The Rise of Wood?

Sorry, it’s the 12 year old in me that can’t pass up a good "Wood" joke.  Well, the return of the bad arm brothers, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior,  had mixed results.  Mark Prior looked horrible.  Scheduled to go two innings, Prior only lasted an inning an a third, throwing 41 pitches — 16 chest-high or higher.  Not only that, his fastball had no movement, he threw no change up, and seemed to have no control.  He also couldn’t get the ball past the mid-80;s.  From the get go it was bad.  It took Prior 21 pitches to get out of the first inning.  By the time he was pulled in the second, he was charged with three runs on four hits and two walks.

Manager Lou Pinella gave his assessment after the game;

"Obviously, he needs to throw the ball better — let’s be perfectly honest," Piniella said. "I think he knows that, too. At the same time, you’ve got to get started somewhere. He threw his allotment of pitches, and we got him out of there. Hopefully he comes to the ballpark [Tuesday] and doesn’t feel any stiffness or discomfort, and he gets into a regular routine. I think the next time out, he’ll feel better about himself and pitch with more confidence."

Let’s hope so or Mr. Prior may be starting the season in Iowa.

Wood on the other hand was dominant.In shape and looking good, he was throwing 95 mph fastballs and wicked sliders  He retired the Mariners in order in the fifth. He struck out Jose Guillen and threw 12 pitches, eight of them strikes.

Pinella’s assessment of Wood

"That’s 95 miles per hour nice and easy. After I saw him throw the first five or six pitches, I said, ‘I had a good day already."’

There is a long way to go to see if Wood can warmup quick enough and stay healthy enough to be a closer, but this was a good start.

One of these guys needs to come through to help the Cubs win the division.  Either Prior or Wood has been on the disabled list for 430 of 859 days since Prior was called up to the big leagues on May 22, 2002.   One of these guys has to step up.

Lost in the Mix

Lost in the Wood/Prior mix were some nice performances from Felix Pie and Ted Lilly.  Pie went 3-for-5, scored a run and drove in a run and Lilly pitched two innings, giving up only one hit in the Cubs first spring victory.  The Cubs take on the Brewers tomorrow with Jason Marquis getting the ball.