HOME & AWAY ROUND  Game 28  Sun 4 Jan 2009

WA's HENDRIKS & KIMPTON SWAMP SA 16-0!

Hands up how many of us have hung around, or listened to, so many Americans, or American based Aussies, that we have caught onto the US habit of starting sentences with “Do you know what?” Well, do you know what?, Luke Hughes reached ‘AAA’ with the Minnesota Twins this year and he hammered two Claxton Shield home runs today, yet he might have to be satisfied with THIRD billing this time!

That is a measure of how bloody good Liam Hendriks and (Yes, I will yawn again this time!) Nick Kimpton were on this occasion. So, here’s the baseball quiz Subscribers, six innings of the most BRILLIANT starting pitching, or NINE runs batted in?… take your pick… either way it is a BUMPER crop! ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ will not attempt to solve this question for you because we have often said that baseball is a game that is balanced by both offence and defence. Do you know what?... here we go again!... so are most professional sports!

Even though there was some innocent conspiracy to add a couple of years to his resume earlier this summer, our database confirms that Liam Hendriks is still over a month away from celebrating his 20^th birthday. Here we must credit our informer from Perth in their recent home series who predicted that young Liam’s pitching was starting to take on the same scintillating sharpness that he demonstrated to such devastating effect during Claxton 2008 before injury de-railed him over our winter.

As if the time machine had rolled back to 2008, Hendriks' performances don’t require too much more explanation than the summary of his statistics. Ready? Here goes… Liam had to work around a game opening error to face just three more than the minimum number of batters and, only Stefan Welch tagged him for a solid double, while Roe milked a “close called“ walk. Outside of that Liam Hendriks had his way with the solid SA team, striking out NINE and putting up zeroes like the very best Leeds United soccer teams of the late 1960’s and 70’s. In fact, after Justin Roe walked to leadoff the second, until Welch doubled in the sixth, Hendriks made sure that no less than FOURTEEN consecutive SA hitters were sent back to the home bench, EIGHT of those struck out! As that famous sporting advertisement has repeated, THIS GUY IS GOOD!

We are not going to use the excellence of Hendriks, or the terrific run support, to down-play the extremely effective relief performance of future Philadelphia Philly Daniel Schmidt who was part of this combined shutout to build upon what has been a really good AMLB baptism for him this year.

On the South Australian side of the ledger, we can’t help but feeling that they have given everything they have in this series with an uplifting opening game victory, but their soul-destroying loss in Game 2 is something that must be difficult to gloss over. We reckon that the residue has carried over today.

Little known Michael Ewart no doubt tried his best but, while five hits over five innings might be workable, you just cannot add seven walks over the same period if you want to pitch at this standard. I know that our many South Aussie friends will be tired of hearing it, but my dearly departed mother schooled me not to say anything if you can’t say anything positive, so I will decline to commentate on the hosts’ bullpen that has been under siege for far too long already!

Under any other circumstance I would have to apologise for taking this long to detail a NINE, yes NINE, runs batted in game from former pro Kick Kimpton who has enjoyed the pinnacle of Australian national baseball in the same sort of way as Brett Roneberg and Benny Wigmore have for a longer period in more recent years. Kimpton’s 3-3 plus a walk and, let’s say it again, NINE RBIs, was plenty to support the Heat’s shutout pitching. I’ve already mentioned Luke Hughes’ two long balls, while Kyle, de San Miguel, Dale and Floyd each dined out on the SA buffet with two hits each. Catchers Chris House had one hit plus THREE walks, while Allan de San Miguel added two walks to his two hits.

At the end of this series WA would enjoy their consolidation of second place on the table after their eastern border adversaries gave them plenty of opposition. The South Australians have every reason to bemoan the fact that they could not nail down a 2-0 start to this series, but WA will counter with the fact that baseball is a nine inning game. In the end they were worthy of their 2-1 result on the road.

