn't have many peers in terms ofhow hard he throws and the movement he gets on his offfspeed stuff, but whatseparates him from being a 10-15 pitcher on one of the best teams in baseballcompared with becoming the dominant ace that everyone would expect? You’d haveto say what’s between his ears.

The same concept translates over to the amateur ranks. We've all played with,coached, or watched a game where you can immediately recognize the guy you wantto have the ball when a game must be won. Staff Ace's possess the aura thatimmediately lets their teammates and opponents know that they are confident intheir skills and are going to give their team the best chance to win that day.Whether that mentality is something that is taught or something that individualis born with is the big question.

As a coach I think the important thing is being able to put individuals who youidentify as potential "Aces" in competitive/challenging situationsthat will show how they separate themselves from the rest of the pack both froma mental and competitive standpoint. These challenges/competitions can beconducted in a baseball setting but it’s also good to see how these individualsattitude and competitive nature translates to a non-baseball situation (i.e. inthe weight room, during conditioning and even in school and jobs). Everyone hasheard about Roy Halladay’s work ethic and desire to keep getting better –that’s part of his makeup. As a coach I think it’s our responsibility toidentify the “Aces” out there and put them in positions where they candemonstrate the qualities that we want in the role. Unfortunately, I don’tthink you can just appoint a kid as an Ace and then teach them how to be one.

2) How do you build arm strength and refine secondary stuff (curveballs, slidersetc)?

I think these two topics are directly correlated with each other. Building armstrength is one of the biggest components to having a successful pitching staff.Arm strength obviously has many benefits with the two primary reasons being 1)it allows pitchers to throw harder and for a longer duration of time and 2) ithelps prevent injury. With that in mind, refining secondary pitches is allabout getting repetitions and practicing that skill. In order to do that, yourarm needs to be in the type of shape that allows you to actually use it on aregular basis.

You get better at baseball by playing it as often as possible - big revelationthere (that’s why the big leagues play 162 games). This can be a double-edgedsword for pitchers, as pitchers can only tax their arm so much. Unlike hittersand fielders who can take hundreds of repetitions a day (ground balls/battingpractice) and then come back out and do it again the next day, pitchers canrealistically only get on the mound 2-3 times a week for an extended amount oftime, especially when you’re in-season and you’re preparing to be at your bestevery 5-7 days.

This is where the role of building arm strength is the core of a pitcherspreparation. I certainly believe playing long toss is the number one componentto building arm strength and maximizing the abilities your body has (whetherthat’s 85mph or 95mph). Many people have throwing programs that spell out howfar and how many times you should throw the ball per session, but bottom line isthrowing the ball as hard and far as you can with proper mechanics will helpbuild the muscles that you actually use in throwing a baseball. People argue thespecifics of long toss (is it okay to put a rainbow on it or do I need to keepit on a line?) and I honestly can't say which one is better. What I do know isthat throwing the ball to max capacity will help condition your arm to do thatin a game setting. As a starting pitcher you are training to throw the ball atmax capacity presumably 90-120 times per game.

Some people will argue that weight training builds more arm strength butthrowing a baseball requires specific muscles that are very individual to thatspecific skill. I think weight training supplements a good throwing program butif weight training is the sole indicator to throwing hard and building armstrength then why isn't Major League Baseball littered with 300 pound liftingchampions? I am a huge believer in doing shoulder exercise routines (tubes,light weights, etc.), building a strong core through different exercises andbeing as functionally strong as possible, but would encourage young pitcherslooking to make a jump to play as much long toss as possible in their training.

As far as refining secondary pitches I think the more time you can spend doingthem the better, which is why arm strength is directly correlated to the topic.Your arm needs to be in shape so you can use it, and not be on the shelf for 3days after you throw. I believe getting on the mound as much as possible is abig contributor to enhancing your pitches whether that’s a change, slider,split, curve, etc. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to throw a full 60feet every time - having the catcher in front of the plate is beneficial too,as it really makes you get out front with your release point. If getting on themound is not an option then flat ground (pitching just on a flat surface, 50-60ft apart) is another way to work on these pitches. One of the biggest factorsin making your offspeed pitches effective is ensuring it looks like yourfastball (from a release point, arm slot, arm speed perspective) so practicingthrowing your off speed with that in mind will help blend all those componentstogether. Hopefully the end result will be that your mechanics look identical withthe only difference being your grip – that creates real deception for hitterswho cant pick up early what’s on the way to the plate..

Pitching like any other skill is something you get more confidence in the moreyou do it. Malcolm Gladwell theorises in his book "Outliers" thatyou can’t master a skill until you perform it for 10,000 hours. So being inpeak physical condition (arm strength and health) will at least give you theopportunity to master your craft.

Shedding Light on the Subject

2011-01-29T12:39:00.001+11:00

A spousal illness on Friday meant the DefensiveSpecialist had to switch into his role as Superhusband / father and was unableto attend Game 2 of the Blue Sox / Heat series. Fortunately it played out justas the Defensive Specialist predicted – a dominant sweep by the Heat on theroad……….

Yeah ok, so perhaps the Defensive Specialist screwedthe pooch on that call but it’s not like the predictions offered here at Deepin the Hole have been close to accurate all year anyway. One call your old paldid get right was the Adelaide Bite / Melbourne Aces result which was kind of ano brainer anyway.

The Heat roll straight into the Grand Final to be heldat their home ballpark (which may or may not be a good thing when you consider their.500 record at the Barbagallo Ballpark) with their offense humming and someresilient efforts on the mound from the pitching staff. The Sydney team have tohave a case of the tight sphincter now, knowing that they’ll play host to thehard hitting Bite who have won 7 of their last 8 games. The Blue Sox will bebuoyed by the fact they pulled the Bite’s pants down the last time they playedin Sydney, sweeping the series 4-0. Two big problems facing the Sydney teamare:

1) Chris Oxpsring is now a reliever, which means thatteam is now down an ace

And

2) The Blue Sox offense is even more exposed now thatplayoffs are here and the pitching is above average. On the upside, MitchDening seems to have found his stroke in the 2 games against Perth clearlyleading the way offensively in a losing effort.

Adelaide welcomed Quincy Latimore and James McOwenback into the fold after both took some time off due to injury which makes theBite line up all the more potent. Mark Brackman took the ball in game 1 of thesemi finals and was solid and although Brandon Maurer didn’t appear to have hisbest stuff in game 2, he did manage to punch out 8 in 6 innings of work. TheDefensive Specialist will have more detailed thoughts on the next round ofplayoffs later in the week.

As many ABL fans know, Foxtel will be showing thegrand finals series, which is a coup for the sport and an exciting development.Many will be scratching their head at the 4.30pm start times for the games andwonder why on earth the schedule has been changed. Well let your old pal tellyou why. Apparently the quality of lighting in the ballparks is not conducive tothe broadcast being in high definition, hence the need to play the games indaylight to avoid this technical issue. So that means on the east coast we’llbe watching games at 7.30 pm due to Western Australia’s backwater mentality ofnot having day light savings. No word yet on who’ll be commentating but letsjust hope and pray that its someone with half an idea.

The Defensive Specialist isn’t really too worriedabout the broadcast anyway since he fully expects MLB / ABL to bankroll Australia’spreeminent baseball blogger’s trip to the Grand Final series anyway…….

Matte Finish

2011-01-27T23:40:00.000+11:00

Upon arriving at the Blacktown Olympic Baseballfacility the Defensive Specialist was faced with 2 immutable facts:

1) It was hotter andsteamier than 2 rats making love in a wool sock

2) Sydney ace ChrisOxspring was not in the Blue Sox rotation.

The heat and humidity was obviously going to affectboth ball clubs but the prime time Sydney pitcher not being available to takethe ball at the start of the game could put a severe crimp in the Blue Sox’stitle chances. Logic suggests that with his first spring training approachingin a couple of weeks, Oxspring was looking to shift down his work load so thathe’ll be reasonably fresh and ready to impress when he gets to the US (and yesthat sentence had unintentional rhyming awesomeness).

