May 6, 2008

It's been 10 years?! :
That's right, 10 years since Kerry Wood tied the major league record for strikeouts in a 9-inning game.
You can watch the video highlights of the 20 strikeouts here.

read story | posted by grum@work to Baseball at 8:05 PM CDT (11 comments total)

Watching the video shows that his pitches were of the "Bugs-Bunny" variety, bobbing and weaving all over the place. The final strikeout pitch (to Derek Bell, at 1:41 of the video) looks absolutely ridiculous. It was Nintendo-esque in location, speed and break.

Comment icon posted by grum@work at 8:07 PM CDT on May 6

Wow. Thanks, grum! The game with the 20 was ridiculous.

There's a lot of talk now about why he's so different than he was. Arm? Shoulder? Mental? 30+ pound weight loss? Age?

In that video, there were a few pitches that he knew were strikes before they made it to the catcher's mitt. It seemed like he threw a strike, then turned back to the mound waiting to throw the next strike. He didn't even need to see what the batter was doing. Amazing.

I think that's what he's missing. That 20 year old invincible confidence, with a swagger.

Comment icon posted by BoKnows at 8:35 PM CDT on May 6

I really don't care much for the Cubs, but it's kind of sad to watch that video and think about what might have been had Wood been able to stay healthy. Just nasty movement on his fastball, a knee-buckling curve and a wicked slider; he had them all going that day.

Also worth noting that it appears he did not strike out a pitcher in that game, for those who might suggest that this is a lesser accomplishment in the NL. Of course, he did face Brad Ausmus three times.

Comment icon posted by holden at 8:55 PM CDT on May 6

Actually, I'm wrong on the pitcher point, as Wood did strike out Reynolds once.

Comment icon posted by holden at 9:00 PM CDT on May 6

See similarities between Koufax and Wood's curve ball and the amount of break. Seems curious that both of their arms were shot before their time. Just an observation, but is there a correlation between a magical curve ball and arm problems?

Comment icon posted by giveuptheghost at 9:45 PM CDT on May 6

Just an observation, but is there a correlation between a magical curve ball and arm problems?

Any kind of breaking pitch is going to put strain on the elbow, as it's not a natural arm movement to make 50-60 times a game. Some guys put a real "snap" into the pitch, which I suspect leads to a higher chance of a "snap" in the elbow ligaments.

Comment icon posted by grum@work at 11:28 AM CDT on May 7

One could make the argument that this was the single most dominant game ever pitched. (Not necessarily the greatest, but the most dominant.) He faced 29 batters, struck out 20, walked none, had one HBP, and allowed one hit. That means that only *eight* balls were put in play by the Astros in the entire game, which is undoubtedly a record.

The other noteworthy part of this achievement is that the Astros were leading the league in team batting average for the season coming into that game. As opposed to Clemens' two 20-K games beforehand, which he did against the teams that were leading the league in Ks coming in.

Too bad Wood hasn't been the same since then.

Comment icon posted by TheQatarian at 12:17 PM CDT on May 7

One could make the argument that this was the single most dominant game ever pitched.

Qat, I was just having a quick look to see if I could argue with that and ran across Koufax's perfect game, 27 batters with 14 Ks.
The thing I want to bring up, though, is the other guy, Bob Hendley, who pitched a 1-hitter.
Between the two of them, 17 IP, 1 H, 1R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 17 K.
On that field, that day, the two opposing pitchers dominated almost completely, too bad one had to lose.

(I know this is going a bit off-topic, but thought was interesting enough to go for...)

Comment icon posted by bobfoot at 10:10 PM CDT on May 7

video's down - any alternative sites?

Comment icon posted by sic at 5:37 PM CDT on May 8

Curse you MLB Advanced Media!

Comment icon posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 6:01 PM CDT on May 8

"See similarities between Koufax and Wood's curve ball and the amount of break. "

Does Wood have the long fingers like Koufax does? Through the years I've heard Vin Scully make many references to Koufax's long fingers and his wicked curveball.

Comment icon posted by Newbie Walker at 12:26 AM CDT on May 10

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