We all remember the last two months of the 2010 season. Kerry wood was traded to New York from Cleveland and returning from the DL. He was hardly anything to get excited about. His first game with the Yankees was in Tampa Bay where he got himself into a jam where the bases were loaded. Girardi went to the bullpen because he felt that Wood could not handle pressure situations. Later however, Wood's talent would be revealed to Yankee Universe when he consistently was put in games and would get positive results. Despite his high walk totals, he always seemed to get out of those "first and second, nobody out" jams and more confidence was instilled in his manager. Wood would allow two earned runs in 26 innings pitched for the Bombers. His post-season heroics were also evident when he would put men on base in the eighth inning of tight games and picked them off attempting to steal. Bottom line: Kerry Wood was a savior for the Yankees in 2010 and helped them advance to the postseason with his strong pitching in the latter part of the season when the Yankees bullpen was thin and lacked effective pitchers aside from Mo. It was a major disappointment to see Wood reject the Yankees last off-season to sign with the Cubs for a below-market salary. The Yankees eventually signed Rafael Soriano to a highly controversial three year deal making him the highest paid set-up man in the game. Soriano struggled in his first season in pinstripes and was plagued by injury, causing him to miss almost two months of the season. A Wood reunion is is not happening this year, but Yankee fans can't help but feel nostalgic about the the right-hander and what he did for us in 2010. Maybe 2013 will yield different results and a reunion. We can only hope.
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