With a lacklustre crowd in attendance (the vastmajority of third base line seating was empty), Sydney number 2 David Welchtook the ball with the goal of shutting down the Heat and propelling his teamdirectly into the grand final. Southpaw Daniel Schmidt got the nod from skipperBrooke Knight for the Heat who were looking to steal another series on the roadand set themselves up for a grand final at their home yard. Both pitcherssettled in after giving up early doubles in the first inning (Luke Hughes with aground rule double to right centre and Mitch Dening a gap shot to left) andproceeded to make short work of the opposing hitters.

The Defensive Specialist has waxed lyrical about thefirepower contained within the Heat line up and in the 4^th inningthe bats got going. Allan De San Miguel drove a ball to the right centre gapthat Dening appeared to have a bead on. Just as he closed on it, rightfielderDavid Kandilas ploughed into him causing the ball to rattle away and allowingDe San Miguel to rumble into third. Kandilas was shaken up after the collisionbut remained in the game. Luke Hughes then hit a sac fly to right to plate DeSan Miguel, and Robbie Widlansky stroked a ball into left to keep the inninggoing. With Evan McArthur at the dish Widlansky broke for second as Welchpicked over to first. Geriatric first baseman Brendan Kingman double pumped andthrew to Michael Lysaught covering second. Widlansky appeared to blockLysaught’s view as the ball caromed off his larynx allowing Widlansky safepassage into second. Lysaught was briefly rattled but also remained in thegame. McArthur then drove a ball into leftfield to push Widlansky in for thesecond run.

Schmidt had the ball on a string, surrendering only 1hit through 6. After the rough 4^th Welch managed to quell the Heatbats. He was relieved by Oxspring in the top of the 7^th which struckthe Defensive Specialist as an interesting move. On one hand manager GlennWilliams wants to keep the game close and which better guy to do so. On theother hand you’ve now burned your best pitcher for the remainder of the seriesin a losing contest.

The game wasn’t a losing contest for much longer asDening scorched a 1 out double to right in the bottom of the 7^th.After an Alex Johnson ground out, Kingman limped to the plate like Kirk Gibsonin the 1988 World Series. On the first pitch he made like Gibson by smashing afastball for a game tying 2 run blast to leftfield.

Game tied 2-2.

With Dae-Song Koo rolling it over in the Sydney pen,Oxpsring trotted out for the 9^th inning after racking up 5 K’s in 2innings of work. He started the 9^th by punching out McArthur butRonnie Welty poked a ground ball through the infield to right to put a runneron for the Heat. Matthew Kennelly then got radical on an inside fastball andmurdered it to leftfield for a 2 run blast that put the Heat up 4-2.

Heat closer Brendan Wise was summoned from the pen toshut things down in the 9^th. After a quick out he walked Dening butthen induced a chopper to third that McArthur fed to Hughes who deftly turnedit over to first with a hustling Dening on his hammer to end the game.

*TheDefensive Specialist apologies for waffling less than he usually does but withgame 2 fast approaching it seemed prudent to knock out the comprehensive reviewimmediately after the game rather than trying to double up on Friday.

The Deep in the Hole player of the game could easilygo to Daniel Schmidt who went 7 innings allowing only 2 runs on 3 hits whilestriking out 4 but for his 9^th inning long ball heroics MatthewKennelly gets the nod – congratulations!

Things are suddenly a little dicey for the Blue Soxwith both of their aces spent and a series deficit in place. They’ll turn toeither Craig Anderson or Wayne Lundgren to try and turn things around in game2. Once again attention has to be turned to the stagnant Blue Sox offense thatmanaged only 4 hits (2 by Dening) and never seemed to threaten.

For the Heat things are on the up and up. With aseverely depleted starting rotation they’ll sent beanpole Trevor Caughey to themound. Fans will remember that he shut the Blue Sox down in his last start. Theoffense will take heart that they pulled a W against arguably the two bestpitchers in the league and will be raring to finish the series off on Fridaynight so that they can sample all that the Penrith night life has to offerbefore heading back to Perth and preparing for the Grand Final series.

I am the shark amongst the fishes.......

2011-01-26T22:32:00.000+11:00

It’s not going to be easy to replicate the compleximagery and metaphors the Defensive Specialist conjured for the Blue Sox / Heatpost over the past two days, especially since Melbourne and Adelaide don’tshare the same level of vitriol that an east / west rivalry presents. When youcouple this with the fact that the Defensive Specialist has seen the Bite playonce and has never laid eyes on the Aces, trying to predict a winner becomeseven tougher. Fortunately you’re not dealing with any mere mortal here at Deepin the Hole – when in doubt your old pal falls back on his trusted gut instinct.

On paper the result looks fairly straightforward – theBite took 7 out of 8 from the Aces over the course of the season and play hostto the Melbournians in the minor semi final. Home field advantage + regularseason dominance = Adelaide win.

Ok, so leaving it at that would make for a fairlyboring post. Let the Defensive Specialistrun through both line-ups and see which team wins the positional battle (Jaws/Adelaide or Maverick / Aces).

Catcher

Import Brandon Bantz handles the tools of ignorancefor the Bite, but despite a hot start his production has tailed off as theseason’s progressed (including an 0-20 in mid January). Nevertheless Bantzstill managed to bop 8 home runs while driving in 26. The 7 errors have to be aconcern for Manager Tony Harris, especially when you consider that it’s notlike the Bite staff are loaded with hard to handle pitchers. The return ofQuincy Latimore and James McOwen allows Bantz to drop lower in the line up andalleviates some of the stress placed upon him.

The festive season may have been a little bigger thanhis manager would have liked because before the Christmas break Grant Karlsenwas flirting with .400. Upon return to the diamond he suffered through apainful January (4-34 and 5 of his 7 strikeouts)) which dragged his averagedown almost 100 points. Despite his struggles Karlsen provides a solid lowerorder bat that puts the ball in play and can drive the ball out of the yardfrom time to time.

Edge: Tie

First Base

It was widely speculated that Justin Huber would takethe ABL by storm in 2010 / 2011. Unfortunately things got off to a woefullysluggish start and he’s scuffled pretty badly all season. While he did hit 9home runs and drive in 29 the Defensive Specialist is sure that he would haveexpected more. Despite a downseason, he still provides an imposing bat in the 4 hole and is definitelysomeone that opposing managers do not want to mess with.

Scott Gladstone appears to be the man at first basefor the Bite and although not a prolific power bat he did manage to put up sometidy numbers – particularly in January when he hit .372.

Edge:

Second Base

Last year the Defensive Specialist openly questionedsecond baseman Josh Cakebread’s value offensively as he posted anaemic numberswith the bat. The move to a grander stage has obviously agreed with him as hisproduction has increased substantially with a .277 average and 17 runs scoredin 21 games. Cakebread isn’t going to drive the ball out of the yard but hisability to get on base in the 9 hole makes the top of the line up more potentand his defence at second base has always been highly valued.

Matthew Lawman plays the role of punchless second basemanin this series with a disappointing .193 average on the season. Making mattersworse he also tallied 12 errors on the season, which makes it tough to justifysending him out there. Manager Phil Dale will be hoping that he can either providestellar D or get the bat going. Even better do both!

Edge:

Third Base

Lanky lefty Stefan Welch was expected to be a primetime contributor for the Bite in 2010/ 2011 and while the 7 home runs and 25RBI’s suggest that he played his part, the .201 batting average, .298 OBP andleague leading 42 strikeouts paint a different picture. Manager Harris looks tohave settled on him in the 2 hole which may be a smart move as it will likelypresent him with better stuff to hit as opposing pitchers work to avoid puttinghim on in front of McOwen and Latimore.

Josh Davies seems settled at third for the Aces andwhile he shared the lead league in errors (14) his bat played reasonably well.Hitting .307 he drove in 27 while scoring 28. An aversion to taking a free passsaw his OBP sit at .335 and his high strikeout tally (41) can end a big inning.

