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March 14, 2008
Daddy Duncan Not Pleased - With Maddon
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, flush with the excitement of having a new million-dollar arm in camp, still has something to be furious about. The slow-burn coach, the longest serving pitching coach in baseball history, was irate with how son, Yankees first baseman Shelley Duncan, has been described after a slide that erupted the rivalry between Tampa Bay and the Yanks this past week.
“Borderline criminal” was how one baseball official put it.
And Duncan was simmering before his kid’s suspension was announced Friday.
“I don’t like the comments being made,” Papa Duncan told the media Thursday before discussing the pending arrival of Kyle Lohse. “He plays the game hard. He plays to win. He plays the way you want everybody to play.”
Dave Duncan said his son slid late, sure, but it was far from “dirty,” and the pitching coach fumed that a manager would dare to call another player “borderline criminal.” Duncan said there’s no place in the profession for public comments like that. He then went on to say that his boys — Shelley and Cardinals outfielder Chris Duncan – learned to play the game to win. And that meant “slide for the glove and hope you knock the ball out.”
Chris Duncan stayed away from the topic when reporters asked — he has his own concerns, starting with a batting average that came in at .050 today and has since dropped with an 0-for-3. And, other Cardinals players told one report to take the controversy back to Tampa. Family ties won’t bring an AL East spat into the Cardinals’ clubhouse, nor into any game.
Still, comments aren’t forgotten. Especially not Maddon’s. The media will ask.
The Rays do visit St. Louis this summer.
Man, you don't want to mess with the Duncan Family!
Posted by Steve Lombardi at March 14, 2008 10:04 PM