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Game One v Puerto Rico
- Won 4 runs to 2
Australia earned just the start it would have been hoping for
at the 2005 World Baseball Cup when it beat a highly rated Puerto
Rico 4-2 in Haarlem
The Puerto Ricans may not have been among the real tournament
title favourites, but they are certainly a team rated as a genuine
threat to Australia's qualification for the latter stages of the
event
So, it goes without saying that an opening night win against one
of our serious contenders is about as good a start as you could
script
The 'AROOS' were best served by the miserly starting pitching
of our reliable former major leaguer John Stephens who delivered
seven tremendous blank frames to set us on the road to victory
He was ably followed by our 'AAA' future major leaguer (?) Adrian
Burnside who struck out two in his impressive one inning relief
performance
Only Phil Stockman provided any respite from the mound for the
Puerto Ricans when allowed two ninth innings home runs to perhaps
give the Central Americans a belated sniff of a comeback
Offensively, it might be a trifle unfair to our men to suggest
that the three errors from the Puerto Ricans was the most decisive
factor, but we must say that Puerto Rico starter Edgar Velazquez
is entitled to be less than impressed with the fact that two of
the three runs he allowed in the critical fifth inning were unearned!
For our Aussies only Tom Brice, who the Chicago White Sox had
attempted to convert into a pitcher, delivered a multi-hit game,
while Utting, Graham and Van Buizen were the RBI men on this occasion
The game could adequately be described as a tight pitchers duel
and we are sure glad that our AROOS came out of it with the big
'W' that could well be a HUGE one when the final tables are tallied!
Game Two v Nicaragua
- Lost 2 runs to 0
We don't refer to them as "nasty" because they may not
be nice people, but rest assured that the Nicaraguans are anything
but fun to play on a baseball diamond
While they may not be blessed with as much power as some other
nations, the Nicaraguans are generally typified by an ability
to scrap for runs and they rely heavily on quality pitching
Australia's AROOS were to find them running true to form on Day
2 at Almere with a disappointing, but not shattering, 2-0 defeat
The fact that our Aussies out-hit Nicaragua by 6-4 will not provide
much solace for Jon Deeble as we simply could not find a way to
rally against their starter Hansack, who struck out eight of our
men, or their closer Mairena who didn't allow a hit over the last
two innings
Our own pitching was once again of a high standard with young
starter Shane Lindsay being stung for the only two runs of the
game when Marlon Abea cracked a two-run "jack" in the
second dig to produce the only scoring of a pitching dominated
game
However, Lindsay did display his promise by striking out five
in his three innings of work
The experienced Craig Anderson followed with a duplicate five
K's from three scoreless innings while Tristan Crawford notched
two K's of his own in the last frame for Australia
As we said, it was hardly an "earth shattering" loss,
but it is one that will keep our coaching staff uncomfortable
about our chances of progressing to the next round with our record
now standing at 1-1
Game Three v USA
- Lost 6 runs to 4
Back in Haarlem for Game 3 our Australian team matched the "questionable
might" of this USA team until the eighth inning before coming
up on the short end of a tight 6-4 result... this after our AROOS
had just grabbed a 4-3 lead at the end of seven completed innings
While there is no shame in the result, our boys are entitled to
feel some disappointment
Paul Mildren gave Australia a pretty solid start with five innings
of two-run baseball, but a committee of Aussie relievers slowly
released the pressure on the Americans until they finally broke
the dam walls in the eighth frame
It would be easy to point to the USA's power-hitting DH Bryan
LaHair as probably the difference between the teams with his 2-4
coming via the "distant route" with both of his hits
leaving the yard!
