Carlos Zambrano earned the respect of many Cubs fans in July when he stood up to Barry Bonds after the Giants slugger criticized him for doing too much celebrating on the mound.
“I don’t care what he says,” Zambrano said. “I’m not scared of anybody. My dad taught me not to be afraid of anybody. I can’t change my style of pitching just because Barry Bonds says I should.”
The Cubs hope Zambrano takes that same fiery attitude–tempered somewhat–with him to the mound Wednesday night in Turner Field when he faces Braves left-hander Mike Hampton in Game 2 of their National League Division Series.
The 22-year-old Zambrano made a name for himself in his first full season in the majors, going 13-11 and finishing seventh in the National League with a 3.11 ERA. While Zambrano is renowned for fueling himself with his emotions, he sometimes gets so emotional he tends to lose focus.
That’s something manager Dusty Baker and pitching coach Larry Rothschild will have to monitor when Zambrano makes the biggest start of his career.
“Everybody is going to be pumped up,” Baker said. “You can’t really control it if a guy is pumped up or not, I’m not going to give him a Valium or anything. The main thing is what got him here and what made him successful. Just keep doing the same thing and be himself.”
That’s the conundrum the Cubs will face. They want Zambrano to be himself, but they also want him to be in control.
“Emotion will always be with me,” Zambrano said. “But I will mix that with a little bit of calm. I’m very calm right now and I have confidence in myself. I think [Wednesday] will be a good game for me.”
Zambrano had eight consecutive starts in which he allowed two or fewer runs from Aug. 7 to Sept. 14, but experienced back problems in his final two starts and gave up a combined 14 runs in 9 2/3 innings. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild said Zambrano changed his mechanics to compensate for the bad back, opening up on his delivery and experiencing some control problems.
“I think as that problem goes away, as it seems to now, he’ll get back to throwing the ball the way he has,” Rothschild said.
The back may be OK, but is the head all right?
Catcher Damian Miller admits he never has caught a pitcher who’s quite as high-strung as Zambrano.
“He’s one of a kind,” Miller said. “You try to talk to him, but sometimes he gets so emotional he doesn’t listen to you. You have to pick your spots with him. I’m still learning with him. In the back of your head, you have to remember that he’s only 22 years old, too. Like with [Kerry Wood], he’s as good as he wants to be. That’s one thing he’s going to have to limit next year, to be less emotional.”
Rothschild agrees Zambrano can be his own worst enemy at times, walking off the mound and talking to himself when he should be concentrating on the task at hand. Sometimes he has to inform the plate umpire that Zambrano is talking to himself and not arguing the strike zone and showing the umpire up
“It’s misconstrued in a lot of cases,” Rothschild said. “When you see him react in certain situations, often he’s reacting to himself not making a pitch. It looks like it might have been a close pitch, so everybody takes it as though it’s the umpire, but it really isn’t. There are times he has overreacted. But more times than not he’s mad at himself about something rather than something that went on out on the field.”
While Rothschild wants to keep Zambrano from going overboard, he also wants him to perform at his peak level. So trying to channel Zambrano’s emotions is a task that may be counterproductive if not done right.
“It showed up a couple times the last game after we gave him the lead,” Rothschild said. “You could see he wanted to do way more than he had been doing. That’s a young pitcher though, and I’d much rather have that situation than have to keep kicking him in the butt to get him going. They’ll tone themselves down in time. I would much prefer that.”
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Game 2 matchup
2003 ZAMBRANO HAMPTON
Record 13-11 14-8
ERA 3.11 3.84
Games started 32 31
Complete games 3 1
Innings pitched 214 190
Hits 188 186
Earned runs 74 81
Home runs 9 14
Walks 94 78
Strikeouts 168 110
Home 5-6, 3.00 7-4, 3.26
Away 8-5, 3.22 7-4, 4.47
2003 VS. ATL. VS. CUBS
Record 0-1 1-0
ERA 12.60 6.14
Games started 1 1
Innings pitched 5 7 1/3
Hits 8 11
Earned runs 7 5
Home runs 0 2
Walks 3 3
Strikeouts 4 5
%%
Toughest outs
– Moises Alou is 8-for-21 (.381) with a HR and four RBIs vs. Hampton in his career.
– Mark Grudzielanek is 15-for-37 (.405) with a home run and six RBIs.
– Sammy Sosa is 13-for-52 (.250) with six homers, 11 RBIs and 10 strikeouts.
– Atlanta’s Vinny Castilla is 3-for-8 (.375) with two RBIs vs. Zambrano in his career.
Easier outs
– Eric Karros is 5-for-30 (.167) with a HR and four RBIs vs. Hampton in his career.
– Rafael Furcal is 0-for-9 with three strikeouts vs. Zambrano in his career.
– Chipper Jones is 1-for-6 with two walks and no strikeouts.
– Andruw Jones is 0-for-5 with an RBI and three strikeouts. %%
