Cubs’ Rookie Has All That Stuff and Control Too

In Chicago, they’re still talking about the Cubs’ Kerry Wood and his 20-strikeout game against the Houston Astros last Wednesday.

Here’s what Cub pitching coach Phil Regan told the Chicago Tribune’s Jerome Holtzman:

“To me, the most amazing stat is not just the 20 strikeouts but no walks. It’s hard to believe a 20-year-old kid throwing 98-100 mph can get that many strikeouts without giving up a walk.”

Regan pointed out that in one of Sandy Koufax’s no-hitters, he walked four.

Both Regan and former Dodger Ron Perranoski were teammates of Koufax and both recalled him struggling for years to consistently throw strikes.

“And this kid [Wood] needed only one month in the big leagues,” Perranoski said.

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Add Wood: The Tribune’s Bob Verdi, lamenting how the Cubs let Greg Maddux go to Atlanta in 1992, wonders how long they’ll keep Wood.

“Which hat will [Wood] wear when he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame?” Verdi wrote.

“Yankees? Dodgers? Devil Rays? Diamondbacks?”

Then Verdi reviewed the list of previous pitching prospects drafted by the Cubs:

“Check the list of blue-chip talents, at least until they showed up at O’Hare: Randy Martz, Herman Segelke, Lance Dickson, Don Schulze, Mike Harkey and Drew Hall, who was drafted ahead of Maddux.

“Where are they now? Pumping gas from the stretch position?”

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Trivia time: What pitcher threw the major leagues’ last perfect game?

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Expensive stadium: Let’s have a hand for the taxpayers of Montreal. They’re the undisputed world champions at pouring money into their ballyard.

They have spent $765.7 million to build and maintain Olympic Stadium, and they’re about to spend another $25.6 million.

The stadium’s roof and 26 suspension cables are being removed, to be replaced with an opaque blue roof.

And get this: Expo owner Claude Brochu is trying to raise private and public money for a $250-million, 35,000-seat downtown stadium with a retractable roof.

The Expos are averaging 10,063 fans, last in the majors.

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Right stuff: Boston catcher Jason Varitek, describing pitcher Tim Wakefield’s pitches Sunday when he held the Royals hitless for 6 2/3 innings in Kansas City:

“His knuckleball was outstanding. It was going left, it was going right. It was going up, it was going down. He was able to throw the slow one, the medium one and the hard one for strikes.

“It’s like [the video game] Nintendo RBI. Have you seen the changeup on that thing? That’s what hitting a knuckleball is like.”

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Trivia answer: Kenny Rogers of Texas, against the Angels on July 28, 1994.

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And finally: From Kerry Luft of the Chicago Tribune, thanking the Cubs’ Wood for showing that Kerry is a man’s name:

“My mail at work is riddled with letters and faxes addressed to ‘Ms. Kerry Luft.’ . . . Is there any wonder I burst into tears when I hear Johnny Cash sing ‘A Boy Named Sue?’ ”