Kerry Wood Quotations

There are some things I want to do as a starter.

When I can go out there and throw the way I want to throw and recover the way I want to recover, that's when we're ready to go. Until then, that's what we are waiting on.

Obviously when you can't contribute the way you want to and you miss extended periods of time, you feel like you didn't help the other 24 guys out there.

I don't even have a date when I'm going to get on the mound and throw.

I got a bit of a small obstacle to overcome this offseason. I fully expect to be ready when camp starts.

I got a bit of a small obstacle to overcome this off-season. I fully expect to be ready when camp starts.

He's already associated with education. Quite honestly, he probably stands a better chance coming into this than me or Karen Floyd.

I think we felt a little more confident. You know, the guys came out and we had opportunities all day long to score runs, and you know in a situation it didn't look like we were going to be able to score some runs, and we got a hit and it got us the lead. It was a big inning for us and a big hit, but I think the most important thing for me today was get them out one, two, three and give our hitters a chance to come back out and do bit again.

It gives us and the fans, ... something else to look forward to.

I was working on locating my pitches and throwing my slider for a strike. It was nice to get out there and face some hitters.

I was walking about 35, 40 minutes after surgery. They gave me a cane to walk out on and I carried it. It was pretty amazing. I got a little swelling, but it doesn't bother me to walk or do anything. The only day I missed throwing was the day I had the surgery.

My shoulder feels better the more I throw. I really don't want to miss more than one day without doing something with it.

Mark told me he didn't expect me to be doing what I did today until six or seven days after surgery. We're going the right direction.

I'm still getting some good life on the ball without the max effort. Everything is finishing toward the plate and seems pretty smooth. My location seems better because of that.

With the time frame it's going to take, I'm glad we did it when we did it. So we should be ready for spring training, and ready to go.

When I get this thing going and get healthy, it's going to be the way I expect to go out there and pitch. And I expect to stay healthy and be that way for the remainder of my career. ... I came back from the elbow and it's been great. I had the shoulder thing pop up and we're going to take care of that, get going and not look back.

Everything felt good. It's different, but you still warm up, get loose and try to get guys out.

Things were going real well and they still are going well with my shoulder. It was better than I expected. A month ago I wasn't looking to be where I was at. It (the knee) is what it is. I don't know really what happened and how it came about. It just kind of gradually got more sore and sore.

They're not fixing anything. They're taking a piece out. We're not in danger.

It seems like about 15 years ago. The last couple years have been kind of rough. It's all behind me now. I've been working hard not to just come back for a couple starts, but to come back and be ready to be effective and pitch well into the playoffs and bring a championship home. I'm looking forward to getting back.

It's been pretty boring. But I'm sure it's going to pick up in a little while.

It's nice to get a hitter in there, just to have something in the box. I'm pleased with the way things are going. Today was another step. We got some hitters in there, and we're just progressing.

It was nice to go out and throw an inning. It's been frustrating going on the DL three times with this injury and not knowing what the problem was. They will go in, clean it up and send me on my way.

It was a different scenario to come into the middle of an inning. It's different warming up in the bullpen. I need to stay loose and make sure to be ready to go in the game when they call me.

(The knee) doesn't really bother me that much. I don't want to get into July or August, field a bunt and now I'm out for the rest (of the season).

I'm excited now, because we're blessed with a solid bullpen. It will be fun to watch these guys pitch everyday.

I like the trend. But there's no added pressure on us because of it. There's plenty of pressure in this profession, period - pressure to win, the pressure you put on yourself to perform.

I heard a lot of can you be fans out there. They have been following us all year. It was great to here them again tonight.

I haven't thrown a pitch yet. What's there to talk about?

He said everything looked good in there, he did what he had to do and cleaned up what he had to clean up. I think everything else looked good and I should recover fine.

Good timing for them, bad timing for us.

I'm just a normal kid who lives to play baseball. I'm living my dream.

The National League is baseball to me.

At home, when I'm not pitching, I'll sit and sign autographs for the kids. I've always done that and I'll continue to do it. That's part of the job.

A lot of times, when young guys come up, you think you don't have to work as hard because the talent is going to get you as far as you need to go. But as you get older, it's not that way. An injury is really a wake-up call and a slap in the face that maybe you were slacking a bit, and don't let it happen again.

I don't sit around and read papers about myself. If I see myself on TV, if I don't like it, I change the channel.

I love the slider. I'll throw it anytime. It helps the curve. The last five feet, it dives toward the left-handed hitter's box. It's a pitch that looks like a fastball coming in. It's a pitch I throw when I need a ground ball with a man on base.