We need a private detective! We need to investigate the inexplicable disappearance of the Cardinals Chris Duncan.
In the ninth, I was waiting for him to come out of the dugout and hit. I thought he would hit for Preston Wilson. But he didn't. We were lucky though. Doug Jones hit Wilson with a pitch. I thought for sure he would hit for Molina. But he didn't.
Tony must have been scouring the clubhouse trying to find him. Surely, he would have used the big lefty against a right hander if Duncan weren't missing in action.
8 comments:
In my previous comment I sang the praises of Larussa for his gutsy personnel choices. However, I cannot for the life of me imagine why he continues to play Encarnacion and Wilson. Tonight, Spezio should have been in right, Taguchi in left, Belliard at 2nd, and Miles as a righty DH. Then Duncan could have made an appearance when the righty Jones came in. Preston and Juan have done nothing this post-season except for running into their teammates in the outfield. That is NOT a virtue.
At least we split on the road. Now let's rattle those bats at home. Duncan and Taguchi bats, that is.
I agree 100 percent with your assessment of Wilson and Encarnacion. They have had the most useless at bats (except for Wilson being hit by the pitch).
As I was watching, I must admit that I had some similar thoughts as each of you. Was Preston Wilson being given a favor? Then again, I thought Chris Duncan was being given a coach's son favor when this year started, but look what he did with an oppty. Great year. Second in Card's Rookies Homers only to #5 I believe. Encarnacion has been starting all season, so hard to criticize. I also thought Belliard would be a flop acquistion, but look what he's done in Post Season play. When we picked him up, I thought....Bo Hart, Fernando Vina, Aaron Miles, all were about equivalent and Belliard didn't look much different other than chewing his tongue off, but he's really come through. And, I think Larussa has done a good job of getting everyone some P.T. Everyone likes to criticize Larussa. I think we are very lucky to have such a fine mgr. We're back in the series less than 2 years later and he's been winning since he came here. Don't forget, he changed the lineup against the Mets which was a great move and under reported. The great thing about the Cardinals is you never know who might step up....So? Yadi? Belliard? Duncan? Spezio? Pujols? Edmonds? Eckstein? Suppan? How about Everett in regular season when Yadi was out? I've been following Tony since the days of Oakland. Give the guy his due. The man's a Hall of Fame Manager if ever there were such a thing. Go Birds!
-Howdy
Tony/Dave did a great job rebuilding the pen over the last few weeks of the season. I'm not one of those folks who wishes Tony would get canned. However, the number of ABs given to Wilson and Encarnacion in the World Series is inexcusable.
I wanted Duncan in to hit for Encarnacion - 1st and 3rd with one out, chance to tie the game with a big fly, no chance in hell of Juan hitting the ball out of the infield. Luckily Jones booted that grounder (after seeing Jones last night and Wagner in the NLCS, I'm beginning to think I was a little too hard on Izzy). No excuse not to bring in Duncan for Wilson either but I'd rather have Wilson get an at bat than Juan. At least Wilson got a few hits in the NLCS and can hit a fastball out of the park. Juan looks lost at the plate and our offense is a shell of it's former self. Larry Walker, please come back - we could wheel Larry up to the plate in a wheelchair and have a better chance than with Juan right now.
Oh yeah, Belliard has really been a boost. I hope he starts the rest of the series. I hope they keep next year too if he's affordable.
I don't think LaRussa is going to take out Juan in Detriot. Not with that outfield that is as big as Kansas.
Maybe back in St. Louis he'll be more creative. I think Duncan should have hit for Wilson and J-Rod for Molina in the ninth inning.
Yeah, but Yadi was swinging a hot bat. One more base hit to take the lead. Then again, one more strike would have ended the inning at one point earlier. That's what's great about baseball. The unexpected. Who would have thought at the start of this season that everyone would be wearing those Spezio beards. I like the guy (Spezio), but Joe Buck's Slam A Lam A Ding Dong signs looked better in the stands in '04 than all those beards.
Whatever Larussa wants, I'm with him.
-Howdy
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