Post by John on May 19, 2006 8:11:26 GMT -4
Cubs' Wood gets roughed up by Nationals in first game back
May 18, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports
CHICAGO -- Kerry Wood walked off the mound after the first inning of his latest comeback and the fans gave him a standing ovation. Eight pitches and two strikeouts were all it took to retire the Washington Nationals.
For that brief time in the opening inning, he looked like the ace he once was for the Chicago Cubs.
Then his pitches started drifting over the plate and the Nationals started knocking them over the fence. Washington hit three homers over the next two innings and went on to a 5-3 victory Thursday.
"You still see the same pop out of his hand, it looks effortless," said Nationals shortstop Damian Jackson, who had a two-run homer in the second that gave Washington a 3-0 lead.
"You know in the back of your mind, the things Kerry Wood is capable of," said Jackson, who played seven games for the Cubs two years ago. "A squirrel finds a nut every once in a while."
Ryan Zimmerman and Alfonso Soriano also homered off Wood (0-1), helping Ramon Ortiz get his first win since last September.
Making his first start since last July 20 and first appearance since a relief outing Aug. 29 before season-ending shoulder surgery, Wood lasted five innings on a chilly 53-degree day at Wrigley Field.
Wood gave up five hits, four runs with no walks and six strikeouts during a 71-pitch outing against the Nationals, who'd been shut out in the first two game of the series.
"I made a couple of bad pitches and a stupid pitch and it cost me four runs," Wood said.
"I expect every time to go out and not give up any runs. But I can't sit here and say I pitched bad. It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to."
Zimmerman's seventh homer, a drive to left in the second off an 86 mph Wood pitch, ended the Nationals' scoreless streak at 22 innings.
"I think his miles per hour was a little down," Zimmerman said. "It was 92 or 93. But he was coming off the DL."
One out after a bloop single by Marlon Byrd, who advanced to third on a passed ball and grounder, Jackson homered to left -- just his second of the season -- and Wood was in a 3-0 hole. The homer was particularly disturbing because there were two outs and Ortiz was on deck.
"I didn't get it to the spot and it ran back over the plate and kinda ran into his swing," Wood said.
"I was quite surprised to be honest because it's so tough to try and figure out what guys are going to do when you're hitting in the No. 8 hole, you have an open base and the pitcher is behind you," Jackson said.
Soriano hit his 13th homer leading off the third.
Ortiz (1-4), winless in his first seven starts this season, got his first victory since last Sept. 10 against the Pirates. He yielded eight hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings. Chad Cordero pitched the ninth for his fourth save in six chances, getting out of a first-and-third jam when Neifi Perez bunted back to him for the final out.
"As surprised as everyone else in this ball park," Nationals manager Frank Robinson said of Perez's surprise bunt attempt.
"Didn't work," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said.
"The third baseman was way back. He wouldn't have had a chance to throw me out," Perez said. "I didn't get the job done."
Washington took a 5-0 lead when Marlon Anderson hit his first homer of the season, a solo shot off Chicago reliever Will Ohman in the sixth.
But the Cubs rallied for three in the sixth and drove Ortiz out.
Michael Barrett, Jacque Jones and Perez hit consecutive singles for the first run. Another single by John Mabry loaded the bases before Ronny Cedeno's sacrifice fly made it 5-2 and finished Ortiz. Pinch-hitter Aramis Ramirez greeted reliever Jon Rauch with an RBI single and the lead was down to two before Mike Stanton got Juan Pierre to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Wood was the 1998 Rookie of the Year and struck out 20 Houston Astros in his fifth major league start. But he missed the entire 1999 season after elbow ligament replacement surgery and has been on the disabled list nine times in his major league career, including three times last season.
Wood's rehab was pushed back after minor knee surgery in early March. He made two minor league rehab starts and threw 85 pitches in five innings for Triple-A Iowa on May 12.
Notes
* Washington's win came on the same day baseball owners unanimously approved the $450 million sale of the team to Theodore Lerner and Stan Kasten.
* Nationals OF Jose Guillen, who had to leave Wednesday night's game prior to the bottom of the fourth with a strained left hamstring, didn't play. The Nationals' lineup was without four regulars Thursday, two of them injured and two others getting the day off.
* Cubs 3B Aramis Ramirez, forced out of Wednesday night's game with a sore back, was also out of the lineup, before his pinch-hit single in the sixth.
