Sveum OK with Wood showing frustration
Kerry Wood’s mini-tirade, if you can call it that, after Tuesday night’s poor performance against the Atlanta Braves probably will go down as a mere footnote in Cubs history and in Wood’s own storied career with the team.
Manager Dale Sveum pretty much let it slide a day later.
“I don’t condone it or wish it to happen all the time, but we all know in this game, there is frustration that happens,” Sveum said. “Sometimes we regret things we do, that’s for sure. We’re not perfect human beings. But I missed the whole thing, so I didn’t see any of that.”
After Wood gave up the go-ahead runs in the eighth inning of the Braves’ 3-1 victory, he threw both his glove and his cap into the stands behind the third-base dugout.
After the game, Wood used a profanity toward a reporter who asked about the tosses, and he cut off the interview.
The real issue is that Wood still is working his way back into an important relief role after spending time on the disabled list with right-shoulder fatigue. Closer Carlos Marmol is in limbo after losing his ninth-inning job. Sveum is giving the important outs to lefty James Russell and right-handers Shawn Camp and Rafael Dolis.
“It’s a matter of getting comfortable and getting into a rhythm,” Sveum said of Wood. “Bottom line, it’s throwing strikes and being able to use your fastball and getting back in counts. You still have to be able to use that breaking ball, so there are a lot of things to work on. Sometimes it just takes a few times out on the mound.”
Sori sits again:
Left fielder Alfonso Soriano sat for the second time in three games as he rested a sore left knee. The Cubs are off Thursday before heading to Milwaukee and St. Louis for five games.
“His knee has been a little bit sore, so I just told him going into this series he’d play last night and get tomorrow off,” Dale Sveum said. “We have three day games on the road trip, a noon game (Saturday), so let’s give him a little time with the knee.”
LaHair keeps on going:
First baseman Bryan LaHair drove in the only run of Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over the Braves with a seventh-inning single. He has reached base safely in 27 straight games. He is at .384/.476/.767 with 8 homers and 18 RBI.
“I just try to stay consistent each day ever since I’ve been in Little League,” LaHair said. “I take pride in it. It’s something I focus in on and something that I do.”
Minor matters:
First-base phenom Anthony Rizzo hit a pair of 3-run homers Tuesday night for Class AAA Iowa in a 13-2 win at Fresono. Entering Wednesday, Rizzo had 9 homers to go along with a hitting line of .357/.413/.643 for an OPS of 1.056, and 31 RBI.
At Class A Peoria, first baseman Paul Hoilman extended a hitting streak to a franchise-record-tying 21 games in a 7-2 win at Quad Cities. Hoilman, drafted last year out of East Tennessee State, had a .303 average entering Wednesday.