Wood frustrated after simulated game

MILWAUKEE - For Kerry Wood, it was a start, albeit a simulated one.

But the frustration, not to mention the pain, has been all too real for Wood as he tries to get rid of a troublesome blister from his right index finger.

Wood threw a simulated game Thursday morning, facing bullpen catchers Corey Miller and Edgar Tovar and wearing a pad to protect the blister. If nothing else, the Cubs want Wood to keep throwing so he maintains arm strength for his return, whenever that might be.

He said he'll try to throw today - most likely just playing catch - at Wrigley Field without the pad.

"We've come up with something where I can actually keep my arm going and throw and not feel it," he said. "We've done that a few times just to keep the arm going. Go from there in a few days. I feel like I've been saying 'a few days' for about three weeks. I'm honestly tired of talking about it, tired of dealing with it, tired of looking at it, tired of touching it.

"I did my throwing today, and I'm going to quit thinking about it for a while."

In other words, Wood is more than fed up.

"I'm beyond antsy," he said. "It's the (darndest) thing I've ever seen as far as skin. I can't explain it, and nobody here can explain it. I've been to several doctors, and I just haven't gotten any better. We tried just about everything we could think of and probably tried some things we shouldn't have. Time will be the best thing for it."

Wood wouldn't elaborate on what he has tried, other than the tried-and-true vitamin E and other ointments.

"One doctor says keep it wet; the next one says dry it out," Wood said. "Flip a coin. It's the pressure on the ball that causes the pain. It's not a burn. It's not a blister anymore. It's an open wound."

As far as his arm and shoulder go, Wood says they're fine.

"The arm feels good," he said. "It should feel good. I've had a couple of weeks off. Even when it (the blister) first happened, I was throwing, the changeup, just to keep the shoulder going."

No deal: The Cubs did not make a trade Thursday as the nonwaiver deadline passed quietly.

"We talked this morning," manager Lou Piniella said, referring to himself and general manager Jim Hendry. "Really, the consensus was, 'Let's stay the way we are.' We're happy with the alignment that we have. One of the things that's helping our pitching is the good defensive play we're putting on the field. We didn't want to change that formula.

"We've got enough personnel where we can rest our team like we were doing earlier in the year. We had to get away from it with injuries, and it started to show. But we can do that and keep these guys rested as much as possible. Let's stay away from injuries and keep playing solid baseball."

Boffo box office: The sellout crowd of 45,346 was the second-highest crowd in Miller Park history. It seemed most of the fans were cheering for the Cubs. Former Cardinal Jim Edmonds now has been cheered by Cubs fans at Wrigley Field and on the road.

"I don't want to put too much into it; I just appreciate it," he said. "They come up here to cheer for us, and that's pretty exciting. It's exciting for a Cubs player, but it's also exciting for the game of baseball to see that many people make that much of an effort and put it into this kind of a series. That makes the game exciting."

This and that: Kosuke Fukudome hit the 200th homer of his pro career and his eighth with the Cubs. He previously starred with Chunichi in Japan. . . . Scott Eyre pitched in his first game since June 26 and gave up 3 hits and 3 runs in one-third of an inning. Eyre was on the disabled list from June 28-July 22.