EASTERN
DIVISION
Series 6
Fri 1 to Sat 2 Feb 2008 |
NSW
BOOKS CLAXTON FINAL WITH 2-1 WIN v QLD!
NSW 2-1
QLD; 1-2, 5-3, 1-0 |
 |
SERIES PRELUDE:
Strap yourselves in folks, this series shapes as a titanic battle
with the home-standing NSW Patriots needing to take two of the three
games from their most ferocious northern rivals the Queensland Rams.
There would not be much reason for the Queenslanders to change a winning squad from
their corresponding 2-1 home victory over the New South Welshmen.
Perhaps unfortunately for them, there would be no further action
from former major league reliever Phil Stockman, nor a visitation
from that "legend of legends" David Nilsson... we can only be left
wondering whether the very variable thought patterns of 'Big Dave'
ever really intended to play and/or whether he will persist with
"keeping the dream alive" for his participation at the
Beijing Olympic Games... I wouldn't count on it!
New South Wales were
able to "tweak" their roster with the very obvious
inclusion of 'AAA' Twin Trent Oeltjen who will certainly help them
considerably both offensively and defensively. We are not
self-indulgent enough to even consider that our "tongue in
cheek" crack at David Rosser may have brought about his
omission from this series, while the familiar names of Vaughan
Harris, Andrew Cooke and newcomer Jarrad Eacott would be inactive in
this series. To possibly more than balance this, the Patriots would
enjoy the inclusions of professionals Shane Benson, Brad Tippett and
Gavin Dlouhy.
Our most loyal
Subscribers would be well aware that 'Flintoff & Dunn' have
rarely lacked the courage to make bold predictions but, honestly,
this one is FAR too hard to call. Those same loyal subscribers would
also be well aware that, at moments like this, we almost always
revert to selecting the home team... not to disappoint anyone, NSW
by a whisker!
 |
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 6 - GAME 1 - Fri 1 Feb 2008 - 7:30PM - Blacktown
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| QUEENSLAND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
If you love
baseball, like we do, then you've got to love this game... how could
you ask for anything more from the opening game of a series that
would decide the Eastern Division Champions? A series contested
between two quality teams who will never give an inch to their
traditional rivals.
Patriots' ace
starter Matt Bennett went out-for-out with Rams' star Chris Mowday
through five scoreless innings of superb big game pitching, even
though Queensland threatened more than their hosts with two leadoff
doubles left stranded and another runner in scoring position in the
fifth. Meanwhile, a caught stealing and a pickoff helped Chris
Mowday to make sure that no NSW batter reached second base... it was
another sterling effort by the former minor league journeyman.
The decisive moment
in the game arrived in the top of the sixth inning when consistent
Queensland stars Brad Dutton and Brett Roneberg strung together
leadoff hits, enabling Dave Sutherland to break the scoring ice with
a RBI single and Matt Studeman to follow-up with a most valuable
sacrifice fly RBI. Bennett finished the inning, but when he started
the seventh with a walk, it was time for him to hand over to Brad
Tippett for an auspicious AMLB debut.
Keen Australian
baseball followers would already know what an outstanding young
pitching prospect that Brad Tippett is as an emerging professional
with the Minnesota Twins and he was a joint winner of 'Flintoff
& Dunn's Rookie League Player of the Year' for the 2007 season.
Left with a base runner to contend with in the seventh, Tippett was
greeted by a sac bunt and he also walked Brad Dutton in the same
inning. But, this brilliant youngster responded by striking out five
and inducing three ground outs to keep Queensland's scoreboard
stagnant after that... I think we've just seen another rising star!!
While Tippett kept
his team very much in the game, the much more seasoned John Veitch
and P.J Bevis did a similar job for the maroon team by making sure
that Chris Mowday's excellent start wasn't wasted. Only a Pat Maat
leadoff double and a later fielder's choice scored a run for the
"Cockroaches" in the eighth inning to spoil a faultless
day for John Veitch, while former Championship MVP and 'AAA' pro P.J
Bevis sealed Queensland's win with three ground outs in the ninth.
To emphasise the
magnificence of the pitching by BOTH teams in this game, not one
batter managed more than one safe hit in this game, while only those
all too familiar names of Brad Dutton and Jay Nilsson found
themselves on base more than once when they each mixed a hit with a
walk. For NSW, former Provincial Shannon Pender was probably their
main man on offence with his single plus a run batted in via a
fielder's choice.
Two runs versus
one... five hits versus six...one walk versus three... one error
each... I tell you what folks, baseball games don't get much tighter
than this and it was a really great opener to a series that means
one hell of a lot to both mighty teams. Once again, the pitching of
BOTH teams lived up to the lofty billing of this series right from
the start. Mowday was probably MVP, with Bennett not too far
behind... the experienced Veitch and Bevis lived up to their
reputations... but boy, we have been waiting for a while for Brad
Tippett show us what he has got in AMLB and nobody was to be
disappointed!
Queensland now needs
just one win from their two remaining games but, as the Victorian
Aces found in Perth last weekend, that one most vital win can be
hard to come by on foreign soil. We'll be just dying to find out how
it all unfolds...
|
PITCHING: |
Chris MOWDAY 6.0ip 5h
0er 1bb 2k; John VEITCH 2.0ip 1h 1er 0bb 0k;
P.J BEVIS 1.0ip 0h 0er 0bb 0k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Jay NILSSON 1-2; Brett RONEBERG
1-3; Brad DUTTON 1-3; David SUTHERLAND 1-4 (RBI);
Andrew UTTING 1-4; Matt STUDEMAN 0-3 (RBI). |
|
PITCHING: |
Matthew BENNETT 6.0ip
5h 2er 2bb 1k; Bradley TIPPETT 3.0ip 0h 0er 1bb 5k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Shannon PENDER 1-3 (RBI);
Trent D'ANTONIO 1-3; Pat MAAT 1-3; Mitch DENING 1-3; Tim AUTY
1-4;
Trent OELTJEN 1-4. |
|
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 6 - GAME 2 - Sat 2 Feb 2008 - 3:30PM - Blacktown
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| QUEENSLAND |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
7 |
0 |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
X |
5 |
12 |
0 |
Oh boy, 'Flintoff
& Dunn' just love the fact that baseball, more than other games,
seems to find a way to keep the nerves jangling and the outcome of
series alive right down to the excruciatingly delicious outcome is
resolved. And, just to make this even better along the way, it also
tends to produce some of the most memorable and thrilling games. Our
NSW correspondent was, once again, effusing about how exciting this
game was and, while we make allowances for the fact that he usually
enjoys a Patriots victory more than most, we have other reports that
confirm his exhilaration.
Quite clearly the
NSW Patriots were playing for keeps as we would expect, given their
non-existent margin for error, by starting with one of the genuine
stars of Claxton Shield 2008 Timothy Cox. The Boston Red Sox farm
hand already owns a splendid 3-0, 0.69ERA from his three relief
appearances this summer and the New South Wales management obviously
weren't going to tempt fate by holding him back in relief this time.
Cox appeared a little more human while starting this high-pressure
game with a leadoff triple and a quick run on the scoreboard
threatening to sink his brilliant sailing ship!
However, young Cox
confirmed his mettle once again by neutralising another Roneberg
single in the first with an inning ending double-play. After that,
he settled well to allow only two more hits and a couple of walks,
while leaving his team in good order, 2-1 ahead after five innings
and he had every right to expect his fourth straight win. His
reliable reliever Matt Williams might have conspired to snatch the
victory from his glove, but I doubt that he would have enjoyed
coughing up the lead so quickly via another Roneberg RBI and an Andy
Utting sacrifice fly in the top half of the sixth inning... QLD 3
NSW 2.
Much like Cox, who
settled well after a shaky start, Matthew Williams probably earned
his possession of the 'W' when he rolled through the last three
innings quite superbly with only a couple of walks separating his
last ten outs of the game. In the end, it would be the proficiency
of the New South Wales pitchers, who limited the mighty Queensland
offence to only seven hits, that would give their team a vital edge
with their twelve hits that ultimately secured them the HUGE
victory.
Queensland could not
be faulted for entrusting the ball to starter Drew Naylor who has
already been very good for the Rams, as well as for the Philadelphia
Phillies as an emerging rookie league professional. Young Naylor
should be commended for challenging the prodigious NSW batting
lineup, and for living in the strike zone, but it also came at the
slightly too high cost of seven hits from four innings. Drew allowed
only one run before handing over to Chris Lamb who might be excused
for being overawed by the importance of the situation. Lamb didn't
manage to secure an out while hitting Oeltjen with a pitch,
delivering a nervous wild pitch, then walking Tim Auty... they were
intimidating guys to pitch to Chris!
The solid Simon
Morriss was asked to mop us the mess and he looked capable of being
a hero with a pair of fly ball outs before hitting prodigy Mitch
Dening lashed him for a lead-taking RBI single in the fifth inning.
Morriss battled on as well as he possibly could before the Patriots
flexed their considerable muscle in the seventh to turn the game
permanently in their favour. A leadoff walk (don't they always
hurt!) to Tim Auty, followed by a sac-bunt and a Brendan Kingman RBI
double restored parity on the scoreboard, but the momentum was
continued for the hosts via a Dening (yes again!) single.
By the time that
experienced star John Veitch took over the mound the snowball was
already rolling downhill and gathering speed. A couple of hits
cashed in a couple of runs that were not slated against his
statistics, but they were certainly added to the home half of the
scoreboard in a decisive three-run seventh inning for the
home-standing light blues. John pitched a scoreless eighth, but
there would be no miracle comebacks for the Rams against the tough
pitching in this game.
Minnesota twins 'AAA'
star Trent Oeltjen demonstrated his class with 2-4 that included a
double, plus a hit by pitched ball, while "grand master"
Brendan Kingman also drove in two RBI's via a double and an
unselfish ground ball out, plus another walk... while not quite as
hyperactive, 'Slugga' Kingman has the endurance of the
"energizer bunny" and he just never seems to stop hitting
a baseball... we really admire our No.1 "Evergreen" and
'Flintoff & Dunn HALL-OF-FAMER'. Young tyros Trent D'Antonio and
Mitch Dening each delivered two hits and a run batted in, while
'Terrible Tim' Auty was terrific again with a hit and two free
passes. 'Pummelling Pat' Maat knocked in the other vital run for the
Patriots.
We're not too sure
exactly how much superstar Brett Roneberg has been affected by a
"tweaked" ankle from his last series, but it didn't
prevent him from topping the Queensland offence with his 2-3 plus a
'steak' before he was replaced by a pinch-runner in the sixth... one
thing we noted was the obvious fact that Roneberg still turned up to
play when some others might have decided otherwise. Check our
previous comments about him, we think our point has been emphasised!
David Sutherland also batted 2-4 as a consistent contributor for the
Rams, while Dutton and Utting also drove in runs.
We move on to the
deciding game later today and, let's face it, it would have been a
horrible anti-climax if the Eastern Division title had already been
decided... the "baseball gods" were not about to let this
happen! We just can't wait!!
|
PITCHING: |
Tim COX 5.0ip 4h 1er
2bb 3k; Matt WILLIAMS (W) 4.0ip 3h 2er 2bb 6k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Trent D'ANTONIO 2-3 (RBI);
Mitch DENING 2-4 (RBI); Brendan KINGMAN 1-3 (2RBI); Trent OETJEN
2-4;
Pat MAAT 1-4 (RBI); Shannon PENDER 2-4; Tim AUTY 1-3; Gavin
FINGLESON 1-3. |
|
PITCHING: |
Drew NAYLOR 4.0ip 7h
1er 1bb 2k; Chris LAMB 0.0ip 0h 1er 1bb 0k;
Simon MORRISS (L) 2.1ip 3h 3er 2bb 0k; John VEITCH 1.2ip 2h 0er 0bb
3k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Brett RONEBERG 2-3 (RBI); David
SUTHERLAND 2-4; Joel NAUGHTON 1-3; Brad DUTTON 1-3 (RBI);
James LINGER 1-4; Andrew UTTING 0-3 (RBI). |
|
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 6 - GAME 3 - Sat 2 Feb 2008 - 7:30PM - Blacktown
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| QUEENSLAND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
X |
1 |
5 |
0 |
Well, as former
American-born Aussie pro wrestling commentator Jack Little would
often effuse... "HOW ABOUT THAT?!"
The last game we
reported was that near farcical 32-hit walkathon in Game Two of
Victoria's meaningless home series against South Australia. What a
delightful contrast this HUGE game would provide with a superb 1-0,
pitching dominated, contest of the highest quality. According to our
Sydney based correspondent, this really was a marvellous
advertisement for the quality of Australian baseball. I have to tell
you that 'Flintoff & Dunn' absolutely love this type of baseball
game. I'm assured that the defence of both teams was, not only
errorless, but often of supreme quality.
He may not win the
2008 Golden Arm Award, now that his team has missed the Grand Final
series, but Queensland's 'AA' Twin Tristan Crawford should have been
near the forefront of the voting, especially after his one-man eight
inning start in this most important of preliminary games. Crawford
pitched a quite OUTSTANDING game for the Rams and only in one of
those innings did he allow more than one base runner. Unfortunately
his memorable day would be somewhat spoiled when he had to deal with
the toughest part of the NSW lineup in the fourth inning.
With one strike out
already tucked away, those most prolific of AMLB hitters, also
'Flintoff & Dunn HALL-OF-FAMERS', Gavin Fingleson and Brendan
Kingman managed to punch singles into right field. Next up was young
prodigy Mitch Dening who executed what was asked by grounding out
(read hitting) to the right side in order to advance the runners. It
may have been decisive when 'The Mailman' Pat Maat whacked the game
winning RBI into left field. That one run would be enough!
The New South
Welshmen would throw a committee of pitchers up against Tristan
Crawford in this game but, it has to said, their sterling combined
efforts would ultimately prove one run better in that vital run
column in this game. Leading the way for the Patriots at the start
was Toronto Blue Jays' 'A' leaguer Shane Benson who has now made one of
the most effective AMLB debuts one could imagine. Only a Brad Dutton
single in the first inning would blemish a "perfect" three
innings to get this pressure-packed game underway in fine style for
New South Wales... need we say more!
19yo Gavin Dlouhy
was next to take the ball for the light blues after cutting his
teeth with the Australian Provincials at Claxton Shield 2007 and
then in his rookie professional season with the New York Mets. Young
Gavin allowed leadoff hits in both the fourth and fifth innings but,
most importantly, he made sure that the "goose eggs" kept
adding to the away half of the scoreboard. The fourth inning was the
only time that Queensland got a runner to third base after he
delivered a wild pitch, but he responded in terrific fashion to have
the dangerous Andrew Utting struck out "whiffing"!
Enter, centre stage,
21yo Todd Grattan for the moment of his baseball life! Ahem, how do
you explain this folks? What about if we just emphasise the pure
statistical fact that Todd faced the minimum of eleven batters,
after Dlouhy got one out in the sixth, to close the game with two
strike outs, a fly ball out and EIGHT precision ground ball outs?
