Game 7: Pirates 7 Astros 0

Before I even start this recap, I need to point the following things out: the Astros haven't scored since Saturday, they started Jason Michaels in center today, and Russ Ortiz took the mound for them today. This isn't so much a baseball team as it is a squad of players that even Dave Littlefield would be embarrassed by. All reactions to this game should be tempered by this reality. That said, Zach Duke just threw a complete game shutout. Yes, I'm worried about him throwing 119 pitches in April, but it's hard to imagine JR was going to pull him at less than 120 so long as he had a shutout going in the home opener. His velocity looked good on the Gameday in the 9th inning, and so I'm just going to hope this is a non-issue. Just like his first start against the Cardinals, he again did all the things that he hadn't been doing the past few seasons. I realize that Duke's not a strikeout pitcher and he never will be, but every pitcher has to strike some batters ...