CLAXTON SHIELD 2008 
GRAND FINAL REPORTS

Secondly, we don't quite agree with a number of our Subscribers who have been expecting us to make some noise about the "all too obvious" decision to host the Claxton Shield Grand Final at Blacktown Olympic Park. We have some sympathy for our great friends in WA baseball who were EXTREMELY keen to host the event, but it is hard to make much of a case for them after they had the privilege of hosting the entire 2007 Claxton Shield carnival just last year. 'Flintoff & Dunn' cannot depart from our consistent opinion that the games must be SHARED around Australia as much as possible. 

Given the qualifying contestants and WA's most recent hosting of Claxton 2007, we could not mount an argument against Sydney hosting the event even if we wanted to, which of course we don't... this has NEVER been part of our agenda. 

Moving on to the game, or games, of baseball. Let's not muck around by immediately stating what is obvious and that is what an intriguing match-up we have in store between these two very solid teams. Most significantly, both teams will bring pitching talent that is capable of dominating the opposition, so this will always make it nearly impossible to make a positive prediction of any kind. WA's batting has improved a lot this summer, but it still doesn't have quite the same look of potency and experience that the Patriots have right through their lineup. West Australia's defence has been little short of perfect during Claxton Shield 2008 and this may be a decisive factor, all other things being virtually equal.

WE will always give the edge to the host team when we find teams difficult to split so we will go for New South Wales to win in three games, but we fully expect the WA boys to battle with them right down to the wire. Bring it ON!

 

The company asked to inscribe the winner's name on the 2008 Claxton Shield Golden Arm Award may well be hoping that NSW star Tim Cox can pull another sensational performance out of his locker during this Grand Final series, otherwise they might be needing to start work on the more difficult inscription "LIAM HENDRIKS"... no, we don't discount you Mark Kelly! 

Really Subscribers, what more could you possibly ask for in the first game of a BIG Best-of-Three Grand Final, especially on away soil, than to get such a dominant start from your No.1 pitcher. Nearing his 19th birthday, WA's Liam Hendriks already owns a dazzling 3-0, 1.90ERA record in Claxton Shield competition this summer and he wasn't about to tarnish that record here. That sounds easy to say, but the fact that he was able to execute in his same composed manner, under the most extreme pressure he has probably ever faced in his fledgling career, is another most impressive feather in his cap. 

Typical of his career so far, the Minnesota Twins Rookie Leaguer delivered just about the best possible marker for a young pitching prospect with his EIGHT strike outs versus ZERO walks in the pressure-cooker environment. In context, it may have been a trifle unfortunate that the youngster was near the end of his endurance in the fifth inning when two doubles added to the only other hit he had allowed in the game and both of the runs slated against him came in the fifth frame. Through the first four innings of the game only a one-out single to hitting machine Gavin Fingleson in the fourth broke his sequence of eleven straight outs... and he snuffed each of the first four frames with uplifting KKKK's... what a performance!! 

Helping to inspire Hendriks to such a brilliant start was the stunning two run lead that his offence had posted for him in the top half of the first. Just as WA had done so often to the hapless Victorians in their Southern Division match-ups, they didn't hesitate to pounce upon opposition errors. In this case a one-out infield error was immediately followed by a thundering Luke Hughes cannon blast over left field for an all too sudden two run lead in the minds of the home fans! 

NSW starter in this game was the well-performed Matt Bennett (2-1, 2.82ERA) who did well to recover from this early setback to produce four solid innings for his team at the cost of only one more earned run. Bennett was also very tidy and he did not issue a walk, but his seven hits allowed did not compare with the brutal efficiency of Liam Hendriks this time. Matt Bennett made way for Vaughan Harris after four innings of work and, after securing two outs in the fifth, he was punished for supplying a walk that was, once again, compounded by an error. What may have been a quick inning for him suddenly turned sour with a RBI double to Matt Kennelly and another run scored on a passed ball.

At this point Western Australia had bounded away to a 5-0 lead that looked more like 50 runs the way Hendriks had been pitching to that point. Not unlike his starter Bennett, Vaughan Harris also settled to pitch quite effectively after that with no more hits or runs taking the Patriots through eight innings, even though he tempted fate at times with four free passes. Shane Benson closed the game for NSW by working around a leadoff hit to Tim Kennelly in the ninth, but his team couldn't quite manage enough offence to threaten WA's 5-2 lead coming into the bottom of the ninth inning. 

Young pro Dylan Peacock continued to perform the important role of setup reliever for the West in this game and, although he allowed a couple of hits and a couple of walks from his three inning tenure on the mound, he didn't really give the Patriots' supporters much reason to expect anything resembling a game-turning rally. Rising Detroit Tigers 'AA' star and AROOS pitcher Brendan Wise came out throwing 12 of 15 pitches for strikes and it would not have bothered him a great deal that a couple of hits cost one run as he nailed down the save in convincing style.

Luke Hughes two-run bomb in the first may have been the most memorable hit in this game, but Matt Kennelly and Brandon Dale both delivered two hits, including a damaging double each. Hughes, Matt Kennelly and Allan de San Miguel were the run producers for WA, while the Patriots pitched carefully to Clint Balgera who walked twice. 