Edge:

Shortstop

Much like Cakebread, the Defensive Specialist doggedJeremy Cresswell fairly heavily last season from an offensive perspective.Being the big man that the Defensive Specialist is, now seems to be anappropriate time to acknowledge that Cresswell has been a revelationoffensively this season. With McOwen being the big bat in the lineup, Cresswell’sresurgence at the plate allows Manager Harris to lead him off and use McOwen inthe middle of the order. Cresswell led the league in runs scored, contributed 5homeruns and drove in 23 while hitting .278. Defensively he was somewhat of asieve at shortstop, leading the league in errors but if he continues to scoreruns at the rate he is, the miscues can be overlooked.

The Aces stocks at shortstop were enhanced with thereturn of James Beresford (Baseball America Article – also featuring Luke Hughes). Beresford slotted right into the leadoff position and has provided aspark by hitting .404 with 8 runs in 12 games).

Edge:Tie

Leftfield

Quincy Latimore blew the league up in the first monthof the season but saw his production wane in January. You know you’re having agood season when you can hit .219 in January and still finish the season at.313. A late season hamstring strain saw the Q-tip miss some time and may leadto him appearing more at DH than in the field. If Latimore goes to DH, BenWigmore is thrust into the fray in left. Wigmore has always been a professionalhitter and although his output was not as impressive as in years past, he isstill a dangerous bat to have lower in the order. Defensively he is scary inleftfield and Manager Harris will hold his breath on balls hit out that way.

When the Aces Japanese contingent departed our fairshores, the hole left by Yoshiyuki Kamei in leftfield was substantial.Fortunately Manager Dale was able to recruit Paul Rutgers to fill the void.After a hot start Rutgers finished the regular season with a .311 average, 4long balls and 17 RBI’s in 22 games.

Edge:

Centrefield

Elliot Biddle has staked ownership of the centrefieldposition for Melbourne. Appearing in 17 games he has scored an impressive 16runs while hitting .313

MVP candidate McOwen

The Bite have themselves a legitimate MVP candidate incentrefielder James McOwen who led the league in home runs while driving in 30and scoring 29. McOwen’s en fuego January has forced his manager to move himfrom the lead off position to the 3-hole in order to capitalise on his production,which makes the Adelaide line-up even more damaging.

Edge:

MVP candidate Russell

Rightfield

Tom Brice seems to have found his niche on rightfieldfor the Bite and it’s amazing what you can do when you find your happy place! A.314 clip with 7 homeruns, 26 RBI’s and a .439 OBP is just what you want fromyour right fielder.

If James McOwen is the Bites MVP candidate, AndrewRussell flies the flag for the Aces. Buoyed by a ridiculously hot December,Russell cranked out 46 hits in 2010 /2011 with 9 doubles and 7 bombs along with27 RBI’s and 25 runs.

Edge:

DesignatedHitter

It looks like Latimore will take the majority of atbats here, but if he’s good to go health wise look for Harris to hide Wigmore’sglove and insert him here.

The Melbourne designated hitter role looks likely tobe filled by left handed hitter Scott Wearne. The nuggetty infielder hit .270on the season with 4 home runs and 25 runs.

Edge:

StartingPitching

The Defensive Specialist has discussed the Adelaidestaff in this forum before and most would agree that it has been somewhat of alet down from pre season expectations. Red hot Brandon Maurer capped anoutstanding January with a 1 hit shut out of Brisbane over 7 innings (the onehit came on the first batter of the game). He’d have to be considered a sure thing in the Bite playoff rotation,which leaves Mark Brackman, Dushan Ruzic and Paul Mildren battling for the last2 spots. Mildren has taken the ball every series and the veteran would surelybe inserted into the playoff rotation based on his history and previousperformance. His 2010/2011 season has been a let down with a 2- record and 4.58ERA but he is a proven guy and wont be phased under playoff pressure. Thatleaves Dushan Ruzic and Mark Brackman to fight it out for the last start. Ruzocwent 5-2 with a 4.07 ERA while Brackman posted a 2-1 record with a 3.40 ERA.

Its not like the Aces don’t have much to choose from –after all they did wheel out 25 different arms to the mound this season. TetsuNishikawa has been handed the ball regularly towards the end of the season and you’dassume he’d get a start in the post season after going 2-0 with almost a K perinning. Lefty Adam Blackley led the team in innings pitched and managed a 3-3record although his 5.31 ERA would have to disappoint him. Import Jeff Jamnikhas taken the ball late in the season but his stuff has been cannon fodder ashis 1-3 record and 8 ERA attests to. Greg Wilstshire is 4-0 for the Aces but hetoo has been rather expensive, giving up 22 earned runs in 34 innings and ShaneLindsay has made a couple of starts lately with limited success.

Edge:

Bullpen

The Melbourne bullpen is a wasteland of bloated ERA’sand walk totals (which may have a lot to do with the fact that they play in ashoebox for half their games). Manager Dale really doesn’t have a go-to arm,especially with Adam Bright no longer available. If Wiltshire, Jamnik orLindsay miss out on a start they’ll obviously feature heavily in the pen alongwith Nicholas Martin and the recently appearing Russ Spear.

The ageless Darren Fidge started the season in therotation but his durability has proven to be an advantage out of the pen forManager Harris. With a leftover starter available for relief duties theAdelaide relief corp is definitely strengthened and much deeper. The lateseason addition of Adrian Burnside and Tom Becker helps but the remainder ofthe arms down there have had less than stellar seasons.

Edge:

With the Bite having the edge in 7 of the 11categories (with 2 ties) it’s almost a no brainer to state that they’ll winthis series. The Melbourne pitching is in such a state of flux that is hard forthe Defensive Specialist to imagine that it can contain the potentiallyexplosive Adelaide line up. If the Bite hurlers can contain the top of the Acesline up its hard to see the Aces being able to put one in the win column.

Of course with all of the Defensive Specialist’spredictions, take this one with a fairly large grain of salt!

East Coast V West Coast (Continued)

2011-01-25T22:18:00.002+11:00

Continued from East Coast V West Coast

For those of you to time poor to read part 1, thecount currently sits at 3 Tupac’s, 0 Biggie Smalls and 2 Ties. On we go…..

Leftfield

For the Heat, professional hitter Robbie Widlansky hasbeen a consistent force across the vast majority of the season. While the left-handerhas shuffled across a number of positions (1B & DH), he seems to have afound a home in leftfield. While his bat has played as a true corner outfielder(extra bases and run production), scouting reports suggest that defence isn’tnecessarily his first priority. Despite hating his baseball glove, Widlansky’soffence has more than carried the load, finishing second in runs scored (30)and first in doubles (15) while posting a .402 OBP.

As much as the Defensive Specialist would love to seeit, there is next to no chance of Techno Tim Auty making an appearance for theBlue Sox in the finals series. In his place, Utter Club Nutter Trent Schmutterhas been a surprise package with his .316 average and .396 OBP out of the2-hole.

Edge:

Centrefield

Mitch Dening surely spends countless hours in frontof his bathroom mirror asking himself where things went wrong in 2010 / 2011.Last year he was an all-conquering middle of the order threat for the NSWClaxton Shield team and this year he’s hitting .201 with only 4 homeruns and 19RBI’s. The Defensive Specialist would like to suggest that he’s strugglingagainst lefties but a quick look at his splits shows that he struggling againstanything that’s thrown over hand!

Being hotter than hellfire in January

The Heat’s centrefielder Ronnie Welty had his ownshare of troubles through November and December, hovering around the .200 markwith sporadic power and an inconsistent approach. A source informs the DefensiveSpecialist that Welty sat down with a clean sheet of paper and drew up adetailed list of New Year resolutions. On top of his list was “Hit the coveroff the baseball” which is exactly what he did in January, reeling off 21 hitsin 34 at bats including 5 homeruns, 3 doubles and a ridiculous 17 runs scored.Let that be a lesson to you people – “As it is written, so it shall be!” TheJanuary tear took Welty’s numbers to an impressive level with 10 homeruns, 30runs and 24 RBI’s.

