BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Tonight’s DH? It’s Fine With Duncan

The Philadelphia Phillies represent role players’ heaven, which means Mariano Duncan has known both heaven and. . . .

Well, those years with the Dodgers might not have been comparable to the devil’s lair, but he is happy to have escaped the fire.

“They gave me the chance to play in the majors, but I don’t think I’d still be in baseball if I had stayed in that organization,” Duncan said of the Dodgers on Friday.

“I got a new life when I was traded. There are not many players who receive a second chance.”

He was traded by the Dodgers to the Cincinnati Reds in 1989 and signed by Philadelphia as a free agent after the 1991 season.

Now 30, eight years after making his debut in Los Angeles, he has played second base, shortstop, left field and third base in two seasons with the Phillies, who have paid him $2 million in each of those seasons and are expected to pick up a 1994 option at $2.2 million.

“All roads lead to him being back,” General Manager Lee Thomas said. “We’d have been in trouble without him. He’s had a lot of big hits and filled a lot of holes in the two years.”

Batting .375 in the World Series after .267 in the National League playoffs, Duncan will move from second base to designated hitter for Game 6 tonight to give the left-handed-hitting Mickey Morindini a crack at the Toronto Blue Jays’ right-handed starter, Dave Stewart.

“I’m happy whenever I see my name in the lineup at any position,” Duncan said.

Signed by the Dodgers out of the Dominican Republic shortstop factory of San Pedro de Macoris, Duncan, 22 at the time, arrived in 1985. He batted .244 and stole 38 bases in 142 games for the National League West champions, only to have the promise quickly dissolve.

He went on the disabled list five times in the next 3 1/2 years and was twice demoted to Albuquerque while never playing more than 109 games in any of his remaining seasons with the Dodgers. There was a fight with teammate Craig Shipley, a suspicion he was being pulled in wrong directions by Pedro Guerrero, a struggle by Duncan to satisfy then-vice president Al Campanis’ desires to have him switch hit, and a feeling on Duncan’s part that Manager Tom Lasorda had given up on him prematurely.

It was a heavy load for a young man coping with the cultural and environmental challenges of a new home, while frustratingly sidelined because of that series of injuries.

“There’s a lot of pressures when you’re that young and in a new country and playing for a team in a big city with all of the expectations by media and fans,” Duncan said.

“It’s like what Jose Offerman has been going through. I could never get away from it, and it was hard to go on the field and concentrate, especially knowing the manager had given up on me, which only made the pressure worse.”

After helping the Dodgers to a division title as a rookie in ‘85, Duncan was summoned to Lasorda’s office in the summer of ‘86, a season the team went 73-89, and told he was a principal reason the Dodgers were having a bad year.

“It was only my second season,” he said. “A lot of the guys were hurt . . . Pedro, Mike Marshall, Mike Scioscia, myself (Duncan went on the disabled list in August because of a foot injury). But I was the one Tommy came down on.

“I still don’t understand it, but it was never the same for me there. Lasorda had lost faith in me, and I started to lose faith in myself.”

Duncan recalled wanting to quit in ’88 but was talked out of it by Guerrero, Alfredo Griffin, agent Tony Attanasio and his father, who convinced him he would only regret it.

Nevertheless, he instructed Attanasio to seek a trade, and in July of ‘89, batting .250 in 49 games with the Dodgers, Duncan and Tim Leary were sent to the Reds for Kal Daniels and Lenny Harris.

A year later, his new life began to take shape. Playing primarily second base on a semi-regular basis for Lou Piniella, he batted .306 in 125 games with 10 home runs, 55 runs batted in, an NL-high 11 triples and a .300 average in the 10 games of Cincinnati’s postseason drive to league and World Series titles.

“I was very happy,” Duncan said. “I thought I had found a home.”

The Reds, however, went looking for improved defense in the off-season and signed Bill Doran, thinking if Doran’s back held up at second base, Piniella would still be able to find places for Duncan to play.

It didn’t work. He got 102 fewer at-bats while appearing in 25 fewer games in ’91.

He still had a career-high 12 homers and a .342 average with runners in scoring position, and his versatility attracted the Phillies. They ultimately signed him as a free agent and now call him the National League equivalent of Tony Phillips of the Detroit Tigers, the American League’s man for all positions.

Duncan played four positions during the injury-marred last-place finish of ‘92, tied for second in the NL with 40 doubles and stole 23 bases in 26 attempts.

This year, he made 110 starts--48 at shortstop and 62 at second--and the Phillies went 70-40 in those games. He batted .282, had a career-high 73 RBIs in 496 at-bats, produced an 18-game hitting streak down the stretch, batted .316 with runners in scoring position and tied a record by playing in his third playoff with his third team.

“This has been the best year I’ve ever had, the most fun I’ve ever had,” Duncan said. “I’m patient and relaxed. I know how to handle situations now.

“There’s no pressure, even here in the World Series. It’s the same game and a chance to show people all over the world that I can play with the best.

“I’ve established myself at several positions, proven my versatility. I’d be surprised if the Phillies didn’t pick up my option, but I wouldn’t be worried about finding another job.”

He is too happy playing for Manager Jim Fregosi to worry.

“Jimmy is the best manager I’ve ever played for,” Duncan said. “He uses all 25 players. He knows how to handle a team.”

Is he bitter at the Dodgers? Duncan smiled, obviously too happy to think blue.