Aching Cub
Wood returns to Chicago with sore elbow
Posted: Monday March 15, 1999 02:33 PM
| |
More of the same: Kerry Wood has been in the hospital twice during spring training. AP |
MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- A day after his 1999 debut, Kerry Wood woke up with a
sore elbow Sunday and headed back to Chicago for an examination.
The NL Rookie of the Year, a key to the Cubs' pennant hopes, threw 26
pitches Saturday against Anaheim, just 10 for strikes. During one stretch
in the second of his two innings, he threw 10 consecutive pitches out of
the strike zone, with catcher Tyler Houston
leaping up to catch some. He didn't strike out anyone.
"It was after the first inning," Wood said Sunday. "My first warmup
pitch, Tyler hardly got a glove on it. I felt it a little bit but kept
going. The velocity was still there."
Wood, who didn't mention any pain when he spoke with reporters after the
game, was to be examined later Sunday by Anaheim team physician Dr. Lewis
Yocum, then have an MRI Monday and get looked over by Cubs physician Dr.
Micheal Shafer. Test results aren't expected until Tuesday.
Chicago hopes the pain resulted from scar tissue and that the exam will
show no ligament damage. Wood missed all of September last year because of
a sore elbow, then returned for the Cubs' final game of the season, a loss
to Atlanta in Game 3 of the NL division series.
"We're just being conservative," Cubs president Andy MacPhail said.
Cubs general manager Ed Lynch said Wood threw about 96 mph Saturday. It
was Lynch who made the announcement, saying Wood "felt significant
discomfort."
Chicago knows that elbow pain probably will always be an issue with Wood,
as it is with most power pitchers. Cubs pitching coach Marty DeMerritt has
been working to alter Wood's delivery this spring, trying to lessen the
strain on the elbow.
"A couple of pitches, he got across himself a little bit," DeMerritt
said. "Last year, he was throwing across his body all the time."
Wood, a 21-year-old right-hander, was 13-6 with a 3.40 ERA and 233
strikeouts in 166 2-3 innings last year. On May 6, in just his fifth career
start, he struck out 20 against Houston, tying Roger Clemens'
record for a nine-inning game.
Chicago didn't make any big additions during the offseason. If Wood is
sidelined for any lengthy period, it will damage the Cubs' chances to win a
pennant for the first time since 1945.
Wood already was getting a late start following two hospitalizations this
spring to treat an upper respiratory and gastrointestinal illness.
"Whatever it is, it has got to be taken care of," DeMerritt said. "The
sooner the better."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
