Duke of hazard

1 comment April 9th, 2008

Yesterday, The Cub Reporter released a list of all-time Cubs Killers (some obvious: Adam Dunn; some not: Dante “Shrek” Bichette). The list is all well and good, but it doesn’t mention any pitchers.

That being the case, I’d like to nominate Pittsburgh’s Zach Duke as Cubs Killer pitcher. Fittingly enough, he is making his ninth career start against the Cubs today.

Ever since Duke’s 2005 big league unveiling, the left-hander has frustrated Cubbie lineups. In 8 starts (6 at Wrigley) for 55.2 innings against the Cubs (his most against any team), Duke has a 4-2 record with an impressive 2.10 ERA (his second lowest against NL teams).

But it’s not as if Duke has been overpowering: from 2005-07, the Cubs still have hit a reasonable .268 with 7 hits-per-game against Duke (the Cubs hit .264 against lefties in the same time frame) and have kept his strikeouts-per-game (1.84) under his career average (1.89, prior to 2008).

The Cubs’ problem? Try Duke’s 2.31 strikeout-to-walk ratio against the North Siders (his career average is 1.86). From 2005-07 the Cubs drew a measly 2.7 walks-per-game; but against Duke, they couldn’t even muster the patience for two a game (13/8=1.6). Not good (or surprising) for a team notorious for failing to manufacture runs.

However, so far this season, the Cubs are improving their patience at the plate (29 drawn walks in 7 games) and already lead the league in OBP versus lefties (.471). If the Cubs keep that pace up for the rest of the season, the name “Zach Duke” might start sounding as intimidating as “Daisy Duke”. And that’ll put a smile on anyone’s face.