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Never seen his control or stuff as bad as it was tonight against the Cardinals. I know you wouldn't think that after looking at his line but did anyone else feel this way?

just throw everything off the plate and the Cardinals will swing at it.. the way of the future... Do the Pdub shuffle!

but yeah something is wrong with Zambrono's head I think... got his mechanics all out of whack..

Big Z needs to work on that 1.2/1 k/bb ratio. Yikes.

To be honest, I would be a bit concerned with Big Z if I were a Cubs fan. He doesn't look nearly as nasty as he has in the past, velocity is down, command is bad.

I dunno, maybe I'm just a little paranoid for him, but he looks tired. Worn out. Almost like some manager took and rode him really hard for a couple of years and he just has lost something.

Seriously, he doesn't look that good.

thrill wrote:Big Z needs to work on that 1.2/1 k/bb ratio. Yikes.

It's discouraging that the Cardinals didn't draw a walk off Zambrano yesterday. As the AP writeup put it:

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- All Carlos Zambrano needed to end a bad month was a start against St. Louis.

Z seems to typically be a slow starter. Career 4.41 ERA in April, but not with a K/BB ratio as bad as it is this year. Think maybe he's just still getting warmed up?

jim wrote:To be honest, I would be a bit concerned with Big Z if I were a Cubs fan. He doesn't look nearly as nasty as he has in the past, velocity is down, command is bad.

We are. His arm angle has been out of whack this season, and I hope he's able to get it corrected. It's only a matter of time until Marquis and Lilly remember who they are, and that could spell trouble if Z doesn't turn it around.

Please feel free to look it up...but guys over the last 15 years who pitch >200 innings in their rookie year (and are sucessful as rookies) hardly ever repeat their success. Off the top of my head, I can think of only one.

Z pitched only about 100 in his rookie year, but his next year he more than doubled his total innings. Thus, he doesn't quite pigeonhole in the class I described in the first paragraph, but such a large increase in IP is not advisable. As such, Z's second year can almost be viewed as his rookie year.

I have never seen an organization treat its pitchers as poorly as the Cubs.

I would not take a chance on a pitcher that pitched for Dusty Baker for the past 5 years

fanforever wrote:I would not take a chance on a pitcher that pitched for Dusty Baker for the past 5 years

Your point is well-taken, but the problem has not been confined to Baker...it is organization-wide.