It might be more appropriate to ask when DOESN'T Gavin Fingleson bat something like his 2-3, plus a walk today? Trent D'Antonio did all you could ask of him in this huge game with 2-4, including his RBI double, while the increasingly impressive Shannon Pender batted 1-4, but he also produced two RBI's via two separate unselfish infield ground outs. 

Western Australia will be quietly satisfied with their 1-0 lead in the series, while still focussing on the fact they need one more hard-fought win to take the spoils for 2008. The New South Wales team can reassure themselves that their equation has not changed since the start of this game... they still require two wins to be Champions and they have the class to do it! The thing that will shift the favouritism towards WA is the valuable "margin for error" that should enable them to play under a little less pressure in Game Two... in baseball this doesn't always appear to help!

Caps off to you Liam Hendriks, you have etched your name into Claxton Shield folklore today! Well done WA...

Thank goodness that 'Flintoff & Dunn' did have the common sense to say that we did not discount MARK KELLY when we heaped praise upon the brilliance of Liam Hendriks last time out. But, we must say, not even in our most vivid imagination could we conceive the possibility that the 23yo Kalamazoo Kings Independent League pitcher Mark Kelly would, or could, overshadow his younger team mate's effort in this Championship series.

But, this is what helps to make baseball the best game in the world... just the simple fact that a relatively unsung player can emerge to be the ultimate superstar like MARK KELLY did on this day. The former Philadelphia Phillies 'A' league pitcher who has played for teams like the delightfully named Batavia Muckdogs and the higher 'A' level Clearwater Phillies, has now written his own chapter into the annuls of Australian Major League Baseball folklore. I have heard plenty of "time-expanded" stories about how good some players have been over the long and rich history of the Claxton Shield, but I totally refuse to believe that anyone could have done better than the heroics of Mark Kelly in this game.

Let's just try to digest the fact that MARK KELLY pitched a COMPLETE GAME, ONE HIT, SHUTOUT, in a game that would deliver the famous Claxton Shield to his State! If that doesn't magnify his achievement sufficiently for you then, consider this; probably the toughest out in Australian baseball, Gavin Fingleson, drew a two-out walk in the first inning and then he slapped a one-out single in the fourth... that was it... there ain't no more... not one other NSW hitter reached base. If you can't decipher the impact of this magnificent pitching effort from this simplified play-by-play, then how about trying to digest the fact that Kelly faced just two more than the minimum number of batters? 

Perhaps the most spectacular thing about Kelly's efforts throughout this Claxton Shield is the confidence and composure he has shown on the mound... a vital ingredient for a dominant pitcher! His performances are also typified by the fact that he has a multi-dimensional method of making outs, you couldn't call him a "strike out pitcher", a "fly ball pitcher" or a "ground ball pitcher"... in this game he recorded seven strike outs, eleven ground ball outs and nine fly ball outs. There really isn't much more that you could say about Mark Kelly's efforts here, suffice to say that he has been MAGNIFICENT!

On just about any other night New South Wales pitching ace Tim Cox could have been the hero himself after he turned in yet another terrific effort for his team when it really counted. To further emphasise his prowess Cox was rocked in this game when the very first batter he faced, Mitch Graham, who has not been noted for his power, slugged a home run over left field, yet he did not allow this to phase him. In an effort that matched Kelly through six innings of pitching excellence, Cox allowed only one more hit, a sixth inning double to Andrew Kyle, allowing no more runs and striking out seven. I'll simply repeat that Tim Cox pitched SUPERBLY in this must-win game, and on any other day he might have been the hero!

Matthew Williams had been a very reliable reliever for the Patriots over the past couple of Claxton Shield tournaments, but he picked a most unfortunate time to have one of his rare off-key performances in this game. I guess that the WA team would have been ecstatic to see someone other than Tim Cox taking the mound for the seventh, but they still clung to a tenuous 1-0 lead after Williams had registered the first two outs in the inning. Suddenly, as it often happens, the dam walls would collapse for New South Wales with a game-breaking two out rally.

It all starter innocently enough when Brandon Dale singled up the middle followed by Matt Kennelly who did likewise. Next batter Ben Needle wasn't going to let the RBI opportunity pass when he laced a run scoring single into left field. Williams then loaded the bases with a full-count walk issued to Allan de San Miguel. The Claxton Shield prepared for its long journey west when Andrew Kyle cracked another single up the middle to drive two more RBI nails into the NSW coffin. Todd Grattan replaced Williams for the eighth and final inning to be pitched by the Patriots and he did all that anyone could ask of him by sitting down the three hitters he faced in rapid style with an economy of eleven pitches.

The four run buffer would be plenty for Mark Kelly on this night as he galloped his Western Australian team across the line for their 11th National Championship. The run producers who backed up Kelly's efforts were Mitch Graham, with his first inning homer, Ben Needle, with his decisive RBI single in the seventh and Andrew Kyle who applied some icing to the cake with his two RBI single that rounded off the seventh. Brandon Dale and Matt Kennelly were the only other safe hitters.

We have already mentioned the incredible consistency of our 'Flintoff & Dunn HALL-OF-FAMER' Gavin Fingleson whose solitary hit and walk were very lonely numerals among all of those zeroes on the NSW side of the scorecard. I don't think that we need to mention WA pitcher Mark Kelly again here, but he was the reason for this folks!

Our CONGRATULATIONS to Western Australia for claiming the 2008 Claxton Shield with their 2-0 series triumph!