DODGERS SPLINTER WOOD : DODGERS 12, CHICAGO 4.

Byline: Marc J. Spears Daily News Staff Writer

Mike Piazza and the Dodgers knocked hard on Wood.

There was no pre-game doubt from either Dodger Stadium clubhouse that Cubs rookie pitcher Kerry Wood has the skills to become something special.

The 1995 fourth overall draft pick was named the top prospect of the American Association and the Cubs by Baseball America after last season. In March, the magazine also ranked the hard-throwing right-hander as the top pitching prospect in the major leagues.

That praise, however, seemed far-fetched on Friday night as Piazza and company battered the budding 20-year-old phenom in the second inning before cruising to an easy 12-4 victory in front of 36,674 spectators.

Piazza hit his third grand slam of April in a nine-run second inning that included four walks, a balk, a hit batter and only two hits allowed by a ``wild'' Wood.

``(Wood) obviously was wild,'' said Piazza, whose grand slam accounted for his eighth home run of the season. ``The first pitch almost hit me. I know he needed to throw a strike. I dropped my bat on the ball and drove it to right field.''

With his four-run shot, Piazza tied then-Cincinnati Red Eric Davis as the only National Leaguer to hit three grand slams in one month (May, 1987). Four American League players have accomplished the feat, the last being Seattle's Mike Blowers in August of 1995.

Piazza's other two grand slams came April 9 against Arizona and April 10 against Houston, and he tied a season-club-record for grand slams originally set by Kal Daniels in 1990. Piazza's eighth career grand slam also tied Carl Furillo for second place on the Dodgers' all-time list behind Gil Hodges' 14.

Piazza had a chance for another as he walked to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded in the fifth. However, it couldn't get sweeter for him as he grounded out to end the threat.

Wood took the mound in the bottom of the first with a 1-0 lead and went on to finish off the first three batters.

Then the second inning arrived.

After opening up the inning by allowing a Todd Zeile single, Wood hit Raul Mondesi and moved the Dodgers to third and second by balking with no outs. Zeile scored on a fielder's choice by Todd Hollandsworth and Matt Luke followed by whiffing for out No. 2. Wood then went on to walk the next four batters, including pitcher Ismael Valdes, to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.

``(Wood's) curveball to Zeile was too high,'' said Cubs manager Jim Riggleman. ``But (Zeile) saw it and hit it good. It all went south from there.''

Piazza stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and the crowd cheering wildly for the catcher who was recently booed because of his contract squabble. He didn't disappoint his true and fair-weather fans as he tagged Wood's 1-2 pitch into the right-field corner seats to put the Dodgers ahead 7-1. Wood, who threw 54 pitches in just 1-2/3 innings, was sent to the showers while Piazza received another curtain call.

``I was trying to find it and I couldn't,'' Wood said. ``I was not in the game. I was shot.''

The Dodgers also ended up scoring two more runs in the second off Amaury Telemarco to go up 9-1. Los Angeles' nine-run second inning was its largest single-inning run production since a nine-run third at Pittsburgh on April 13, 1997. The club-record is 10 runs in an inning, which was recorded in 1969 and 1971. Also, the Cubs had not allowed nine runs in an inning since the eighth inning at Houston on June 25, 1995.

Forgotten in the Dodgers' blowout was the return to center field by Roger Cedeno (1 for 2, two runs, RBI) and a decent pitching outing by Valdes (2-3). In seven innings, Valdes struck out five and allowed four runs on five hits and two walks. He also allowed solo homers to Sammy Sosa and pinch-hitter Ben VanRyn.