zach duke Stories - Bucs Dugout
For Duke's Sake, the Pirates Need Better Defense
Most years, it seems that the Pirates are about average in either runs scored or runs allowed and dramatically below average on the other. This can lead fans to argue that if they only spent some money on players to help on the side of the ball where they'd been lacking, they'd suddenly have an...
Zach Duke Pitches Through Earthquake
Zach Duke pitched through an earthquake last night and shut down the Giants as the Pirates won, 7-0. Regarding the earthquake: big deal! I actually had my first experience with earthquakes a few weeks ago. There was a pretty strong one that originated east of Los Angeles. I was sitting in a...
Link Roundup: Pirates Acquire Robinzon Diaz From Jays
Photo: Larry Coor -P- Catcher Robinzon Diaz has been named as the PTBNL in the Jose Bautista trade. We were told to expect the PTBNL to be a prospect, so this return initially seems underwhelming--Diaz is nearly 25 and has never hit for power or drawn walks. He has consistently hit for average,...
Are Velocity Problems Causing the Pirates' First-Inning Woes?
This is a pretty interesting article that shows how pitchers' velocity fluctuates throughout games. One of the findings is that most starting pitchers don't throw at peak velocity until 15 or so pitches into a game. That's pretty intuitive, but I honestly never gave it much thought before. I...
Link Roundup: Pirates Defeat Diamondbacks
-P- The Bucs beat the Diamondbacks today, 5-3. It's nice to see some other team melt down before your eyes. I was a little shocked to look at the two teams' records thus far and see that the Pirates have only been three games worse than the Diamondbacks this year. The Pirates' relief corps was...
Pirates 5, Astros 2: Duke's Success Continues
This was a pretty nifty win for the Bucs. Zach Duke is reaching the point where he deserves a little slack--I'm skeptical of his ability to continue to post good starts with his ugly K/BB numbers, but so far he's doing his job. Tonight he posted 7.2 unspectacular but effective innings; he's now...
Pirates 5, Braves 0; Braves 8, Pirates 1
When you've got a doubleheader and you're starting Zach Duke and John Van Benschoten, you've got to be pretty happy winning just one. In the first game, the mirage Duke is conjuring just got bigger, as he pitched six scoreless innings despite five walks and only three strikeouts. For the season,...
Nationals 3, Pirates 2
The Pirates just got 3-hit by Odalis Perez, Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch. They drew no walks. Two of those hits were homers (by Ryan Doumit and Freddy Sanchez) but still, I'm not quite sure what to say about that. Zach Duke (mostly) kept runs off the board, but John Grabow gave up a run in the eighth...
Cubs 13, Pirates 6
Another ugly game, and believe it or not, Evan Meek didn't allow any of those thirteen runs. Luis Rivas didn't play in this one, either, so our usual whipping boys aren't to blame. Instead, Zach Duke got bombed, then Franquelis Osoria relieved him in the fifth and got bombed even worse, and then...
Pirates 6, Dodgers 4
Dodgers announcer Vin Scully offered a withering (and dead-on) assessment of Zach Duke's performance tonight that may as well describe the whole problem with Duke's career right now: "You know, it is hard to pitch in the big leagues, but it is especially hard if you don't strike anybody out." So...
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