Pirates second baseman Freddy Sanchez will miss the rest of the season because of minor surgery on his right shoulder scheduled for Friday.

The arthroscopic procedure will be a cleanup of the AC joint in the cuff. Sanchez is expected to be fully functional within six to eight weeks, and the surgery is not expected to have any impact on his readiness for spring training.

Sanchez, who has iced the shoulder for much of the season, closed his season with a .304 average, 11 home runs and 81 RBIs. He had only six hits in his final 38 at-bats, though, possibly because of the pain. He was removed from the game Tuesday because of lingering blurriness in his left eye, the result of a tiny piece of metal that entered the eye in late April. And he awoke yesterday with enough pain in the shoulder that he phoned the Pirates' medical staff to seek treatment.

Also today, the Pirates decided that Paul Maholm will not pitch again this season - he was scheduled to start tomorrow against the Arizona Diamondbacks - because of lingering back stiffness.

Maholm failed to get through three full innings in each of his two starts since missing three weeks to back trouble, and the back flared up again during a bullpen session yesterday.

John Van Benschoten will take his place tomorrow.

More details in tomorrow's Post-Gazette.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.