Jack Wilson does not take offense at batting eighth in the order.

And that is because he has delivered the bulk of his season's offense from that spot.

	EIGHTH BALL Jack Wilson's numbers by where he bats in the order:   AB H Avg. First 4 0 .000 Second 126 24 .190 Seventh 12 1 .083 Eighth 73 25 .342

"To be honest, I couldn't care less where I'm hitting," Wilson said. "Obviously, the eight hole is not the glamorous place to be in the order, but I'm fine with it. Especially with how things have gone. Things have been great."

The numbers back him strongly on that contention.

In the 13 games since Wilson was dropped to the eighth spot May 28 in Cincinnati, he is hitting .375 (18 for 48). Before being dropped, he was hitting .192.

Manager Lloyd McClendon had been exasperated by Wilson's slump at the time he moved him down, but he has no plan to move Wilson back to his usual No. 2 spot. For one, Freddy Sanchez and Tike Redman have done well there. For another, Wilson has been rejuvenated.

Wilson said one advantage is that he is not chasing pitches outside the zone, the main reason he had sputtered so badly in the first two months.

"It actually calms me down, makes me a little more patient at the plate," he said. "You know that, with the pitcher behind you, you're not going to get too many good pitches, so you use your head a little bit."

Another edge, he added, is that more teammates can offer advice after facing a pitcher.

That is what happened when he hit his winning home run Tuesday against Baltimore. Jason Bay suggested to him to lay off Orioles reliever Jorge Julio's slider and wait for the fastball. Wilson drilled a 99 mph fastball into the left-field bleachers.

"I get seven scouting reports to draw from."

Gonzalez 'not 100 percent'

Mike Gonzalez, the Pirates' left-handed setup man, has experienced arm fatigue for the past week and pain in his left knee for the past two weeks, but he remains available.

His knee injury was aggravated Wednesday when he made a diving play in the field.

"I kind of tweaked it a little bit, but I'm ready to go," he said. "I'm definitely going to feel something in there, but it's been there for a while and I'm still throwing well. It's not 100 percent, but it's one of those things."

McClendon said he was encouraged that Gonzalez did not require treatment on the team's off day Thursday.

North Side notches

Sanchez, who sat out the entire Baltimore series because of a tight groin, will rejoin the starting lineup tonight. He could have started last night, McClendon said, but he chose to keep left-handed hitters Rob Mackowiak and Redman in the lineup.

McClendon declined to announce his starters for the series against the New York Yankees that opens Tuesday, but he allowed it is possible Dave Williams' turn will be skipped. If that happens, the pitchers would be Kip Wells, Mark Redman and Oliver Perez. The Yankees have not announced their starters, but they are likely to be Mike Mussina, rookie Chien-Ming Wang and Randy Johnson. Kevin Brown could supplant Wang if management is convinced his bruised left shoulder is healed.

The Pirates are the only team in Major League Baseball with an extra-base hit in every game. If they get one tonight, they will match a streak of 60 games from 2001.

The Pirates signed catcher John Walk, son of broadcaster Bob Walk and a North Allegheny High School graduate. He just completed his senior year at IUP, where he hit .260 with two home runs and four RBIs in 18 games.

The Pirates signed six draft picks: pitchers Jeff Sues (fifth round), Justin Vaclavik (seventh), Derek Antelo (10th) and Nash Robertson (27th); catcher Chris Jones (11th) and outfielder Albert Laboy (14th).