MLB
20 Year Anniversary Of Kerry Woods 20 Strike Out Game
No one knows when greatness will appear or in what form it will come in. Although on May, 6th 1998 Kerry Wood had the most dominant recorded start in MLB history. In which he had a twenty Strike Out Game. And allowed just one hit and no walks on the day, a lot of people, however, believe the lone hit on the day recorded by Astros ShortStop Ricky Gutierrez. And taking a closer look at the play, it could have gone either way. There did seem to be a slight deflection off of Cubs Third Baseman Kevin Orie. If he would have been able to field that ground ball, with Woods no walks would have been a perfect game. And most likely instead of being rated a 105 out of 114, could have possibly gotten a perfect 114 score on that day.
History Of Twenty StrikeOut Games
There are a lot of exciting things about Woods performance that day, And his performance in the following week was just as dominant. Striking out twenty on May, 6th in his next start Wood was able to sit down thirteen batters. Which to this day remains an MLB record for most strikeouts in a two-start span. After Wood had achieved this feat, there have only been four instances in MLB history where a Pitcher had struck out twenty people. The first ever was done by the great Roger Clemens in 1986, and then again by Clemens ten years later in 1996. The most recent to achieve this magnificent feat is Nationals Ace Max Scherzer. Who was able to get it on May 11th of 2016.
Kerry Woods career
A career that could have been a hell of a lot better if it wasn’t for injuries and the wrong manager running the team. A guy that was able to keep his ERA in the low three’s from year to year. Was just overused by Dusty Baker when he was running the team.
Who knows how well Wood could have done if he would have had a better manager to protect him. Being thrown to much ruined his arm in 2003. And ever since that he wasn’t able to get back on pace like he had been prior. He wasn’t the only one who had their future ripped away from him by Baker. Mark Prior another young superstar that had a lot of potential didn’t last long in the MLB at all. Just another case of a coach that loves to destroy young talent. Who knows what these two could have been if the Cubs weren’t under the control of Dusty Baker.
Conclusion
The twenty Strike Out Game will forever go down in history as the single greatest start of all time. And so far it has withstood the test of time, on this day twenty years ago. A man by the name of Kerry Wood tossed twenty strikeouts. And twenty years later it still stands as the single greatest performance of all time. Here’s to another twenty years as number one.
