Kerry Woods 20-strikeout game against the Astros on May 6, 1998, was remarkable on its own, but whats often overlooked is that Woods dominance continued for the rest of the month, which was arguably the best of his 14-year career.Until Carl Yastrzemski Jersey his fourth start of the 1998 season, Wood hadnt pitched like the future of the Cubs' rotation that he was believed to be at the time. About two weeks before his famed May 6 start, Wood failed to make it out of the second inning against the Dodgers. He put six men on base and allowed seven runs before manager Jim Riggleman pulled him for reliever Amaury Telemaco. In his next start, Wood showed greater promise, throwing a seven-inning quality start with nine strikeouts against the Cardinals.But his historic first start in May set the tone for the rest of the month.MORE: Of Woods 233 strikeouts in 1998, he delivered 60 of them in May. Thats the highest single-month total of Woods career. Nolan Ryan set the record for Jim Rice Jersey strikeouts in a month in June 1977 with 87, but he was in his 10th full season by then, and he did it over 20 more innings more than Wood.May 1998 was Wood at his most dominant, and his output was even more specialconsidering that he walked only 15 batters against those 60 strikeouts.All five of Woods Hanley Ramirez Jersey outings that month were quality starts. Just five days after mowing down the Astros, he took the mound against the Diamondbacks and struck out 13 in seven one-run innings. Wood walked only one batter in that game.Wood shut out the Reds through six innings on May 17, striking out eight. He then faced the Braves in his final two starts of the month. He first faced them first in Atlanta on May 23, his least impre sive start of the month. Wood pitched six innings and gave up three runs, striking out six and walking five.When the two teams met at Wrigley six days later, Wood threw seven innings and struck out 13. And in these two starts, Wood was going toe-to-toe with John Smoltz and Tom Glavine while facing the likes of Chipper Jones, Javy Lopez, and Andruw Jones part of a Braves team that in 1998 would go on to produce the best record of their streak of 14 straight division titles.MORE: The Cubs won Boston Red Sox Jersey all five of the games he started that month, and those helped provide the momentum to propel them to their first postseason appearance in almost a decade.For a starting pitcher to reach at least 10 strikeouts in a game, he has to average more than one per inning, and those who have done it say that this usually comes down to how often they are able to get ahead in the count, and in some cases it's thanks to how well theyre locating their out pitch. They're also battling the fatigue that can come with an elevated pitch count. On May 6, Wood threw 122 pitches, 84 of them for strikes.Woods career was impre sive as a whole. He pitched in the postseason five times, four of them with the Cubs. But his 20-strikeout game and the month that followed during Rusney Castillo Jersey his rookie year remains the hallmark of his career, and it will remain among one of the best-pitched games in baseball history.