The Melbourne Aces have been swept in the first weekend of the 2010/11 ABL season, crashing to four disappointing losses against the Adelaide Bite, including a mercy rule ending to the third game after the Aces fell behind 10-runs in the seventh inning.

Following their opening day defeat to the crunch of the Bite, 7-1, last Thursday night, the Aces lost 7-4 on Friday night, then 13-2 and 8-3 in Saturday's double-header.

After Bite pitcher Paul Mildren ripped through the Aces in the first game, it was Darren Fidge who did the damage in the second as he stormed through eight innings, striking out seven batters and only giving up three hits.

It was the Aces though who jumped out early in the second game, leading 3-0 early before the Bite put seven runs on the board through the third, fourth and fifth innings to regain control and hold the Aces at bay for the remainder of the night.

Fidge getting the win, while Aces starting pitcher Norihito Kaneto got the loss after giving up five runs inside the first four innings.

The Bite dominated the third game as Quincy Latimore's three-run homer in the first inning got the home team off to a flyer and the visitors never had a chance.

The Aces crept within one run before the Bite got back out to a 5-2 lead and then smashed their way to five runs in the fifth inning and a commanding 10-2 lead, before blowing it out to 13-2 at the end of six innings.

After the Aces failed to score in the top of the seventh, the mercy rule was introduced with the Bite leading by more than 10 runs and the home team were awarded the victory.

In the final game of the series, the Bite got out the brooms and swept aside the Aces with another superb display, Latimore again starring for the Bite with two home runs, taking his tally up to three for the series with eight RBI.

The Aces struggled offensively in the fourth game, not scoring until the seventh inning as the Bite's starting pitcher Dusan Ruzic kept the visitors in check. While the Aces were able to contain the Bite early, the home team managed to come home with a wet sail and score five runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to secure the sweep.

In the other series, the Sydney Blue Sox went a perfect 4-zip over the Canberra Cavalry, winning 1-0 (played the previous week), 4-2, 13-3 (mercy rule), 7-5 and the Perth Heat defeated the Brisbane Bandits in three games, 2-0, 4-2, 4-1, the Bandits winning the first game 8-3.

The opening round was well received as strong crowds turned up and the league appears set to gather a cult following through the summer. But surely the mercy rule must be reviewed.

If either team leads by 10 or more runs after seven innings the game is abandoned, thus depriving fans of what they have come to see.

Never in MLB is a game stopped because of one teams domination, nor would you ever see an AFL game stopped at three-quarter time because one team is up 10 goals.

Do fans receive a percentage of their ticket price back if this occurs? Of course not, but fans do want to see action and this rule does not allow this.