Edge:

Rightfield

It seems like only yesterday that the DefensiveSpecialist was sitting at game 1 of the ABL season watching David Kandilas gundown a Multiculturalist base runner at third base on a line from rightfield.Kandilas had a solid season hitting out of the 9-hole, posting a .274 averagewith more walks than strikeouts. As mentioned his arm in rightfield is a trueweapon and will have Heat manager flashing the stop sign at runners on hard hitballs to right.

Returning from the prestigious Arizona Fall League,Tim Kennelly took a little while to find his stroke but put together a solidJanuary that featured 3/4 of his home runs and 2/3 of his RBI’s. Employing therarely seen Mickey Tettleton batting stance Kennelly has settled into the leadoff position for the Heat and has played rock solid defence in rightfield.

Edge:

DesignatedHitter

Alex Johnson appeared from parts unknown and wouldhave to be the absolute favourite for Rookie of the Year if the entire playercontingent wasn’t new and therefore all rookies. Johnson made a dent on theleague from his first appearance and became a middle order mainstay for theBlue Sox, leading the team in RBI’s (26) and homeruns (7). Despite wearing theugliest shoes in the league, Johnson has been a polished run producer forManager Williams and will need to carry a large load in the playoffs.

The Heat seemed to have settled on a platoon at the DHposition with Ryne Price getting AB’s against righties and Assistant GeneralManager Lachlan Dale threatening Knights job security if he doesn’t get thestart against lefties. Price seems to have a knack for coming up with bigknocks late in the game while Dale traded in his polo shirt and slacks towardsthe end of the season to play in 6 games and hit .412 with 7 RBI’s.

Edge:

StartingPitching

Welch playing the roll of Robin

The Blue Sox have a four-headed monster witheach starter capable of playing the role of staff ace. Staff leader Chris Oxspring was simply dominant through the first 2 months of the season, carvingup opposing lineups and averaging just over a strikeout per inning. January hasbeen less friendly to the righty with a 0-2 record (with his worst outingyielding a no-decision) and 10 earned runs surrendered. After returning fromelbow surgery, it is safe to assume t there may be an element of fatigue settingin. Lefthander David Welch wasplaying the role of Robin to Oxspring’s Batman for the majority of the seasonbut roles may have been reversed as Welch has statistically surpassed hispitching coach. Welch posted a 5-0 record with a 1.44 ERA while only walking 9hitters in 62.1 innings. Wayne Lundgren’s season has been a step back from what he achieved last year and his4-4 record and 5.30 ERA would disappoint him. The tall righty was significantlymore hittable in 2010/2011, which may reflect a down tick in pure stuff. Craig Anderson rounds out the starting pitching and its now officially ok to refer tohim as crafty. The southpaw gets it done by going “slow, slower’ slowest” andused that approach to go 3-2. 2.23 ERA in 44.1 innings.

It’s at this point that a big question markneeds to be inserted for the Perth Heat. With the departure of a couple ofarms, the Heat starting rotation has relied on imports from the localcompetition to get the job done. Daniel Schmidt has been the one constant going6-3 with a 2.97 ERA while seeing his “stuff” improve as the season hasprogressed. With the playoffs consisting of only 3 games, Manager Brooke Knightcan really use the ‘Johnny Allstaff” approach to filling out the remainder ofhis rotation. Warwick Saupold has been solid in his last 2 outings and ring-insTrevor Caughey and Matt Zachary have made fantastic contributions when they’vebeen available. Import Cole McCurry was not given a start in last weekend’sseries which is an indication that he’s at his innings limit for the season.

Edge:

Bullpen

Koo closing it out

At the back of the Blue Sox pen, Dae-Sung Koo has been everything that was advertised. The cagey lefty appeared in 18games while posting 12 saves and producing a 1.00 ERA. Koo provides ManagerGlenn Williams a lights out closer that locks down ball games. The Sydney penhas really not been stretched as the starters have gobbled up so many inningsbut quality arms like Matthew Williams and Rich Thompson provide a bridge toKoo. Vaughan Harris and Todd Gratton have both been serviceable in relief.

The Heat also have a dominant arm to finishgames off in Brendan Wise who has 3 saves in 4 appearances without surrenderinga run. The departures of Brett Jacobsen and Tyler Anderson has depleted the penbut rubber armed Liam Barron, Ben Grice and Cameron Lamb appear to be the go-toguys in middle relief. Grice has proven to be particularly effective againstright-handed hitters with his funky side arm delivery and Frisbee slider. IfMcCurry is restricted in innings, he provides another quality arm out of thepen, albeit in limited doses.

Edge:

Prediction

Look, you all know the Defensive Specialist’strack record on the prediction front has been brutal, but by systematicallyworking through each position and finding which team has the edge, thingsshould be significantly easier and more accurate…. Yeah right.

The Heat have a fearsome offensive lineupthat bangs 1 through 9 and seems to be hot at just the right time. Withlegitimate long ball threats in the heart of the line up, the Heat are capableof putting a beat down on any team. The big worry has to be the startingpitching which lacks a true “Ace” presenting a major concern in a 3 gameseries. Think about it - if you can role out a stud you’re almost guaranteed onevictory. With that under your belt you can then throw everything and thekitchen sink at the opposition to get W number 2. The Heat lacks the lights outstarter who can promise them that. After Schmidt the rest of the rotation hasthe look and feel of a kindergarden finger painting – a mismatch of colours andshapes and really smudged. The Defensive Specialist doesn’t even know for surewho’d get the ball in game 2 and the chances are it could be some bloke pulleddirectly out of the State League competition.

Sydney is in the exact opposite situation toPerth. Manager Williams knows he can send Oxspring and Welch to the mound witha rock solid chance at getting a win. He then has the luxury of choosingbetween Lundgren and Anderson to start game 3 and use the unlucky starter outof his pen if necessary. With Koo at the back end and some solid relievers hehas a lock down staff at his disposal that proposes real challenges toopponents.

Unfortunately you have to score at least onemore run than your opponent to win and the Blue Sox lineup isn’t alwaysguaranteed to generate a large amount of run support. Alex Johnson has been theonly real constant and he’ll need some assistance on the big stage and underthe bright lights of playoff baseball. The biggest concern for Williams has tobe his offense and who’ll provide the spark.

With both teams so diametrically opposed itmakes things tough to call. In times like these wise heads fall back onexperience and since the Defensive Specialist is the wisest head of them alllets go with the old adage “good pitching beats good hitting”.

Unfortunately Casey Stengel said, “Goodpitching will always stop good hitting and vice versa”.

Ok, the Defensive Specialist needs to laythem on the line. With Sydney at home and with Oxspring and Welch at the frontof the rotation, the Blue Sox will win the series in 2 games.

Melbourne & Adelaide to follow before Thursday’sgames.

East Coast V West Coast

2011-01-24T22:21:00.000+11:00

“You done puttwo 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 contentiousrelationship between the east coast and west coast when it comes to baseball inAustralia. Granted you’re unlikely to see players gunned down in drive-by’s alaBiggie and Tupac but that doesn’t mean that rivalries aren’t fierce and full ofvenom. As one of the few transcendent figures in Australian baseball, theDefensive Specialist manages to straddle the void and successfully wear bothcaps. Despite hailing from the left coast, don’t think for one second that theDefensive Specialist wasn’t secretly pumped that the Sydney Blue Sox finishedthe regular season in first place. Why you ask? Home finals right underneaththe 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 tobelieve meaning that the Defensive Specialist was staring down the barrel of nomore baseball if the Sox didn’t end up in first place. While the DefensiveSpecialist was holding out in the hope that MLB would recognise the mass fanappeal and fly the Defensive Specialist around the country, the Blue Sox 3-1series win over the Multiculturalists negated any need for Bud Selig to openhis wallet.

