NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS v BRAVES

September 29, 2003

Kerry Wood

KERRY WOOD: Well, obviously, I would like to think of myself as a different pitcher at that stage of my career. It was my rookie year and I had missed a month and just came back to make that start in the post-season and obviously didn't feel real sharp and all that stuff, but this year, it's different. We won our division and we're coming in here with the expectation of winning a series and I think in '98, we were more surprised to be in the post-season than obviously we are this year. It's just a whole different feeling.

KERRY WOOD: I feel healthy. I feel good. Everything feels good. I feel strong. Really for me it's not getting -- you have a lot more success when you get ahead of hitters and that's pretty much what I have been doing.

KERRY WOOD: You can look at it from both ways. They haven't had a chance to see me this year. I think I'm a different pitcher than even last year when I faced them and vice versa. I'm not really going to worry about that. I'm sure they're not worrying about that. It's a solid lineup. I have to go out and make my pitches.

KERRY WOOD: Every year I come to Spring Training and get ready for a season. I feel like I learn stuff every year and I think I made improvements in the way I was throwing the ball last year. That's it. Picking little things up and having a better idea what I want to do with the ball.

KERRY WOOD: A little bit. Any time you get a day or two extra rest I don't think it is a bad thing. I took obviously today off and getting ready for tomorrow, so it didn't really do a whole lot.

KERRY WOOD: I haven't heard. I really don't have a comment about it. I'm through talking. It's time to play.

KERRY WOOD: As far as energy in the stadium, I'll have to see what happens tomorrow. The fans were really into the Yankee series. It was an awesome series to be apart of. This is post-season now. It's a whole different mind-set and didn't attitude. It will probably be very different.

KERRY WOOD: I don't know. That's a good question. I haven't seen anything like it has been this year. It's hard to imagine it could get any better. I think it will.

KERRY WOOD: I won't talk about how I will approach them. It's a solid lineup, there is no doubt about it. It's just a matter of going out and making your pitches. We don't expect to have a whole lot of big innings in post-season. It's just not making any mistakes and making your pitches.

KERRY WOOD: I don't know if it's an advantage. Probably to a certain degree. Like you said, this team has a lot of experience and that's -- they've got a lot -- they've been through this a lot of times. As far as that's concerned I think maybe they won't get too amped up or excited, that maybe a younger team or team with less experience in the post-season might get. With our team, I don't expect that. It seems like every game in the last.

KERRY WOOD: No, I don't. To me, it doesn't really matter. We've got Paul and Damian and to me it doesn't matter. I've thrown to both of them. For me it doesn't really matter and I don't have a say.