Five opinions on pitching coach Dave Duncan's voluntary departure from the Cardinals:
1. I'll be called a Chicken Little for expressing alarm, but you don't lose Tony La Russa, Duncan, Dave McKay, Joe Pettini and Marty Mason over the last 15 months without experiencing repercussions. That was an accomplished, consistently successful leadership group. They could handle any situation. How many extra wins were La Russa, Duncan and associates responsible for each season? There's no way to quantify it, of course.
2. That said, I feel confident in saying that there has never been a better, more enduring, and successful manager-pitching coach combination than La Russa and Duncan. Both are gone, and we can't pretend that it's no big deal. When La Russa retired, at least the Cardinals and their pitchers could take comfort in knowing that Duncan would still be around to help rookie manager Mike Matheny. And while new pitching coach Derek Lilliquist should do a fine job, it isn't the same. Matheny's challenge has become even more difficult.
3. During Duncan's 16 seasons as pitching coach, the Cardinals ranked third in the majors in overall ERA, and No. 3 in starting-pitching ERA. But Duncan never had it easy. He had to do a lot more than roll out future Hall of Famers â€" Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz â€" as Atlanta did for so many seasons. Duncan was often asked to patch the Cardinals' rotation on an annual basis. He'd have to take it apart each winter and put it back together again by spring. So he'd take in pitchers who were broken down physically or suffering from a severe loss of confidence and make them right.
Duncan had an impressive success rate in those reclamation projects. Or he'd squeeze stunning results from ordinary pitchers. The list of Duncan's rehab specials would include Andy Benes, Kent Bottenfield, Garrett Stephenson, Darryl Kile, Woody Williams, Chris Carpenter, Jeff Suppan, Jason Marquis, Jeff Weaver, Joel Piñeiro and (when healthy) Kyle Lohse. And young starters Matt Morris and Adam Wainwright thrived under Duncan.
4. Here are a few of my favorite "Greatest Hits" from the Duncan collection: 18 wins from Bottenfield in 1999; 16 wins from Stephenson in 2000; 18 wins from Williams in 2003; and 20 wins from Kile in his first STL season (2000.) And who can forget Weaver winning three games with a 2.43 ERA in the 2006 postseason run to a World Series title?
There were so many "before" and "after" cases. Williams 58-62 before joining the Cardinals, 29-32 after leaving the Cardinals but went 45-22 with Duncan. Kile was 21-30 in two seasons in Colorado before his trade to St. Louis; he went 36-20 in his two full seasons with Duncan. Suppan was 44-26 as a Cardinal and 94-117 in his other stops. Carpenter was 49-50 in Toronto before coming to St. Louis; with Duncan, Carpenter is 95-42.
5. Duncan's masterpiece was the 2002 season. That was the year of Kile's tragic death on June 22. Williams and Benes spent time on the disabled list. The Cardinals used 14 starting pitchers. Only Morris stayed in the rotation all season; the rest of it was a mishmash of loose parts. Duncan got 24 starts and 11 wins out of Jason Simontacchi, who was a no-name at the time. Bud Smith, Travis Smith and Stephenson combined to make 30 starts. Relievers Luther Hackman, Mike Crudale and Mike Timlin combined for 11 starts. Chuck Finley provided help late in the season after coming over from Cleveland.
Duncan cobbled all of this together and got a 66-44 record and 4.04 ERA out of his starters. That ERA ranked 11th among the 30 MLB teams. Impossible. And the Cardinals won 97 games and beat Arizona in the NL Division Series. After the death of their ace, Kile, Cardinals starting pitchers went 57-34 with a 3.87 ERA. Simply remarkable.
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Come on in, Jeff Fisher. They'll remove those photographs of Super Bowl XXXIV from the walls of Rams Park â€" promise. ... Tom Stillman has the puck and is in alone on a breakaway in his bid to become owner of the St. Louis Blues. He will shoot. Will he score? Hope so.
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the gregarious St. Louis native, brought up his fondness for Cardinals baseball on Friday morning after being named a cardinal by the Vatican. "The only Cardinal I ever really wanted to be was Stan Musial," Dolan told Matt Lauer on The Today Show. Lauer presented Dolan with a Cardinals' pennant and congratulated him on the Cardinals' 11th World Series championship. Dolan loves his sports. During his time as Archbishop of Milwaukee, he famously wore a "cheesehead" hat to honor the Green Bay Packers while delivering his homily. Dolan was Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis in 2001-2002.
After a strong finish to his college basketball career at Kentucky, St. Charles native Josh Harrellson made the New York Knicks' roster and is in the rotation, averaging 17 minutes through six games. The forward-center had 14 points and 12 rebounds in a win at Sacramento on Dec. 31. And he's shown a deft touch in hitting 3-point shots. "I think he can really play," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni told reporters. "He is strong. He is dirt-strong. He's got a little bit of pop to his game, I didn't know that. He surprised you about how he got off his feet on some rebounds. He can shoot all the way up to the 3. So there's a lot of good things."
Join Blues forward B.J. Crombeen and teammates as they raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at a wine-tasting event at Joe Bucks downtown at 5 p.m. Jan. 31. Only 150 tickets are available; call 314-748-7059. ... ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. says the Rams have the second-most attractive job on the NFL coaching market, behind Indianapolis.
St. Louisan Dan Kelly (son of the late St. Louis broadcasting legend of the same name) is staying busy with the Big Ten Network, calling around 50 events per year. ... Congrats to St. Louis Community college men's basketball coach Randy Albrecht, who notched career victory No. 700 earlier this week. ... We'll find out today whether retired Cardinals-Rams cornerback Aeneas Williams made it to the list of 15 finalists for possible induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. ... Retired Rams wide receiver Torry Holt told me he believes that Oklahoma State wideout Justin Blackmon would be a great addition for the Rams, who hold the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft.
The Nice Section
A personal appeal: please help us raise money for a meaningful cause by signing up to play in the 6th Annual Barwick/Newton Texas Hold 'Em tournament to benefit the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund. It's Feb. 11 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bridgeton, with doors open at 6 p.m.. The fee is $50 per player.
The fund covers travel expenses for family members of fallen officers so they can visit Washington D.C. for the annual Police Week and participate in the memorial ceremonies for law-enforcement professionals that died in the line of duty. I've read letters from families that have attended the ceremonies, and they describe it as a powerfully moving experience that's helped them heal emotionally from the loss of a loved one.
So, please help us make this happen for other grieving families. I will be there to hang out Feb. 11. To register, contribute money, donate auction items or ask a question, call Detective Chris Welby at 314-954-1555.
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