"One of the most meteoric starts in big-league history"

Bill Madden For the NY Daily News:

Nobody, not even Willie Randolph - who had vowed his troops would take an aggressive approach to the rookie - could say Duke didn't live up to his advance billing. "A sneaky 91-92 (mph) fastball, great curve and excellent command" was the basic scouting report on the Pirate phenom who, at 6-0 with a 1.87 ERA, is off to one of the most meteoric starts in big-league history.

Maybe it was the repeated media questions about being just 2 1/2 games out of the wild-card race despite a deflating 2-4 West Coast road trip, or simply the flush of two efficient wins over the Pirates to start the home stand, but Randolph struck a defiant tone before the game when asked about the prospect of his team facing Duke for the first time.

"I saw him on TV," the Mets manager said. "He's got a good curve, a sneaky fastball and he pitches inside. I was impressed. But we're going to attack him. You don't give him too much respect. He's a young player and you've got to attack him. You don't let him get comfortable."

It was sound enough advice, just easier said than done.

From the get-go Duke settled into a comfort zone, retiring the first 11 Mets until his right fielder, fellow rookie Nate McLouth, broke up the perfecto by nonchalanting Carlos Beltran's routine fly ball to right and allowing it to glance off his glove for a two-base error. Duke, however, was unruffled and proceeded to strike out Cliff Floyd on a 2-2 overhand curve to end the inning.

"It's hardly easy," Duke insisted. "The main thing was I was able to get my two-seamer down in the zone and got a lot of groundouts and I got Floyd on a curve."

Up to then, he'd used just 50 pitches and his Pirate teammates, specifically Brad Eldred, another rookie, and Jose Castillo, had staked him to a 4-0 lead. While Eldred had struck the most crushing blow against Victor Zambrano, a two-run homer in the fourth on an 0-2 letters-high fastball, Castillo had the dubious distinction of twice getting nailed for the third out trying to stretch a double into a triple, after RBI doubles in the second and fourth. It is undetermined if this is any sort of record.

But enough of Castillo. Last night was all about the artistry of Duke, who was not even on the Pirates' 40-man roster at the start of the season, yet, despite his late call-up, must be considered a leading Rookie of the Year candidate.

I wonder if Duke was unsurprised by McLouth's nonchalance because he'd seen it at Altoona.

And here's a good quote, from Dejan Kovacevic's recap:

"He's got a heck of a curveball," [Cliff Floyd] said of Duke. "I hope he'll be around a long time. The game needs guys like him. He can turn a franchise around."

We could use some of that.

And a few years ago, McClendon was in the habit of telling the media that the Pirates had to become better baserunners. This got him a reputation for being a small-minded small-ball manager. Perhaps that's why he stopped talking about baserunning so often. As DK reports:

"It's not for print," McClendon said when asked about Castillo's base running.