Daily Closer: You're A Good Man, Kerry Wood

Notes from a day in baseball:

• 1. I Can't Stand It. Far be it from us to mock the pain of others. But we had a serious dilemma when picking the photo to go with this feature this morning. We came very close to choosing this one, because let's face it, it's pretty much interchangeable with what's actually pictured. Sorry, Cubs fans. Just be thankful we didn't go with this. But we kid Kerry Wood, who gave up three home runs to the Washington Nationals (good grief!) in a 5-3 Chicago loss. Wood was making his first start since last July due to shoulder surgery and lasted five innings, giving up five hits and four runs. May we just say, all kidding aside, we're happy to see him back?

• 2. Insert Clever Kenny Rogers Song Lyric Here. What is this "winning streak" you speak of? Brandon Inge and Placido Polanco each had a home run to lead the Tigers to their seventh straight win, 5-3 over the Twins. It's Detroit's longest winning streak since 1993. And it was the fourth straight win for $16 million man Kenny Rogers (7-2), who gave up two unearned runs over 5 2/3 innings.

• 3. Pirates Go Home. We'd like to take credit for it, but it was really the AP's Alan Robinson who wrote: "The Cincinnati Reds seemed out of this one early. They were down by six runs in the first inning and a sixth consecutive loss looked all but certain. Then maybe they realized who they were playing." Ooof. Didn't Bronson Arroyo mention something simlilar on Wednesday? Ken Griffey Jr. singled home two runs during a four-run seventh as the Reds beat the Pirates 9-8, to snap a five-game losing streak.

• 4. Schlemeel, Schlemazel, Hasenfeffer Incorporated!. It's not often that we get to sing the Brewers' praises, so let's begin. Geoff Jenkins' two-run double in the seventh helped Milwaukee surge past Philadelphia 5-4, the second straight night Jenkins has beaten the Phils.

• 5. Brad Wilkerson, Yankee Killer. If not for Brad Wilkerson, the Yankees might have swept their four-game series with Rangers. But Wilkerson had three homers in the series, including a two-run shot Thursday as Texas won 6-2, gaining a series split.