HOME & AWAY ROUND  Game 27  Sun 4 Jan 2009

NSW LOSE SERIES BUT WIN 10-2 IN GAME 3!

All that glitters is not necessarily gold, but when you see a “Golden Arm” return to action, it is rarely Fool’s Gold! This is not only true for New South Wales’ former Red Sox minor leaguer ‘Tornado Tim’ Cox, but also the man he narrowly beat for the title in 2008, WA’s young Minnesota Twins’ gun Liam Hendriks who pitched splendidly in Adelaide on the same day.

The Queensland Rams may well have wished that the series had stayed in Lismore, rather than shifting location to Windsor’s Holloway Field. Whether it was the potent pitching of Cox, the awakening NSW offence or the change of venue it probably doesn’t matter, but the Queensland hosts really could not afford to drop the final game of this series, let alone by such a lop-sided score line. Conversely, the Patriots team will return south of the border feeling quite OK after taking something positive out of a series that they dropped only narrowly 1-2 in the end.

After skipping the early part of the 2009 Claxton Shield, Tim Cox picked a pretty useful time to return to the mound with a five inning start that causes us to ponder why he wasn’t recorded as the winning pitcher? He mixed a hit per inning with a strike out per inning, while not allowing an earned run. In fact, had he not coughed up three knocks to “Ram-Rod” Ram Wade Dutton, he would have kept the hosts base paths very quiet indeed.

New South Wales “Multiple Matts” Williams and Bennett made sure that Cox’s start was not wasted when they prevented the Rams from getting any closer than their cosy eight run upper hand. Rising Minnesota Twin Matthew Williams was solid enough after allowing a couple of early walks, while Bennett did well pitching to contact, even if that contact became a little too solid when Mike Collins smacked one of his offerings out of the yard over right field.

Our spies up north have promised me faithfully that it is not an early April Fool’s joke when they advised us about Queensland’s starting pitcher for this game, Naylor… Oh yeh, must be Drew right?... No, try Clint. What the…? We’re talking about the San Diego Padres pro catcher here, a guy who has not pitched previously at this level, while we can’t comment about his junior and/or club career. As Victoria’s rocket-arm catcher Grant Karlsen found out last summer, pitching to Claxton Shield batters is far from a picnic!

Given this context, we guess that he didn’t actually disgrace himself, but then six earned runs after failing to get out of the fourth inning is not what constitutes a quality start. No thanks to the valuable Matt Timms who cashed in two of those on his behalf when the first batter he faced, Michael Lysaught, whacked a three run bomb over right field. One of the by-products of needing to relieve a starter too early is the tendency to stretch out the remainder of the bullpen. In this case Atlanta rookie Timms might have been throwing on fumes when he ran into trouble in the seventh. Simon Morriss really struggled in a runaway game, while Independent League pitcher Nathan Crawford was really tidy this time, but too late.

As noted, Wade Dutton continues to run scalding hot with three of Queensland’s seven hit total, while young Atlanta Braves pro James Linger batted 2-4. Michael Collins is also finding his stroke with ominous authority and he confirmed this again with his solo home run near the end of this no-contest. Matt Studeman didn’t get to hit after milking three walks from his four plate appearances.

Former pro Michael Lysaught might have launched the biggest blow for the Patriots with his three-run homer, but it was some of their newer “Generation Y’ prospects that gave us an insight into the future of Australian baseball. Former unlucky pro Tim Auty (2-5) is hardly an old-timer, while Shannon Pender (3-3 2RBIs) might yet be young enough to catch the eye of US scouts if our new National League happens soon. Joining them as the multi-hit men for the visitors were terrific young pro prospects; Mets’ Pat Maat (2-4 RBI), Red Sox Mitch Dening (2-4) and Rockies’ David Kandilas (2-5). Mark Holland gave another classic example of why there is more to contributing offensively than safe hits alone when he drove in three separate runs via two sacrifice flies and a ground ball fielder’s choice RBI… you have to admire that!

