East Coast V West Coast

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

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

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

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

Catcher

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

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

Edge: 

 

First Base

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

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

Edge: 

Second Base

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

Hard to hang with a big leaguer

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

Edge: 

Third Base

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

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

Edge: Tie

Shortstop

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

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

Edge: Tie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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