Yes, that's right, Todd Grattan did not allow one single batter to
reach base while delivering 1-2-3 ground outs in the seventh and
ninth innings. He may do plenty more in Australian 'big league'
baseball, but he will do well to top this magic moment.
Just to repeat it
one more time, not just for effect, but also because they deserve
it... SHANE BENSON, GAVIN DLOUHY and TODD GRATTAN combined for a
terrific three-hit SHUTOUT in a game of tremendous importance. Did I
happen to mention that this fabulous trio did not issue as much as
one solitary walk in this game?... NONE!!! Caps off to you fellas!
No need to spend too
much time on the offence in this game but let's just take a moment
to consider the impact of NSW evergreen hitting machine 'Slugga'
Kingman who rose to the MASSIVE occasion as he most often does to
show all of the aspiring young stars how to get the job done. In
such a non-offensive day, his 2-2 with a walk was, in context, not
unlike his 1998 ABL MVP season when he batted a CRAZY .487... you've
gotta love this guy!! Credit also to young Patrick Maat whose team
leading 11th RBI came at the most vital of times. Well performed
Shannon Pender and Gavin Fingleson were the other safe hitters,
while we don't overlook Mitch Dening's master class on hitting when
it counted most in this game.
In this case we are
not going to even attempt to deride Queensland's dearth of safe
hits, with only the very well-performed names of Sutherland, Dutton and
Linger troubling the statisticians.
This is one of those
games where, really, neither team truly deserved to lose and, while
the Queenslanders cannot be popping the champagne corks tonight,
they must not be too hard on themselves. On the other hand, the NSW
boys do deserve their opportunity to celebrate a tense and exciting
series win. So, the New South Wales Patriots have now earned the
right to take on the West Australians (or the Perth Heat as they
prefer) for the National Championship.
TRISTAN CRAWFORD, SHANE
BENSON, GAVIN DLOUHY and TODD GRATTAN... you've made this a
memorable game!
|
PITCHING: |
Shane BENSON 3.0ip 1h
0er 0bb 1k; Gavin DLOUHY (W) 2.1ip 2h 0er 0bb 1k;
Todd GRATTAN (S) 3.2ip 0h 0er 0bb 2k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Brendan KINGMAN 2-2;
Pat MAAT 1-3 (RBI); Shannon PENDER 1-3; Gavin FINGLESON 1-4. |
|
PITCHING: |
Tristan CRAWFORD (L)
8.0ip 5h 1er 3bb 6k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
David SUTHERLAND 1-3;
Brad DUTTON 1-3; James LINGER 1-3. |
|
SERIES OVERVIEW:
Hmmmm, I'm not sure who decided that New South Wales would enjoy the
luxury of hosting the concluding series, when everyone knows what
the equation is, but it is obvious to the unbiased observer that the
scheduling of this series did not favour the Queenslanders. This was
magnified in the early part of
Claxton Shield 2008 when south Queensland's flooding rains caused
postponements that banked-up on them in the latter part of the
preliminary stages. We can only guess how much effect that this had
on the Rams but, suffice to say, it could not have helped them!
I don't think that
this is cause enough to take anything away from the New South Wales
Patriots who could only deal with the opponents that confronted
them, and they did this in most impressive style.
To start with the
Queensland team, who have finished their campaign, it does need to
be said that these guys did "inflate" some of their
statistics during that blowout series against the flagging
Australian Provincials. However, this does not change the fact that
the stars will usually shine brightest. David Sutherland may have
led the way with his mighty .442 batting average and we take nothing
at all away from him, but Brett Roneberg's .406 average with team
highs .719 for slugging and .500 for on base percentage place him at
the top of our list. We can only wonder what might have been for him
in the end if he had not started this series with an ankle strain
that might have prevented some from participating... not, we hasten
to add, Brett Roneberg who always gives everything he can for
Australian baseball.
Little known (to
us?) James Linger put his name up in fluorescent lights with his
.393 from a few less at bats, while emerging Philadelphia Phillies'
pro Joel Naughton underlined his long-held potential with a .316
average to sneak ahead of former Helms Award winner Brad Dutton who
clearly knows how to hit a baseball. I don't want to over-emphasise
Keiran Bradford's 2-3 as an AMLB rookie, but he did do it... while
we take more notice of Daniel Lamb-Hunt's promising 4-10.
Pitching wise,
Queensland have had several sterling contributors with regular
starters Chris Mowday (2-0, 1.17ERA), Tristan Crawford (2-1,
1.96ERA) and Drew Naylor (1-0, 3.60ERA) all doing terrific jobs for
the Rams. Experienced P.J Bevis led the way for their relievers,
while Simon Morriss and John Veitch both pitched several more
innings than him.
We will say a lot
more about the NSW lads once their Claxton Shield 2008 has concluded
but, what does already strike 'Flintoff & Dunn' is the fact that
they have produced such tremendous young talent to be dominated by
Mitch Dening who really knows how to handle a bat with his brilliant
.409 batting average. However, he might have to share top billing
with young Mets' catching prospect Pat Maat who batted a great .361
plus his MONSTER eleven RBI's. Former "unlucky pro" Tim
Auty has been no less than brilliant with .360 from a team-high 50
at bats, while Tim Atherton is their only other hitter to stand
above the .300 plateau with an excellent .357 from fewer at bats. We
will not say too much about former Minnesota pro Michael Lysaught
here, but we haven't overlooked his .408 on base percentage, or his
five stolen bases.
In our view, Tim Cox
will probably contest the Golden Arm Award with a couple of West
Aussies during the upcoming Grand Final Series. His 3-0, 1.00ERA
record is nothing short of MAGNIFICENT, while his quality bullpen
mate Matthew Bennett has not been close to "chopped liver"
with his 2-1, 2.82ERA as a regular starting pitcher. Where New South
Wales may claim an advantage over most is the incredible depth of
their bullpen that currently includes Benson, Tippett, Dlouhy,
Grattan, Williams and Harris as their major star performers.
Our now
standard tribute to umpires Paul HYAM, Bob CRAWFORD, Trent
THOMAS and Matt PEARSON.
|
|
|
|
EASTERN
DIVISION
Series 5
Fri 2 5 & Sat 26 Jan 2008 |
QUEENSLAND
SWEEPS ACT SERIES 3-0 v AP
QLD 3-0 AP; 11-1, 12-1, 16-5 |
 |

SERIES PRELUDE:
This series comes hard on the heels of the two re-scheduled games
that were previously washed out in Brisbane. Both teams have had to
manage their resources to play the compressed schedule but, when you
consider that one of the games had less than three innings to
complete and the other was a seven innings game, it really wasn't
too drastic.
We wouldn't hold out
too much hope for the Provincials in this set with their diminished
pitching depth most unlikely to tame the offensive strength of the
Queenslanders... it could get ugly? |
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 5 - GAME 1 - Fri 25 JAN 2008 - 7:30PM - Narrabundah
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| QUEENSLAND |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
11 |
12 |
0 |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
1 |
5 |
2 |
Queensland's
Tristan Crawford may be on the verge of cracking the major leagues
when he returns to the USA after reaching 'AAA' with the Minnesota
Twins during 2007. He will certainly carry a significant confidence
boost from his outstanding performances in Claxton Shield 2008 so
far. Off the back of his brilliant win against NSW last weekend,
Tristan didn't really give the Provincials much of a look-in... yes,
even though they had tied the game 1-0 after four innings. In fact,
after allowing his only run in the fourth, Crawford induced a
double-play to end the inning and he then went on to dispose of the
next nine outs in succession. It would be reasonable to suggest that
he overmatched the hitters today and the seven inning "mercy
rule" victory enabled him to go the distance with relative
ease.
Young
Atlanta Braves rookie pro Steve Kent once again distinguished
himself as he did his best to match it toe-to-toe with Crawford.
Only a Brett Roneberg RBI double punished him on the scoreboard in
the first inning until he visibly tired in the fifth inning to allow
four of his game total of six hits. Once again Kent struck out more
than one per inning and he shapes as a genuine star when his body is
fully mature... keep an eye on this bloke!
Queensland's
future Boston Red Sox professional Justin Erasmus was asked to stem
the flow after his home state had already added four runs with one
out in the fifth and he did this in the best possible style with a
ground ball double-play. Justin then nailed the first two outs to
start the sixth, but this was as good as it was to get for him when
four hits and a walk followed to cost him three runs in the sixth.
He then struck out the first batter in the seventh before two hits
and a walk chased him from the mound to leave the bases loaded for
Victorian debutant Cable Hogben. Hogben allowed just one hit while
securing the final two outs for his team, but Steven Greer's double
cashed in all three of Erasmus' base runners.
Previously
unknown Greer capped a fine personal game that yielded 2-3 with a
walk and those three game-ending RBI's. Regular stars Brad Dutton
hammered three hits and Brett Roneberg two, while each supplied two
runs batted in. Surprise packet James Linger equalled the output of
his two illustrious team mates with four-RBI's from his very useful
2-5.
Such
was the dominance of Tristan Crawford that he allowed only five safe
hits for the game and he spread them among five different Provincial
players. Only Sam Brown managed to put a run on the home half of the
scoreboard with his 1-2.
Some
would take it on first impression as just another predictable win
for the Queensland team against a relatively undermanned Australian
Provincial team. However, this would over-simplify a game where the
'YAPS' once again battled manfully until they ran out of pitching
experience at the end. Steve Kent went as deep as he could at this
stage of his development, but it was a heap to ask of rookies
Erasmus and Hogben to shackle the rampant Rams after that.
|
PITCHING: |
Tristan CRAWFORD (W)
7.0ip 5h 1er 0bb 6k.
|
|
OFFENCE: |
Steven GREER 2-3
(3RBI); Brad DUTTON 3-4 (2RBI); Brett RONEBERG 2-4 (2RBI);
James
LINGER 2-5 (4RBI); Jay NILSSON 1-3; David SUTHERLAND 1-4; T. BAKER 1-4. |
|
PITCHING: |
Steve KENT (L) 4.1ip 6h
4er 0bb 5k; Justin ERASMUS 2.0ip 5h 6er 3bb 2k;
Kable HOGBEN 0.2ip 1h 0er 0bb 1k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Sam BROWN 1-2 (RBI);
Josh PARKER 1-2; J. Yates 1-3; Michael COLLINS 1-3; Michael LENNOX
1-3.
|
|
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 5 - GAME 2 - Sat 26 JAN 2008 - 3:30PM - Narrabundah
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| QUEENSLAND |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
|
|
12 |
15 |
3 |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
1 |
5 |
4 |
Unfortunately,
our Sydney based correspondent seems to be getting close to the mark
when he suggested that this series "could get ugly". From
our distance, it does look very much like those traditionally
gallant Australian Provincials have finally started to unravel under
the pressure of trying to battle with dwindling resources against
vastly superior opposition. You would have to suggest that their
necessity to play four-plus games over three days had taken more
toll on them than their talent-deep opponents from Australia's
magnificent north-east.
It
is an unusual fact that Australian cricket has struggled to find a
top class all-rounder for many years, yet Australian baseball seems
to find occasional gems who can both pitch and hit, even though this
is not considered a valuable thing as players reach higher levels
and they are encouraged to specialise in one or the other. One
really good example of this is young NSW prodigy Michael Lennox who
is so talented at both disciplines that we were told he signed
professionally with the Boston Red Sox as a pitcher, but we now
learn that he is projected as an everyday 'Bosox' player?
On
the evidence of this 2008 Claxton Shield, Lennox would appear to be
headed for a terrific career as a hitter, but we also think that the
kid can pitch. Sure, he would have liked to have limited his six
hits and three walks from four innings pitched as AP's starter
today, but how many pitchers have struggled after seeing his team
mates boot FOUR errors over his first three innings? The fact of
this matter is that Lennox had to endure throwing many more pitches
and facing many more batters than he should have had his team's
defence done the job that is expected at this level of baseball. It
is hard enough to pitch to a star-studded lineup like the Rams
without gifting them extra opportunities... enough said about this!
I'm
not going to add any salt to the wounds of barely 18yo Luke Wilkins,
whose statistics tell a sad enough tale from this game, but he might
take some solace from the fact that he ran into a high quality
opposition who have had LOADS of batting practice recently. In this
same perspective, Victorian teenager Cable Hogben can feel pretty
darn good about his late-inning outing today following his equally
effective debut yesterday.
Rising
Philadelphia Phillies professional Drew Naylor didn't pass up the
opportunity to strut his stuff again on the biggest Australian stage
and he further enhanced his glowing reputation with another polished
display. Not unlike his opposing starter today, Michael Lennox,
Naylor had to work around two first inning errors in what was a
fairly shaky start. But, in a very positive sign for an aspiring
pitcher, Naylor got stronger as the game progressed and he really
looked the goods!
By
the time that Drew Naylor had pitched the stuffing out of the poor
young Provincials, it wasn't too difficult for his established team
mate John Veitch to add another brilliant short chapter to his AMLB
scrapbook. In one of the more dominant displays of relief pitching,
'JV' mowed down the last six Provincial batters in sweet succession
with just six pitches in the sixth inning and only a handful more in
the seventh before the white flag was waved by the punch-drunk
"green guys". As we have noted before, the seven-inning
"mercy rule" was invented for games like this... thank
goodness!!
David
Sutherland and Joel Naughton were the chief benefactors among the
Queensland batters with a trifecta of hits in this game, while
Andrew Utting and the increasingly noticeable Matt Studeman each
gathered two knocks. In the best interests of space and time, I'm
going to rattle off the Rams' RBI's in the same way that they report
the goals in AFL football; Baker 2, Bylett 2, Dutton 2, Naughton 1,
Studeman 1, Utting 1, Nilsson 1... that's all folks!
Former
San Diego Padres pro hitter Tom Vincent was almost on the verge of
becoming a "forgotten man" of AMLB, even though he has
been a really outstanding performer up until his 2007 campaign with
the Provincials but, consider this, he is still batting a career
.313 for 'AP' even after slumping to an uncharacteristic .167 last
year... get the picture? In our view it was good to see Tom back in
business with his 2-3 in this game, while Day, Yates and Brooks were
the only other Aussie Provincials to put the ball in play against
the might of the Queensland pitching in this game.