Of course the other upside to a major semi final beingheld in Sydney is that the Defensive Specialist gets to relate comprehensivebreakdowns to the masses! And as the Tupac quote at the start of the blogsuggests, we have the two best teams (Perth Heat & Sydney Blue Sox) in townmaking things extremely tasty. Obviously the series predictions earlier in theseason were an absolute abortion but as the old saying goes “if at first youdon’t succeed…. keep firing away until you eventually get it right or get itreally close to being right”. The season series ended in a split with bothteams sweeping on the road, so the head to head result makes it tough toidentify a clear favourite. It’s these situations that bring out the best inthe Defensive Specialist – now more so than ever is an opportune time to runthrough both teams and determine who has the best shot to head straight intothe 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 hispinky exploded in game 1 of the Multiculturalists series. Since he was hittingwell 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 January2010 when Stone Hands was tearing up the Claxton Shield, but unfortunately it’sJanuary 2011 and he’s sputtering along at a .196 clip with a strikeout per gameand next to no power. The other option for the Sox is Trent D’Antonio who’sseen some time behind the plate but pulling him from 3^rd tends toopen up other holes in the Sydney line up.

Allan De San Miguel sat over .300 for the vastmajority of the season only to see his average dip as the grind of 40 gameswore on him. Playing in all 40 games, the Perth catcher posted a .286 averagewith 5 homeruns and 26 runs scored, and became a fixture in the 2 hole. Backingup De San Miguel are the Kennelly brothers (Tim and Matt) who provide ManagerBrooke Knight with incredible depth and flexibility as all 3 backstops aresolid defensively.
Edge:

FirstBase

Sydney manager Glenn Williams was lucky to avoidcriminal charges last week as the Australian Baseball Hall of Fame reported abreak in and mysteriously a non-mummified Brendan Kingman made an appearancefor 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- 11showing with 2 bombs. Josh Dean has come on of late and has provided a reliableoption at either first or third, especially with the Bossman sidelined byinjury.

Matthew Kennelly spends the vast majority of time atfirst base for the Heat and in 2010/2011 it could be said that he enjoyed hisbreak out season. While not showing the power levels you’d normally expect froma first baseman (2 homeruns), he did manage to drive in 24 runs while scoring27 and batting .306. Defensively he submitted an errorless season.
Edge:

SecondBase

It’s tough to get the edge in a positional matchupwhen you’re going up against a guy who made it to the big leagues in the past12 months. For the Heat, Luke Hughes mans second base and despite only playinghalf a season managed to bop 5 homeruns and score 16 runs. While he may neverbe known as a slick defender, Hughes’ bat more than makes up for any defensivedeficiencies he may have.
Hard to hang with a big leaguer

For Sydney, second base is a wide-open gaping holefrom a production standpoint. Mark Holland received the vast majority ofplaying time there this season with Shannon Pender grabbing some AB’s late inthe season. Either way, Williams will hold his breath and hope for a randomknock here and there and pray that their defence contributes something to thecause as neither bat can be relied upon.
Edge:

ThirdBase

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

The Heat run out Evan McArthur to third and despitebeing absolutely allergic to taking a walk, he did provide some offensive gruntwith 7 home runs and 20 RBI’s. Defensively he impressed the DefensiveSpecialist earlier in the year with some nifty glove work and an ability tomake the big play.
Edge: Tie

Shortstop

Michael Lysaught scuffled through most of the regularseason 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 scoredwith 22 and popped 4 homeruns. The downside is that he struck out 39 times andposted an on base percentage of .291. Defensively he shows good range but his11 errors are much higher than manager Williams would have hoped for.
Speaking of porous defence, Perth’s Mitch Graham hadhis share of miscues with 13. He did lead the Heat in RBI’s (25), which isinteresting 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 theline 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 endof the order.
Edge: Tie

Part 2 Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning. AdelaideVs Melbourne Wednesday night / Thursday morning

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

2011-01-18T21:53:00.005+11:00

This may come as a big statement but let’s face it, the DefensiveSpecialist has never backed down from grandeur. Deep in the Hole bringspleasure, which means that you’ll never forget what you read here. Quitestunning when you stop and think about it really. Rest assured, the DefensiveSpecialist understands the impact that he’s having on your life and the livesof your friends and family who also tune in and that’s why, even after only catchingone 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 yetundermanned Adelaide Bite. While that may sound cut and dry in print, when youlift the hood and peer in at the inner workings of the series you’ll see thatthings were much closer than the 4-0 result indicates. Both teams takepositives and negatives from the series – let the Defensive Specialist spell afew of them out

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

2. Speaking of hitters, Blue Sox skipper Glenn Williams hasto hope that Trent Oeltjen can get over his injury issues and get back onto thefield because the Sydney line up could use one or two more rock solid bats inthe middle. P.I.M.P Alex Johnson has shouldered a heavy load while MitchDenning has been up and down. If Williams could insert Oeltjen in the 3 hole itallows Johnson to remain in the 4 spot and slides Denning to 5, giving the lineup better balance and making it less susceptible to bullpen matchup’s late inthe game. The lower 3^rd of the order is still a black hole – suckingouts into the scorebook, but with Oeltjen in place the top 6 looks good onpaper 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, lookslike a duck, it must be a duck”. Well Yong Sup Kwak, the Bites’ Korean import is about to be a dead duckin terms of his spot in the line up with his anemic .109 average and nonexistent production. It’s hard to see Harris taking at bats away from some ofhis other role players (Gladstone,Pett and Gossage) as he has in the past with Kwak swimming in circles and aposition the playoffs up for grabs.

4. Although theDefensive Specialist rated it as a strength earlier in the season, the Adelaidepitching staff has to be considered somewhat of a disappointment. The bullpenis littered with 7+ ERA’s, which led the team to break open the trophy cabinetand remove Adrian Burnside and Tom Becker from the formaldehyde. The startersPaul Mildren, Dushan Ruzic and Brandon Maurer have been up and down all seasonalthough 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 couldafford 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, thestaff is going to need to turn it up a notch.

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

40kgs of Water Weight

2011-01-16T11:50:00.000+11:00

After traversing 4 time zones in 3 days, it would havebeen easy for the Defensive Specialist to bypass game 4 of the Adelaide Bite /Sydney Blue Sox series in favour of a nice glass of red wine and some familytime. As loyal readers know, the easy route is not the path the Defensive Specialisttypically takes, so the suitcase was simply loaded into the Deep-in-the-Hole-mobileand the long trek to the Blacktown Olympic Park was made. Inside the facilityconditions were steamy and potentially stormy which did not bode well for thediehard Blue Sox fans who’d decided to dress up – specifically the dude in afully body rabbit suit and the character who was using an old shower curtain asa cape and hood. Both chaps had the potential to lose at least 40kg in waterweight if the humid conditions did not ease. To make the night even moreinteresting, the crack sound team decided that Saturday night was “80’s cockrock night”; the Defensive Specialist eagerly awaited the Choirboys Run toParadise!

Entering the series, both team’s fortunes had beentravelling in opposite directions. The league-leading Bite had won 7 out of thepast 8 games and were fresh off a 3-1 series win in Melbourne. The Blue Sox hadseen their grip on first place loosen as they dropped 4 in a row at home to theHeat last week. Obviously the Heat assault was a wake up call for the Blue Soxbecause they’d taken it to the Bite and won the first 3 games of the series(albeit in nailbiting fashion with all games being 1 run victories and two ofthe contests ending in walk offs). Normally when a home team takes the first 3games in a series, the sweep is almost inevitable but the Defensive Specialisthad yet to lay eyes on the Bite and wanted to get a read on their ticker as theplayoffs approach. Ticker you ask? Dropping 3 games in close fashion and thenplaying to avoid the sweep will tell you a lot about the spiritual make-up of ateam. True playoff contenders will scrap and fight for any moral victory theycan find. Pretenders roll over and start planning their team outing for theconclusion of the series.

What did we have on our hands tonight?

