Zach Duke turned in a solid outing as the Pirates' Opening Day starting pitcher last season, allowing two runs in seven innings.

The 24-year-old left-hander was also stellar in his final outing of 2007, permitting only one run in seven innings on Sept. 28.

In between?Forget about it. And that's what Duke intends to do.

"It's in the past. It's done with. I'm not even thinking about it anymore,"Duke said of his 2007 season. "I'm just looking forward to the future."

Duke was among the Pirates contingent on hand at Butler Catholic School this week as the school hosted the Butler County stop on the Pirates Winter Caravan.

After leading the Pirates with 215 innings in 2006, Duke worked only 107 last year and made only three major league appearances after being diagnosed with an irritation of the ulnar collateral ligament on July 2.

His final numbers last year:Three wins, eight losses and a 5.53 earned run average — not the statistics staff aces are made of.

Duke broke into the big leagues in a big way, putting together an 8-2 record with a 1.81 ERAin 14 starts in 2005.

His 0.92 ERAafter his first six major league starts put him alongside Fernando Valenzuela, Boo Ferriss and Steve Rogers as the only pitchers since 1920 to carry an ERAbelow 1.00 after their first six starts.

"I don't think it's realistic in anyone's eyes — fans, his eyes or my eyes — to expect him to carry a 1.81 ERAfor an entire season,"said first-year Pirates pitching coach Jeff Andrews.

"On the other hand, I don't see him as a guy with a 5.88 or 6.00 ERA, either. Zach's had some big swings, from that great first year to some low points. I want him to consistently be somewhere in the middle of all that."

Duke is reporting to spring training Feb. 15 ready to prove he belongs in the starting rotation, but he is unconvinced he's part of it right now.

"I have to prove I belong there,"he said. "I have to earn the spot on my ability, show that I can be the pitcher I was before."

Duke insists he hasn't lost confidence — just pitch quality.

"My pitch quality fell off and I started thinking about things I shouldn't have been thinking about," he said. "When you get an arm injury, you change your mechanics, things tend to fall off. I think that's what happened to me."

Duke worked with Andrews for half a season in Altoona, the Pirates' Class AAaffiliate, as Andrews was the Curve's pitching coach when he was there in 2004. Duke was 5-1 with a 1.58 ERAin nine starts under Andrews' tutelage that year.

Andrews worked with four members of the Pirates' starting rotation in the minor leagues: Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny, Paul Maholm and Duke.

"We all think the world of him,"Duke said. "We trust what he has to say because he has our best interests at heart.

"Jeff emphasizes command of the fastball. It's not how you do it; it's in the results. He wants to make us into winning pitchers, and, at this point, that's what we need."

While Duke might not believe he's in the rotation, Andrews said the starting five "is pretty set" for the start of the regular season, with veteran Matt Morris being the other starter.

"Iwant Zach to enjoy pitching and be comfortable on the mound,"he said. We'll need eight to 10 starters during the course of the year, but if you're talking about March 31, we know who our starting five are and we'll get them ready."

Duke and Andrews agree that the starting rotation holds the key to the Pirates' fate in 2008.

"It all comes down to pitching,"Duke said. "If you don't pitch well, you don't win. If we can string five or six straight starts, pitching into the seventh inning, I like our chances."

For Andrews, it's all about getting his pitchers to produce.

"I've been working toward this job for 20 years in my mind,"he said. "I had my eye on the major leagues since I started. I'm just fortunate to break in with a bunch of guys I know, rather than do it with strangers.

"If we succeed, it will be on the strength of our starters. It has to be that way."