Well,
um... it would seem from this distance, and via our increasingly
disinterested correspondent from Sydney, that the white flag has
been waved in this series, even though the admirable spirit of the
Australian Provincials coaching staff will not allow the proverbial
towel to be thrown into the ring. At the time of writing we already
know the result of the last game but, even if we hadn't, we would
still be betting pretty heavily on a Queensland blowout!
|
PITCHING: |
Drew NAYLOR (W) 5.0ip
5h 0er 3bb 5k; John VEITCH 2.0ip 0h 0er 0bb 2k.
|
|
OFFENCE: |
David SUTHERLAND 3-4;
Joel NAUGHTON 3-5 (RBI); Matt STYDEMAN 2-3 (RBI); Andrew UTTING 2-4
(RBI);
T. BAKER 1-4 (2RBI); David BYLETT 1-1 (2RBI); Brett RONEBERG 1-2;
Brad DUTTON 1-4 (2RBI);
James LINGER 1-4; Jay NILSSON 0-3 (RBI). |
|
PITCHING: |
Michael LENNOX (L)
4.0ip 6h 2er 3bb 1k; Luke WILKINS 2.1ip 9h 7er 2bb 1k;
Kable HOGBEN 0.2ip 0h 0er 1bb 0k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Tom VINCENT 2-3; Ben
DAY 1-2; J. YATES 1-3; James BROOKS 1-4.
|
|
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 5 - GAME 3 - Sat 26 JAN 2008 - 7:30PM - Narrabundah
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| QUEENSLAND |
1 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
16 |
19 |
2 |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
8 |
2 |
From
memory, Cinderella had a couple of ugly sisters and I just can't
help but feeling that we have sighted them over the past couple of
days in this series... what was close to embarrassing yesterday
almost turned into a baseball circus today! I can almost hear my
good mate and former Melbourne Bushrangers (remember them?) manager
Dan McConnon breaking out with that all too familiar "carousel
music" that he uses to describe a baseball farce!!
Anyway,
for the purpose of trying to produce a decent game report, 'Flintoff
& Dunn' will try to overlook the situation and to concentrate on
the player performances that comprised this game that I will stop
short of calling a contest. And, sorry subscribers, please don't try
to sell us the idea that the Provincials may have been a realistic
chance of winning having led 3-1 after the first inning, the
Queensland Rams were doing only what they literally HAD to do to
win!
What
was beneficial for the Queensland team was the fact that some of
their lesser named pitchers gained some more most valuable
experiencee at this level. Matt Timms should have really enjoyed this
opportunity to pitch in a lower-pressure environment and he
certainly didn't pass on the exposure with by far his best
performance in AMLB so far. In fact, the future Atlanta Braves'
pitcher should have gained a fair bit from his brilliant three
inning start that allowed only three hits against his five strike
outs. Business is definitely looking UP for Matt Timms!
Timms
would be entitled to complain that the win in this game was
virtually handed to Simon Morriss, who has already impressed us
during Claxton Shield 2008. According to our "spy" Morriss
pitched a bit like a man in a hurry after he realised that his team
was in no danger of losing and his four innings of middle-relief
were pretty good, even if he did pinch the WIN from team mate Matt
Timms... does anyone else care about this?... we guess not!!
Mopping
up the complete lack of forehead perspiration for the Rams bullpen
would be David Holland who didn't make much fuss, as he would have
preferred... but heh!, why add insult to injury by replacing Holland
with former Claxton Shield Championship MVP and professional 'AAA'
star P.J Bevis for the ninth inning? Unless 'PJ' felt some need to
improve his stats, or the Queensland management weren't too
confident about their 11-run lead, we just can't work out why
Holland couldn't have completed the job? Look, we don't know the
"ins and outs" so it may be unfair to criticise.
Shifting
quickly to the Provincials' pitching, we know absolutely nothing
about their starter A. Home who found himself thrust into a cauldron
of activity in his Claxton Shield debut. Home could not claim any
genuine heroics in this game, but then not everything that happened
was his fault. He was haunted by a couple of errors, but we have
had no reports about whether the glut of stolen bases were his
problem or due to defensive issues? In any case, Home walked too
many and former Montreal Expos pro Aaron Thorne wasn't quite up to
the hard task of stopping the bleeding today.
Young
Ryan Griffin hasn't had too much fun at this level so far, but we
want to leave him with a positive outlook on AMLB by concentrating
on the positives of his efforts today. Eight hits from four and
one-third innings doesn't sound too good, does it?... but when you
walk none and allow only two runs to a runaway team, with three
strike outs, it does give an indication of a pitcher who might yet
have more to offer at this level... OK, call us softies if you
like?! Former LA Angels professional Josh Davies might feel a bit
the same, and we don't want to discourage a good kid, but we reckon
he might still be a better left-side infielder than he is a
pitcher... but, we are by no means experts!
Obviously
'Flintoff & Dunn" will have to research more about James
Linger who, rather tragically, failed to hit in one of his six at
bats for a disappointing 5-6 plus a RBI... are you kidding me?
Former Helms Award winner Brad Dutton keeps on padding his terrific
stats with another 3-5 with two RBI's, while former Dodgers' pro
David Sutherland dined out once again in Australia's big league with
his "ordinary" 2-4 that registered only FIVE RBI's...
phew, hard work Dave! Another fresh face for 'Flintoff & Dunn'
is Daniel Lamb-Hunt who provided a nice 2-5 with three 'ribbies' in
this game and, while we are not generally in love with
"hyphens", we will keep a watchful eye on him. It's no
longer huge news that Andy Utting, a former Melbourne Reds and
Baltimore Orioles youngster, batted 2-4.
What
did capture our attention, in a game of little consequence, was that
the most famous name in Australian baseball NILSSON, Jay in this
case, somehow found himself behind the dish, trying to emulate his
most famous uncle Dave with his 1-2 and two-RBI's. The Nilsson
family have very little to prove when it comes to Australian
baseball, but we wonder if young Jay might yet complete the picture
by pitching like his illustrious Hall-Of-Fame father Bob? Don't bet
against it!
Another
guy we know very little about is Provincials' eye-catching
outfielder David Kandilas who refused to go quietly for the
"green machine" today with his self-explanatory 3-4 and
two RBI's that indicates the probability that he is not out of depth
in Australian baseball's deepest of oceans. It may not have counted
for a lot, apart from to his nearest and dearest, but the
well-performed Sam Brown added the 'YAPS' only other run batted in.
The
famous Claxton Shield has always provided the very toughest of
opposition for every team in every game, but we can't avoid our
overriding belief that things got a little easier for both NSW and
Queensland this year. Be that as it may, you can't take anything
away from Queensland for playing ruthlessly, especially given the
fact that New South Wales won one more game against the Provincials
than Queensland did. The very fact that this is unimportant is good
news for the upcoming showdown for the Eastern Division Championship!
|
PITCHING: |
Matt TIMMS 3.0ip 3h 0er
0bb 5k; Simon MORRISS (W) 4.0ip 4h 1er 2bb 5k;
David HOLLAND 1.0ip 1h 0er 0bb 0k; P.J BEVIS 1.0ip 0h 0er 0bb 2k.
|
|
OFFENCE: |
James LINGER 5-6 (RBI);
Brad DUTTON 3-5 (2RBI); David SUTHERLAND 2-4 (5RBI);
Daniel LAMB-HUNT 2-5 (3RBI); Andrew UTTING 2-4; Jay NILSSON 1-2
(2RBI); Joel NAUGHTON 2-5;
Steven GREER 1-3; David BYLETT 1-5. |
|
PITCHING: |
A. HOME (L) 2.0ip 2h
3er 4bb 0k; Aaron THORNE 0.2ip 3h 4er 1bb 1k;
Ryan GRIFFIN 4.1ip 8h 2er 0bb 3k; Josh DAVIES 2.0ip 6h 4er 1bb 3k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
David KANDILAS 3-4
(2RBI); Michael COLLINS 1-2; Josh PARKER 1-3; Ben DAY 1-4; Tom
VINCENT 1-4;
J. YATES 1-5; Sam BROWN 0-3 (RBI).
|
|
SERIES OVERVIEW:
Hmmm, we'll have to consider this a little more thoughtfully, but an
initial impression is that this elongated format for the Claxton
Shield would not appear to suit the Australian Provincial set-up as
much as the shorter carnivals that they have enjoyed since 2002. In
the 2000 Claxton Shield, when this format was used previously, there
was no Australian Provincial team, but a NSW Country team that
shared the vast New South Wales talent pool.
Anyway, the upshot
of this was a Provincial team that really found the going tough
trying to battle such superior opposition over twelve games... any
element of surprise they may have enjoyed previously was very much
watered down and the powerful New South Wales and Queensland teams
really dined out on their lack of quality pitching depth.
We'll start with a
summary of the Provincials because they have now finished their
commitments for 2008. That multi-talented lad Michael Lennox topped
the pops for Provincial batters with more than 20 at bats via his
excellent .333 average, especially considering that he was also asked to
dilute his focus with some starting pitching assignments. 'AP'
rookies Sam Brown (.308), Ben Day (.286) and Josh Parker (.268) were
next on the list, just to verify the validity of providing an
opportunity for new players to compete at this level. Angus Roeger (.417), David Kandilas (.385) and James Yates (.313) also
showed plenty of promise from more limited plate appearances. One of
their few "veterans" Michael Collins would not be too
excited about his .270 average, but his .400 slugging percentage was
pretty good again.
Apart from their
outstanding starter Steve Kent with his 0-2, 3.50ERA, there really
wasn't much to say about the Provincials' pitching who obviously
found the power-laden hitters of the Rams and Patriots hard to tame.
Best of the rest from their bullpen would be Ryan Griffin who seemed
to be getting better as the competition progressed.
For the Rams, David
Sutherland (.469) and Brett Roneberg (.435) are setting a blistering
pace out on top of the averages, followed by Joel Naughton (.393),
Andrew Utting (.333) and Brad Dutton (.313). James Linger could
hardly hope to maintain his gaudy .563 from 16 at bats, while
youngster Daniel Lamb-Hunt has batted .444 from nine at bats. Brett
Roneberg has once again embellished his batting average with a
mighty .870 slugging percentage.
Chris Mowday with
1-0, 1.59ERA and Tristan Crawford with 2-0, 2.40ERA are setting an
extremely high standard among all Claxton Shield starting pitchers,
while Drew Naylor (1-0, 4.09ERA) appears to be gathering momentum
lately. Little known Simon Morriss is easily leading a richly
talented Queensland relief corps with his 2-0, 1.12ERA from eight
innings.
Our now
standard tribute to umpires Trent THOMAS, Paul HYHAM, Matt
PEARSON and Greg KENT.
|
|
|
|
EASTERN
DIVISION
Series 2 (RESUMPTION)
Fri 25 Jan 2008 |
RAMS
PREVAIL 2-1 AFTER SERIES RESUMPTION!
QLD 2-1 AP; 9-4, 6-14, 7-3 |
 |

SERIES PRELUDE:
The continuation of the original washed out series scheduled for
Brisbane on 4/5 January 2008 was played as a prelude to the return
series at Narrabundah, ACT on 25 January 2008. Both catch-up games
will be seven innings only to provide some relief for both bullpens
that will be stretched by the condensed fixturing.
We can't offer
anything significant in terms of team news, but we fully expect the
Australian Provincials to break their "duck" with only
three more innings to defend their carry-over 7-0 lead in Game Two.
However, It might not be enough for them to take the series.
|
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 2 - GAME 2 - Fri 25 JAN 2008 - 12:00PM - Narrabundah
*** CONTINUED FROM THE TOP OF THE FIFTH INNING - FROM PREVIOUS
WASHED-OUT SERIES IN BRISBANE ***
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
0 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
|
|
14 |
13 |
0 |
| QUEENSLAND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
|
|
6 |
9 |
4 |
Come
on fellas, get fair dinkum… unless the catcher had to call for a
snorkel, the pitcher needed an umbrella and there was lightning
crackling along the cyclone wire fence, surely you wouldn’t call
this game quits in the fifth inning? If I were an Australian
Provincial player or manager trying to make the most of my seven run
lead, they would have to carry me kicking and screaming from the
diamond! Seriously, what a crying shame that Queensland’s horrendous storms did not clear sufficiently to allow this
series to progress normally. The schedule had already been delayed a
by a couple of days, but their attempt to play catch-up has now also
been thwarted by another downpour.
What
makes this particularly disappointing for the Australian Provincial
team is that they seemed well on their way to their first victory
for Claxton 2008 and the timing could hardly have been more
frustrating for them. We are assuming here that the established rule
will apply whereby five completed innings are required to classify
it as “a game”?
If
not, the Provincials will have unfortunately “wasted” another
outstanding start from their 18yo Atlanta Braves professional Steve
Kent who had sailed through four innings and he looked capable of
going deep into the game, if required.
Kent
had struck out five during his impressive outing and the efficiency
of his pitching was in stark contrast to a nightmare performance
from the Queensland throwers on this day.
Young
Atlanta Braves' signing Matt Timms was thrown to the wolves for his
first AMLB start after pitching a couple of games in relief for the
Provincials at Claxton 2007 in Perth. After a promising first inning, things just fell apart for Timms
and the Rams in a horror second inning when seven green shirts
crossed the home plate to score. Timms allowed two hits, two walks
and hit batter to set the ball rolling out of control, but his own
additional error made things worse.
By
the time he was relieved by San Diego Padres rookie league pro Clint
Naylor he had just walked the second and third runs across the
plate. Naylor quickly joined the charity fund by walking across
another, before allowing three more runs, even though two of those
scored on ground out plays. Three hits, four walks and a hit batter
combined to enable the Aussie Provincials to post a rare seven-spot
for them. Naylor managed to pitch a scoreless third inning before
handing over to 22yo lefty David Holland who walked the tightrope
without allowing a run in the fourth or fifth, so far!
Unheralded
Sam Brown plundered 3-3 with a RBI in this game, while seasoned
Victorians Tristan McDonald and Andrew McKenzie both contributed two
knocks and a RBI each, as did the impressive converted Victorian
softballer James Brooks. In fact, seven different ‘AP’ hitters
contributed RBI’s, but some of those were via bases loaded walks.
Former
LA Dodgers pro David Sutherland simply continues to build upon his
excellent Claxton Shield record with two of the Rams total of three
hits in this shortened contest. It now remains to be seen whether
the result of this game, or the player’s statistics, are to become
part of Claxton Shield history, or simply ignored as if the game
never happened?
GAME
CONTINUATION... with two out and two runners on in the top of the
fifth inning:
It
would be a pretty tough gig for both teams to pick up the threads of
a game that was postponed from 6 January and transported from
Brisbane's Redlands to Narrabundah in the ACT after yet more rain
halted this game with the Aussie Provincials holding a 7-0 lead with
two out in the top of the fifth inning. If there are to be any
future Claxton Shields after 2008, then the ruling committee has
created an interesting precedent here by starting the game from its
point of interruption, instead of the more traditional decision to
replay the game in its entirety... even though that would seem to be
very harsh on the Provincials under these circumstances. Are we
allowed to wonder whether the same decision may have been made if it
was Queensland leading the Provincials by seven runs?... let's not
go there!
Clearly
finding the conditions toughest were the re-starting pitchers for
both teams. Ever reliable and usually effective Cameron Hardy
finished the game for 'AP' and, knowing what a team guy he is, he
won't be too frustrated by the fact that his personal statistics
suffered while enjoying a team victory. Former San Diego Padres'
professional Riki Paewai would not have enjoyed the experience of
allowing two hits and three walks while securing only one out...
OUCH! On a far more positive note, Paewai's exit enabled unknown
Ram, Aaron Luchterhand, to make a quite impressive AMLB pitching
debut. Young Aaron induced a couple of neat ground ball double-plays
to work around a couple of errors in a mature effort.
