La Russa tired of “unfair treatment” toward Chris Duncan
HOUSTON — St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa redirected a discussion about his textbook use of Chris Duncan as a pinch hitter in the ninth of Monday’s loss into a stinging statement about what he perceives as an “unfair” tide of criticism directed at the left fielder.
“I get so tired of the unfair treatment of Chris Duncan,” he said. “It makes me want to vomit. And you can quote me on that.”
Duncan is stuck in a deep funk, going 1-for-31 in his previous 16 game appearances. He has 13 strikeouts and nine walks in that span. La Russa concedes that Duncan is not 100 percent physically and is obviously not 100 percent with his swing, but in the ninth inning Monday the Cardinals bench offered no alternatives. Shortstop Brendan Ryan had been peerless in the field and aimless at the plate all game, and Houston closer Jose Valverde had starkly different splits. Righthanded hitters have batted .136 against him this season. Lefties … .310.
The move was to go to a lefthanded pinch hitter. Duncan was the only one available.
La Russa, in his office this afternoon, argues that the backlash isn’t about the move, it’s about the player. The fanbase has a blind spot for Duncan. La Russa said repeatedly called the criticism “unfair” and “unfairly” targeted at one individual.
“This guy is treated unfairly,” La Russa said moments ago. “These fans have a reputation of being knowledgeable that they deserve but they have a couple quirks. And he is one of them.”
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(12 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Tony has no one to blame for this but himself and the rest of the Cardinals front office.
We as fans expect players to be able to do their job and if an injury is preventing them from doing so, the team and Tony should NOT keep putting them out there to fail.
We went through this with Izzy and Duncan before as well. Fans aren’t treating him unfairly, he’s playing poorly. If that’s because of injury that’s another story.
However, the team should try being honest about injuries instead of covering up and lying about them. Then maybe we as fans wouldn’t treat players so “unfairly” when they suck.
If he isn’t 100 percent healthy, why is he playing??? There are about 3-5 guys in memphis that could come up and fill his role with more success. Bring up joey bombs and see what he can do.
Tony is correct. Chris has been treated unfairly by some. When he was hitting well he was still the object of scorn and ridicule. Now that he is struggling it has just gotten worse. Something does need to be done with Chris because his current performance at the plate is hurting the team but the personal attacks, and that is what a lot of it is, are unnecessary.
Would Tony prefer I complain about Duncan, Ankiel and Thurston equally?
ONE FOR 31? That player belongs someplace where he can get help. Not where the team is supposed to playing a “hard nine”(TLR) every day.
Appropriately, watching Chris Duncan play makes me want to vomit. And Tony, Duncan WAS NOT the only one available. Pineiro, Wainright, Carpenter and Wellemeyer were all available to pinch hit. I would rather have seen any one of them ahead of Duncan. I don’t dislike Duncan or Ankiel, but if they are hurt, DL them and quit playing them!!! They are of no use to the club right now.
So he ignores the fact that Duncan has been terrible for so long? Yes, blame the messenger, not the message
Chris Duncan and “makes me want to vomit” in the same sentance. That seems about right.
The numbers speak for themselves. If someone were shown his stats without his name and asked “should the person to whom these stats belong be on the Cardinals roster?”, the answer would plainly be “no.” The one with a “quirk” here is Tony. He is stubborn when it comes to his players, especially ones who, at one time or another, had success.
Whether he’s 100% physically or not, he’s not getting the job done. Mo should send him to the DL or Memphis, regardless of Tony’s affinity for him.
Usually we agree with Tony. But perhaps he has blinders on because Chris is his good buddy the pitching coaches son. I do not think it is healthy for that father/son relationship on a major sports team. It is unfair to both of them. Chris Duncan has not done the job all year. The top sportswriters in the country at the All Star Game, in writing about what a great baseball town St. Louis is mentioned how knowledgeable and how fair the Cards fans are. The Cardinals fans know they know Chris should not be hitting for the Cardinals.