Woods roughed up for 4 runs in the 1st, including a HR from ex-Astro Blum. Cubs losing 5-0 in the third. Sweet. War, hating the Cubs.
Kerry Wood is among the most overrated MLB players. His career stats...injury or not...do not bear out the gloss his name gets as a premier pitcher in this league. They just don't. I'm not saying he sucks...he doesn't suck. But this guy is not the pitcher we've all been made to believe he is.
Were it not for the 20K, one hitter he threw against the Stros in his rookie season, Wood would never have gotten half the hype he received.
I was about to say great post, until I looked at his stats. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/stats/mlb_individual_stats_player.jsp?playerID=134268&statType=2 5 out of 6 full seasons with an ERA below 3.75. 4 200 strikeout seasons. He's had alot of injury problems, but when he's healthy, he's one of the best pitchers in the game.
he's had 6 seasons....at some point, you gotta win some games, Chris Holt. at some point, you have to outduel the other guy on the mound. his high in wins for any season is 14. this guy is not the Cy Young caliber pitcher he's made out to be. again..i'm not saying he sucks...i'm saying he isn't in the echelon of pitchers he's mentioned with.
You can't judge how good a pitcher is based on wins. The Cubs were a BAD team when he first came up and have had a terrible bullpen that has blown possible Wood wins the last couple of seasons. Hell, Jeriome Robertson won 15 games a few years ago, he must be better than Kerry Wood right? I mean hell, he won more games. His ERA proves what type of pitcher he is.
When you allow around 4.5 BB/9IP, you tend to have to leave games earlier. MadMax's point is people seem to talk about Kerry Wood like he's a perennial Cy Young candidate, which he isn't. Compare him to say, RoyO - Oswalt averages 2.2 BB/9IP. Congratulations to Wood on an ERA under 3.75- Roy's career high to date is a 3.49, and his first 3 seasons were at or below 3.0. Wood's best ERA is still above 3.0 (3.20 to be exact, not surprisingly the same year he won his 14). Roy has 3 14+ plus win seasons, and 2 19+ win seasons. Both Zambrano and Prior on his own staff have accomplished the feat of 15+ wins and ERAs under 3. We won't even mention what Maddux did earlier in his career that is just plain disgusting (ERAs in the mid 1s). The point is, Wood isn't an elite level pitcher. He is a dominant strikeout artist of a pitcher capable of putting up jaw dropping performances, but he isn't consistent to be considered a preseason Cy Young candidate that some proclaim him to be.
At the end of the day, the only stats that count are wins and losses. Kerry Wood has never been a winner and will never be. He's a .500 pitcher who strikes out a lot of people (and walks a lot of people). He also gets himself hurt all the time because of his poor mechanics.
That walk ratio is the same problem Nolan Ryan had, and what contributed to his poor career winning percentage (along with the bad teams). Nolan walked about 4.7 runners per 9ip. Course that was easier to get away with since he could still pitch effectively with high pitch counts.