Of
those already mentioned before the postponement, Queensland's David
Sutherland added a couple more hits in a wrecking-ball performance
of 4-4 with two-RBI's, while Andy Utting added a hit and a walk.
Four new names, including a couple of "hyphens", were
among the offensive stars after the resumption. For the Provincials
Ben Day impressed again with another hit and a walk, while James
Stanton-Cooke produced two RBI's via a bases-loaded walk and a
sac-fly. Previously unknown James Linger took his chance to get a
walk and a hit, while Daniel Lamb-Hunt was the stand out with two
crunching doubles, including a RBI, from his two at bats... that's a
2.000 slugging percentage folks!
Almost
forgotten in the context of the postponed game was that this result
has levelled this series and, depending upon future results in the
Eastern Division, it might yet have some influence on the wash-up of
the division, but we doubt it!
|
PITCHING: |
Steve KENT 4.0ip 3h 0er
1bb 5k; Cameron HARDY (W) 3.0ip 6h 6er 3bb 0k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Sam BROWN 3-3 (2RBI);
James BROOKS 3-5 (2RBI); Tristan McDONALD 2-3 (RBI);
Andrew McKENZIE
2-4 (RBI); David KANDILAS 1-1; Ben DAY 1-2; Tom
VINCENT 1-4 (RBI);
Matt LAWMAN 0-1 (RBI); Mark SAUNDERSON 0-2 (RBI); James STANTON-COOKE 0-0
(2RBI);
Michael COLLINS 0-3 (RBI).
|
|
PITCHING: |
Matt TIMMS (L) 1.0ip 3h 5er
2bb 1k; Drew NAYLOR 2.0ip 2h 1er 3bb 0k;
David HOLLAND 1.2ip 4h 0er
1bb 0k; Riki PAEWAI 0.1ip 2h 3er 3bb 1k;
Aaron LUCHTERHAND 2.0ip 2h 1er 1bb 0k.
|
|
OFFENCE: |
David SUTHERLAND 4-4
(2RBI); Daniel LAMB-HUNT 2-2 (RBI); James LINGER 1-1;
David BYLETT 1-3 (RBI);
Andrew UTTING 1-3; Joel NAUGHTON 0-4 (RBI).
|
|
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 2 - GAME 3 - Fri 25 JAN 2008 - 4:30PM - Narrabundah
*** RESUMED FROM PREVIOUS WASHED-OUT SERIES IN BRISBANE ***
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
3 |
5 |
3 |
| QUEENSLAND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
X |
|
|
7 |
8 |
2 |
This
will sound like the proverbial "broken record" to
Australian Provincial supporters, but there can be no avoiding the
self-evident fact that the 'YAPS' (Young Aussie Professionals) led
this deciding game in the series 1-0 after four innings of the
shortened seven inning contest. Anyone who has experienced these
seven inning (or two hour) baseball games will attest how quickly
the result can be decided... and, it's a very good thing to play
these games from IN FRONT!
Yet,
full credit to the pure offensive force of the Rams who didn't need
to panic because they had the self-belief to pile on seven runs in
the fifth and the sixth innings to put this game out of sight.
Queensland starter Chris Mowday had his second straight terrific
start, except that this time he collected a well deserved win with a
seven inning "complete game" that yielded only two earned
runs... he may well contend for the Golden Arm Award if he can
continue in this vein.
For
the Provincials, it must be said that veteran "knuckler"
Phil Brassington has done his best to emulate Boston Red Sox
favourite Tim Wakefield, but his performances have not really come
close to matching the effectiveness of the 'Bosox' longest serving
current player. We are not going to knock 'Brasso' for this, but the
undoubted killer for all knuckleballers is the ability to throw
strikes in conditions that don't always suit the fluttering
baseball, or impress the umpire. I haven't heard any suggestion that
the "plate guys" have been harsh on Phil Brassington, but
we can't help wondering how many of his type they have seen... and
whether they can adjust to calling pitches that might literally
"drop" into the strike zone?
Anyway,
on the pure face of the statistics, Brassington has not commanded
the strike zone with the knuckleball anywhere near often enough and,
after walking far too many, he inevitably finds that he has no
option but to spot a few strikes and these are usually "cannon
fodder" for hitters at this level... Phil Brassington will not
need 'Flintoff & Dunn' to explain this! Little known Ryan
Griffin did an excellent job to put the lid on a horrible fifth
inning for the Provincials while dealing with two errors from his
defence. Former Minnesota Twins' pitcher Nathan Crawford wasn't
overly effective on this occasion against the much bigger guns from
his home state of Queensland.
It
becomes almost redundant to mention that Brett Roneberg was at the
forefront of the offence for his team... much like SA's Ben Wigmore
of more recent times, Roneberg has been dominating our headlines for
so long that we might forget how relatively young he still is! Oh
well, it was just another 2-3 with two-RBI day for this near 29yo
bloke. I might take this opportunity to pay a special tribute to Roneberg, who may have already reached the major leagues if not for
untimely injuries, but this is not what we like most about him. What
'Flintoff & Dunn' admire so much about Brett is that, much like
team mate Trent Durrington, he very rarely fails to support
Australian national teams and, especially, our biggest national
competition that is currently the Claxton Shield. How can you
possibly quantify just how much this might mean to our young and
aspiring baseballers of the future?... in any case, Brett Roneberg
has been a credit to himself throughout his career!
Joel
Naughton was not too far behind today with his 2-3 plus a RBI, while
the very familiar names of Andrew Utting (2RBI's) and David
Sutherland were the other run producers, plus effective newcomer
Matt Studeman with a 'ribbie'.
We
will find out the Christian name of J.Yates who connected for 2-4
with a debut "steak", along with the equally little-known
David Kandalis who batted 1-3 with a RBI. The no-longer unknown
Victorian James Brooks also supplied a run.
It
all mattered little in the end as the vastly superior Queensland
outfit ran away into the distance to make sure that there was no
series upset. The 2-1 series victory for the Rams would not have
much more consequence for them other than to ensure reasonable
parity with New South Wales in the race for the Eastern Division
title. The Australian Provincial team might be entitled to celebrate
their first, and only, win in Claxton '08... they may have expected
more, but it's not too bad!
|
PITCHING: |
Chris MOWDAY (W) 7.0ip
5h 2er 2bb 4k
|
|
OFFENCE: |
Brett RONEBERG 2-3
(2RBI); Joel NAUGHTON 2-3 (RBI); Andrew UTTING 1-3 (2RBI);
Matt STUDEMAN 1-3 (RBI); David BYLETT 1-2; Brad DUTTON 1-3; David
SUTHERLAND 0-2 (RBI). |
|
PITCHING: |
Phil BRASSINGTON (L)
4.1ip 5h 2er 5bb 2k; Ryan GRIFFIN 0.2ip 1h 0er 0bb 0k;
Nathan CRAWFORD 1.0ip 2h 2er 2bb 2k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
J. Yates 2-4 (RBI);
Josh PARKER 1-2; David KANDILAS 1-3 (RBI); Tom VINCENT 1-4;
James BROOKS 0-4 (RBI)
|
|
SERIES OVERVIEW:
Sorry Subscribers, we don't want to dodge our responsibility here,
but we are not going to attempt a post-mortem here after the
resumption of the postponed series that started in Brisbane three
weeks ago. We will concentrate instead on doing the best job we can
after the conclusion of the Provincials' five game home stand
against the Queensland Rams.
|
|
|
|
EASTERN
DIVISION
Series 4
Sat 19 to Sun 20 Jan 2008 |
QUEENSLAND
RECOVERS FOR 2-1 EDGE v NSW!
QLD 2-1 NSW; 4-5, 4-3, 5-4 |
 |
SERIES PRELUDE:
Baseball lovers around the nation, let's get ready to rumble! The
Southern Division might provide slightly more interest each week
but, with no disrespect intended to the Aussie Provincials, we have
been eagerly awaiting the clash of the Eastern Division heavyweights
NSW and Queensland in a clash not unlike State-of-Origin rugby
league proportions
Thankfully the
saturated south of Queensland has finally enjoyed JUST enough
respite from the torrential rains to allow this series to get
underway at Redlands. We can hardly wait to see what might unfold
here.
For the Patriots,
who have double-swept the Provincials already, they will have to go
into battle without very significant non-travellers Trent Oeltjen
and Brad Thomas. Minnesota Twins' impressive rookie league player
Jarrad Eacott enjoyed a fine debut pro season in 2007 and he will do
his best to cover the loss of former major leaguer Thomas. It is far
too much to ask AMLB rookie Rowan Standish to replace possible future major leaguer Trent Oeltjen.
The Rams should be
bolstered by recent major league pitcher Phil Stockman and former 'AAA'
pitcher P.J Bevis, while we don't know anything much about Simon
Morriss. Trent Baker and Danny Dunsdon are new names for 'Flintoff
& Dunn'.
One thing we do
subscribe to is that, when contests of this type are just too hard
to call, we will have to give the marginal edge to the home team.
Chances are that the team that executes better will prevail... you
don't say!!
 |
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 4 - GAME 1 - Sat 19 JAN 2008 - 7:30PM - Redlands
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
7 |
0 |
| QUEENSLAND |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
10 |
2 |
The opening game of
the blockbuster clash between Queensland and the visiting New South
Welshman virtually lived up to its billing as a tough,
counter-punching contest full of tension and fluctuating fortunes.
Both starting pitchers, Matt Bennett for New South, and Chris Mowday
for the hosts, were terrific apart from one inning where they both
did well to limit the damage to two runs. The final twist in the
game was when Patriots' designated hitter Trent D'Antonio
capitalised on a pair of leadoff walks in the eighth by silencing
the home fans with a three run "bomb" to right field...
say AMEN!
To start with the
ultimate winners, Matthew Bennett was very good for NSW, apart from
the fourth inning when he was somehow able to contain the Rams to
just two runs after four successive singles found him with one run
scored and NONE out in what might have been a much worse situation
for his team. Boston Red Sox professional Tim Cox has been as close
to "lights out" as anyone in Claxton 2008 so far, but he
was a little closer to human in this game. Tim did strike out
another four from the same number of innings, but he also allowed a
run on a wild pitch in the seventh for his team to trail in the game
4-2. D'Antonio's three-run homer wrested the win for Cox and for his
New South Wales team.
For Queensland
former Toronto, Oakland and Chicago Cubs 'A' league pitcher Chris
Mowday was quite brilliant. Only an error in the second, a single in
the fourth and a walk in the fifth separated his last EIGHTEEN OUTS
from the end of the second to the conclusion of his seven inning
start. Unfortunately, two errors conspired with three
singles for two runs in the second stanza, only one of which was slated
against him. Mowday would have been a worthy winner!
Future Atlanta Brave
Matt Timms would not like us to dwell too long on the dual walks he
issued to lead off the eighth in relief of Chris Mowday. Timms was
understandably lifted for Mark Holland who was on the verge of
becoming a hero after securing the next two outs, but disaster was
only a blink away when Trent D'Antonio blasted his game-winning
homer. Experienced John Veitch nailed down the ninth with a
double-play, but the Patriots' horse had well and truly bolted!
Don't look past the
big game-winning three-RBI homer by Trent D'Antonio as the HUGE hero
for New South Wales in this game, while the Queensland faithful will
probably see him as a "pirate"! Young tyro Pat Maat scored
the other RBI for NSW in this game to punctuate his 1-3 that
included a walk. The greenest of evergreens Brendan Kingman walked
twice!
Two of the future
(and present) stars of Queensland baseball David Sutherland and Jay
Nilsson were the only two-hitters for the 'Banana Benders' in this
game. Previously unknown Matt Studeman was the leading run producer
for the Rams with two RBI's, one from a solo home run over left
field in the second and another from an unselfish ground out RBI.
One of our newest Hall-Of-Famers, Brett Roneberg, just cleared his
pipes with 1-3 and a walk.
Our correspondent,
who is an unashamed New South Welshman, was bubbling about
D'Antonio's dramatic homer that snatched this game... and we can't
blame him! What was more evident to us as an overview of this game
was that it must have been an enthralling game in the best
traditions of these great rivals. Chris Mowday can consider himself
pretty unfortunate that his bullpen could not nail down a
meritorious victory for him on this occasion.
|
PITCHING: |
Matthew BENNETT 5.0ip
7h 3er 0bb 4k; Tim COX (W) 4.0ip 3h 1er 1bb 4k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Trent D'ANTONIO 2-4
(3RBI); Pat MAAT 1-3 (RBI); Shannon PENDER 1-4; Mitch DENING
1-4;
Michael LYSAUGHT 1-4; Tim AUTY 1-5. |
|
PITCHING: |
Chris MOWDAY 7.0ip 5h
1er 1bb 5k; Matt TIMMS 0.0ip 0h 2er 2bb 0k;
David HOLLAND (L) 1.0ip 1h 1er 1bb 2k; John VEITCH 1.0ip 1h 0er 0bb
0k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
David SUTHERLAND 2-4 (RBI);
Matt STUDEMAN 1-4 (2RBI); Jay NILSSON 2-4; Brett RONEBERG 1-3;
David BYLETT 1-4; Brad DUTTON 1-4; Andrew UTTING 1-4; Joel NAUGHTON
1-4. |
|
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 4 - GAME 2 - Sun 20 JAN 2008 - 3:30PM - Redlands
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
0 |
| QUEENSLAND |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
X |
4 |
3 |
0 |
The Queensland Rams
were obviously in no mood to "muck around" in the second
game of this series after NSW snatched the opener from their grasp.
Just to make sure that they did no favours to 'those Cockroaches'
from the south, they rolled out the heaviest of their heavy
artillery in this game.
Recent 'AAA' pitcher
Tristan Crawford got the ball rolling for them defensively with
perhaps the finest start of his career on Australian soil including
seven strike outs and only one earned run from his high-quality
seven innings start. Crawford can take a bow as our MVP from this
game. Then, even though the strong NSW offence battled hard to get
back into the game late, the Rams kept sending the hand grenades in
the form of seasoned John Veitch, who struggled. However, Veitch was
followed by former 'AAA' guy P.J Bevis and recent major leaguer Phil
Stockman who allowed a run, but collected a save.
Queensland's heavy
artillery was not limited to pitching as a couple of AROOS team
mates also did the scoring damage for them in this game. Former
Helms Award winner Brett Roneberg lifted another gear with his game
opening two-RBI home run over the centrefield fence and another RBI
double in the sixth inning... what a consistent star this guy is!
Fellow Melbourne born Queenslander, Andrew Utting, supplied the
other run via his 1-3 and a walk. Another former Helms Award winner
Brad Dutton walked no less than three times and he also enjoyed
crossing the plate twice for the Rams.
It might irritate
the New South Wales team to realise that they actually out-hit
Queensland by the wide margin of 10-3 in this game, but eight walks
issued compared with two would start to explain their predicament.
Young Minnesota Twins' rookie Jarrad Eacott was pretty good for
three innings by allowing only one run, but he needed six big
strikeouts to almost cancel out his too many six free passes!