In the wash-up we suppose that the Queenslanders will be a fraction disappointed that they didn’t match the Patriots’ corresponding home series sweep, while New South Wales will march on in reasonably good shape with more of their destiny in their own hands.

HOME & AWAY ROUND  Game 26  Sat 3 Jan 2009

WA STRIKES LATE TO SNIP SA 11-9 IN 10TH!

The South Australians didn’t have nearly long enough to rest on the laurels of their pipe-opening win against WA yesterday. While the local brew would have tasted very sweet last night, the Southwark Bitter (do they still drink that?) might never taste any more bitter than it did on this occasion. Let’s put it simply, this was a GUT-WRENCHER for the hosts who would've had every reason to start planning successive wins after leading 7-0 after five, then 8-2 after seven innings.

To pinch that most famous baseball phrase from Yogi Berra, the South Aussies might have been dreading “déjà vu all over again” if they hadn’t quite got over their incredible home series tragedy against Victoria at Woodville during Claxton 2008. Unfortunately those old scars would be prised open in more amazing fashion here when their bullpen melted down once again for another miserable extra-inning defeat.

Those parochial home fans at Glenelg were in a buoyant mood, and rightly so, as the game wound down to a comfortable SA back-up win, but it wouldn’t take long for those ghosts of the past to start haunting their tortured South Australian baseball minds. Making this more unpalatable is the fact that journeyman “Methuselah” Phil Brassington did his best impression of master knuckleballer Tim Wakefield to produce easily his best start of this campaign. ‘Brasso’ noticeably cut down his walks and also limited the hits to deservedly put himself in line for a meritorious victory.

In a game that could be described as “ugly” we cannot ignore the fact that WA enjoyed the benefit of a couple of baulks, while SA saw their ledger balanced by a pair of equally rare catcher’s interference calls… apparently this game had EVERYTHING, not all of it to be admired, or wanted! And, it doesn’t get much uglier than the top of the tenth when everything that could go wrong did for the SA guys.

The South Australian relievers, as a group, would not need us to add to their pain by regurgitating their tale of woe again here. The only positive thing we have to say is that some of them have the chance to learn a lot from the harsh experience of playing at this unforgiving level of baseball.

Two South Aussies that really enjoyed their offensive time at Glenelg were Josh Cakebread and Jeremy Cresswell who have been regarded more as glovemen than big bats over their AMLB careers. Cakebread had an explosive game with 3-5, a home run, three RBIs, plus a walk; while 2009 star Cresswell batted 2-4 with a walk and a run batted in.

Of course, we have used a bit of “writer’s licence” to race past New York Mets ‘A’ league star Stefan Welch who deserves top billing for his 2-5 that included TWO solo home runs. Our excuse is that we are not so surprised by his efforts, as he has been a proven performer since Claxton 2008. No other South Australian could nail two hits, but veteran Craig Watts joined fresh faces Roe and Wyatt as the other disappointed RBI men.

We’ve done Nick Kimpton to death, but who would have thought that his 3-5 with a RBI could have been overshadowed on this occasion by rising professionals Luke Hughes and Chris House. Minnesota Twins hot prospect Hughes batted 3-5, smacked a home run and drove in four… WOW! Toronto Blue Jays teenage catcher Christopher House also batted 3-5 with two RBIs, but his late ninth inning RBI triple that took the game into extra innings should see him buying very few beers for his team mates tonight!

You’ll have to excuse us for glossing over the West Aussie pitchers this time, but they were pretty much by-standers in the analysis of this game. Starter Dylan Peacock was not as good as he has been on recent form, while little-known Benn Grice was fortunate to escape personal ERA damage. Todd Murphy was pretty good to hold the fort for Dean White and Brendan Wise who notched up a win and a save respectively. It was not their fault that the ‘Croweaters’ had given them an unlikely opportunity as they both did all that you could ask of them with the ball in their hands.

