For openers, it will be Duke, Snell

Zach Duke

Maholm likely will be third in rotation

Friday, March 16, 2007

By Paul Meyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


BRADENTON, Fla. -- Pirates manager Jim Tracy announced yesterday that left-hander Zach Duke will start the season opener April 2 in Houston and that right-hander Ian Snell will follow the next day against the Astros.

Duke also is scheduled to start the fifth game of the season April 7 in Cincinnati, with Snell starting the home opener April 9 against St. Louis at PNC Park.

"From what we've seen this spring and what we saw a year ago from both these pitchers, they're both more than capable of pitching on opening day," Tracy said. "But as I said to both of them -- and especially in the case of Ian -- one thing we have to keep in mind is that there's a ballclub we have to protect. I don't want to have three left-handed starters back-to-back-to-back.

"I also want to reward Ian Snell for a very special 2006 season. And he's a guy who looks like 2007 has a chance to be very special for him also. Opening day in Pittsburgh is a very, very special day for us obviously."

Tracy unveiled one other plan for his pitching for the opening week of the season. He said the fifth starter -- whoever that turns out to be -- will pitch the sixth game of the season April 8 in Cincinnati.

It appears left-hander Paul Maholm will go into the third spot in the rotation. That leaves the fourth and fifth spots which, at this point, belong to left-hander Tom Gorzelanny and right-hander Tony Armas Jr., not necessarily in that order.

Duke, who's from the Houston area, seemed thrilled about the opening day assignment.

"I know there are going to be a lot of family and friends there, so it will be very good to celebrate something like this with them," he said.

When does Duke think he'll start getting ticket requests?

"Uh, yesterday?" he said with a laugh. "I've been getting inquiries from everybody back home for a while. It's nice to know I can finally say, 'Hey, go find tickets if you can.' "



Ian Snell

Duke got off to a slow start last season after having his mechanics tweaked by pitching coach Jim Colborn.

"There was a lot made of that [by the media], and everyone wanted to see immediate results," Tracy said.

"We knew immediate results were not a possibility, that it was going to take a little bit of time to nurture it along.

"You're seeing some of that [now]. This is a very confident young man who has corralled what was being told to him to where he can repeat it now time after time after time.

"As a result, I see a better fastball. I see more life in the hitting area. His breaking ball is tighter. As a result, his changeup is devastating. He looks really, really good right now."

Duke, 0-3 lifetime against the Astros, finished 10-15 with a 4.47 earned run average last season. He was 5-7 with a 3.65 ERA after the All-Star break.

Does he consider landing the opening day start a milestone?

"I don't know if it's a milestone," Duke said.

"I know there were a lot of factors that went into this decision. And I know Ian was just as deserving of this -- if not more."

Snell last season was the Pirates' top winner with a 14-11 record.

It didn't seem to bother him he isn't starting opening day.

"I'm not disappointed," he said. "It's just another start. Zach got it. I'm happy for him. It's not a big deal. It's just a start. You're going to get plenty of them."

And he didn't seem fazed by being picked to start the home opener.

"You've already started the season. I don't see a big deal about it," he said. "I see it as another start -- just go out and try to win. I'm not really a big person on who gets to start opening day and who doesn't."