Vaughan Harris continues to build upon his underrated career after
pitching the last five innings of the game and he would have been a
hero for the Patriots if they had snatched the victory.
Newcomer Rowan
Standish matched the ever-present Tim Auty with 2-4 and a 'ribbie'
each for the Pats, while steadily improving former pro Michael
Lysaught also batted 2-4 in this game. Marvellous veteran Gavin
Fingleson drove in the other run for NSW, while one of his very few
senior citizens 'Slugga' Kingman batted 1-3 plus a stroll down the
first base line. Young star Mitch Dening may have cooled down a
fraction in this series, but his stature was confirmed when
Queensland called upon P.J Bevis just to get his out in the
knife-edged eighth inning as the only batter he faced!
The levelled 1-1
series sets up a delicious decider in the vital third rubber later
today and, given the tightest of one run results in each game so
far, everything is primed for a typical grandstand finish to this
series. The outcome might well go some way to deciding who will
represent the Eastern Division in the Claxton Shield final.
|
PITCHING: |
Tristan CRAWFORD (W) 7.0ip 5h 1er 1bb 7k; John VEITCH 0.2ip 3h 2er 1bb
0k;
P.J BEVIS 0.1ip 0h 0er 0bb 0k; Phil STOCKMAN (S) 1.0ip 2h 1er 0bb
0k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Brett RONEBERG 2-4
(3RBI); Andrew UTTING 1-3 (RBI). |
|
PITCHING: |
Jarrad EACOTT (L) 3.0ip
1h 2er 6bb 6k; Vaughan HARRIS 5.0ip 2h 2er 2bb 2k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Tim AUTY 2-4 (RBI);
Rowan STANDISH 2-4 (RBI); Michael LYSAUGHT 2-4; Gavin FINGLESON 1-4
(RBI);
Pat MAAT 1-2; Brendan KINGMAN 1-3; Mitch DENING 1-4. |
|
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 4 - GAME 3 - Sun 20 JAN 2008 - 7:30PM - Redlands
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
| QUEENSLAND |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
X |
5 |
9 |
0 |
Queensland's Drew
Naylor has been a pitcher on the rise, both in AMLB and in the
US professional leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies where his
amazingly good strike out versus walk ratio had everyone taking
notice during 2007. His performance in this vital Claxton Shield game
for the Rams may have been another highlight, had it not been for
one factor... young NSW powerhouse slugger Patrick Maat who took him
deep for two home runs, costing him all four of the runs he allowed.
New York Mets'
rookie league catcher Maat had already given us more than a gentle
hint of his raw power with a 2007 Claxton Shield leading three long
balls for the Australian Provincials and he has been a very good run
producer this year for the New South Wales team. Maat was not about
to let his professional catching comrade Trent D'Antinio grab all the
headlines when he matched his Game One three run homer with one of
his own in the second inning of this game, then he added another one
for good measure in the fourth inning today. Of course neither was
nearly as dramatic as D'Antonio's big game breaker on opening night,
but you can only take advantage of opportunities when they present
themselves.
To get the NSW
offence quickly out of the way, it was really a Pat Maat show with
his three run bomb over left field in the second, his solo shot to
right field in the fourth and his leadoff single in the seventh that
accounted for three of the Patriots paltry five hits in a game that
was largely dominated by the pitching of the maroons. Only two of
the genuine batting stars for New South, grand-master Brendan
Kingman and rising star Mitch Dening, were able to put the ball in
play today.
New face Simon
Morriss not only collected the win in this game, but he really
captured the attention of those at the game with a commanding
display of effective ground-ball dominated pitching. Morriss allowed
only one hit and one walk, while facing just one more than the
minimum number of batters over his tremendous four innings of
long-middle relief. He is a guy that we will be hoping to see plenty
more of now that he has broken his AMLB ice. Seasoned closer P.J
Bevis delivered the last rights to the New South Wales team who
could not find a way to bridge Queensland's one run lead that
they only secured in the eighth after battling a tied 4-4 ballgame
from the fourth inning onward.
The Rams simply
refused to lie down after Pat Maat had dug them a three-run hole
with his first home run in the top of the second. New South Wales
may have played a new ace with Maat, but the Rams had a few trumps
of their own to counter with when it came their turn to bat. The
pure quality of AROOS star Brett Roneberg shone through again with
his 2-3 and a walk, that included a home run to centrefield in the
third inning and a vital igniting single that enabled him to score
the winning run in the eighth... it never surprises when the cream
rises to the top!
Former LA Dodgers'
pro David Sutherland usually seems to bring his best hitting to the
Claxton Shield and he wasn't far behind Roneberg today with his 2-3
that included a single, a "big fly" over right field in
the fourth and an intentional base on balls in the eighth. Surprise
packet Matt Studeman also imposed himself again at this level with
his 2-4 that comprised two separate RBI singles, one in the second
inning, and then the BIG game winner in the eighth... keep an eye on
him!
One time Melbourne
Reds' favourite Andy Utting also batted 2-4 in this game, while Danny
Dunsdon delivered one of those all-important Queensland RBI's via a
sacrifice fly in the second inning.
I won't disappoint
our temporarily absent Hall-Of-Famer Simon Eissens who insisted that
we turn our focus away from his "longevity" (read age!)
this year, by finding someone new to pick on. Well Simon, how about
NSW 2007 Rookie of the Year David Rosser who will turn 40yo (late)
next year... few players have thrown more baseballs than Rosser
before making his Australian big league debut. 'Grandpappy' Rosser
has been an excellent starter for NSW up to this point, but he
didn't last too long in this game after allowing three runs over
three innings while throwing from his walking-frame... happy now
Simon?... we'll be waiting for you if/when you reappear next season
mate!
Matthew Williams was
typically excellent for the Patriots, working through 4.1 innings of
long-middle relief with his fuss kept to a minimum by virtue of five
nasty strike outs. We can only assume that Williams was bereft of
fuel when he was asked to hand the ball to Andrew Cook with the game
locked at 4-4 and two outs to nail down in the eighth.
Unfortunately, Cook was to be the victim of a Rams' uprising from
the heart of their batting order when hits to Roneberg and Utting
were compounded by a passed ball that dictated an intentional walk
to Sutherland. It is history now that Cook was saddled with another
soul-shattering loss on a Matt Studeman RBI.
It completed a VERY
valuable comeback for Queensland, not only in this game, but also in
the series after losing on opening night. They have recovered to
enjoy the 2-1 series victory that they would have expected at home.
|
PITCHING: |
Drew NAYLOR 4.0ip 4h
4er 1bb 4k; Simon MORRISS (W) 4.0ip 1h 0er 1bb 2k;
P.J BEVIS (S) 1.0ip 0h 0er 0bb 1k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Brett RONEBERG 2-3 (HR-RBI);
David SUTHERLAND 2-3 (RBI); Matt STUDEMAN 2-4 (2RBI);
Andrew UTTING 2-4; Trent BAKER 1-3; Danny DUNSDON 0-2 (RBI). |
|
PITCHING: |
David ROSSER 3.0ip 4h
3er 0bb 2k; Matt WILLIAMS 4.1ip 2h 1er 1bb 5k;
Andrew COOKE (L) 0.2ip 3h 1er 1bb 1k |
|
OFFENCE: |
Pat MAAT 3-3
(2HR-4RBI);
Brendan KINGMAN 1-4; Mitch DENING 1-4. |
|
SERIES OVERVIEW:
Any fair minded baseball person would have to agree that this
heavyweight contender's bout lived up to most of its expectations.
The Queenslanders, as suggested, would probably be satisfied with
their 2-1 series win after dropping the opening fixture, but they
might also feel that they could have secured a really demonstrative
3-0 sweep if not for Trent D'Antonio's game-grabbing home run on
opening night. The New South Wales team would never be completely
satisfied with a losing series but, in the context of their six
straight wins over the Australian Provincials, they are in at least
as good a position as their chief rivals from the north. The final
outcome of that unfinished, rained-out game between Queensland and
the Provincials could loom large in the final analysis.
With their washout
of games so far, the Queensland team have now enjoyed their first
full series hit-out and it hasn't taken long for the cream of their
batting to rise to the top. As he so often does when the stakes are
highest, Brett Roneberg saved some of his best for the Patriots to
raise his average to .417 with a gaudy 1.000 slugging percentage and
a .563 on base percentage. The Rams other consistent 'big boppas'
David Sutherland (.357) and Andrew Utting (.333) are also shining
through, while Joel Naughton (.364) is just ahead of them even
though he missed on game in this series. Chris Mowday stands like a colossus
with his 0.90ERA from two starts, even though he is yet to nail down
a win, while little known (to us?) Simon Morriss is unblemished
after his 4.0 innings outing in Game 3 of this series. Tristan
Crawford has also been pretty good so far and he shapes to be a
major factor for the Rams as the importance of games
increases.
Terrific young tyros
Mitch Dening (.441) and Tim Auty (.400) cooled down just a wee bit
in this series against the tougher pitching, but they still did
enough to show what outstanding young batters they are, as did Tim
Atherton whose average is still a healthy .357. The big
"mover" in this series was Patrick Maat who lifted his
average to a lofty .385, while his two home runs in Game 3 jumped
him to the top of the NSW sluggers with .769. Michael Lysaught kept
roughly the same level of consistency in this series to drop only
.005 points to .313, while he also has seven walks and four stolen
bases. Matthew Bennett has been easily the best of the NSW starters
with his 2-0, 2.76ERA, while relievers Tim Cox (0.69ERA), Vaughan
Harris (2.70ERA) and Matt Williams (1.23ERA) continue to star for
the Patriots.
Our now
standard tribute to umpires Mal MACKAY, Paul LATTA and Mark
BRAMWELL.
|
|
|
|
EASTERN
DIVISION
Series 3
Fri 11 to Sat 12 Jan 2008 |
PATRIOTS
SWEEP PROVINCIALS AGAIN!
NSW 3-0 AP; 9-7, 9-3, 5-3 |
 |

SERIES PRELUDE:
The hard-working Australian Provincial team, who have been in action
for every weekend of the Claxton Shield competition so far, will
roll into Blacktown Olympic Park for the re-match of their earlier
meeting with New South Wales at Narrabundah. On that occasion they
were swept aside 3-0 by the Patriots in lop-sided games that did not
provide a true indication of how competitive the Provincials were...
as usual!
The Patriots would
welcome the inclusion of three very big guns for this home series in
the form of professional stars Brad Thomas along with the Trents...
Oeltjen and D'Antonio. Former major league pitcher Brad Thomas will
add a wealth of quality and experience in whatever role he is used,
while Minnesota Twins 'AAA' outfielder Trent Oeltjen may be
Australia's next major league player. Florida Marlins catcher Trent
D'Antonio is also a young star on the rise after a terrific season
with their Advanced-A team during 2007.
For the 'YAPS'
(Young Aussie Professionals) Michael Lennox will be asked to play
primarily as a pitcher in this series after batting superbly in the
opening series of Claxton 2008. He was originally signed as a
pitcher by the Boston Red Sox and we will look forward to seeing him
pitch again here after his strong two innings cameo at Claxton 2007.
Philadelphia Phillies signing Angus Roeger will be sorely missed
after batting a tremendous .417 against the Patriots in Series One.
Former Montreal Expos professional David Thorne should add to the
Provincials pitching depth.
We always expect to
see the Provincials give plenty of cheek but, sorry fellas, we just
can't see past another New South Wales sweep in their first home
series for Claxton 2008.
 |
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 3 - GAME 1 - Fri 11 Jan 2008 - 7:30PM - Blacktown
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
10 |
0 |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
X |
9 |
14 |
2 |
It would not take
long for New South Wales fans to shift uncomfortably in their seats
while witnessing their first home game of Claxton Shield 2008. Their
veteran starter David Rosser has enjoyed a fine time in Claxton
Shield competition so far, but he finally ran into some hot hitting
in this series opener. He started shakily with a hit batter and two
singles but, after securing two outs, he would be rocked to the
foundations by a Michael Collins GRAND SLAM HOME RUN to left
field.
Rosser seemed to
settle OK after that until the same Michael Collins lead off the
fourth with a double and scored. However, he would be on the brink
of a melt-down in the fifth when 'AP' sparked a two-out rally. Three
successive hits would mix with an error and a wild pitch to saddle
him with another two runs before he was asked to take an early
shower for the first time in his brief but impressive Claxton Shield
career. Nine hits and seven earned runs from his 4.2 innings would
do some major damage to his very good career statistics at this
level.
One guy whose career
statistics are definitely heading in the right direction is the
increasingly impressive Boston Red Sox professional Tim Cox who has
proven to be an awesome stopper for the Patriots this year... and he
was like a brand new bath-plug jammed into a rapidly draining bath
in this game. His first act in this game was to battle the white-hot
Michael Collins who he had struck out looking on a full-count to
finish the fifth.
Just to show his
class under pressure, 21yo Cox had to work around a leadoff hit and
a walk in the seventh which he did with three successive strike
outs... WOW!! Only a dropped third strike in the ninth inning
preventing him from finishing this game with nine outs on the trot.
I think we are looking at a young pitcher who could go a very long
way here folks!
Yes subscribers, the
Australian Provincials had snatched an immediate 4-0 lead in the
first inning and they still led by a decisive 7-3 into the seventh
inning. We are not going to attempt to guess which of the obvious
answers is true out of the game turning based on poor Provincial
pitching or superior NSW hitting... it was probably some of both!
Veteran "knuckler" Phil Brassington made his third Game
One start and he managed to keep his team in the game until things
quickly fell apart for him in the fourth inning.
'Brasso' had looked
capable of going deeper in this game than in his previous starts
but, after a Tim Auty RBI single opened the Patriots' scoring in the
third, he completely lost the ability to find the strike zone with
two out in the fourth. A couple of leadoff hits and a passed ball
cost him one run, but three successive walks on four, six and five
pitches would see his day halted with a third run walked across the
plate for a Trent Oeltjen RBI.
Seasoned Victorian
and former Colorado Rockies professional pitcher Ross Hipke then did
a very workmanlike job for the Provincials to stem the tide and
maintain the lead for his team until he was, unfortunately, out of
gas after 2.1 innings. One can only imagine better things for the
Aussie Provincial team had Hipke been able to stretch out for maybe
even one more scoreless inning... it was certainly a pivotal moment
when he was replaced by Luke Wilkins in the seventh inning.
Not in his worst
nightmare would Wilkins have imagined the five successive hits,
without an out, that were awaiting him in the seventh. An Auty
single was followed by a Fingleson two-run homer, followed by a
Kingman single, a Dening RBI triple and another RBI single by
Atherton... young Luke would wake up in a cold sweat only to find
out that this was the horrible reality of how rapidly the game had
jolted from AP's grasp! Ryan Griffen did a nice job of tidying up
the wreckage and he probably wished that he had been given an
opportunity to work with a clean slate in this inning.