HOME & AWAY ROUND  Game 25  Sat 3 Jan 2009

RAMS HAPPY TO BE HOME 3-2 v PATRIOTS!

It is quite remarkable how regularly these great rugby league rivals happen to battle such tight sporting contests over the years. No matter what the sport, the comparable talent and the fierce rivalry always seems to produce a nail-biting contest, and so it was again in this second game of Queensland’s 2009 Claxton Shield home series at Lismore. In this case the Rams sprinted out of the blocks with three runs in the first, but they were unable to add on as the Patriots tried in vain to narrow the gap. It was good, exciting stuff!

While he found himself on the losing end of this arm-wrestle, former Red Sox and Cardinals professional Wayne Lundgren was perhaps the best of the pitchers on show. If you can ignore the three successive hits that were punctuated by Michael Collins’ three-run “jack” in his opening frame, Lundgren was outstanding with only four more base runners allowed over his quality 6.2 innings losing start.

It may be a bit unfair to focus on the seasoned 2006 World Baseball Classic AROO, rather than the young guy who started for the winning team, Justin Erasmus. After cutting his AMLB teeth with the Australian Provincials in Claxton 2008, Erasmus has shown only a few glimpses of the potential that saw the Boston Red Sox open their cheque book to sign him so far this summer. His 4.1 scoreless frames today should bring him a decent confidence boost, even though he was consigned to a no-decision when he was lifted before the end of the fifth dig.

2008 Washington Nationals ‘AA’ professional Tristan Crawford was the man to grab the win and, to some extent, the game by the scruff of its neck. The seasoned right-hander allowed only one earned run from three hits over his sterling 3.1 innings. Simon Morriss has been a valuable performer for the Rams over the past couple of Claxtons, but his only non-prescribed duty today was to walk Andrew Graham when he was asked to put a lid on the eighth. Future Chicago Cub Ryan Searle backed up his polished effort in Game 1 with another superbly poised save in the furnace of this hot contest.

Having spoken about all the other pitchers on display at Lismore in this fixture, we might have left the best until last if we can peer into the future. Minnesota Twins prized prospect Brad Tippett is still yet to allow his first AMLB earned run after a brief cameo for NSW in Claxton 2008, followed by his most competent closure here. This guy has already demonstrated that most valuable of pitching assets… the ability to get good batters out! We’d suggest that everyone keep an eye on him.

If I had been asked to guess who might have done the offensive damage for the Queenslanders, I reckon I might have plucked the quadrella by bracketing Brad Dutton, Roneberg, Collins and Sutherland, in no particular order. As it happened, it was Dutton and Roneberg who set the table for ‘Mighty Mike’ Collins to thump his three-run homer almost directly back over the pitcher’s head to straight-away centre field. The bases had been cleared by the time that on-deck batter Sutherland walked to end the on base action for the Rams in that game-deciding bottom of the first.

ACT ace Michael Collins is turning it on again with all three runs for the ‘Banana Benders’ via another 2-4 to follow-up his fine season at ‘AA’ level with the LA Angels organisation. The other 2-4 man in this game was Brett Roneberg who, we will cheekily mention, is also a Queensland import from the south! Ah yes, it somewhat pains we proud Victorians to note that baby Brett was born in the southern capital Melbourne. How we let his family escape to Cairns would rate among the biggest of all fishing stories about the one that got away! I can’t stretch my arms wide enough to boast about how BIG this guy has been in recent Australian baseball history.

In a game generally dominated by the pitching of both teams, only ‘Terrific Tim’ Auty could hit the Queenslanders’ offerings twice, while Trent D’Antonio recorded the one and only RBI for the Patriots. Andrew Graham, who reached ‘AAA’ with the Detroit Tigers, added a walk to his leadoff double in the seventh, while the unsung Mark Holland also doubled and walked for a handy on base effort for the game.

