A fire burned inside Tom Gordon early Sunday morning.
Gordon said he had heard that manager Don Baylor planned to split the closer’s duties this season between him and Kyle Farnsworth. If that were the case, Gordon said it might be best for the Cubs to trade him.
“I’m not trying to cause trouble,” he said. “I just want the opportunity to do my job.”
By late morning Baylor had extinguished the flames.
After insisting that he had never suggested that Gordon’s role would be altered, he met with the 34-year-old right-hander to tell him that personally.
Baylor told him he would turn to either Farnsworth or Jeff Fassero only if Gordon were not healthy or if he had pitched two consecutive games.
“Here’s a guy who is coming off [elbow] ligament damage [in 1999],” Baylor said. “I don’t want to put him in [a dangerous] situation.”
Hearing that had to come as a relief for Gordon, who wouldn’t say who had informed him of Baylor’s supposed plans to use him differently.
Gordon, who worked feverishly over the winter to come back from tendinitis in his elbow, had said he deserved better.
“I’ve busted my butt and now I have to worry about this?” he said. Giants manager “Dusty Baker doesn’t treat [closer] Robb Nen like that. [Astros manager] Jimy Williams doesn’t do this to Billy Wagner.
“When Jimy had me in Boston, he said, `Flash, you’re my guy when the game’s on the line.’ We had a great relationship. It’s important to know you have the manager in your corner.”
Gordon and Baylor have squabbled before.
After missing the first month of the 2001 season with a strained right triceps, Gordon criticized his manager for declining to use him in his first two games as a Cub. Gordon later apologized.
Gordon also was miffed when Baylor commented after a game in August that he had another pitcher warming up in the bullpen in case Gordon “walked the ballpark.”
Gordon had speculated that the Cubs would turn to Farnsworth, deemed their closer of the future, because Gordon’s two-year deal expires after this season.
Gordon also mentioned his incentive clauses, which call for a $300,000 bonus for being the Rolaids team leader.
Baylor doesn’t concern himself with that.
“He’s going to get the ball,” he said of Gordon. “I’m thinking about 50 saves from Flash.”
No sweat: Kerry Wood was so efficient in his two innings Sunday that he went to the bullpen with pitching coach Larry Rothschild afterward to work on his curveball and changeup.
“I asked [Baylor] if I could go out there [for a third inning] and he didn’t even crack a smile,” said Wood, who fired just 12 pitches, 10 of which were strikes.
Wood often has trouble keeping his pitch counts low, so Sunday’s game was a nice contrast.
“I don’t think they’ll come out swinging like this during the regular season,” he said.
“But if I can throw first-strike pitches more consistently, I can get them to swing earlier in the count.”
Wood wants to start better than he did in 2001, when he won just one of his first eight starts. He started throwing off flat ground a month before spring training to get “familiar with the way [the ball] comes out of my hand.”
Injury update: Moises Alou, who has been sidelined with a strained muscle in his left side, began throwing Sunday. The Cubs are still targeting mid-March for his debut.
Sammy Sosa probably will take batting practice Monday despite a sprained ankle but needs to run the bases before returning to action.
SPRING REPORT
Cubs recap
SCORE: Cubs 9, Giants 1.
RECORD: 2-2.
AT THE PLATE: Roosevelt Brown went 3-for-3 with a double and a walk. He scored four runs. Hee Seop Choi ripped two opposite-field doubles.
ON THE MOUND: Kerry Wood and Julian Tavarez threw two shutout innings apiece. Mark Prior allowed a run on three hits and struck out three in two innings.
IN THE FIELD: Brown made a sliding catch in center field to rob Yorvit Torrealba of extra bases.
OUCH: Infielder Augie Ojeda left the game after getting hit on the right elbow by a Felix Rodriguez pitch. Ojeda said X-rays would not be necessary.
NEXT UP: Vs. Anaheim at 2:05 p.m. Monday in Mesa. Juan Cruz faces Kevin Appier.
