Southworth Elected to Hall

arch support — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:55:07 -0000

From MLB.com, Billy Southworth was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame today, Monday, December 3rd, 2007.

Southworth was elected by the Veterans Committee along with four others: Dick Williams, Bowie Kuhn, Walter O'Malley, and Barney Dreyfuss.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071203&content_id=2315723&vkey=news_mlb&fext=. jsp&c_id=mlb

Southworth managed the Cardinals in 1929 and again from 1940-1945. From '42 to '44, the Cards won a total of 316 games, three pennants, and two World Series.

Wikipedia Biography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Southworth

In the age of Herzog and La Russa, where Schoendienst is an old-timer, someone like Southworth is barely remembered.

With such a terrific managerial career, Southworth is often an overlooked and underappreciated member of the Cardinals legacy.

His election to the Hall is well deserved.

Duncan Lower in the Order

arch support — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:13:20 -0000

Let me introduce myself by saying that I'm a longtime reader, first time writer. That reminds me of a Mr. Obvious bit, but I digress.

Recently, I've noticed a couple of posts on this site and opinions elsewhere that have suggested moving Duncan lower in the batting order (most commonly bumping Edmonds and hitting in the fifth spot behind Rolen). It would seem to make sense given Edmonds continuing low batting line and the general lack of offense from everyone but Duncan (although Pujols and Rolen have both been coming on as of late).

Given Duncan's line, it would seem to make sense to give him more RBI opportunities. My question is: how much of Duncan's showing thus far can be contributed to hitting in front of Pujols?

To my knowledge, when Duncan first came up last season, La Russa intentionally put him in front of Pujols so that he'd see plenty of fastballs.

Another issue is how different of a hitter Duncan seems to be with RISP. Personally, I feel he becomes too aggressive, not uncommon for young players. From baseball-reference.com, his career OPS w/RISP is .639. In 2007, it's .833. That's an improvement but remember, with the exception of a few pinch at bats, this season he's been batting exclusively in front of Pujols.

Pitchers would undoubtedly pitch him differently if Speizio, Wilson (ugh), or even Encarnacion was his protection. While Duncan's plate discipline has improved, I'm not so sure we could count on him to be the offensive force he is now if he were batting lower in the order.

I like Duncan and I want him to succeed (he's on my fantasy team), but I'm not so sure he's the solution lower in the order.

SB Nation User Blog: arch support

Southworth Elected to Hall

Duncan Lower in the Order