So, here’s the trick Subscribers, how do you analyse where this oh-so tight game was won? Given that both teams pitched superbly and the hits tally levelled out at seven each, we can only turn to one of baseball’s well worn diagnoses… “timely hitting”. Ah yes, there is hitting and timely hitting in our beloved game of baseball. The fact that Michael Collins was able to follow two hits with a three-run long ball was perfect timing… the start and the end of this story!

HOME & AWAY ROUND  Game 24  Fri 2 Jan 2009

SA BREAKS THE ICE 11-2 OVER HEAT!

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR from ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ to all of our loyal Subscribers and baseball others! If you hadn’t heard the result but you were told that WA’s pitching destroyer Mark Kelly had struck out double-digit batters again, you’d probably be guessing that the South Aussies would still be winless. Thankfully baseball remains as unpredictable as ever in 2009. Most casual observers, apart from those in the far west of our nation, would be rather happy to see SA break their “duck” in Claxton Shield 2009 as it is never healthy for any state to languish so far behind the others.

Yes, TEN Ks notwithstanding, Mark Kelly sustained a rare loss from recent campaigns. He managed to scatter eight hits fairly well and he walked only one, but a spate of errors in the fourth inning would cost him three unearned runs that broke open a tight 2-1 game at the time. Claxton newcomer Warren Saupold wasn’t nearly as tidy or successful as he was on his near perfect debut and the game had stretched out of control by the time that Todd Murphy took over to allow one more bonus run to the southerners in the eighth.

34yo warhorse Darren Fidge has enjoyed some memorable moments in his 16 year AMLB career but, we suspect, few would taste much better than his 24^th win at Australian national level in this game. A tremendously loyal performer for his state, ‘Fidgey’ has taken some lumps with a battling team over recent years and he seemed to see his career drifting away as a pretty decent late-blooming hitter so far in Claxton 2009. On this occasion he was able to go toe-to-toe with Kelly with similar statistics but, for once lately, he got some run support and it was WA’s usually rock-solid defence that cracked in this game.

Preserving the uplifting victory for Fidge with an equally competent save was the versatile Todd Langman. A Luke Hughes home run in the seventh would record the only hit and the only run dished up by Langman in this game as he earned a terrific 3.2 innings save for the much maligned South Aussie bullpen.

The offensive action started early at the new AMLB venue of Glenelg when the prolific Nick Kimpton “went yard” over right field in the top of the first and Stefan Welch responded with a bomb of his own over centre in the home half of the first. Jeremy Cresswell had one of the most decisive blows of the day with his two-run jack over left field in the fifth, while rising ‘AAA’ Minnesota pro Luke Hughes returned to local action with a bang in the seventh, as mentioned, when his line drive disappeared over left field.

‘Bashing Ben’ Wigmore may have been slightly more subdued than usual this summer so far, but this was never likely to last long into 2009. ‘Wiggy’ might have enjoyed seeing more pitchers challenging him in this game when he cashed in with 3-5 and a ribbie… he might not see many more pitches thrown near his vast wheel house? Trying to match his leviathan team mate was rookie Justin Roe who, we figure, must be a relation and perhaps even a son of 1993 Adelaide Giants’ player Adam Roe? Suffice to say that his 3-5 with a RBI was as good a debut as you could ever expect at this level.

As often, Dan Wilson was again at the forefront for SA with his match-changing 2-4 plus four monster RBIs, while Stefan Welch’s 2-5 also included his important long ball RBI to get his team on the board. We’ve mentioned Cresswell’s first AMLB dinger that produced two runs, while newcomer Brodie Wyatt marked his debut with a very handy RBI and his 1-4. Designated hitter Craig Watts became a designated walker in this game with two free passes, one of which was issued intentionally.

I’ll resist the temptation to yawn again at the mention of Nick Kimpton’s 2-4 that included a home run, plus a walk. If there was to be an award for “Recruit of the Year”, Kimpton would have his name already engraved upon it! We mentioned Luke Hughes' home run and, we have to say, his 2-4 was unsurprising for a hitter of his quality, while Andrew Kyle continues to enjoy a strong campaign with his 2-5.