The Blue Sox, sniffing the series sweep and anopportunity to regain first place, sent Wayne Lundgren to the mound while theBite countered with the imposing Dushan Ruzic. The Bite were also without JamesMcOwen and Quincy Latimore which obviously put a significant dent in theiroffensive attack. Things looked to be off to an ominous start for Lundgren asJeremy Cresswell led off with a routine ground ball that became less thanroutine when it hit the bag and popped straight up for a base hit (in everysense of the word). Lundgren shook it off and retired the next 3 hitters toescape the inning.

Ruzic had his issues in the bottom of the first asTrent D’Antonio started things off with a laser to rightfield. Trent Schmutterthen poked a ball into right for another knock and Mitch Denning kept the partygoing but added his own base hit in that direction (all 3 hits coming in 5pitches). Alex Johnson grounded into a run scoring 6-4-3 double play thatlooked to be a momentum killer but Josh Dean hit a screaming line drive pastRuzic that nearly surgically removed his right arm to plate another run.

Both pitchers settled in the second but the Bite tooka chunk out of Lundgren in the top of the third. Lundgren walked 9 hole hitterJosh Cakebread (which infuriated the Defensive Specialist) and then gave uppotentially the softest base hit in his life to Cresswell who rolled a ballthrough the 4 hole into rightfield. With runners on second and first, ScottGladstone singled to left that scored Cakebread. After Cakebread crossed theplate there was an ear piercing noise that instinctively had the DefensiveSpecialist diving across the children seated in front of him as a means toprotect them from the unmistakeable sound of sniper fire! The Defensive Specialist looked up tosee Cakebread sprawled across the home plate area. Fortunately the bullet only grazedhim and he left the playing field uninjured with only a slightly damaged ego.Lundgren’s concentration may have been broken after laughing at Cakebreadfalling over which resulted in him serving up a fastball that Stefan Welchscorched back at him. The ball ricocheted off his pitching hand and carriedinto right field allowing Cresswell to even the game up at 2-2. After a coupleof throws to determine if he still had feeling in his hand, Lundgren continuedthe inning and retired the next 2 hitters to stem the flow.

There were fireworks again in the 4th inning but notof the run scoring variety. Instead, fans at Blacktown Olympic Park weretreated to an impromptu fireworks display from across the road that carried onfor a good 15 minutes.

Sydney took it to Ruzic in the bottom of the 5^thas Mark Holland led off with a walk and was driven in by a scorched AndrewGraham double down the left field line. After a strike out, Bite Manager TonyHarris went to the pen to put a lefty on Blue Sox lead off hitter Trent D’Antonio.Jackson Lodge promptly walked D’Antonio and then surrendered a single to TrentSchmutter that scored Graham and allowed both runners to advance on the throwto the plate. With the infield in, Denning grounded out to short leavingrunners on second and third with 2 out and right hander Johnson coming to thedish. With the base open and a two run ball game the Defensive Specialistexpected an intentional walk or at least an unintentional intentional walkwhere Lodge would pitch extremely carefully to Johnson in order to get a leftylefty match up on the next hitter Dean. Instead, Lodge went right after Johnsonwho smacked a ball into left for a 2 run double.

Sydney 5-2

Lundgren’s night came to an end in the top of the 6^thwhen he was replaced by Todd Gratton after getting 2 outs. For Lundgren thenight’s line was 5.2 innings, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 BB and 3k’s. No furtherruns were scored in the contest from the 6^th but that doesn’t meanthere weren’t a few interesting events:

- Trent D’Antonio had a defensive shocker in the top ofthe 7^th by contributing an airmailed (emailed for generation Y)throw and a booted ground ball.

- Josh Dean fielded a ground ball and then barely beatthe hitter Tom Brice to the base while simultaneously colliding with closer DaeSong Koo who was attempting to cover the base. Blue Sox Manager Glenn William’ssphincter undoubtedly tightened, as his dominant closer lay hunched on theground obviously in discomfort. Fortunately he shook it off and finished thegame off for a Sydney win and series sweep.

The handy series sweep put the Blue Sox back on top ofthe table in equal first place with the Perth Heat. For Adelaide, the sweepdropped them to 3^rd position with a big series against the Banditscoming up next week. Much to the Defensive Specialist’s delight, the Biteshowed some heart with a severely depleted line-up to keep the contest close.Manager Harris will be setting up a shrine to the Baseball Gods and prayingthat crucial components Latimore and McOwen heal in time for their series nextweek and more importantly the playoffs.

Utter club nutter Trent Schmutter

In terms of the Deep in the Hole Player of the Game it’sa toss up between utter club nutter Trent Schmutter or Alex Johnson. SinceJohnson punished the Bite for pitching to him with a 2 run double, theDefensive Specialist will bestow the honour upon him despite his insistence oncontinuing to wear David Ortiz P.I.M.P shoes that do not look good on a whiteman.

White men handle with care

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

2011-01-10T22:19:00.002+11:00

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

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

The Defensive Specialist hasmentioned 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 onthe 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 anddo 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 intothe Heat camp. Then, just as they had their backs to the wall, the Heat roaredback and stole 4 games from the Blue Sox at Olympic Park. When something likethis transpires, you know the Defensive Specialist will have a take on it. Sowith no further ado, your old pal presents “What the Defensive SpecialistLearnt”.

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

2. Isthere such a thing as home field advantage? Usually playing at home presents ahuge advantage to teams as they have familiar surroundings, better fan supportand creature comforts. Yet over the course of 2 weeks we have seen two strongteams hit the road and sweep a series. The Defensive Specialist began to thinkthat 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 ofgainful employment to supplement the meagre earnings they make playingbaseball. When at home, players are rushing to the yard from work, trying towedge baseball into their lives and fulfil various other commitments likefriends, family and loved ones. Onthe other hand, the minute the team boards the plane to travel interstate, allof those other issues go out the window and the focus is totally on baseballand the games ahead (oh and where to have a drink once the series is over).Toconfirm the Defensive Specialist’s hypothesis, the theory was raised to Heat managerBrooke Knight:

“Ireally 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 definitelyadvantages to travelling in this league”.

Don’tget the Defensive Specialist wrong, it’s highly unlikely that any team wouldturn down the chance of a home final, but there is something to be said forgetting your team together as a unit and going to battle for 4 concentrateddays.

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

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

5. TheSydney 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 theirteam a chance to win every time out. Dae-Sung Koo is a crafty veteran who knowshow to pitch. After that, there is a whole bunch of uncertainty in the Blue Soxpen. Obviously with such a solid frontline staff the pen will rarely be exposedbut 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 theremainder of the season, which removes another pro arm from manager GlennWilliams arsenal. You’d like to think that Rich Thompson will be more effectivethan he showed on the weekend, to give Williams another big arm to call upon.

6. Neverunderestimate the effect of 27,000 beats per minute. Techno Tim Auty was leftoff the roster until he replaced Trent Oeltjen later in the series and the lackof lights, lasers, smoke machines and pulsating beats had the noticeable effectof deflating the crowd. Trent Schmutter tried unsuccessfully to accept themantle but there is only one Techno Tim Auty. Perhaps Blue Sox management needa Techno Tim Auty night for the upcoming series against the Adelaide Bite toget the crowd performing “big fish, little fish, cardboard box” with vigor andrestore life to the venue. Start with a stirring rendition of Barbara Streisandby Duck Sauce if necessary.

7. Speakingof music, the Blue Sox sound team tried every emasculating song in the book tobreak the Heat hitters down, but in this series the line up finally came tolife. Almost 1 through 9 contributed across the series, which is what we’vebeen expecting from the Perth boys all season. With Luke Hughes firmlyentrenched 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 andRyne Price). With the Heatpitching questionable, the hitters need to bang to keep them competitive. Whatis more telling is that the bats got going against the best staff in theleague.

Right,the Defensive Specialist has kept things as simple as possible and hopes thatthe loyal readers have been able to maintain focus. Things get exciting thisweekend 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 Soxon the 7.30 Report as they played the Aces at the Showgrounds. My word, thatplaying surface looked absolutely disgraceful! The Defensive Specialist canappreciate that the Aces are lucky to have a new home base close to the CBD butthat field did not look conducive to good baseball (happy to hear the thoughtsof those who have attended games in Melbourne on the playing field). The BlueSox play host the to league leading Adelaide Bite which will tell a lot aboutboth teams. The Bandits have the chance to knock the Multiculturalists out ofplayoff contention and vault themselves into the 4.

