The Joe Kerrigan Effect

As of this morning the Pittsburgh Pirates and their impressive 2.90 have the lowest team ERA in all of baseball. Just by purely looking at the stats - you have to assume that Joe Kerrigan is doing a heck of a job as pitching coach for the Pirates.

Pat Maholm has emerged as a legitimate Ace - going 2-0 with a 0.87 ERA in three starts so far. Zach Duke is back to his 2005 form - the form that allowed him to go 8-2 with a 1.81 ERA as a rookie, Duke is 2-0 with a minuscule 0.59 ERA. Maybe most impressive is the fact that the enigma that is Craig Hansen has yet to give up a run in five innings of relief work this season (though with just 4 K's to 3 BB - Hansen probably isn't out of the woods).

The Pirates were dead last in the NL last year in team ERA. Who could have guessed that the Pirates pitching staff would be one of the more interesting stories of the young season?