I don't like Kerry Wood. When I saw Carlos Zambrano pitching in the WBC the other night, I was ready to accuse Venezuela of being in the Axis of Evil. Mark Prior is another matter though. Prior hasn't smirked after buzzing Matt Morris and he hasn't gone berserk after Rolen homered off him. Yes, Prior said something silly back in 2003, but that was only after Steve Kline said he wanted to see Prior hit in the head. Prior's a very talented pitcher and as I've aged I've come to want to see that kind of potential realized. As you've probably heard, Mark Prior has had another setback and has jetted to California to visit Dr. Lewis Yocum.

In Three Nights in August, Tony LaRussa expresses his resentment towards Mark Prior's swagger. While LaRussa comes off as petty as he often does in connection with opponents, he recognized the similarity between Prior in 2003 and Rick Ankiel of pre-October 2000. LaRussa's observation seems prescient, as much like Ankiel, Prior's main function now is to frustrate Cubs fans. We know your pain, Cubs fans, even if we don't like to admit it. Well, we don't know that 1908 thing.

In other news, it may not be 1908, but the Michigan Wolverines' last NCAA tournament berth is still from the 1997-1998 season and the natives are getting restless. I attended the game that sealed Michigan's fate, an ugly loss to a bad Minnesota squad, and the thought that runs through my mind now is that Michigan's coaching staff either doesn't have a plan or they have no idea how to execute it. LaRussa, for all of his faults and blemishes, does have a plan in place and he definitely has a track record of execution. It's possible that plan is doomed to fall short of the gold standard -- nobody can say for sure and I don't know of any plan that consistently achieves the gold standard.

At least that's what I tell myself as the Cardinals try to turn Anthony Reyes into a groundball clone and the threat of Scott Spiezio looms.