Untilthen

Hanging to the Left

2011-01-08T11:18:00.000+11:00

Keylesson learned from attempting to write a post during an ABL game? Make sureyour laptop battery is fully charged. Despite this slight technical glitch thewhole experiment seemed to work quite well and the Defensive Specialist wasable to concurrently watch the game, report on proceedings, check his stocksand monitor Facebook status updates. God bless modern technology! After theHeat entered Blacktown Olympic Facility and took game 1, it was always going tobe interesting to see how the Blue Sox responded. The goal for every team is towin the series at home and at least split on the road, so with a Heat W itmeant the Blue Sox needed to win the next 3 to consider the home stand asuccess.

Theadvantage the Sydneysiders have in achieving their goal of winning 3 games in aseries is the strength of their starting pitching. Chris Oxspring is acertifiable ace and David Welch could easily headline a rotation. Both WayneLundgren and Craig Anderson are proven “guys” at this level meaning that Sydneyroles out 4 quality arms every series. Welch entered the second game of the seriesas the league leader in ERA with a 0.97 mark and a 4-0 record. While the Heat’sstarting pitching has been depleted with the loss of Liam Hendriks who has beenshut down by his pro team (Minnesota Twins), they were able to send DanielSchmidt to the hill who has been impressive this season with a 4-3 record and a2.84. ERA. A lefty lefty match up for control of the series!

Usuallythe Defensive Specialist would spend time waffling on about his favourite partof the game, the catchers pop-up during innie outtie but both coaches sufferedsevere performance anxiety issues tonight upon seeing the Defensive Specialistwith his laptop poised. Crusty war horse Graham Cassel and Heat manager BrookeKnight each endured a lack of firmness and control that proved to be trulyunsatisfying to all involved. In fact both performances were so bad that itwouldn’t be right to declare anyone a winner.

TheHeat obviously decided the best way to beat a guy like Welch is to get rightafter him as they dented the scoreboard almost immediately. Tim Kennelly ledoff with a single to left and then stole on the second pitch of the game. AllanDe San Miguel lofted a fly ball to rightfield that allowed Kennelly to tag andadvance to third. Luke Hughes then hit a sac fly to centre to score him. Asthey say: “Get him on, get him over and get him in”. Simple. Robbie Widlanskyhad an infield single before Welch escaped the inning by getting Evan MacArthurto ground out.

AfterWelch K’d Ronnie Welty to lead off the second, Matthew Kennelly singled toleftfield. In what must be concerning for Blue Sox Manager Glenn Williams,Kennelly (never noted as being fleet footed) stole second base somewhat easily.After a Brandon Dale strikeout, Mitch Graham singled to rightfield to scoreKennelly. Graham then swiped second base uncontested but was stranded afterWelch punched out Tim Kennelly to end the inning.

Not to be worn by non P.I.M.P's

AlexJohnson led off the second inning and it would be remiss of the DefensiveSpecialist to not mention the heinous spikes that Johnson has been sportingover the last two games. Vulgar grey Reebok hightops are only ever made to lookgood when worn by 290 pound Dominican’s like David “Big Papi” Ortiz who add anelement of P.I.M.P to the look. Johnson doesn’t necessary have that in hisrepertoire just yet, although if he continues to blast “no doubter” oppositefield bombs it wont take long. His solo shot over the right field wasimpressive and whittled the Heats lead to 1.

Asidefrom the homerun, Daniel Schmidt had looked impressive with serious run on hisfastball and an impressive array of off-speed stuff. The Blue Sox decided to rough him up a little in the 3^rdinning. After a quick first out to Mark Holland, Michael Lysaught singled toright and Trent D’Antonio followed with a single to centre. Trent Schmutterthen sent a ground ball to short that Graham clanked to load the bases. TrentOeltjen grounded out to first to score Lysaught and Johnson and his Big Papishoes walked to once again load the bases. Mitch Denning then singled to centreto plate D’Antonio and Schmutter before the Bossman walked. Schmidt managed tostrikeout Graham for the final out but not before surrendering 3 runs.

Thebottom of the 5^th saw the Heat at it again as Graham knocked a 1 outsingle into left. Continuing the trend of running on the Blue Sox catcher,Mitch Graham broke early for second but Welch picked over to first. An errantthrow from the Bossman enabled him to scramble into second. De San Miguel (whothe inning prior gunned down Lysaught attempting to steal second from his kneesin a truly impressive display of catching) launched his bat into the Blue Soxdugout on a 3-1 count but after applying some sex wax, managed to punch a runscoring single into centre. Luke Hughes then cranked a line drive double downthe left field line that saw manager Knight wave De San Miguel for home. Anifty piece of relay work by Schmutter to Lysaught to Graham saw De San Miguelcut down at the plate in a bang bang play that had the fans on their feet atBlacktown.

Notprepared to give it up easily, the Blue Sox struck back in the bottom of theframe with a Schmutter ground rule double to left and a sac bunt to Oeltjen tomove him to third. Johnson and his hightops then popped up on the infield thatHughes inexplicably dropped to score Schmutter.

Welchgave way to Matt Williams in the 6^th with one of his less impressivelines of the year (5 innings, 8 hits, 4 earned runs, 1 BB, 7K’s – althoughthere are a number of pitchers in the league who would take that line any dayof the week and twice on Sundays!) after starting the inning with a walk toRobbie Widlansky and then a right centre double to MacArthur. Denning actuallymade a pretty nice play on the ball that would usually go unnoticed unless youhad a trained professional like the Defensive Specialist pointing it out. Theball definitely had the grunt to get to the wall in which case Widlansky wouldhave scored so Denning hustled to cut it off and then performed what lookedlike an infielders jump throw to quickly get the ball to the cut off man. Thishustle and throw was enough for Knight to hold Widlansky at third. Williamsimmediately gave up a scorched line drive to Welty that D’Antonio snagged atthird for an out. D’Antonio had a blood rush and attempted to nail MacArthur atsecond but one-hopped Holland and threw it away to right, allowing Widlansky toscore. Matthew Kennelly then hit a sac fly to rightfield to score MacArthur totie the game up.

TheBlue Sox were still up for a fight. After Evan MacArthur made the DefensiveSpecialist “Play of the Game” on a drag bunt attempt by Graham (charging, barehanding and then gunning Graham down at first), Holland hit a sinking liner toright that a diving Matt Kennelly couldn’t snare allowing Holland to scoot fora triple. Knight brought the infield in which worked to perfection as Lysaughtgrounded to third and Holland was gunned down at the plate.

Williamslooked to be settled in the 7^th as he quickly dispatched the first 2hitters. De San Miguel then unleashed a legit blast to left for his 4^thhomerun of the year. Hughes walloped a line drive to left which was enough formanager Williams to yank his reliever in favour of Todd Gratton. Widlanskypulled a ball down the rightfield line that bounced over the Bossman’s head andjust stayed fair for a double. With runners on second and third, Gratton walkedMacArthur and then gave up a 2 run single to centre by Ronnie Welty.

Grattongot roughed up again in the 8^th as he issued a lead off walk to RynePrice and then a smoked triple to the right centre gap by Graham. After astrikeout, De San Miguel dropped his second bomb of the game – this time a linedrive over the left field wall. Hughes hit a rocket straight at the leftfielder for an out and Widlansky tee’d off on another fastball for a double toright. Batting practice ended when MacArthur smoked a ball to the left centregap that Oeltjen tracked down and made a great catch on.

Schmidtwas sent back out to start the 8^th as the Blue Sox had lefties atthe plate. Widlansky booted a ground ball by Denning to put a runner on first.After Schmidt retired the Bossman, Ben Grice was called from the Heat pen. Hepromptly loaded the bases by walking Graham and Holland (Sydney’s 2 leastpotent hitters) before capturing Lysaught and D’Antonio on soft liners toshort. Schmidt’s night: 7.1 innings, 7 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 BB, 5k’s. Whilethat line doesn’t explode off the page, it should be noted Schmidt battledthrough some early speed bumps to keep his team in the contest and save thebullpen.

