Holliday disputes injury claim

ST. LOUIS- Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday called into a St. Louis radio station Monday to dispute a claim that he was often injured. Holliday, who endured a fluky injury-filled 2011 that included having to leave a game early when a moth got stuck in his ear, called in to The Press Box on KFNS radio after hearing his name come up in the discussion. The show hosts were discussing the possibility of the Cardinals signing free agent outfielder Carlos Beltran in part because he provides insurance should Holliday get hurt again. "I was listening to your show on the way to work out today and I heard you say that we need to sign Beltran partly because I get hurt all the time," Holliday said. "I take a lot of pride in being very durable in my career and yeah, I had a few things this year but I still had 520 at-bats and if you look at my career, I think 520 is the lowest in my career. "I think I've been on the disabled list twice, with one of them being this year, in eight years. I've had I think 700 plate appearances more than once. I've played over 140 games four or five or six times. I take a lot of pride in being able to play and being healthy and my conditioning and how hard I train in the offseason." Holliday missed a week after having an emergency appendectomy after the first game of the regular season. He then dealt with a quad injury in late May that eventually landed him on the disabled list in early June. The All-Star missed two games in August after injuring a back muscle while lifting weights before a game before coming out in the middle of an inning when a moth got stuck in his ear a few weeks later. Holliday also missed time with a finger tendon issue in September and had to miss Game 7 of the World Series with a bruised right wrist. "I think sometimes those things get thrown around a little too loosely based upon maybe their recent memory of me being a little nicked-up the last month of the season," Holliday said. "But to say I'm injury prone or get hurt all the time, I think is out of line." Holliday played in 124 games last season, the fewest since he played in 121 during his rookie year with the Colorado Rockies in 2004. His 516 plate appearances and 446 at-bats were also both the lowest since his rookie year. The four-time Silver Slugger Award winner played in at least 155 games in four of five seasons from 2006-2010. He played in 158 of a possible 162 games during his first full season with the Cardinals in 2009. Holliday hit .296 with 22 home runs and 75 RBIs for the Cardinals in 2011, his least productive season since 2005. Asked about his health, Holliday said he was completely healed from his large list of nagging injuries. "I'm 100 percent, I'm doing really well," Holliday said. "I feel great. My body feels really good. I'm training super hard and I'm looking forward to the upcoming season and some of the challenges that not having Albert around will present not only for myself but for the team. I'm excited about my training and getting prepared for a big 2012 season. I'm doing really well."