Cubs 6, Brewers 2

Squeeze play for Zambrano

After hugging Barrett, contrite Zambrano grabs 'season opener,' writes Paul Sullivan

By Paul Sullivan | Tribune staff reporter

9:50 PM CDT, June 6, 2007

MILWAUKEE - Carlos Zambrano wants to turn back the clock and start over.

Forget about the slugout in the dugout with Michael Barrett. Start the ERA at 0.00 again. Put the contract hassles, the velocity issues and the media boycotts in the rearview mirror once and for all.

It might sound impossible, but for the unpredictable "Big Z," nothing is as crazy as it seems.

After he shut down Milwaukee in a 6-2 victory Wednesday at Miller Park, he vowed a new beginning was under way.

"I was in the outfield shagging [fly balls Tuesday]," Zambrano said, "and I said to myself, 'Tomorrow is the season opener for you. It's Opening [Day]. Forget about anything else. Just start from tomorrow.' I have that in my mind and went 6 2/3 innings. From now on I will try to think like that."

In his first outing since Friday's fight with Barrett, he backed up his pregame bluster with a dominant performance, giving the Cubs their first series victory in their last five and pulling them within 6½ games of the first-place Brewers.

Zambrano made only one mistake—Prince Fielder's two-run homer in the sixth—but wound up striking out nine and allowing only five hits while improving to 6-5. Or, as Zambrano said, "I'm 1-0 now."

Felix Pie's three-run homer off Jeff Suppan in the second staked Zambrano to a 4-0 lead, and Zambrano did the rest. He even chipped in with two hits, including an RBI single.

With all the self-imposed pressure on Zambrano, he wound up pitching his best game of the season.

The video of Zambrano's fight with Barrett has been vying with manager Lou Piniella's dirt-kicking tirade as the most replayed ESPN highlight the last week. The incident put the spotlight squarely on Zambrano, just the way he prefers it.

"People are watching from all over baseball," acting manager Alan Trammell said before the game. "But this guy has pitched in some big games. So I would just put this as one of those where people are watching like normal. "But when he's between the white lines, I don't think he's going to be thinking about what happened last week or last month. He should be competing, knowing the game plan, knowing what he wants to do. If he does that, [he's] one of the best pitchers in the National League.

"Now maybe the first two months, he hasn't pitched as well as we all would've liked. But today is a new start, a chance to pick this team up."

That's exactly what Zambrano did, starting in the first inning when he struck out two of the first three men he faced. Zambrano didn't give up a hit until Ryan Braun reached on an infield hit leading off the fourth that easily could have been ruled an error on shortstop Cesar Izturis.

Zambrano had guaranteed he would throw as hard as 98 m.p.h. and was only a couple of ticks shy at 96, averaging about 93 to 94 on fastballs. Was he paying close attention to the radar gun?

"Yeah, because I knew you guys were paying attention too," he said. "I told you guys in Chicago that I would throw 98. I couldn't throw 98 today, but I threw 96, and that's good enough, don't you think?"

Zambrano was in high spirits afterward, even saying "I used to be the ace" of the staff. Obviously the Cubs need Zambrano to return to ace status to evolve into a true contender. Piniella hopes Wednesday was the start of the recovery process.

"We need Carlos to get on a roll," he said after the game—and his four-game suspension—was over. "He's certainly capable of it."

psullivan@tribune.com

More articles

Copyright © 2008, The Chicago Tribune