We don’t expect any of our fond friends in WA to agree, but this was a triumph that the South Australians just had to have… good on them!

HOME & AWAY ROUND  Game 23  Fri 2 Jan 2009

QLD HITS BACK WITH 3-0 SHUTOUT OF NSW!

No need to issue an obvious HAPPY NEW YEAR to our many mates in Queensland because they would be the first to acknowledge the familiar taste of momma’s home cooking after the recent festive season. The all away schedule was not too kind to the Rams pre-Christmas, but Santa had obviously filled their Christmas stockings with a welcome dose of home field confidence for their confrontation against the pale blue ‘Cockroaches’ at Lismore.

Both teams would celebrate the importance of the occasion by dealing out their heaviest of pitcher (or picture) cards. The home standing Rams would open the bidding with seasoned professionals Mowday and Crawford (T), along with Independent Leaguer Crawford (N) and future pro Ryan Searle. The Patriots would hope to trump them with former major leaguer Chris Oxspring, followed by ‘AAA’ southpaw Craig Anderson and the well-performed Todd Grattan. NSW would hold plenty of aces, but the Rams called a successful misere with their combined shutout in this series opener.

Mowday enjoyed one of his finest moments in a fairly long AMLB career with his NINE strike outs coming at the brilliant rate of one-point-five per inning to make sure that five hits couldn’t develop into any scoreboard damage. The potent duo of 'Crawford & Crawford' simply refused to answer the door in the late innings with three strike outs and only one base runner never likely to get anything started for NSW in those most important set-up relief innings. Future Chicago Cubbie Ryan Searle maintained the inhospitable withdrawal of the welcome mat via a most impressive closure and save at the nadir of a game that didn’t have too much padding, even at the end.

Former big leaguer Oxspring took the loss after not his sharpest ever effort, but he wasn’t too bad at all. Nor was reliable Patriots’ stalwart Craig Anderson who made a welcome return with a nice scoreless workout that will do him plenty of good. Todd Grattan, who has been more solid than otherwise at AMLB level, was really good again with three very neat scoreless innings to keep his team in the game. Let’s just remind ourselves that the Patriots allowed only three runs and only one, attributed to Oxspring, was earned.

To get the shut-down New South offence out of the way, it sometimes gives a good indication of emerging talent when young players are able to stand out in tough conditions. If NSW tyro David Kandilas can get to the majors with the Colorado Rockies, he would seem to have a batting stroke that will cause MLB balls to fly around like missiles in the rarefied air of Denver’s “mile high” Coors Field. His two hits were two of only six put on the board by his team on this day, while Pat Maat was the only other to get on base twice with a hit and a walk. Kandilas aside, this was a measure of the hosts’ pitching effectiveness this time around.

For the maroons, who could help but notice the welcome return of that most famous of Aussie baseball names NILSSON that has somewhat dominated our national competition for the best part of thirty years… think about that Subscribers! Former Cleveland Indian Jay, son of our Hall-of-Famer Bob, was quick to plant the family name back on the AMLB landscape with his 1-2 that started with a RBI double and was rounded off with a walk and a hit-by-pitch… not bad Jay!

‘Flintoff & Dunn’ can only apologise for not giving Wade Dutton top billing this time, but our excuse is that it has become impressively mundane for him to deliver the only multi-hit game for Queensland, plus a RBI. As we have said often, Wade has leapt out of the large shadow cast by his prolific Independent League brother Brad during Claxton Shield 2009 to date. Atlanta prospect James Linger knocked in the other RBI for the hosts. We will now take the unusual liberty of mentioning the return of ‘Mighty Mike’ Collins who batted 1-4, and his history would suggest that he’ll be a great pick-up for them.

What more can we say?; the Rams are back in town, while the Patriots are still doing OK!