Former Montreal
Expos (remember them?) pro David Thorne inherited a tied game from
Griffen and he initially looked capable of working around a leadoff
walk. After Tim Auty stole his way to second and then third base, he
issued an intentional walk to hitting-machine Mitch Dening, only to
load the bases by hitting Tim Atherton with a pitch. The man of the
moment for NSW was maturing professional Trent D'Antonio who
promptly delivered a clutch two-RBI single to effectively ice the
game for the hosting Patriots who had Tim Cox on the mound to slam
the door shut in the top of the last!
19yo Boston Red Sox
rookie Mitch Dening is setting a blistering pace so far in his
second Claxton Shield campaign and his 4-4 today with a RBI was just
another awesome display of class batting. Former pro Tim Auty
continues his love affair with this competition with another 2-4 and
RBI to match the performance of Minnesota twins signing Tim Atherton
in this game. Ageless slugger Brendan Kingman nailed two hits, while
his long-time team mate Gavin Fingleson supplied two runs via his
seventh inning "big fly". Trent D'Antonio enjoyed a mighty
three RBI game, while Trent Oeltjen walked to push one home.
The prolific Michael
Collins just keeps getting the job done for the Provincial team with
his 2-4 that was punctuated by his "grand salami" in the
first. Former promising pro Tom Vincent produced two hits for the
game, along with converted softballer James Brooks. In fact, Brooks
has already done enough in this competition so far to prove himself
as a very legitimate baseballer, so we will leave off referring to
his softball background right here... he can play!
Another win for the
Patriots and just another hard-luck story for the Australian
Provincials...
|
PITCHING: |
David ROSSER 4.2ip 9h
7er 0bb 2k; Tim COX (W) 4.1ip 1h 0er 2bb 8k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Mitchell DENING 4-4 (RBI);
Tim AUTY 2-4 (RBI); Tim ATHERTON 2-4 (RBI); Brendan KINGMAN
2-5;
Trent D'ANTONIO 1-5 (3RBI); Gavin FINGLESON 1-5 (2RBI); Michael
LYSAUGHT 1-3; Shannon PENDER 1-3;
Trent OELTJEN 0-3 (RBI). |
|
PITCHING: |
Phil BRASSINGTON 3.2ip
5h 3er 4bb 3k; Ross HIPKE 2.1ip 2h 0er 0bb 1k;
Luke WILKINS 0.0ip 5h 4er 0bb 0k;
Ryan GRIFFIN 1.0ip 1h 0er 0bb 0k;
David THORNE (L) 1.0ip 1h 2er 2bb 2k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Michael COLLINS 2-4
(4RBI); James BROOKS 2-4; Tom VINCENT 2-5; Andrew McKENZIE 1-4 (RBI);
Mark SAUNDERSON 1-4 (RBI) Josh PARKER 1-4 (RBI); Matt LAWMAN 1-4; |
|

EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 3 - GAME 2 - Sat 12 Jan 2008 - 3:30PM - Blacktown
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
10 |
2 |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
X |
9 |
11 |
1 |
Our reporter at this
game suggested that the Provincials were overpowered by the
undoubted quality of the NSW offence, but this did come from a
dedicated Patriots' supporter and it doesn't quite explain the
skinny 11-10 advantage in the safe hits column. The Patriots did
manage four extra base hits compared with AP's two, but the two
Provincial errors were of little consequence in the outcome of the
game. So where was it all decided folks? Expert US baseball
commentators would quickly advise us that most big league games are
decided by the one BIG inning and this game would be no
exception.
Boston Red Sox
signing Michael Lennox has been one of the batting stars of the
early going in Claxton 2008, but he ran very much hot and cold in
his pitching start on this occasion. In three of his four innings
Lennox faced the minimum number of batters in quite clinical
fashion, but he found mighty big trouble in the second inning and
again in the fifth before he was lifted. FIVE successive hits and a
walk posted three runs on the Patriots half of the second inning
scoreboard before a fielder's choice and a ground ball double-play
added two more runs for a game-breaking five-spot!
He was finally
relieved in the fifth after a couple of singles and a pair of stolen
bases cost him two more runs. Maybe our NSW correspondent would have
a fair point in the fact that Lennox was dealt with fairly harshly
by some of the best hitters you could face in Claxton Shield
competition, but then he would not be happy with his outcome of
seven hits and seven runs from his 4.2 innings of work in this game.
Stalwart Cameron Hardy was pretty good in middle relief until his
former Provincial team mate Tim Atherton damaged a solid effort with
his two RBI double in the seventh. Luke Wilkins survived yesterday's
nightmare by pitching a neat ninth inning, just to prove how much
baseball can change from day to day and it is a credit to his
manager that he allowed him to get straight back onto the horse so
quickly!
The performance of
Matthew Bennett would somewhat underline the reasons for winning and
losing that we discussed earlier. Bennett's nine hits from his 6.1
innings start was not a whole lot more effective than his opposing
starter Lennox, yet he was somehow able to limit the damage to two
earned runs, compared with Lennox's seven... herein lies the
ballgame folks! Also, making sure that New South Wales romped to an
easy looking victory, was reliever Vaughan Harris who picked up
where he left of from Claxton 2007 with another splendid relief
display here.
Two of the Patriots'
"Tims" Atherton and Auty continue to have a marvellous
time this year with 2-4 each, while former Minnesota professional
Michael Lysaught is obviously a maturing player who has found his
feet at this level with another 2-4 in this game. Atherton added to
his RBI tally with a mighty three more today, while another powerful
youngster Pat Maat trumped in with two RBI's. The usual suspects
Kingman, Fingleson and Oeltjen would complete the production
line.
Of the players who
had two hits for the Provincials in this game, I'm familiar with
Mark Saunderson who already owns a .333 average from two Claxton
Shield tours of duty, while I'm fast picking up on James Brooks who
is rapidly growing in stature as an AMLB rookie. Sam Brown and Josh
Parker are completely new faces for us but they are more than
holding their own at this level so far with two more hits each.
Brown produced one of the RBI's for the "green team",
while experienced Victorian 'Maccas' Andrew McKenzie and Tristan
McDonald both contributed one.
So, it looked for
all money like another comprehensive win for the New South Wales
"big dogs" but baseball, as we well know and love it, is a
far more complex game than it can sometimes seem. The win is all
that matters for the undefeated Patriots, while the Australian
Provincial team will not be challenging for a Grand Final berth in
2008, as we predicted.
|
PITCHING: |
Matthew BENNETT (W)
6.1ip 9h 2er 2bb 4k; Vaughan HARRIS 2.2ip 1h 0er 0bb 3k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Tim ATHERTON 2-4
(3RBI); Tim AUTY 2-4; Michael LYSAUGHT 2-4; Pat MAAT 1-3
(2RBI);
Mitch DENING 1-3; Brendan KINGMAN 1-4 (RBI); Gavin FINGLESON 1-4 (RBI);
Trrent OELTJEN 1-5 (RBI). |
|
PITCHING: |
Michael LENNOX (L)
4.2ip 7h 7er 2bb 3k; Cameron HARDY 2.1ip 3h 2er 1bb 0k;
Luke WILKINS 1.0ip 1h 0er 0bb 0k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Sam BROWN 2-4 (RBI);
James BROOKS 2-5; Mark SAUNDERSON 2-4; Josh PARKER 2-4;
Tristan McDONALD 1-4 (RBI); Andrew McKENZIE 1-4 (RBI) |
|

EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 3 - GAME 3 - Sat 12 Jan 2008 - 7:30PM - Blacktown
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
1 |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
X |
5 |
11 |
2 |
Here, our faithful
subscribers, is just another example of how life is often so difficult
for that ever gallant Australian Provincial team. In this game, like
so many others, they held sway 3-1 until the bottom half of the
sixth when things turned very obviously sour for the 'YAPS' (Young
Aussie Professionals), not too long after18yo Atlanta Braves star
Steve Kent was finally out of pitches. The fact of this matter is
that, maturity aside, Kent might well have pitched the Provincials
to another well earned victory... unfortunately, that is their
prescribed lifestyle in Australia's biggest league.
Ready to take full
advantage of any presented opportunity would be the might and power
of the NSW Patriots offence that is a potent mixture of superstar
veterans (like Kingman and Fingleson), professional quality (like
Oeltjen, Auty, D'Antonio and Lysaught) plus precocious young talent
(like Dening, Atherton, Pender and Maat). This is the type of lineup
that won't give you much breathing space and very few mistakes will
go unpunished.
Ross Hipke has
pitched pretty well for the Provincials this summer, but it was his
turn to feel the full brunt of the Patriots hitting. After finishing
the fifth inning for Kent, Hipke allowed three hits in the sixth and
his day was done when former Provincial Shannon Pender knocked him
out with a big two-out, two RBI double. Re-converted former junior
pitcher and recent professional outfielder Matt Ryan was next to
face the music. He managed to get the last out to finish the sixth,
but the NSW concerto continued with an Oeltjen RBI triple, an Auty
RBI single and another hit to Gavin Fingleson. He wasn't able to get
another out in the seventh when an Atherton walk and a Dening hit
saw him given the hook.
This provided
another opportunity for former LA Angels infielder Josh Davies to
stake his claims as a recently converted pitcher after enduring a
fairly torrid time on the Claxton Shield mounds so far. However,
this may well have been Davies' finest moment as a pitcher with a
near perfect closing effort against a rampant offence. His first
action was to induce a ground ball double play, then to polish off
the seventh with a strike out. Back for the ninth, Josh nailed down
the Patriots with a 1-2-3 of two ground ball outs, followed by
another "fanned" strike out... it was a first class
display.
For NSW, Todd
Grattan started like a train in the first inning but two hits and a
walk cost him a run in the second frame. Another quick third inning
was concluded with a double-play, to be followed by a strong 1-2-3
fourth. But, his solid start was to crumble in the fifth when three
of his pitches scurried to the back net behind his catcher. Two
passed balls and a run-scoring wild pitch were interspersed with two
hits and two walks, so he could not complain about the fact that
only one run was scored amid the mayhem.
It was time for the
Patriots to summon a trump card from their bullpen and they had a
right-bower in former major leaguer Brad Thomas ready and waiting to
fit the bill. Thomas quickly shut down the fourth with the first of
his four strike outs over 2.1 innings as he collected another win
for his record book. Only a Matt Lawman RBI triple did him much
damage in the fifth, while a Mike Collins double was left stranded
in the sixth. Closer Matt Williams was even nastier than Thomas with
five brilliant KKKKK's that neutralised two hits, a walk and a hit
batter over the last two scoreless innings.
'Terrific Tim' Auty
was the headliner of the NSW offence once again with his spanking
3-5, while 'Mr.Consistency' Gavin Fingleson delivered his umpteenth
multi-hit game with 2-3 plus a walk. Shannon Pender was the top run
producer with his two RBI triple, while big guns Kingman, Auty and
Oeltjen were the other single RBI men.
Newcomer Ben Day
couldn't have done much more to impress than with his tremendous 2-2
hitting day that included two walks and a run batted in... like Don
Bradman, the NSW pitchers could not find a way to get him out!
'Mighty Michael' Collins had another routine day for him with the
timber, batting 2-3 with a walk and hit by pitch. The multi-skilled
Michael Lennox was back swinging the bat after starting the previous
game on the hill... given only one pinch-hit opportunity late in the
game, young Lennox was not going to pass up the chance to clout a
stinging double off former major league hurler Brad Thomas. Matt
Lawman and Ben Day were the sole run suppliers for the Provincials
this time.
Just another rather
predictable series sweep for the NSW Patriots, while the plucky
Provincials will, as usual, be able to point to moments in the
series where they may have capitalised for the win that continues to
elude them.
|
PITCHING: |
Todd GRATTAN 4.2ip 4h
2er 3bb 4k; Brad THOMAS (W) 2.1ip 2h 1er 1bb 4k;
Matthew WILLIAMS (S) 2.0ip 2h 0er 1bb 5k; |
|
OFFENCE: |
Tim AUTY 3-5 (RBI);
Gavin FINGLESON 2-3; Shannon PENDER 1-4 (2RBI); Tim ATHERTON
1-3;
Mitch DENING 1-3; Trent OELTJEN 1-5 (RBI); Michael LYSAUGHT 1-4; Pat
MAAT 1-4;
Brendan KINGMAN 0-3 (RBI) |
|
PITCHING: |
Steve KENT 4.2ip 4h 1er
1bb 2k; Ross HIPKE (L) 1.0ip 3h 3er 1bb 1k;
Matthew RYAN 0.1ip 4h 1er 1bb 0k; Josh DAVIES 2.0ip 0h 0er 0bb 2k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Ben DAY 2-2 (RBI);
Michael COLLINS 2-3; Michael LENNOX 1-1; Matt LAWMAN 1-3 (RBI);
Tom VINCENT 1-4; Josh PARKER 1-5 |

SERIES OVERVIEW:
So, New South Wales have done all that they could have expected with
six straight wins over the Aussie Provincials and this will put the
pressure on Queensland to match them, or otherwise give the Patriots
a running start when their all important head-to-head battles
arrive. We just can't wait for those to increase interest in the
Eastern Division.
The Australian
Provincials have nearly completed their commitments in the
2008 Claxton Shield and, while they remain winless to date,
they have already achieved their primary aim of showcasing
some exciting new talent.
The NSW team
could not get too excited about their starting pitching in
this series, but their relief pitchers Tim Cox, Vaughan Harris
and Matt Williams were quite superb. Young guns Mitch Dening
(.545), Tim Auty (.481) and Tim Atherton (.435) are setting a
scorching pace at the top of the NSW batting averages. Dening,
in particular, is taking on "Nilsson like"
proportions at present with only one strike out from 22 at
bats, his .818 SLG% and his .615 OB%.
Steve Kent
continues to be a genuine shining light among the Provincials'
pitchers, while Ross Hipke has been pretty solid and Josh
Davies was brilliant in the last game of this series. Although
his young "partner" Angus Roeger did not appear in
this series, future Red Sox pro Michael Lennox soldiered on to
maintain his staggering .500 average against Claxton Shield
pitching, while also making a start on the mound against top
notch hitters... what a talent he is! Michael Collins also
maintains his magnificent Claxton Shield record with his
strong .320 average to date.
Our now
standard tribute to umpires Paul HYHAM, Matt CARTER, Bob
CRAWFORD and Trent THOMAS.
|
|
|
EASTERN
DIVISION
Series 2
Fri 4 to Sat 5 Jan 2008 |
RAMS
JUMP PROVINCIALS 9-4 IN SERIES OPENER!
QLD 1-0 AP; 9-4, #-#, #-# |
 |
SERIES PRELUDE:
The first and foremost issue foreshadowing this series would be the
torrential rain and flash flooding that swept across the north of
Australia leading up tho this series and, while much better, the
effects of the storm hadn't quite cleared sufficiently for the
series to begin on schedule. Not only would the series be delayed
for a couple of days, but it would also be shifted from the
waterlogged Redlands Baseball Club to the home of the Windsor
Royals, Holloway Field.
