For Davearm, "Zamnobraino"

[Migrant Redbird]

Thread at Birds on the Bat

"I don't understand why the fans were booing at me. I can't understand that," Zambrano said. "They showed me today they just care about them. That's no fair. Because when you are struggling, that's when you want to feel, the support of the fans."

This is the guy who just resigned with the Cubs for 5 years. LOL. I guess it could be worse. He could have signed with the Yanks or the Sox and then said the above. D.GOOCH

You don't understand, Carlos. Cubs fans dote on their loveable losers. You play with the kind of an attitude that not even a mother could love. If you're winning, the fans will love you, but the act gets old in a hurry when you're spreading caca all over the basepaths.

Did anyone catch him leaving the field yesterday? Zambrano looked up at the crowd in surprise, pointed at them, pointed at his ears and shook his head in disgust as in "yeah, whatever, I hear you."

One Fox commentator said he looked like Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania.

Needless to say, Zambrano is not looked upon with much favor by Cardinals fans, who love it whenever he allows his emotions to disrupt his pitching effectiveness. There's a feeling that he's a "headhunter" who throws far too often at Jim Edmonds and other Cardinals, while La Russa prohibits his pitchers from retaliating. (It was a hit batter by Sidney Ponson which brought on a heated confrontation with La Russa which led to Sidney's DFA a few days later.) Zambrano did hit 20 batters in 2004 and no one who's pitched since 1969 has hit more than 21 batters. Herman Emke hit 23 batters in 1922, but virtually all the pitchers with 20 or more pitched back around 1900 or earlier and threw a lot more innings than anyone today. (They also threw dirty baseballs that were a lot harder for the batter to pick up than the sparkling white ones used today.)

Edit: Carlos Zambrano is 28th on the career list among active pitchers in hit batsmen, with 65. Carlos is 26, and most of those on the career list are in their thirties, and even forties (Randy Johnson, Clemens, Wakefield, Maddux, and Pedro Martinez are the top five.) The youngest pitcher who's ahead of Carlos on the list is Byung-Hyun Kim with 74 hit batsmen by age 28.

That being said, Zambrano is a horse whenever he has it together. Now that he's going to be a Cub for the next 5 years, I'm hoping that he keeps his Daniel Cabrero impersonation going that long.

[Migrant Redbird]

A few more comments from the peanut gallery.

At SLSF

Zambrano has lost 5 straight decisions and is 0-3 with a 9.56 ERA since signing his fat extension. Lets hope for more of the same.

A nice young lady fan posted this baseball card, but I can't seem to make the IMG function work on this forum. I use the ["img"]url["/img"] format (without the quote marks), but either I'm doing something wrong or I don't have the privilege to post pictures here.

Anyhow, you can click on the link above. Can't you just "feel the love"?

And at the original BOTB thread.

I'm sitting on my couch, and I can see what he's doing wrong. The Cubs probably see it too, but do you think he would listen to them?

Same thing he did early in the season, he's trying to throw sidearm, and getting killed doing it.

Looks like he's short-arming the ball. I think he's hurt and he knows it, which is why he didn't wait for free agency.

[Moose Milligan]

<img src = "http://www.cubssuckclub.com/gallery/Cubs_Suckcessories/lazy-k-slides/class.jpg">

[Migrant Redbird]

I still don't like Zambrano a bit, but at least he's saying the right things -- after a heart to heart talk with his manager and GM.

Carlos Zambrano apologized Wednesday for his criticism of Cubs fans and said he misspoke out of frustration.

"The first thing I want to do is apologize to the Cubs fans," Zambrano said in a news conference. "There were some moments (Tuesday) when I was angry. When human beings are angry, they say a lot of things they shouldn't say, and I am human. I made a mistake, and the thing about me is that when I make a mistake, I know I have to apologize and do the correct thing.

"This comes from my heart. I love these fans. I love the Cubs fans. I think they're the greatest fans in baseball, and you know, they have the right to boo people or to do whatever they have to do, because they've been waiting 98 years (for a championship) and sometimes we don't do a good job and they get frustrated, too.

"I apologize to all those who read the paper today and were offended at what I said. I really am sorry for what I did (Tuesday), what I said. I think the next four starts I'll do the best to be Carlos Zambrano, and the one thing I started today was with my hair."

Zambrano was referring to the blonde highlights he had put in his hair at the start of August, after winning the NL Pitcher of the Month award in July. He went 0-5 with an 8.29 earned-run average in his six starts with the new hair-do, so he cut his hair and went back to his old style.

Zambrano held his press conference Wednesday afternoon after meeting with Cubs president John McDonough and general manager Jim Hendry.

Hendry said Zambrano made a mistake and that he feels bad about what he'd said about Cubs fans during an emotional moment.

"He made quite a few mistakes (Tuesday), and John McDonough and I spoke to him this afternoon. I think it's very wrong, and there's no way around it, where you have a frustrating day and you call the fans out. I think Carlos was very sincere (with his apology). Obviously he's a very emotional guy and very well loved by the fans here...

"Unfortunately he let his frustrations and lack of success get in the way of his better judgment. I don't think it has to be said how we really feel about our fan base- that it's the greatest in the world."

I'm reminded of when Gary Templeton took offense when Cardinals fans booed him not running out a routine ground ball and flipped them the bird. If I recall correctly, Whitey Herzog yanked him from the lineup, and traded him soon afterward for the Wizard of Oz. I had mixed feelings about the trade at the time, because Templeton was a pretty slick shortstop and one heck of a better hitter than Ozzie. From what I've read since, Gary matured significantly after he left the Cardinals. I suspect that maybe Carlos did a little growing up in the last 24 hours too.