Shedding Light on the Subject

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

Yeah ok, so perhaps the Defensive Specialist screwed the pooch on that call but it’s not like the predictions offered here at Deep in the Hole have been close to accurate all year anyway. One call your old pal did get right was the Adelaide Bite / Melbourne Aces result which was kind of a no brainer anyway.

The Heat roll straight into the Grand Final to be held at 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 some resilient efforts on the mound from the pitching staff. The Sydney team have to have a case of the tight sphincter now, knowing that they’ll play host to the hard hitting Bite who have won 7 of their last 8 games. The Blue Sox will be buoyed by the fact they pulled the Bite’s pants down the last time they played in Sydney, sweeping the series 4-0. Two big problems facing the Sydney team are:

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

And

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

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

As many ABL fans know, Foxtel will be showing the grand 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 and wonder why on earth the schedule has been changed. Well let your old pal tell you why. Apparently the quality of lighting in the ballparks is not conducive to the broadcast being in high definition, hence the need to play the games in daylight to avoid this technical issue. So that means on the east coast we’ll be watching games at 7.30 pm due to Western Australia’s backwater mentality of not having day light savings. No word yet on who’ll be commentating but lets just hope and pray that its someone with half an idea.

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

Matte Finish

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

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

&

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

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

With a lacklustre crowd in attendance (the vast majority of third base line seating was empty), Sydney number 2 David Welch took the ball with the goal of shutting down the Heat and propelling his team directly into the grand final. Southpaw Daniel Schmidt got the nod from skipper Brooke Knight for the Heat who were looking to steal another series on the road and set themselves up for a grand final at their home yard. Both pitchers settled in after giving up early doubles in the first inning (Luke Hughes with a ground rule double to right centre and Mitch Dening a gap shot to left) and proceeded to make short work of the opposing hitters.

The Defensive Specialist has waxed lyrical about the firepower contained within the Heat line up and in the 4^th inning the bats got going. Allan De San Miguel drove a ball to the right centre gap that Dening appeared to have a bead on. Just as he closed on it, rightfielder David Kandilas ploughed into him causing the ball to rattle away and allowing De San Miguel to rumble into third. Kandilas was shaken up after the collision but remained in the game. Luke Hughes then hit a sac fly to right to plate De San Miguel, and Robbie Widlansky stroked a ball into left to keep the inning going. With Evan McArthur at the dish Widlansky broke for second as Welch picked over to first. Geriatric first baseman Brendan Kingman double pumped and threw to Michael Lysaught covering second. Widlansky appeared to block Lysaught’s view as the ball caromed off his larynx allowing Widlansky safe passage into second. Lysaught was briefly rattled but also remained in the game. McArthur then drove a ball into leftfield to push Widlansky in for the second run.

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

The game wasn’t a losing contest for much longer as Dening 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 Gibson in the 1988 World Series. On the first pitch he made like Gibson by smashing a fastball 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 2 innings of work. He started the 9^th by punching out McArthur but Ronnie Welty poked a ground ball through the infield to right to put a runner on for the Heat. Matthew Kennelly then got radical on an inside fastball and murdered it to leftfield for a 2 run blast that put the Heat up 4-2.

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

*The Defensive Specialist apologies for waffling less than he usually does but with game 2 fast approaching it seemed prudent to knock out the comprehensive review immediately after the game rather than trying to double up on Friday.

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

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

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