Whether it’s fair or not – and I think it’s not – there are no two pitchers perceived to have more impact on their club’s chances than the Chicago Cubs’ Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. They have the talent, makeup, and track record to join the ranks of the game’s elite, but neither has quite yet managed to put everything together and have the sort of 20-win seasons that people seem to feel they should. Both Wood and Prior are increasingly thought of as disappointments with every game in which they fail to strike out 27 hitters.

Part of the reason that this is unfair is that it ignores what they’ve achieved. Quite possibly at the expense of their health, Prior and Wood went on a tremendous run in 2003, when each frequently threw more than 130 pitches a game. Along with Carlos Zambrano, they carried the team into the playoffs and, ultimately, a few outs away from the World Series. In that season, Prior and Wood were among the five best pitchers in the National League.

Another reason it’s unfair is that it ignores the circumstances in which they’ve succeeded and failed. Chicago’s manager, Dusty Baker, is probably the worst in the major leagues: He combines tactical ineptitude, an unwillingness to trust young position players, and a stunning lack of awareness of his players’ limitations with self-righteousness and a bitter sense of entitlement. Baker always has a kind word or a spot in the lineup for a scrub like Neifi Perez and a disparaging one for a star like Wood or a solid young talent like Jerry Hairston. He’s always willing to take credit for his players’ success, and willing to let them take the blame for their failures.

Yesterday’s doubleheader against the San Diego Padres, in which each team earned an 8-3 win, was a fine example of Bakerism in all its glory.

The noon opener saw Wood against defending ERA champion Jake Peavy. Wood, who’s dealt with bursitis all year after missing a quarter of last season with arm woes, gave up a monster shot to Geoff Blum to lead off the game, and things went downhill from there: He gave up four runs in the first inning on two home runs despite a 16 mph wind blowing into Wrigley Field. Wood’s curveball wasn’t breaking, and he had no command of his fastball. Even after he settled down from the third to the sixth innings, it was clear he wasn’t on his game.

One might think that a pitcher with a history of arm and shoulder problems who’s given up two home runs with a stiff wind blowing in, one who needed 51 pitches to get through two innings, might profitably be taken out of a game as early as possible on a day the bullpen was well-rested. One would not, then, be Dusty Baker, who left Wood in for 112 pitches and took him out only after he’d surrendered a seventh-inning homer to Ryan Klesko.

“There’s no need for concern,” Baker said after the game. This is not true. When an injured pitcher displays no command of his pitches and his line in the box score shows more runs than innings pitched – Wood gave up nine hits and seven runs in 6 2/3 innings – there actually is need for concern, especially on a cold, windy day when that pitcher has absolutely nothing left in the tank. I wrote a column a few weeks ago in which I expressed skepticism that Wood and Prior’s arm woes are Baker’s fault, but it’s games like this – and there are an awful lot of them – that make people think they are.

Luckily for the Cubs, Prior looked like himself in the second game, striking out six and walking none over six scoreless innings in his first start of the year. There’s nothing at all fancy about the way he pitches: He throws a hard fastball and a curveball with which he changes speeds well, and when he has his command he’s nearly unhittable. He had good command yesterday, and the offense – featuring good young players like Hairston and Jason Dubois, whom Baker usually benches in favor of Perez and Jose Macias – scored seven runs in the first two innings.

Prior, like Wood, struggled with arm troubles throughout last season and this spring. This affects his delivery, his command, and his movement, which can leave him – on certain days – looking like a 24-year-old with two pitches, rather than the next Tom Seaver. Again, Baker seemed to ignore that fact yesterday.

After five innings, Prior had thrown 71 pitches. With the weather still cold and blustery, with his team up by seven runs, and with the pitcher’s spot due up in the bottom of the inning, Baker had a fine chance to rest his pitcher’s arm for the rigors of the season ahead. Instead, he brought him back out for the sixth.

This wasn’t particularly reckless, but it showed an utter ignorance of the tactics of superior managers like Earl Weaver and Bobby Cox, whose pitchers were and are unusually healthy because their managers looked for chances to give them a break. Baker has his horses, and he’s going to ride them. I happen to think the Cubs’ young position players and some of their less-renowned pitchers are as key to the season as Prior and Wood – but that may be because I take it for granted that Baker will ultimately ride his young aces into the ground.

Yesterday also saw some controversy in Chicago – at issue was Baker’s habit of sprinkling holy water on his player’s injuries. This is the symptom of a mental child, someone who believes in magic and wants something for nothing. Exhibiting basic common sense and taking your injured pitchers out on a cold day – not holy water – is how you keep them healthy. It’s too bad for Prior and Wood, two of the most talented pitchers I’ve ever seen, that their manager somehow seems not to know that.