Zach

Duke

The 40-man roster is full, and someone must be removed. Duke has just one win since June 1.

It’s a good move for pitching prospects like Zach Duke of Double-A Altoona who should move on to Indianapolis in 2005. The IL is more pitcher-friendly than the PCL.

Duke has just nine Double-A starts under his belt, so he’s a major long shot to head north with the club once camp breaks. He’ll probably make his major league debut in the second half of the season.

Duke had nothing left to prove in the Carolina league, leading the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. He was 10-5 with a 1.39 ERA.

He fanned six with no walks. Duke dominated Single-A ball and is fast becoming the top pitching prospect in the Pirates’ system.

Duke struck out six and walked two, but also gave up 10 hits tonight. Since he received nine runs of support tonight, he was still able to pull out the victory. Duke won’t keep winning games at this rate or maintain his current 1.54 ERA, but he certainly should be owned in all formats at the moment for his start against the Astros next Friday.

A 4-0 start with a 0.92 ERA will do that.

He remained unbeated in eight starts, but the Pirates did lose the game. In fact, they’ve lose all three of his no-decisions. Duke will make his next start against the Mets at Shea Stadium.

Duke has already thrown a career-high 165 2/3 innings between the minors and majors this season. ''Shutting him down, hopefully, would be the last option,’' manager Lloyd McClendon said.

If he pitches two full innings tonight, he will top his career high of 160 1/3 innings in a season, and the team plans to limit his work the rest of the way because of that. Asked how the team plans to do so, manager Lloyd McClendon replied, ''There are several things we can do. I’m not ready to talk about them at this point.’' Keep that in mind when setting your lineup for next week.