* Nationals manager Frank Robinson had trouble putting on a jacket in his office before the game because of a sore back but was on the bench. He hurt his back before Wednesday night's game but after an anti-inflammatory injection was able to manage. Robinson said before Thursday's game he did not get another injection but did receive some treatment.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
May 18, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports
CHICAGO -- Kerry Wood walked off the mound after the first inning of his latest comeback and the fans gave him a standing ovation. Eight pitches and two strikeouts were all it took to retire the Washington Nationals.
For that brief time in the opening inning, he looked like the ace he once was for the Chicago Cubs.
Then his pitches started drifting over the plate and the Nationals started knocking them over the fence. Washington hit three homers over the next two innings and went on to a 5-3 victory Thursday.
"You still see the same pop out of his hand, it looks effortless," said Nationals shortstop Damian Jackson, who had a two-run homer in the second that gave Washington a 3-0 lead.
"You know in the back of your mind, the things Kerry Wood is capable of," said Jackson, who played seven games for the Cubs two years ago. "A squirrel finds a nut every once in a while."
Ryan Zimmerman and Alfonso Soriano also homered off Wood (0-1), helping Ramon Ortiz get his first win since last September.
Making his first start since last July 20 and first appearance since a relief outing Aug. 29 before season-ending shoulder surgery, Wood lasted five innings on a chilly 53-degree day at Wrigley Field.
Wood gave up five hits, four runs with no walks and six strikeouts during a 71-pitch outing against the Nationals, who'd been shut out in the first two game of the series.
"I made a couple of bad pitches and a stupid pitch and it cost me four runs," Wood said.
"I expect every time to go out and not give up any runs. But I can't sit here and say I pitched bad. It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to."
Zimmerman's seventh homer, a drive to left in the second off an 86 mph Wood pitch, ended the Nationals' scoreless streak at 22 innings.
"I think his miles per hour was a little down," Zimmerman said. "It was 92 or 93. But he was coming off the DL."
One out after a bloop single by Marlon Byrd, who advanced to third on a passed ball and grounder, Jackson homered to left -- just his second of the season -- and Wood was in a 3-0 hole. The homer was particularly disturbing because there were two outs and Ortiz was on deck.
"I didn't get it to the spot and it ran back over the plate and kinda ran into his swing," Wood said.
"I was quite surprised to be honest because it's so tough to try and figure out what guys are going to do when you're hitting in the No. 8 hole, you have an open base and the pitcher is behind you," Jackson said.
Soriano hit his 13th homer leading off the third.
Ortiz (1-4), winless in his first seven starts this season, got his first victory since last Sept. 10 against the Pirates. He yielded eight hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings. Chad Cordero pitched the ninth for his fourth save in six chances, getting out of a first-and-third jam when Neifi Perez bunted back to him for the final out.
"As surprised as everyone else in this ball park," Nationals manager Frank Robinson said of Perez's surprise bunt attempt.
"Didn't work," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said.
"The third baseman was way back. He wouldn't have had a chance to throw me out," Perez said. "I didn't get the job done."
Washington took a 5-0 lead when Marlon Anderson hit his first homer of the season, a solo shot off Chicago reliever Will Ohman in the sixth.
But the Cubs rallied for three in the sixth and drove Ortiz out.
Michael Barrett, Jacque Jones and Perez hit consecutive singles for the first run. Another single by John Mabry loaded the bases before Ronny Cedeno's sacrifice fly made it 5-2 and finished Ortiz. Pinch-hitter Aramis Ramirez greeted reliever Jon Rauch with an RBI single and the lead was down to two before Mike Stanton got Juan Pierre to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Wood was the 1998 Rookie of the Year and struck out 20 Houston Astros in his fifth major league start. But he missed the entire 1999 season after elbow ligament replacement surgery and has been on the disabled list nine times in his major league career, including three times last season.
Wood's rehab was pushed back after minor knee surgery in early March. He made two minor league rehab starts and threw 85 pitches in five innings for Triple-A Iowa on May 12.
Notes
* Washington's win came on the same day baseball owners unanimously approved the $450 million sale of the team to Theodore Lerner and Stan Kasten.
* Nationals OF Jose Guillen, who had to leave Wednesday night's game prior to the bottom of the fourth with a strained left hamstring, didn't play. The Nationals' lineup was without four regulars Thursday, two of them injured and two others getting the day off.
* Cubs 3B Aramis Ramirez, forced out of Wednesday night's game with a sore back, was also out of the lineup, before his pinch-hit single in the sixth.
* Nationals manager Frank Robinson had trouble putting on a jacket in his office before the game because of a sore back but was on the bench. He hurt his back before Wednesday night's game but after an anti-inflammatory injection was able to manage. Robinson said before Thursday's game he did not get another injection but did receive some treatment.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service