Carlos Zambrano is nothing if not a quick learner.
He got to the big leagues when he was 20, became a regular starter at 21 and contributed to a division title at 22. He watched with admiration as Kerry Wood and Mark Prior carried the Cubs to the National League Championship Series a year ago, and now, at 23, has moved into that leading role himself.
More than Wood, more than Prior and even more than 303-game winner Greg Maddux, Zambrano has become the guy Dusty Baker wants on the mound when games mean the most.
That’s a good thing because he is scheduled to start twice next week–in Monday’s homestand opener against Cincinnati and then against Atlanta on Saturday, when the Cubs could have their backs against the ivy.
Or, if they continue to play as they have for the last couple of weeks, in this stretch where they have won 11 games in 12 days, maybe that Oct. 2 game against the Braves will be the clincher in a wild-card playoff race against San Francisco, Houston or even the fading Los Angeles Dodgers.
With help from Sammy Sosa and relievers Kent Mercker and Mike Remlinger, Zambrano beat the Pirates and Oliver Perez 1-0 to give the Cubs a 6-2 record on the trip. Maddux faces retread Nelson Figueroa on Thursday in the series finale.
As great as Maddux is, he will have a tough time outpitching Zambrano.
It’s hard to believe the guy on the mound these days is the same one who got pounded for 11 hits against Atlanta in the first-round series a year ago, when the Braves turned around his 98-m.p.h. fastball. He doesn’t look a lot like the guy who imploded against St. Louis in June, either, when he earned a five-game suspension for beaning Jim Edmonds.
This is a much more confident, more patient pitcher. He’s transforming himself from a pedal-to-the-metal dervish to a powerful artist. His league-leading 2.64 ERA is evidence he has arrived as a force.
“You know he’s not afraid,” Baker said. “He’s exuberant in how he goes about his business. He’s already an All-Star, and he’s 23 years old. He has a chance to be one of the best in the league.”
Zambrano benefited from two early double plays, including one on a liner to Derrek Lee that had triple-play potential. But he did much of the work himself, striking out seven and driving in the game’s only run with a bases-loaded walk, the first of his career.
Zambrano’s fastball averaged about 93 m.p.h. but continually popped in catcher Michael Barrett’s glove, seldom arriving far from the intended target. He used his head, too, striking out Pirates second baseman Jose Castillo on a curveball that was so slow it could have come with its own soundtrack. Castillo finally gave up and swung through a pitch the PNC Park radar gun called 63 m.p.h.
There’s one for the advance scouts.
“It’s just a pitch I learned,” Zambrano said. “I don’t throw it much. But you have to use all your tools at this time of year.”
The Cubs have gone 20-9 behind Zambrano this season, with him going 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA in his last six starts. It’s a far cry from how he finished the 2003 season, when he almost lost his spot in the playoff rotation to Shawn Estes.
While Zambrano denied it at the time, fatigue had to play a role in his problems last September and October. It was the first time he had been through a full major-league season and Baker didn’t baby him, allowing him to throw 120-plus pitches five times.
This time around, Zambrano has been up to the workload. He has gone to the 120-pitch level eight times and is averaging 114.1 pitches per start, second only to San Francisco’s Jason Schmidt at 114.3 among big-leaguers.
The Cubs might have written a different finish to 2003 if they had not lost all three of Zambrano’s starts, including a Game 1 defeat in the NLCS when he failed to protect a 4-0 lead. But Zambrano hasn’t spent a lot of time beating himself up about it.
“It wasn’t disappointing,” he said. “That was my first playoff. We came close, and I enjoyed it. With the team we have here, we will go back many times, and we will learn from that experience.”
Like Baker said, he’s not afraid, and that’s a good thing.
