Cavaliers Thump Celtics; Ray Allen Will Not Tolerate Your Fun-Having
April 13, 2009Manny Ramirez Teases Nostalgic Clevelanders
April 13, 2009I was excited when the Indians signed Kerry Wood to take over the role of closer. After attending Sunday’s game against the Jays, I am even more excited. Standing up, cheering and going crazy with two strikes when Bob Wickman or Joe Borowski is on the mound is pure courtesy. Standing up and going crazy with two strikes when Kerry Wood is on the mound is pure bliss. When you do it for Borowski or Wickman, it is because you are supposed to. When you do it for Kerry Wood, you just might get rewarded with a blazing 98 mile per hour strikeout pitch like we were given yesterday.
And this isn’t to throw JoBo and Wicky under the bus. Despite the stress associated, they were quite reliable, all things considered. Wicky had 139 saves as a member of the Indians, including a season with 45 in 2005. That is a notable contribution and shouldn’t go unspoken. Same with Borowski. That guy showed up here when there weren’t any other options, really. And in his one successful season here, he had 45 saves and enabled the Indians to get to the ALCS. He was a part of that, and that too can’t go unnoticed.
There is something to be said, though, for having Kerry Wood jog out of the center field bullpen with “Welcome to the Jungle” blaring over the PA. That song might be a little on the trite side, but it can only get to the point of triteness because it is fitting. Yesterday I was able to lose myself in the excitement of welcoming Kerry Wood to the closer’s role. Yesterday he didn’t disappoint. He mixed speeds nastily. He followed up 95 mile per hour heaters with 83 mile per hour off-speed pitches that must have appeared in slow motion to the hitters. Hopefully that trend continues.
Right now it just feels so good to have a guy throwing in the mid to high 90’s to close out games. I hope he gets a lot of opportunities this year to save games. Welcome to Cleveland, Kerry. Your rocket arm is a sight for sore eyes.
8 Comments
It’s nice to want to watch the 9th inning for a change.
I was there for a first peak at Woods, lucky enough to be sitting just 8 rows back and close to home plate. Never saw him pitch in person before but from the excellent perspective of my seat his stuff is just flat out nasty, electric. Threw two balls and then got busy, just overpowered everybody. Still trying to figure out the source of his velocity. He doesn’t have a high leg kick, there’s no violence in his motion, just a very smooth delivery, like he’s tossing to someone at a picnic. Wow.
Is it just me, or are other peoples’ RSS feeds not working for WFNY (since Saturday, I think)? I get a “feed code error” when I try to resubscribe.
thanks for salvaging the legacy of Wickman and Borowski, both of whom pitched on sheer guile during their time in Cleveland. I love guys like that who find ways to win even though they aren’t blessed with the talent of a Kerry Wood. Shame that Borowski’s reputation has been sullied by the unfortunate handling of his injury last year — without him we don’t win the division and take Boston to game 7.
Bricker – my feed is working just fine. Not sure what’s up on your end.
well, i hope he gets an opprotunity more than once every 6 games…..
@Craig, should’ve said you were going to the game!!! I was there with my mom, it was freezing in the shade so we were able to sneak past the red coats and sit in the triangle along the 3rd base side ha.
Nice to have a good closer, now if we can only use him to get 45 saves…
[…] that the starting pitching goes well enough to hand leads to the bullpen. It sure would be nice (as I noted earlier today) to see Kerry Wood get some meaningful appearances at the end of […]