Baseball plays cruel trick on Tucson's Tim Wood

看板Marlins作者abc12812時間15年前 (2010/07/10 20:49)推噓2(2推 0噓 0→)

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一個有點讓人難過的小故事 http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/2010/07/09/20100709marlins-pitcher-wood-sent-to-minors-prevents-family-reunion-bordow.html Tim Wood is not one for self-pity, so he'll never believe the game of baseball owes him anything. You work hard, make your pitches and if you allow four runs in an inning and you're a 27-year-old middle reliever with one career win to your name, the manager calls you into his office to let you know you're being sent to the minors. Still, what happened to Wood on Thursday at Chase Field was almost, well, cruel. Hours before the Diamondbacks-Florida Marlins game, the Tucson Sabino High and Pima Community College product was talking about the long, arduous route he took to the major leagues. A 44th-round draft choice in 2002. Seven years in the minor leagues. Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, shoulder surgery two years later. But he had finally made it, and this weekend more than 30 friends and family members were going to make the trip from Tucson to Chase Field, hoping Wood would get in a game. It was payback for last year, when Wood was sent down the day before the Marlins arrived in Arizona. "Everyone is real excited," Wood said. "I've been waiting a long time for this." Has he ever. Wood didn't just take the scenic route to the major leagues. He got hopelessly lost, his car broke down and vultures were circling above. Coming out of Pima, he was a 150-pound kid and converted outfielder who had been pitching all of two years. The Marlins took him in the 44th round because he had, in baseball parlance, a live arm. Still, few expected him to reach the major leagues, and for seven years Wood moved from one minor-league town to another. Just as his career seemed to be on an upward arc, he blew out his elbow while throwing a warm-up pitch in the final game of the 2004 season for Florida's Class A Greensboro affiliate. He made only 21 appearances over the next two seasons. By 2007 he was feeling good again, only to hurt his shoulder the first month of the season. When doctors told Wood he had a torn labrum and would require another extensive surgery and rehabilitation, he seriously considered quitting. "I was like, 'Am I really cut out for this?' " he said. "Look at me. I'm 6-foot, 175 pounds. You look around this room (the Marlins' clubhouse) and I'm probably the smallest guy in here. I'm thinking, 'Is my body made up for this? Am I supposed to do it?' " After talking to other pitchers who had endured arm problems - including former Marlin A.J. Burnett - Wood decided he couldn't let go. He didn't have a family to support. There was no one at home begging him to move on. Besides, he always had been a bit of a risk-taker, a guy who, "might be in the X Games if he wasn't playing baseball," said Pima Athletic Director Edgar Soto, Wood's JC baseball coach. On June 20 of last year, the risk paid off with the reward. "We (Class AAA New Orleans) win a game in walk-off fashion and as we're walking off the field smacking hands the pitching coach is looking at me really funny," Wood said. "I thought that was weird. Then, when we got to the locker room the manager came up to me and said, 'I need to see you in my office, now.' "I didn't know what I had done. I thought I was in trouble. He said, 'You're probably wondering why you didn't pitch tonight.' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'Well, you're going to the big leagues.' "That was pretty cool." Wood's career didn't exactly take off afterward. He was up-and-down from the minors 12 times. He knew the Miami-to-New Orleans plane routes by heart. But when he was recalled this year on May 18, it looked like he might stick around for a while. Then came Thursday. Wood entered in the sixth inning of Arizona's 10-4 win. He allowed four hits and two walks in an inning. His ERA ballooned to 5.53, and by the time his teammates arrived back at their hotel, Wood again had become agate type: Florida Marlins option P Tim Wood to New Orleans (AAA). The family reunion would have to wait. Again. -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.112.25.133