It May Be a Battle of Wounded Knee in St. Louis : Lasorda Is Sure That Duncan Will Play Today, but the Dodger Shortstop Isn’t

To Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, the issue of whether shortstop Mariano Duncan will play today in Game 3 of the National League playoffs is a simple one.

“I’m sure he’ll play,” Lasorda said Friday night while overseeing the Dodger workout at Busch Stadium.

“He can’t get hurt on us now.”

Duncan only wishes he could be as confident as his manager. All the rookie knew for sure was that he couldn’t even run Friday on a left knee that was spiked by Cardinal baserunner Vince Coleman in the first inning of Game 2.

“It’s bad,” Duncan said, a somber expression clouding his face. “I tried to run right now; I can’t run. I tried to run slow; I can’t run slow.”

Duncan, who came out of Thursday’s game after breaking stride on a sixth-inning double, was examined Friday in Los Angeles by Dr. Frank Jobe before boarding the team’s flight. X-rays were negative, and Dodger officials are still calling the injury a bruise.

“You never know, maybe it will feel better tomorrow,” Duncan said, trying to smile.

Duncan said that there was no ill intent by Coleman on the play.

“I don’t think about Coleman trying to hurt me,” he said. “Mike (Scioscia) made a quick throw to second, on the right side of the bag. I tried to catch it and tag him quick.”

When Coleman’s teammate, Willie McGee, reached second base in the third inning Thursday night, he discussed the play with Duncan.

“He said he knew why Coleman hit me, because I was blocking second base,” Duncan said. “I said, ‘No, I wasn’t blocking it, I was just trying to tag him quick.’

“McGee said to me: ‘Be careful, I don’t want to see you hurt right now. I don’t care if you’re a Dodger, you’re doing a great job, and I don’t want to see you hurt.’ McGee, he’s a nice guy.”

Duncan said he is treating the knee with both hot and cold packs. If he is unable to play, Dave Anderson would start at short. Second baseman Steve Sax probably would bat in Duncan’s leadoff spot, with Anderson batting eighth.

Duncan said that he had a phone call to make after the workout. “I’m going to call my mother,” he said. “Maybe she thinks something bad happened to me.”

Not all the news on the injury front was bad. Pedro Guerrero’s sprained left wrist, for instance.

“Pete’s happy today--he said his hand feels much better,” Lasorda said. “That’s a good sign. If Pete’s happy, that makes me happy.”

The Cardinals, anything but happy with the 0-2 deficit they brought home with them in this best-of-seven series, plan to counterpunch today with 16-game winner Danny Cox, who was 0-2 against the Dodgers this season but scored a unanimous decision last week on an unscheduled fight card.

Cox, whose win nine days ago over the Mets all but eliminated New York from the race in the National League East, asked Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog for the next day off.

Consent granted, Cox proceeded to his hometown of Warner Robbins, Ga., where his sister, Maxine, reportedly was being harassed by her ex-husband.

Cox took matters into his own hands--both of them. “I started it, I finished it,” Cox was quoted as saying. “It took only two punches.”

Cox’s former brother-in-law, Richard Diebold, admitted in published reports that he’d taken a couple of shots in the head from the 6-4, 230-pound Cox.

“I think anybody in that situation would have done the same thing,” Cox said. “If you wouldn’t have, then you’re not a man and you don’t love your family.

“When you start threatening my family. . . . I’m going to retaliate. You’ve only got one family.”

Bill Madlock of the Dodgers, told of Cox’s actions, said: “I probably would have done the same thing.”

In truth, Cox figures to pose less of a threat to the Dodgers than Joaquin Andujar did in Game 2, when two L.A. batters, Duncan and Steve Sax, were knocked down by inside pitches.

Despite his size, Cox is not an overpowering thrower in the Tom Niedenfuer mold, even though St. Louis catcher Darrell Porter sees some similarities.

“He has a funny delivery, kind of like Niedenfuer,” Porter said. “It’s hard to get a line on guys with funny deliveries, especially big guys who are kind of intimidating.”

San Francisco Giants scout Grady Hatton described Cox as a “power pitcher--fastball, slider, changeup. If he keeps the ball down, he’s hard to beat. His ball has a real sinking action when he keeps it down.”

Even though Cox, 26, has no playoff experience--as recently as 1983, he was still playing Class A ball--Porter said he’s comfortable with Cox pitching this game.

“He’s not afraid,” Porter said. “He likes the idea of pitching in games like this.”

Cox will be opposed today by Bob Welch, who has a 2-0 record against the Cardinals, allowing just two unearned runs in two complete-game wins.

The last time he made a playoff start, in 1983, he lasted only 1 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies because of bursitis in his hip.