DeanWhite was given the ball in the bottom of the 9^th to put the gameaway. A lead off walk to Schmutter wasn’t the start he was after but a K toJosh Dean steadied the ship. Johnson and his moon boots then stroked a ball to left. New leftfielder, Aaron Bonomi cut the ball off and threw into 3^rd baseallowing Johnson to rumble into second. The fundamental extremist in theDefensive Specialist was outraged at the boneheaded throw by Bonomi as therewas no play on Schmutter at third, and by allowing Johnson to move to second hekilled any chance at the double play. Denning grounded out to third, (inningending double play if Johnson had been at first) which allowed Schmutter toscore. The Bossman hit the season’s longest single by ricocheting a ball off therightfield wall that scored Johnson but was retrieved so quickly that he wasunable to get a double. White put the game to bed by getting Graham to groundout 5-3 with a final score of 11-7.

TheHeat achieved their goal of splitting on the road and will now be desperate toscratch out one more win in order to take the series victory. Schmidt, whilenot at his best, did enough to keep his team in it and allowed his potentoffense to take care of business. The Blue Sox may have shrugged off a game 1 lossbut have to be taking a long hard at themselves in the mirror after dropping aseries at home. Its now a mad scramble for them to pull out 2 wins and salvagesome pride.

Deepin the Hole Player of the Game you ask? It has to be Allan De San Miguel whowent 3-5 with 2 runs, 4 RBI’s including 2 homeruns.

Allan De San Miguel claiming player of the game honours

Enjoyyour breakfast / brunch!

Grinding it out

2011-01-07T18:28:00.000+11:00

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.

Dude of the Month – December

2011-01-04T22:53:00.000+11:00

The Defensive Specialist knows he’s been MIA over thefestive period and while he’d like to believe that the bevy of emails hittingthe Deep in the Hole inbox are as a result of withdrawals from loyal readers,the high proportion of messages from ABL players had the Defensive Specialistwondering. Why on earth would ball players be dropping notes to the DefensiveSpecialist imploring him to shake off the Christmas pudding and start hittingthe keyboard again? After a short period of reflection, it dawned on theDefensive Specialist – its Dude of the Month time again! Keen observers willrecall what happened the last time the Defensive Specialist anointed a Dude ofthe Month – Chris Oxspring signed a professional contract with the DetroitTigers. So the sharp spike in player emails was obviously a ploy to get theDefensive Specialist pouring over stats and anointing a winner allowing scouts toeschew the usual process of evaluating players and simply sign up a DUDE.

Before we get to December’s DUDE, it would be prudentto try to get our heads around where we’re at right now. There were a number ofgames in the lead up to Christmas and across the New Year period that turnedthe league on its ear somewhat. The ABL’s idea of playing games on New Yearseve was widely derided by many fans when the schedule was released but feedbackto the Defensive Specialist from attendees has been mostly positive. Your oldpal would love to hear the reader’s thoughts on the event and whether or not theleague should do it next year – hit the comments section!

As we stand right now, the table looks like this:

Sydney 17-10

Adelaide 15-11

Melbourne 15-12

Perth 14-14

Brisbane 10-16

Canberra 10-18

The Blue Sox did themselves a favour by travelling toPerth and pulling off the heist of the year – sweeping the Heat in a four gameseries at their yard. No teamenjoys a home invasion and the Heat tumbled down the standings as a result.Melbourne shot up the charts taking 6 out of 8 from Brisbane across 2 serieswhile Adelaide boosted their stock by sweeping the Multiculturalists lastweekend. The Adelaide Vs. Melbourne series this weekend will be the big matchup as the suddenly hot Aces take on the consistently steady Bite at home, todetermine a clear-cut second place team. The Blue Sox will be looking tothrottle the Heat at Olympic Park this time and take full control of firstplace while Brisbane and Canberra will continue their development.

Ok, enough league talk, lets get to the part where theDefensive Specialist changes a baseball player’s life - the Deep in the HoleDude of the Month. Loyal readers know the Defensive Specialist is a man ofsimple tastes and as a result has not asked much from the big wigs at the ABLheadquarters - preferential treatment when it comes to player access, seatingand travel arrangements aside, the Defensive Specialist has kept it fairlybasic. However, the time has come for the Defensive Specialist to call in afavour: Could you please have your IT wizards provide player stats on their biopages that include monthly performance measures. It would make choosing a Dudeof the Month so much easier! Hopefully this request comes in time to beconsidered in the usually jam-packed Deep in the Hole segment of the weekly ABLstaff meeting…..

Anyway, with limited statistical data available theDefensive Specialist has identified 3 candidates for Dude of the Month (withcredit given to near misses – Chris Mowday, Grant Karlsen and Travis Blackley):

David Welch

The Sydney lefty was lights out in December going 3-0in 4 starts over 32 innings. During that stretch, Welch conceded 1 earned run,struck out 21, walked 2 and surrendered 16 hits. His ERA was a miniscule .28.There’s not really much more to add to that monthly stat line!

Getting freak nasty in December

Yoshiyuki Kamei

In his stint as a Japanese minister he sported the flowing mullet

And kept the mullet alive during his baseball career

Yoshiyuki and his legit Japanese mullet set the ABL onfire in the short period of time that he strapped it on for the Aces. TheDefensive Specialist is going to cut a fairly substantial corner and onlyevaluate the 10 games that appear on his player profile (hey give the DefensiveSpecialist a break, you try compiling and living up to a list of 375 New Yearresolutions! Having made that crappy excuse, a quick look at his numbers wouldsuggest that the games he played preceding those 10 were not overly stellar).Kamei hit a redonkulous .558 with 17 runs, 4 doubles, 6 homeruns and 24 RBI’s.Even more remarkable he punched out only twice in 43 at bats and posted an OPSof 1.712 (remember, anything over .900 is at the rock star level).

Andrew Russell

Andrew Russell creating nuclear fission

Yeah yeah yeah, another Melbourne hitter the DefensiveSpecialist hears you say. You need to remember that the Aces put a legitimatebeat down on the Bandits, outscoring them 46-21 across a 4 game series so youhad to expect that more than one Melbourne hitter had a tasty December. Russellwent nuclear in December (the Defensive Specialist is using the same 10 gameperiod as Kamei) hitting a robust .525 while racking up 21 hits including 5doubles and 5 home runs. Russell scored 16 while driving in 18 and posting anOPS of 1.593. The highlight of his month has to be the 4-4 performance againstCanberra that included 2 long balls, 4 runs and 5 RBI’s.

So who gets the call as December’s Dude of the Month?It has to be Yoshiyuki Kamei. Combining a fine black mullet with an explosive10 game performance that saw him rocket to the league lead in homeruns, RBI’sand OPS has to be enough to earn the Defensive Specialist’s highest honour. TheDefensive Specialist offers his congratulations and encourages Kamei to keephis phone fully charged, as the big leagues are sure to be calling after thisachievement.

Mullet wielding Dude of the Month for December

Deep in the Hole

Savin’ Me

Stinky Tofu and Baseball – The Asian Series

Laser Show

The Rumour Mill

Is More Less?

102 Days

Send in the S.W.O.T Team (Part 4)

Send in the S.W.O.T Team (Part 3)

Send in the S.W.O.T Team (Part 2)

Send in the S.W.O.T Team (Part 1)

The Wrap Up

An Abbreviated Look

Quick Hits

The Big Dance

Television Adds 10 Pounds

NO!

Wait til I get my money right

Ace in the Hole

Shedding Light on the Subject

Matte Finish

I am the shark amongst the fishes.......

East Coast V West Coast (Continued)

East Coast V West Coast

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

40kgs of Water Weight

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

Hanging to the Left

Grinding it out

Dude of the Month – December

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