Great to see richly
talented Aussie Brett Roneberg back on the path to full fitness
after a lengthy shoulder injury when he produced Australia's first
home run of the tournament today in a 2-3 display
Andrew Graham also produced a pair of hits
Once again a disappointing loss, but hardly "wrist slashing
time" for the Australians who may be on the skinny side of
a 1-2 record to date, but then we have played three of the current
Top 4 teams in our group at this early stage of the tournament
Ultimately we will be judged by how well we take care of business
against the "lesser nations" and Taipei
Game Four v The Czech
Republic - Won 14 runs to 0
To pinch the most appropriate phrase from our last report, Australia
certainly did "take care of business" against the unheralded
baseball minnows Czech Republic with a comprehensive 14-0 shutout
at Almere last night
Australia's potent offence clicked into gear against Czech opening
game starter Homolka in the second inning and we kept adding on
throughout the game until the "mercy rule" was applied
after seven completed innings
With the game nicely in safe keeping, the AROOS took the opportunity
to give some extra playing time to youngsters D'Antonio, Hughes
and Harman and none of those looked out of place at senior international
level
In fact, this would be a gross understatement for emerging NSW
catcher Trent D'Antonio who had a dream debut at senior level,
as far as we can recall?
Young Trent may have "hit for the cycle" if the game
had continued, starting with a RBI single, then a RBI double and
then his "party piece" with a crushing two-run homer...
way to go Trent!
Consistent stars Trent Oeltjen, Brett Roneberg, Dean White
and Paul Rutgers each contributed two-hit games as the Aussies
racked up 14 runs on 15 hits against the hapless Czech pitching
posse
None of the Czech pitchers looked remotely capable of stemming
the Australian tide until, with the game petering out to an obvious
conclusion, closer Michael Gajdos struck out a couple of our men
in the scoreless final frame as we looked to add to our home run
tally!
The AROOS could also be quite pleased with the performance of
our young pitching lineup who did the job in this game with a
comprehensive shutout
Aaron MacKenzie started the show with a couple of tidy scoreless
frames, followed by a nervous Glen Richards who had to "dance
around" three walks in the fourth inning to preserve the
shutout
Adam Bright came on at just the right time to collect the win,
striking out three in his two innings to balance a couple of hits
allowed
The more seasoned Craig Lewis got in a little work with an almost
effortless final three outs
Of course it would be difficult to measure their performance against
this standard of hitters... the acid test for them could come
later?
In all it was a good, professional performance from our team who
got the job done efficiently while providing some extra playing
time for some of the possible "fringe players" at this
tournament
While we would have expected a result of this kind it is always
comforting when the points are in the bag!
Our record improves to 2-2 as we are still reasonably placed to
get through the opening round of the competition
Game Five v Japan
- Lost 4 runs to 2
Australia did something in Amsterdam that few other countries
would find unusual... it lost an International baseball game to
the might of Japan!
It has been an unusual but pleasant fact for the AROOS over the
years that we have very often saved our best baseball performances
for the Japanese and we are one of the few nations to boast a
positive record against the team that is regarded as maybe third
only behind the USA and Cuba... just don't tell Venezuela, Mexico
or the Dominican Republic who rarely seem to test themselves in
these competitions!
In any case, it would be like discussing the "fish that got
away" to consider that we, once again, perhaps should have
edged the Japanese in another contest of exceptional quality
However, Australia was a bit like the determined bantamweight
boxer trying to outmanoeuvre the middleweight champion... we landed
lots of leather on the Japan team, but when they chose to strike
their blows were far more damaging!
Not surprisingly Australia entrusted the important pitching role
to former major league hurler John Stephens who delivered his
customary tidy performance aside from the two "long balls"
that departed for solo home runs in the second and third innings
for Japan to lead the game 2-1
We continued to shade the points with some promising rallies but
it wasn't until Japan had posted a two-spot in the seventh that
we added a consolation run in the eighth for the 4-2 scoreline
The fact that we out-hit Japan by a ratio of 2:1 with 12 hits
versus six is not much of a consolation in this case
Like most teams in international baseball, we found the Japanese
pitching difficult to master on this day with only the experienced
NSW pair of Kingman and Lewis gathering two knocks, along with
SA's Tom Brice
We had six other singles hitters on the day, but few of them arrived
when we really needed them on this occasion!
