Pirates pitcher Zach Duke gave up more hits than any National League pitcher last year, and he's working to make sure that doesn't happen in the 2007 season.

DUNEDIN, Fla. — No pitcher in the National League allowed more hits than the Pittsburgh Pirates' Zach Duke last season, but he had a hard time taking it personally.

"I know people don't like to hear about lucky breaks or hits falling in," he said. "But it just seemed like everything was going against me."

That's exactly opposite of how things went for Duke in 2005, when he burst into the majors at midseason and went 8-2 with a 1.81 ERA. Fans at PNC Park were chanting his name. A tabloid in New York dubbed him "The Duke of Pittsburgh" after a dominant performance against the Mets.

But he struggled during a tough loss in the home opener last season — and was booed — and went on to go 10-15 with a 4.47 ERA.

What went wrong?

Besides the 255 hits allowed, he walked 68 batters over his 215 innings, and he lost his final 10 road decisions.

But a closer look shows Duke might have a case about that rotten luck, if only because he clearly was not hit hard. He allowed 0.71 home runs per nine innings, third-lowest in the league, and 33.6 percent of the balls put in play against him resulted in hits, seventh-highest in the majors.

"There were so many times when I'd say to myself, 'That guy just did a good job hitting that pitch there. Next time, I'm going to get the break.' But those breaks seemed to keep going for the other team," Duke said. "The year before, I was 8-2 and, every time they hit the ball, hard or soft, it was straight at somebody. If that can just balance out, I'd be happy."

Still, Duke plans to do more than cross his fingers to improve this season.

"I need to improve my fastball control on the inner half of the plate to a righty," he said. "I need to get that back. I thrive on being able to do that, and I didn't last year. When they don't respect you having that part of the plate, that's when they get those little flares the other way."