Joplin – After announcing local hero and Joplin legend Darrell Porter was to become the new manager of the Crawdads, local call-in shows were slammed with excitement, local merchandise stores instantly sold out of #15 Crawdads jersey’s and a new hope for a 1-8 team began to erupt from the volcanic ashes of a near-wasted season.
The ever humble Porter was visibly emotional at the announcement of his lifelong dream. His voice began to shake a bit as he accepted the position and quickly settled into a strong, no nonsense tone while speaking of how to fix this team and his plans for the future.
It is hard to tell what kind of teams the Porter era will bring to Joplin, but if his playing style brings any clue, the Dads’ will become more on-base driven, less reliant on the home run to score and the players that will be drafted will be tough-as-nails.
Taking over from Tony Larussa disciple Dave Duncan, Porter will undoubtedly bring the team in a new direction as he takes over as player/manager for the remainder of the season before settling into the manager only role for the KCBL 2010.
“I could not be happier for the fans of Joplin,” Falcons Manager Don Zimmer said. “For those of us that have been in this game for a long time, it’s nice to see a first-class guy like him go home and get a shot… He’s been through a lot and seen a lot of stuff that you can’t learn in a text book. He pulled himself up by the boot straps and got himself to a great place. His players are going to respond to that… On a personal note, I’m not happy that we have to play them 6 times every season! ”
If excitement for a new manager earns any wins for the Crawdads, then they should go undefeated for the rest of the season.
Hartnett to be benched?
One of the first questions that might be asked of the new player/manager of the Dads’ is weather he will bench Duncan favorite Gabby Hartnett in favor of himself. The ineffective Hartnett has stumbled to a .278 on-base percentage in 16 at-bats this season and is struggling with only 3 hits for the season.
Porter has matched the Hartnett hits total in only 9 at-bats this season while compiling a .333 OBP and doubling his total bases. If making a change is the new managers state of mind, he might want to start by writing his own name in the lineup card.
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