Our AROOS have nothing to be ashamed about yet another terrific
performance against a genuine heavyweight in baseball ranks, but
we sure could have used another victory to feel secure in the
2005 World Cup competition at this stage!
Game Six v Chinese
Taipei - Lost 11 runs to 4
Without any definitive means of directly comparing the quality
of the opposition, especially in terms of how they set their pitching
rotations for various opponents, we will stick our neck out by
suggesting that our 11-4 loss to the talented men from Chinese
Taipei is our most disappointing defeat of the tournament
While we have tended to accept some gallant performances against
some of the other stronger baseball nations, this was a result
we simply could not afford against a team generally rated at a
similar level to ourselves?
The simple fact of the matter for the AROOS is that, while we
couldn't find a way to solve Taipei's starting pitcher Chien Ming
Chiang, the Taipei hitters feasted on 18 hits against a battery
of our Aussie hurlers
Chiang allowed us only five hits while he supplied his team with
an outstanding nine innings complete game victory
And, we could not complain about our ability to maximise our scoring
chances in this game with four runs from five hits representing
a pretty decent return
Not one AROO hitter could find more than a solitary hit on this
day and Chiang did not help by refusing to issue a single walk
in the game... it was slim pickings indeed
We can thank two of our more consistent performers Craig Lewis
and Tom Brice for their two RBI's each as both men "went
yard" with two-run homers!
Australian coach Jon Deeble lifted our experienced lefty starter
Craig Anderson after he allowed six hits from his three innings
today however, if this was a premeditated move, it didn't really
work for us today
Our middle relievers MaKenzie, Crawford and Richards toiled hard
but couldn't keep us within striking distance after we had tied
the game at 2-2 after four completed innings
In fact, we needed a rare TRIPLE PLAY to keep Taipei off the board
in the fourth inning after they started the dig with successive
hits!
Chinese Taipei then banked three in the fifth, four in the sixth
and two more in the seventh to steal a march on the game
Admittedly only two of the four runs allowed by Tristen Crawford
in the sixth were earned
Phil Stockman closed the final inning in convincing style, but
too late to have an impact on the result
It might be said that Taipei used their "small ball"
to advantage in the showery conditions at Rotterdam with their
typical hustle producing stolen bases, sacrifice hits and runs
scored on wild pitches... it certainly wasn't our day!
Although we would be favoured to beat both Spain and Colombia
in our last two pool games, it is now very much an uphill battle
for us to grab a Top 4 position as we will need to rely on other
results falling in our favour... fingers crossed!
Game Seven v Spain
- Won 8 runs to 0
Rarely can you ever describe an international baseball game as
"a stroll in the park", but surely the AROOS 8-0 shutout
win over the unheralded team from Spain at Eindhoven must rate
about as close as you could get at this level of competition?
Australia's emerging pitching duo of Paul Mildren and Adam Bright
would have had the Aussie coaching staff in a rather relaxed mood
during the game as they sailed through a two-hit shutout in majestic
style
Only the fact that Spain could not find bat on ball caused our
men to throw a decent number of pitches as they combined for 15
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKK's!
In fact Spain were able to advance runners to second base on only
three occasions... on a wild pitch in the second, a sacrifice
after a walk in the sixth and on an error in the eighth... that
was as close as they threatened in this game
Conversely, Australia bought themselves some immediate breathing
space with a four-run opening frame and they may have been a little
complacent not to press home the advantage until they posted three
more in the seventh
In fairness to the Spanish pitchers, they delivered nine strikeouts
of their own and starter Manuel Olivera could consider himself
unfortunate that only one of the four runs in the first inning
was earned... he produced a quality start for his team
Jordi Valles did not enjoy such a good outing after Trent Oeltjen
greeted him with a home run as the first batter he faced before
he allowed another five Aussie hits near the end of the game
The offensive stars for Australia on this occasion were "three-hitters"
Brad Harman and Trent Oeltjen, who had the biggest blast of the
game with his home run, as mentioned
It was a day when Australia slapped no less than eight doubles
among our 12 hits and this would partly explain the decent conversion
rate of eight runs
In any case, it was plenty for our pitching to work with against
what must be described as modest opposition
Our hopes of a Top 4 finish remain alive, but the pulse is fairly
faint at this moment
To have any chance we must not slip up against Colombia in our
final pool game... stay tuned!
