I bring in a relief pitcher that's throwing 40' Curve balls!
I can start to see why this team has been Losing games they way they have!
Well I don't know about the rest of you Dear Cub Fans, but Piniella is showing his real pedigree here. He doesn't like losing, he doesn't accept excuses, and if things don't change, his shoe is going to find it's way up some players ass!
You see Piniella believes if you can't give him 100%, then you don't play, period! It doesn't matter if you're hurt or you're a Lollygagger. Piniella only wants players on the field that can give 100%.
Now Zambrano's act of getting in the umpire's face and his lack of maturity in picking up his teammates when there is a defensive miscue on the field behind him, is starting to wear thin on me. I don't know about you but Zambrano, although still young, is by no means a rookie. He is a great talent and been in the league long enough to understand he has to make adjustments. IMO, Zambrano's got zero chance of winning a Cy Young and being a true stopper in a rotation if he doesn't stop blaming everyone but himself for letting a game get out of hand.
Piniella hasn't seen these explosions by Zambrano as often as we have but I have no doubt, he's going to rip Carlos a new one, if Piniella hasn't already, if Zambrano doesn't grow up.
We've been watching this same thing over the years time and time again with Zambrano and everyone explains it away, myself included, with phrases like he just gets to amped up or he's just a hot blooded Latin but look how good his stuff is. Well let's face it Cub fans, for a pitcher it's not all about the stuff, it's about how you manage the game.
If you care to remember, about the same time Zambrano came up to the Cubs, there was another pitcher that was trying to break into the rotation that was initially thought more highly of than Zambrano and had just as filthy as stuff. His name was Juan Cruz.
Now the comparison I'm trying to make is not that Cruz is as good as Zambrano, but the reasons really don't matter. Cruz had such movement on his pitches that he just couldn't stay consistently in the strike zone. Zambrano on the other hand, let's his lack of maturity get in his way when things don't go his way.
Zambrano has to take a long hard look in the mirror and start realizing that he is his own worst enemy. Otherwise...
4 comments:
I think the ol foot in the ass may be exactly what Big Z needs.
With his stuff:
--he should be a stopper
--he should be a big game pitcher
--he should keep himself in check and not get too excited
--he should pick his teammates up, not call them out
Big Z isn't there yet, officially isn't quite a #1 pitcher because he can't do these things. A Brewer recently said their approach was to wait until Zambrano explodes and beats himself...aces don't beat themselves like this. Hopefully Lou will slap Z around a bit until he figures out how to go about his business and be a #1.
Good post Clute.
--ltdan001 (I forgot my google password for the moment)
Thanks Itdanoo1-
Now the next item of business is for Piniella to call up Pie for CF and put The Riot in at SS and lead off.
I really wish Soriano could play a good 2b, but I know that's unrealistic since he probably hasn't worked the infield much in 2 years.
LF--Floyd/Murton
CF--Pie
RF--Jones/DeRosa
1b--Lee
2b--Soriano
SS--Theriot/DeRosa?
3b--ARam/DeRosa
C--Barrett/Blanco
I know this won't happen, our defense certainly wouldn't be any worse. It's too bad Soriano really can't play 2b.
--ltdan001
This is just a thought, and I know what a typical response would be: risk of injury, but..Why do they call it spring training when cold weather teams have to come out of the desert to play at home in the cold? I wonder if these teams, especially the ones that feature free swingers who usually don't begin hitting until it warms up, decide to break camp and come north a week or so early? Most teams know who's going to be on the team by then. If they can get used to playing in the cold before the season starts, they'd have a definite advantage at home especially against warm weather teams.
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