Everybody within the friendly confines of Wrigley Field is fairly comfortable with the fact that Carlos Zambrano is a character.
The pitcher’s passion, his gestures, his antics … the Cubs and their fans are more or less cool with the fact that this is simply Carlito’s way.
Even when he beat up his own catcher, Michael Barrett, no one really got on his case all that much.
We all can appreciate that Zambrano is a valuable property, even if he does continue to have a few busted toys in the attic.
But what the $91.5 million man with the golden arm pulled on Monday has pushed his credibility and popularity to the edge of the ledge.
It was irresponsible to the extent that Cubs manager Lou Piniella and general manager Jim Hendry should take Zambrano aside as soon as possible for a heart-to-heart … and team President John McDonough might want to sit in on this one as well.
The pitcher’s attitude during a 11-3 dismantling by the Dodgers and his subsequent conduct and comments were disrespectful to the customers who pay to see him play as well as to the employers who pay his way.
To say of Wrigley’s fans that “they just care about them” is to drive a wedge between them and yourself, which is the last thing Zambrano or anyone at Wrigley should risk doing with the Cubs in hot pursuit of a rare pennant.
Particularly when your team also has a “For Sale” sign posted out front and the new owner is going to be stuck with your five-year, $91.5 million tab.
Zambrano is going to need to do a little fancy pitching and perhaps a lot of fast backpedaling to win back the hearts of some of these fans.
To play poorly is one thing. Zambrano is 0-5 in his last five starts. He is the ace of this staff as well as its joker, a colossal talent who is becoming increasingly distressed — just as the fans are — about a very badly timed slump.
Moodiness is understandable. Selfishness, however, is not to be tolerated, as when Zambrano ran the bases Monday without obeying a coach who was signaling to him, shouting at him, doing everything short of tackling the guy to make him stop.
That kind of thing is to the detriment of your team. It implies that you are too good to follow the rules.
A ball hit by Alfonso Soriano rolled to the left-field corner. Zambrano had the entire play in front of him as he rounded second base and ran to third.
But the wild bull of the Andes — Big Z has “TORO 38” on his car license plate — ignored third-base coach Mike Quade and was thrown out at the plate by a country mile.
“I thought the ball got away from (left fielder) Luis Gonzalez,” explained Zambrano, whose eyesight has apparently deteriorated as fast as his right arm.
Aggressive baseball is not discouraged, but this was Looney Tunes stuff, a roadrunner that ran right off the cliff.
After that, Zambrano came unglued on the mound.
He walked four of eight L.A. batters over one stretch. He gave up a double to Andy LaRoche, a rookie with eight lifetime hits, followed by a two-run single to Esteban Loiaza, a pitcher with four RBIs since 1998.
“That’s not Zambrano-like,” was Piniella’s point of view.
Nor was the worst thing Zambrano did all day, which the Cubs manager did not see at all, since he was occupied on the mound greeting Zambrano’s replacement at the time.
As he came out of the game, Zambrano responded to a cascade of boos by tapping a finger to his temple.
Benefit of the doubt said that the pitcher might be pointing out his own deficiencies. Alas, that wasn’t the case.
Zambrano made it crystal clear after the game: “I don’t accept that the fans were booing at me. I thought these were the greatest fans in baseball. But they showed me today that they just care about them, and that’s not fair.”
No, Big Z, that is known as The Customer Is Always Right.
You don’t second-guess those who boo you. Not if you play ball for a living. Not if you expect 100 percent of fans to also be your friends.
If any other pitcher making what Zambrano makes had spent the past month performing the way he has performed, there would have been boos at Wrigley Field that you could hear from here to Waukegan.
Zambrano is such a fine pitcher that Cubs fans sincerely are grateful he gave the Cubs a hometown discount to not become a free agent. But if he also becomes pouty and petty, then both he and those true-blue fans are going to come to regret that he took the Cubs’ deal.
“I think he’s letting things bother him,” Piniella said. “I think he’s probably fighting himself.”
Better himself than the fans.
Zambrano said he understands that the fans “pay to see a good show” and that he hasn’t been giving them one.
His belief is that if a loved one is struggling, you don’t try to hurt him.
“You show him love,” he said.
Big Z, it works both ways. If those who love you do hurt you, don’t try to hurt them back.
———-
mikedowney@tribune.com