Game Eight v Columbia
- Won 5 runs to 1---------includes a Championship summary
Australia's AROOS did exactly what was expected from them last
night when they completed a professional disposal of the pesky
Colombian team who had already proven themselves capable of an
upset earlier in the tournament... just ask Australia's conquerors
Chinese Taipei!
Unfortunately, our 5-1 victory in Haarlem was to be too little,
too late insofar as it could not secure for us a position in the
Quarter Finals of the 2005 World Cup
Aussie starter Shane Lindsay was able to tiptoe through the first
inning where he issued three walks, then he gathered his composure
to post a most impressive quality start that included nine strikeouts
and only one run on three hits from his five innings of work
Lindsay deserved the win with a performance that was enough to
set the AROOS on the path to a solid victory in this game
His relief corps of Crawford, Burnside and Stockman would each
ensure that there was no chance of South American uprising when
they allowed no further hits in the game
All of Australia's scoring came via the productive bat of "young
veteran" Andy Utting who had a day to remember in Haarlem!
Utting secured his first RBI in the second inning when he cashed
in a Brendan Kingman single by scoring him from third base on
a ground out
This was a relatively modest pipe-opener for Utting who then put
the game in the bank for Australia in the fourth frame with a
GRAND SLAM 'dinger' after Roneberg and Kingman singled, followed by a Brice walk
His FIVE RBI game would be a highlight of his career that has
blossomed again lately after nearly being de-railed in his early
days as a promising professional with some nasty injuries... Good
on you Andrew!
Veteran Brendan Kingman also underlined his undoubted batting
credentials with a 3-3 game, but it was hardly a "bash and
crash" day for Australia when we compiled just eight hits
from the Colombian pitching
We can only surmise why Esquivia was given the start after all
of the damage was done during his opening three and a bit innings?
He was replaced on the hill by Senor Batisto who proved most difficult
for our men, striking out seven AROOS over five-plus scoreless
innings... thank goodness he didn't start the game!!?
As so often seems the case in these tournaments, Australia could
only be moderately satisfied with an outcome that sees us miss
the final eight places in the tournament and eliminated after
the first "pool stage" of the event
Unless Chinese Taipei have a massive win over the USA in the final
pool game tomorrow, we will finish fifth in our pool with a 4-4
record that is identical to Canada in Pool A... it equates to
a general world ranking of ninth or tenth based on this event?
But, before we get too gloomy about the situation, Australia is
one nation who, along with only a couple of others, could seriously
claim to have a significant number of even more credentialed players
unavailable
In saying this we take nothing away from the performance of other
nations here and we may not be aware of their individual situations
regarding injuries and player availability
Concentrating purely on Australia's situation, and fully understanding
that some of these guys are injured, how Jon Deeble would salivate
at the thought of managing an AROOS team that could comprise players
like:-
Grant Balfour, Trent Durrington, Chris Snelling, Justin Huber,
Glenn Williams, Chris Oxspring, Travis Blackley, Adam Morrissey,
Jeff Williams, Brad Thomas, PJ Bevis, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Ben
Wigmore or Wayne Ough?... the list goes on even allowing for the
fact that David Nilsson has retired as a player (and with apologies
to anyone I may have overlooked)
This is certainly not to exclude those players who have done their
very best for Australia in the Netherlands during World Cup 2005
as some of those would obviously remain in any Australian team
to be selected right now!
In the washup, it must be said that Australia was unable to get
the better of those teams who finished ahead of us on the table,
apart from our tremendous opening game victory over Puerto Rico
Only Japan, Cuba and host nation Netherlands had fewer runs scored
against them and we, as usual, could not be underestimated by
anyone!
Perhaps most importantly, this 2005 World Cup gave our coaching
panel the opportunity to expose and test some of the young players
who could become our international stars of the future... they
would have seen plenty that they liked!!