[The Pirate Fan]

Pittsburgh Pirates @ St. Louis Cardinal
1 Win | 1 Wins
1st in Div. | 1st in Div.
0 - 0 At Home | 1 - 1 At Home
1 - 1 Away | 0 - 0 Away

ST. LOUIS -- Spring Training always comes and goes with a warning: Don't read too much into those Grapefruit League statistics. In Zach Duke's case, however, the hope is that those statistics are in fact a harbinger for what's to come.

Duke will make his season debut on Wednesday, as the Pirates look to bounce back from a loss on Tuesday. And count it as the first test for the lefty to see if all the work he put in this offseason and the strides that were made this spring can be parlayed into season-long success. "It's been a work in progress to get to this point," Duke said. "I definitely feel like I am as prepared for a season as I've been in a few years now. I'm definitely hoping that it carries over. Obviously, I can't try to do more. I have to stay where I am and stick with the plan."

That plan worked to much success this spring. Following an offseason in which Duke worked with a physical therapist to increase his arm strength, the left-hander finished with a 3.86 ERA in eight starts. Take away one poor start against the Yankees, though, and Duke's spring ERA in the other seven dips to 1.46. He was efficient, always a key to his success. And the number of ground-ball outs induced by Duke was a sign that he had found his groove.

One of the byproducts of all this was the ensuing results. But there was a confidence that manager John Russell saw bloom, a confidence similar to that which Duke had during his sensational 2005 rookie season.

"It's tough to compare stuff, since that was a few years ago, but the confidence I see reminds me of him then," Russell said. "He started gaining some confidence last year, and I think he carried that over through the winter and through Spring Training.

"He really committed himself this year," he continued. "He feels good about his arm, good about being able to use all his pitches to both sides of the plate. Again, I think he just has a better feel for this whole situation."
Duke echoed many of those same thoughts, noting throughout Spring Training that his arm feels as good as it ever has.

"I think the thing that helped my confidence was just feeling like myself again and feeling like I'm going to throw the ball with every pitch," he said.

"That helps the confidence for me." The expectations are there for Duke to perform, not necessarily like he did in '05, but better than the 18-27 record and 4.82 ERA in the three years since. The Pirates need him to be a cog in the rotation, and Duke needs to prove that he truly has turned the corner from an up-and-down three seasons.

This will be a good one, with my favourite young pitcher on this team starting and us needing to crush the Cards back for what they did for us yesterday, this has all the potential to be a whupping if we can play the cards right...