We wouldn't expect
there to be a whole lot of confidence bursting out of the Australian
Provincial camp after their rather deflating 0-3 "home"
defeat by New South Wales, but they have shown many times in the
past that they can re-group marvellously and still provide plenty of
stern opposition for whoever they might be playing.
The main issue of
interest would be whether, at 38 years of age, the "great
man" David Nilsson would make a surprise appearance? Our mail
is that he probably won't in this series, but don't count him out
for the rest of the event because he still harbours hope of playing
for the AROOS at the Beijing Olympic Games. Given his recent, or not
so recent, baseball history it would be folly for anyone else but
'Big Dave' to suggest such a thing... but not for Mr. D. Nilsson!!
We would also be
looking out for the availability of Queensland's former major league
reliever Phil Stockman.
'Flintoff &
Dunn' have already tipped that it is nearly an impossible task for
the Australian Provincials to emerge from the Eastern Division with
too many wins to their name, but the rain delays and the advent of
seven-inning games might just make this series a little more of a
raffle that would always bring increased hope to the underdogs!
We'll see...
 |
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 2 - GAME 1 - Sun 6 JAN 2008 - 9:00AM - Holloway Field
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
4 |
8 |
3 |
| QUEENSLAND |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
X |
|
|
9 |
9 |
2 |
It would be a great
thing just to see baseball being played in southern Queensland after
the flooding rains that have just about brought normal life to a
halt up there! Game 1 of the series would finally get underway at
the wee small baseball hour of 9:00am at Holloway Field, not at the
originally scheduled Redlands Baseball Club. There would be no
sighting of David Nilsson in uniform on the baseball diamond, but
someone reported that Elvis Presley and Lord Lukin were hiding in
the cubicles of the men's toilets?... if anyone got a sighting we'd
love to hear about it!
The scoreboard at
the end of the shortened seven inning game would make comfortable
9-4 reading for the home standing Queensland fans, who were watching
Claxton Shield baseball for the first time since the identical 2000
format, but this perhaps belied a much tighter game that was locked
at 2-2 after four innings. The Rams would finally take advantage of
a Provincial pitching melt-down to slam on seven runs in their
home-half of the fifth and sixth stanzas.
The rain-threatened
series and the shortened games would cause both teams to re-jig
their planning in terms of the use of their pitching resources. Both
teams would eventually use regular starting pitchers in
middle-relief and both might regret that they did? Queensland's
former Chicago Cubs professional Chris Mowday was strong for three
innings and he finished his stint with a 1-2-3 third inning before
handing over to usual ace starter John Veitch.
Much like his
opposing number today, Cam Hardy, who we will discuss later, Veitch
was victimised by a two-out error for his two runs in his first
inning today, but he finished his three innings of work very
strongly with another breezy 1-2-3 sixth inning to conclude his day.
Tristan Crawford reached 'AAA' level with the Minnesota Twins during
2007, but he would not have enjoyed his closing of the seventh
inning today that began with three successive hits and resulted in
two runs. Only a ground ball double-play prevented further damage.
It demonstrates what kind of level Claxton Shield baseball can
be!
AMLB "grand
pappy" Phil Brassington lasted one more inning than he did in
opening the first series against NSW, but again he was milked for
too many pitches with a walk per inning pitched, three errors and a
hit batter during his tenure on the mound. Only one of the two runs
allowed by Brassington was earned in what was a, sort of, typical
performance for a knuckleballer. We have long admired the STALWART
work of Provincials' warhorse Cameron Hardy, but the regular
starting pitcher, like John Veitch, clearly did not enjoy being
summoned from the bullpen in long relief today.
However, Hardy was
only one pitch away from escaping from the fifth inning after
securing two outs, before Joel Naughton tagged him for a game
breaking two-run homer... it happens! Hardy's confidence may have
been sagging when he returned for the sixth but, by that stage, he
was reduced to cannon fodder with a single and two doubles greeting
him before a one-out Andrew Utting walk saw him given the hook.
Re-converted pitcher-outfielder Matt Ryan cashed in both of Hardy's
base runners before, mercifully, ending a five-run sixth with a
strike out... it wasn't brilliant.
Highly rated
Phillies catcher Joel Naughton jumped onto the big AMLB stage with
3-4 and three match-winning RBI's that came via a double and a home
run. One of the nice things about this type of Claxton Shield
competition, that we don't have time to discuss here, is the roster
moves that allow a previously unknown player like Keiran Bradford to
emerge with 2-3 and a RBI on his Claxton Shield debut. Matt Studeman,
who last played AMLB with the 1999 Gold Coast Cougars, produced two-RBI's,
while Independent League hitter and former Helms Award winner Brad
Dutton also produced two. Former LA Dodgers professional David
Sutherland also added a run batted in to his fine Claxton Shield
record. Andrew Utting walked three times, while another Helms Award
winner and new 'F&D Hall-Of-Famer' Brett Roneberg also walked
twice!
Former Victorian
softballer James Brooks continues his development in the baseball
world with a most valuable 2-4 and two RBI's, while another new face
Sam Brown contributed a terrific 2-4 with a run batted in on debut.
Popular Victorian veteran Andrew McKenzie supplied the other RBI for
the Provincials in a game where they appeared soundly beaten, yet
the line score showed that they were out-hit by the narrow margin of
8-9.
The spoils go to the
home-standing Rams who deserved their win in the delayed opening
game but, as we very often say when the Australian Provincials play,
they were far from disgraced YET AGAIN! Still, 1-0 is one-nil for
the Queenslanders and they will, quite rightly, feel that they are
matching their primary adversary New South Wales at this stage. The
Aussie Provincials YET AGAIN proved their undoubted value as part of
the Claxton Shield landscape.
|
PITCHING: |
Chris MOWDAY 3.0ip 1h
0er 1bb 2k; John VEITCH (W) 3.0ip 3h 2er 1bb 2k;
Tristan CRAWFORD 1.0ip 4h 2er 0bb 1k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Joel NAUGHTON 3-4
(3RBI); Keiran BRADFORD 2-3 (RBI); Brad DUTTON 1-3 (2RBI);
Matt STUDEMAN 1-3 (2RBI); David SUTHERLAND 1-4 (RBI); David BYLETT
1-4. |
|
PITCHING: |
Phil BRASSINGTON 4.0ip
3h 1er 4bb 1k; Cameron HARDY (L) 1.1ip 4h 6er 2bb 0k;
Matthew RYAN 0.2ip 2h 1er 0bb 1k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
James BROOKS 2-4
(2RBI); Sam BROWN 2-4 (RBI); Andrew McKENZIE 1-3 (RBI); Ben DAY
1-3;
Mark SAUNDERSON 1-4; Tom VINCENT 1-4. |
|
EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 2 - GAME 2 - Sun 6 JAN 2008 - 12:00PM - Holloway Field
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
0 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
7 |
9 |
0 |
| QUEENSLAND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
0 |
3 |
1 |
Come
on fellas, get fair dinkum… unless the catcher had to call for a
snorkel, the pitcher needed an umbrella and there was lightning
crackling along the cyclone wire fence, surely you wouldn’t call
this game quits in the fifth inning? If I were an Australian
Provincial player or manager trying to make the most of my seven run
lead, they would have to carry me kicking and screaming from the
diamond! Seriously, what a crying shame that
Queensland
’s horrendous storms did not clear sufficiently to allow this
series to progress normally. The schedule had already been delayed a
by a couple of days, but their attempt to play catch-up has now also
been thwarted by another downpour.
What
makes this particularly disappointing for the Australian Provincial
team is that they seemed well on their way to their first victory
for Claxton 2008 and the timing could hardly have been more
frustrating for them. We are assuming here that the established rule
will apply whereby five completed innings are required to classify
it as “a game”?
If
not, the Provincials will have unfortunately “wasted” another
outstanding start from their 18yo Atlanta Braves professional Steve
Kent who had sailed through four innings and he looked capable of
going deep into the game, if required.
Kent
had struck out five during his impressive outing and the efficiency
of his pitching was in stark contrast to a nightmare performance
from the
Queensland
throwers on this day.
Young
Atlanta Braves signing Matt Timms was thrown to the wolves for his
first AMLB start after pitching a couple of games in relief for the
Provincials at Claxton 2007 in
Perth. After a promising first inning, things just fell apart for Timms
and the Rams in a horror second inning when seven green shirts
crossed the home plate to score. Timms allowed two hits, two walks
and hit batter to set the ball rolling out of control, but his own
additional error made things worse.
By
the time he was relieved by San Diego Padres rookie league pro Clint
Naylor he had just walked the second and third runs across the
plate. Naylor quickly joined the charity fund by walking across
another, before allowing three more runs, even though two of those
scored on ground out plays. Three hits, four walks and a hit batter
combined to enable the Aussie Provincials to post a rare seven-spot
for them. Naylor managed to pitch a scoreless third inning before
handing over to 22yo lefty David Holland who walked the tightrope
without allowing a run in the fourth or fifth, so far!
Unheralded
Sam Brown plundered 3-3 with a RBI in this game, while seasoned
Victorians Tristan McDonald and Andrew McKenzie both contributed two
knocks and a RBI each, as did the impressive converted Victorian
softballer James Brooks. In fact, seven different ‘AP’ hitters
contributed RBI’s, but some of those were via bases loaded walks.
Former
LA Dodgers pro David Sutherland simply continues to build upon his
excellent Claxton Shield record with two of the Rams total of three
hits in this shortened contest. It now remains to be seen whether
the result of this game, or the player’s statistics, are to become
part of Claxton Shield history, or simply ignored as if the game
never happened?
|
PITCHING: |
Steve KENT 4.0ip 3h 0er
1bb 5k.
|
|
OFFENCE: |
Sam BROWN 3-3 (RBI);
James BROOKS 2-3 (RBI); Tristan McDONALD 2-3 (RBI);
Andrew McKENZIE
2-4 (RBI); Matt LAWMAN 0-1 (RBI); Mark SAUNDERSON 0-2 (RBI);
Tom
VINCENT 0-3 (RBI).
|
|
PITCHING: |
Matt TIMMS 1.0ip 3h 5er
2bb 1k; Drew NAYLOR 2.0ip 2h 1er 3bb 0k; David HOLLAND 1.2ip 4h 0er
1bb 0k
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OFFENCE: |
David SUTHERLAND 2-2;
David BYLETT 1-2.
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SERIES OVERVIEW:
Coming Later!
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EASTERN
DIVISION
Series 1
Fri 28 to Sat 29 Dec 2007 |
PATRIOTS
OVERPOWER PROVINCIALS IN SWEEP!
NSW 3-0 AP; 8-1, 6-2, 5-1 |
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SERIES PRELUDE:
One of the things that
'Flintoff & Dunn' have been preaching for so many years is the
necessity for Australia to use its most prestigious event, the
Claxton Shield, to expose and promote the game as far as possible
around the country. This is just one of the main reasons why we love
this format for Claxton Shield competition... because, in the
absence of a true National League, it is the next best way to
achieve this aim.
We congratulate
those at Baseball Australia for rekindling this style of
competition, even though it may be a little harder to schedule and
it would cost more than staging the carnival in one place. The
beauty of the programming is immediately evident when we find the
first series of the Eastern Division taking place in the ACT suburb
of Narrabundah. We guess that this is about as close as you are
going to find to a "home venue" for the Australian
Provincials, even though most of the players would find themselves
on unfamiliar turf and we wouldn't expect the same parochial support
as for the States.
As we were to find
with the Southern Division, some of the bigger (mostly professional)
names listed on the "Protected Rosters" would not appear
in this series, but we will have to learn to expect this as a sad
fact of baseball life in Australia. The professional guys have no
other choice but to do everything possible to protect their careers
and, in some cases, they are simply taking orders from the boss!
This aside, 'Flintoff & Dunn' will always pay special tribute to
any of our more elite players who regularly forego much of their
"annual leave" to help promote the game in Australia.
The notable players
listed for NSW who did not appear in this series were to be Trent
Oeltjen, Andrew Graham, Chris Oxspring and Brad Thomas... not a
bad baseball quartet by any measure. Not playing in this series for
the Provincials would be promising young professional Clint Naylor.
On balance you would suggest that these losses would tilt the
balance more toward the Provincial team but, as we detailed in our
previews, we still would not hold too much hope for this Provincial
squad to upset either New South Wales or Queensland who both boast
much more quality and experience.
Nonetheless, we are
always intrigued to find out what the Australian Provincials might
produce...
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EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 1 - GAME 1 - Fri 28 Dec 2007 - 7:30PM - Narrabundah
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
11 |
1 |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
2 |
In what must surely
represent one of the oldest combined starting pitcher match-ups in
Claxton Shield history, 38yo NSW sophomore David Rosser would be
pitted against his 37yo junior Phil Brassington, who continues to
add new chapters to what is already a remarkable AMLB career. We
won't repeat the text in our preview, but the re-invented "knuckleballer"
who emerged from recent obscurity to play in the 2006 World Baseball
Classic is quite an amazing story!
With the game locked
at a competitive 1-1 some may have queried from a distance why
Brassington was replaced at the top of the fourth inning? We are
alerted to the fact that "old Phil" was hovering on 80
pitches after throwing many balls and being fouled-off many times,
even though he didn't allow a hit to any of the 13 batters he faced.
For instance, Tim Auty fouled him off no less than eight times in a
12-pitch at bat in the second, while the next batter Pat Maat worked
an eight pitch walk. In the wash-up, the patience of the Patriots'
hitters may have been a big factor in the course of the
contest.
The man to suffer
was Brassington's replacement, just-turned 18yo Luke Wilkins who was
savaged for seven hits and NSW had posted a five-spot in the fifth
inning before he was lifted for another 18yo rookie Ryan Griffin.
Griffin and re-converted pitcher Matt Ryan were tidy enough in
allowing only one run each, while future San Diego Padres' pro
Andrew Gribben was untouched after pitching a very efficient ninth
inning for the 'YAPS' (Young Aussie Professionals).
On the flip side,
2007 'Rookie of the Year' Rosser soldiered on manfully for the
Patriots with a high-quality 7.2 innings start that provided more
than enough backbone for his team to roll to a comfortable victory.
Rosser scattered nine hits, but he was rarely under great pressure
with six strike outs certainly helping to take the sting out of any
Provincial opportunities. This enabled a perfect "low
pressure" chance for new Texas Rangers' signing Tim Stanford to
make a most promising Claxton Shield debut. He did allow four hits
over his 1.1 innings of work, but the 17yo rookie did his job!
The NSW offence was
led by some maturing young players Michael Lysaught, Mitch Dening,
Tim Auty, Tim Atherton and Trent D'Antonio, when the past and
present professionals produced two hits each. Lysaught's 2-2
included a double and was magnified by two stolen bases, while
Dening incorporated a big RBI triple, Atherton a RBI triple and
D'Antonio a RBI double. Although the emerging stars stole the
bouquets in this game, evergreen Gavin Fingleson produced a clinic
about team batting when he supplied three separate RBI's on two
ground outs and a single... what a master hitter he is!
