Welcome back, Kerry
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by Tstelnicki03
On a night when Tom Glavine became the 23rd, and possibly the last pitcher to ever cross the 300 win threshold in the history of our national pastime, and on a night when Chicago Cubs' fans everywhere simultaneously rubbed their lucky rabbits' feet, plucked every four leaf clover in sight, and crossed as many fingers as possible, in hopes of warding off the evil injury spirits that had taken interest in stud left fielder Alfonso Soriano, some fans paying close attention were fortunate enough to catch sight of an incredibly rare yet special occurance: Kerry Wood on the mound.
Yes, that Kerry Wood. In case you don't remember he's the 6-5, 220 lb Texan, the '98 NL rookie of the year, the one who along with Mark Prior was slated to be the next great pitcher to take the MLB by storm, the one who struck out 20 Astros in a single game, the one who carried the Cubs as far as he could in 2003, only to take the loss in the heartbreaking Game 7 on the NLCS, and yes, he's the one who has made an astounding 11 trips to the DL in his 10 professional seasons.
Yeah, that guy.
Well, as stated above, for those fortunate enough to be watching the game close enough, Kerry Wood made an appearance, albeit a brief 1 inning appearance, but don't think for a minute that it's length in any way diminshed the signifigance.
Wood hustled in from the bullpen right as the soon-to-be new 300 club member, Tom Glavine, made his apparent exit from the game. Even ESPN announcers Jon Miller and Joe Morgan were fooled into believing that the Friendly Confines were classily giving Glavine the standing O, while instead they were heartily cheering the return of big [[Kerry Wood]. Wood cruised through his inning of relief, allowing one hit to Mets' rookie Lastings Milledge but stranding him after utterly embarassing a flailing All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes with a 79 mph curve in the dirt. Wrigley erupted, and this particular Cubs fan pumped a fist and let out a calm, "He's back."
Indeed.
About a month ago when news was out that Kerry Wood would soon be making his way up to the big leagues, I happened to tune into a local sports radio station only to hear some of the most ridiculous crap I've heard on sports radio. A high and mighty fill-in jock was clamoring here and there that Kerry Wood's return to the Cubs roster would doom them in '07. Yes, Kerry Wood's mere putting on of a Cubs jersey would absolutely curse the team and their chances. Apparently, this moron felt that Kerry Wood's terribly unfortunate and untimely injuries had given him second in command Cubs' curse status, second, of course, to only the Dark Lord himself, the Billy Goat.
Other than this complete idiot, who doesn't appreciate Kerry Wood's return? Who doesn't appreciate what it takes to come back from those injuries? I mean sure, every Cubs fan alive thought that he was the great hope, the one, along with Prior, that was going to take the Cubs to the ever-elusive promised land. When he was derailed a bit by injuries, we stuck with him, he'd come through. With potential like that, you'd be crazy not to. Then more injuries came, it was his shoulder, then his elbow, then his knee, then the rotator cuff. It seemed that every body part that could be injured, was. And every shred of hope the Cubs had of Kerry Wood, World Series MVP, seemed to have vanished as quickly as the cartilage in Woody's knee.
While you may have lost hope in Wood, how can you possibly root against him? The initial diagnosis of his 2007 injury would be that he would miss the entire season. Instead, he decided to bust his ass and make it back to the team that had kept believing in him even when it seemed like believing was foolish. On Sunday August 5th, his despicable curveball made the best shortstop in the NL look absolutely silly and sent Wrigley Field into a frenzy. As a Cubs fan, how can that not get your juices flowing? If anything, Kerry Wood throwing 96 mph heat is the sign of great things to come for this Cubs team, not the '69 black cat reincarnate. The mere thought is ridiculous.
Judging from the sound of the Wrigley crowd tonight as Kerry strode off the field, I think it's safe to assume that most baseball fans (not just Cubs fans) will agree with me when I welcome Kerry Wood back to the team and applaud him for his tireless rehab. Injuries are unfortunate and most often times unlucky, it's terrible when they occur over and over to a player with so much heart and so much potential. Hopefully one day Kerry Wood will tap into some of what was 10 years ago his incredible potential and end up with a solid big-league career, whether in the bullpen or the rotation. For now though, you can only hope he provides a boost in the Cubs 'pen, and keeps embarassing stud shortstops and the likes.
Welcome back, Kerry.