OK subscribers, it
sure sounds like a cakewalk for the more potent NSW team who bashed
up on the underdog Provincials in this game, doesn't it? Well. I can
assure you that the score table does not include a misprint... yes,
NSW won by the healthy margin of 8-1 but, hard to believe I know,
they were actually out-hit 13-11 by the "minnows".
Future professionals
Michael Lennox (Boston) and Angus Roeger (Philadelphia) each smacked
two hits on debut, while 2007 Victorian team medal winners Andrew
McKenzie and Matt Lawman also produced a pair each. Another seasoned
Victorian Tristan McDonald marked his return to the AMLB scene with
two safe hits. 17yo Roeger spiced his brilliant debut game with his
double, that was AP's only extra-base hit, and a stolen base. It
would surprise very few keen followers of Claxton Shield baseball
that recent Provincials' batting star Michael Collins produced their
sole RBI.
In conclusion, even
though the NSW team was marginally out-hit, the more experienced NSW
batters certainly made sure that they "milked" plenty of
pitches out of Phil Brassington and the fact that he was removed
early may have been the decisive factor. We are continually told
about major league statistics that show how most games are won by
the team that produces at least one BIG crooked-number inning. In
this case the Patriots did not pass up the chance to make hay while
the sun shone when the Provincials replaced Brassington with the
little known Luke Wilkins... tough luck Luke!
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PITCHING: |
David ROSSER (W) 7.2ip
9h 0er 1bb 6k; Tim STANFORD 1.1ip 4h 0er 1bb 1k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Michael LYSAUGHT 2-2;
Mitchell DENING 2-4 (RBI); Tim AUTY 2-4; Trent D'ANTONIO 2-5 (RBI);
Tim ATHERTON 2-4 (RBI); Gavin FINGLESON 1-4 (3RBI); Patrick MAAT
1-3; Shannon PENDER 1-4. |
|
PITCHING: |
Phil BRASSINGTON 3.0ip
0h 1er 4bb 2k; Luke WILKINS (L) 1.1ip 7h 4er 0bb 1k;
Ryan GRIFFIN 1.2ip 2h 1er 1bb 0k; Matt RYAN 2.0ip 2h 1er 2bb 3k;
Andrew GRIBBEN 1.0ip 0h 0er 0bb 0k |
|
OFFENCE: |
Michael LENNOX 2-3;
Tristan McDONALD 2-4; Angus ROEGER 2-4; Matthew LAWMAN 2-5;
Andrew McKENZIE 2-5; Michael COLLINS 1-4 (RBI); Josh PARKER 1-3;
Mark SAUNDERSON 1-4. |
|

EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 1 - GAME 2 - Sat 29 Dec 2007 - 3:30PM - Narrabundah
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
13 |
1 |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
The early Saturday
game in the Eastern Division series at Narrabundah would offer a
battle between two of the most underrated starting pitchers in
recent Claxton Shield history. Provincials' big-hearted 29yo
stalwart Cameron Hardy versus New South Wales very steady 26yo
left-hander Matthew Bennett.
Former Canberra
native Cameron Hardy has been living in Melbourne for some years
now, but he has always held strong to his Provincial
"heritage" as the only player to have been part of six
'AP' campaigns to date. It has never been an easy or glamorous task
to pitch for the Provincial teams who have often been undermanned
and/or inexperienced, but Hardy has never failed to battle hard for
his team. He did not have his best ever performance in this game,
leaving after an uncustomary short four innings stint, but he was
not helped by an untimely passed ball or a horrible outfield
error.
Matt Bennett has
always seemed to live in the shadows of more illustrious pitchers in
the NSW teams of his era, but on this occasion he would arrive in
the ACT as one of the key pitchers in the Patriots' rotation. He had
started only six of his 22 previous pitching appearances in AMLB,
but he was extremely effective as a starter in this game, allowing
only two hits and three base runners over his five innings. We
assume that the only reason he was not left longer in the game was
that he is still not accustomed to going much further than the 58
pitches he delivered?
Perhaps the other
reason might be that New South Wales also have plenty of other
quality arms to utilise in their bullpen and it was a good
opportunity to let young Minnesota Twins rookie professional Jarrad
Eacott enjoy a somewhat comfortable debut. Both Eacott, and the more
seasoned Andrew Cook, had more than enough to make sure that there
would be no hint of any real comeback heroics from the 'YAPS'. Cook
was especially impressive in facing just one more hitter than the
minimum while closing down the last two innings of the game.
2007 Provincial star
Mitch Dening has simply continued his fine form from Perth and from
his impressive debut pro season with the Boston Red Sox... he
haunted his former Provincial team mates again in this game with 3-4
and a RBI. Tim Auty and Shannon Pender also continued to enjoy a
productive series with 2-4 and a RBI each, while Minnesota Twins'
recent signing Tim Atherton also batted 2-4 for the second straight
day.
The other well known
guy to produce two hits in this game was Brendan Kingman who is the
only player to be entering his 17th AMLB season and he saluted the
occasion by mashing his 101st AMLB home run, now just six behind the
all-time AMLB leader Ron Johnson. 'Slugga' Kingman produced two
RBI's while his not-quite-so veteran team mate Gavin Fingleson
refused to go dry when he added one more "ribbie" of his
own.
The World Series
Champion Boston Red Sox seem to have selected wisely with Mitchell
Dening, and also with their more recent signing Michael Lennox who
was the Provincials' only plural-hitter in this game with 2-4 to
back up his 2-3 effort yesterday. Victoria's Minnesota Twins
professional Matt Lawman would be glad to have persisted for his
third Claxton Shield tour of duty. Lawman came into the tournament
with an 0-10 "duck" but he has enjoyed a much better time
in the 2008 Claxton so far with three hits for the series already
and AP's only two runs driven in during this game.
Even though the
scores were tighter on this occasion, the NSW Patriots were never
seriously threatened once again, and their 13-6 hits advantage for
the game was a decent indication of their superior strength in both
offence and pitching. It is already difficult to imagine anything
other than a series sweep for New South Wales here...
|
PITCHING: |
Matthew BENNETT (W)
5.0ip 2h 0er 1bb 2k; Jarrad EACOTT 2.0ip 3h 0er 0bb 1k;
Andrew COOK 2.0ip 1h 0er 1bb 0k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Mitchell DENING 3-4 (RBI);
Tim AUTY 2-4 (RBI); Shannon PENDER 2-4 (RBI); Brendan KINGMAN 2-5
(2RBI);
Tim ATHERTON 2-4; Gavin FINGLESON 1-4 (RBI); Michael LYSAGHT 1-5. |
|
PITCHING: |
Cameron HARDY (L) 4.0ip
8h 5er 1bb 3k; Ross HIPKE 4.0ip 5h 1er 0bb 3k;
Luke WILKINS 1.0ip 0h 0er 1bb 0k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Michael LENNOX 2-4;
Matt LAWMAN 1-5 (2RBI); Michael COLLINS 1-4; James BROOKS 1-4;
Angus ROEGER 1-4; |
|

EAST DIVISION
- SERIES 1 - GAME 3 - Sat 29 Dec 2007 - 7:30PM - Narrabundah
| Team: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
T |
H |
E |
| NSW
PATRIOTS |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
11 |
0 |
| A.
PROVINCIAL |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
For four innings in
this game the Australian Provincials had out-pitched, out-hit and
outplayed the much vaunted NSW Patriots in the series finale
nightcap game in Canberra. At least the warm 30deg temperature at
Narrabundah was a little more conducive to a double-header than the
micro-wave oven that SA and Victoria endured in Adelaide... and the
night time conditions would get cooler, while the relentless sun
blazed on through the Adelaide afternoon! 26yo Vaughan Harris would
be first to take the mound for NSW after performing very well at
Claxton 2007 in Perth, while his starting opponent would be young
Atlanta Braves' professional Steve Kent who was brilliant in relief
for the Provincials at the same event.
It did seem like a
shame for the Aussie Provincials that 18yo Steve Kent could not
continue beyond his 62 pitch count because, while he was on the
mound, he did seem capable of keeping the talented NSW batting
lineup under reasonable control. I'm not suggesting that his
relievers were pulverised by any means, because they weren't, but
Kent allowed only three hits over five innings, while the others
allowed eight over four... it's a simple statement of fact. Steve
Kent preserved a 1-0 advantage for 'AP' until the fourth inning when
the experienced NSW hitters manufactured a run via a Tim Auty
leadoff single and his stolen base, with no further safe hits in the
inning... it was damn good baseball, but not Kent's fault!
It then took a Mitch
Dening triple... yes, him again!... and a Matt Sundstrom RBI in the
fifth for NSW to grab its first lead in the game and, perhaps more
significantly, it saw the end of Steve Kent's evening on the mound
after he had thrown an impressive 43 of 62 pitches for strikes. As I
said, this did not exactly herald the opening of the floodgates for
the Patriots, but they did manage to take the game out of the
Provincials' range with single runs in the sixth, eighth and
ninth.
Meanwhile, the
strong NSW bullpen did not allow starter Harris much rope and he was
swiftly lifted after getting just one out in the third for the
impressive Boston Red Sox 'A' level professional Timothy Cox. It
didn't take long for anyone to understand why the move was made when
Cox proceeded to completely overmatch the Provincial batters,
striking out five while nobody could lay any solid timber on him
over 4.2 innings of mesmerising pitching. What ever hopes the 'YAPS'
may have held in this game were effectively snuffed out by the time
that Cox had sapped their confidence... WOW!!
Matt Williams and
Todd Grattan both allowed just one base runner while pitching an
inning of work each at the end of the contest. They were highly
efficient in wrapping up the game for New South Wales with Grattan
striking out the first two batters he faced in the ninth inning...
he had quality youngsters Lennox and Roeger both called out on
strikes after each had worked the count full... the 20yo showed a
fair bit of poise.
22yo Tim Auty
continues to be a tremendous performer at Claxton Shield level with
his menacing 4-5 today, while evergreen Gavin Fingleson couldn't
possibly end a series without a multi-hit game and, of course, he
also added a further RBI to his tally. Young New York Mets' catcher
Pat Maat crunched three home runs for the Provincials during Claxton
Shield 2007 in Perth, but he turned the tables on them in this game
with 2-4 and two runs batted in for the Patriots.
The familiar names
were to the fore for the Provincials in a game where they managed
just five hits. Angus Roeger concluded an excellent debut series
with two more hits, while his rookie partner Michael Lennox added
one on this occasion... NICE job lads! It was also typical to see
the prolific Michael Collins emerge with two hits in the last game,
building on his well earned reputation as the best hitter in the
early history of Australian Provincial baseball at this level.
So ended the 3-0
series sweep for New South Wales and few would argue that it wasn't
a reasonable result as there were very few moments throughout the
series when the Provincials had them under any genuine pressure.
|
PITCHING: |
Vaughan HARRIS 2.1ip 4h
1er 1bb 2k; Tim COX (W) 4.2ip 0h 0er 3bb 5k;
Matthew WILLIAMS 1.0ip 0h 0er 1bb 1k; Todd GRATTAN 1.0ip 1h 0er 0bb
2k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Tim AUTY 4-5; Patrick
MAAT 2-4 (2RBI); Gavin FINGLESON 2-4 (RBI); Matt SUNDSTROM 1-4 (RBI);
Tim ATHERTON 1-4; Mitchell DENING 1-4. |
|
PITCHING: |
Steve KENT (L) 5.0ip 3h
2er 0bb 3k; Mitchell FIENEMANN 1.0ip 2h 1er 0bb 1k;
Josh DAVIES 2.0ip 4h 1er 0bb 1k; Matthew RYAN 1.0ip 2h 1er 1bb
0k. |
|
OFFENCE: |
Angus ROEGER 2-4;
Michael COLLINS 2-4; Michael LENNOX 1-4. |

SERIES OVERVIEW:
We can't honestly
say that we were surprised by the result of this series that
saw New South Wales complete a fairly decisive 3-0 sweep. Our
reckoning that the Australian Provincials have an undermanned
roster compared with last season would appear to be accurate
and this is only accentuated when you see so many of the 2007
Provincials already playing such prominent roles with their
State teams of origin... this is a sad fact of life for the
"Green Team" I'm afraid.
That said, the
Australian Provincials still managed to overcome their obvious
disadvantages to again provide genuine competition for the
"big boys" and they certainly weren't disgraced by
any stretch of the imagination. And, MOST IMPORTANTLY, they
have once more provided a perfect platform for some exciting
new players to give us an early glimpse of their talents... we
love the fact that they maintain their focus on this most
SPECIAL objective!
The NSW
production line of new talent is alive and well folks. We have
mentioned the prodigious talent of rookie pro Mitchell Dening
who topped their batting stats for this series with a terrific
.500 plus two triples that boosted his slugging percentage to
.833. AMLB star Tim Auty is a little more seasoned and his
.429 average is no longer much of a surprise, while recent
signing Tim Atherton made his presence felt with his .417
average... these were the headline grabbers among a fairly
even team batting contribution for the Patriots. However, we
could not overlook again one of 'Flintoff & Dunn's' most
recent HALL-OF-FAME inductees Gavin Fingleson who batted .333
and he topped the team with five RBI's.
Pitching wise,
starters David Rosser and Matt Bennett both distinguished
themselves once again with solid wins, but the man who stood
like a beacon for us was Timothy Cox who was more like a
"wrecking ball" than a pitcher in this series... he
was AWESOME! The remainder of the New South Wales bullpen were
all pretty good in this series and there are few weaknesses to
be found there!
One thing that
will continue to excite us about Australian Provincial
baseball is the opportunity that they give to players like the
2008 Edition stars Michael Lennox and Angus Roeger. Red Sox
signing Lennox batted a team high .455 while Philadelphia
signing Roeger was second behind him with .417... if anyone
doesn't think that this is GREAT for Australian baseball, then
I think that they would need a "reality check" on
what this all means! Of course we would never downplay the
importance of guys like Michael Collins who was third ranking
with .333, but he also does the most important job of
providing some experienced leadership to the newcomers... even
at the ripe old age of 23!!
Victorian
youngster Andrew Gribben did not allow an earned run in his
1.0 inning Claxton Shield debut, while another Victorian Ross
Hipke also did a solid job in his Claxton debut. Incredible
veteran Phil Brassington still has something to offer as a
pitcher of inherent quality, but the man who captured our
imagination was Steven Kent who started the third game and who
continues to give the appearance of a genuine Australian
pitching star of the future.
Our correspondent
attending this series did not mention anything about umpiring
intervention, so I will repeat my own opinion from the Southern
Division Series in Adelaide: The UMPIRES each did quite splendid
jobs. We all marvel at the players performing in any type of heat like this, but we should NEVER forget those often
maligned men in blue who are out in the sun for EVERY PITCH of the
three games. Aside from one or two "close calls", they
were virtually unnoticed and this is about the highest tribute that
you can pay to an umpire. Our hearty congratulations to Trent
THOMAS, Matt PEARSON, Paul HYHAM and Greg KENT... you deserve a well earned
drink fellas!
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