Chicago Cubs Baseball

Poor Carlos Zambrano. All the Chicago Cubs baseball pitcher wants is some peace, love and understanding.

”I don’t accept the fans booing at me,” Zambrano said last Monday. ”I thought these fans were the greatest in baseball, but they showed they just care about themselves. That’s not right. When you’re struggling, you want to feel support. I’ll remember that. I know there will be great moments in my career [to] come.”

I’m assuming Zambrano’s referring to the same kind of “care” he showed former Cubs’ catcher Michael Barrett whom he pummeled before Barrett was shipped West. This was the same Barrett who went toe to backside with A.J. Pierzynski after the Chicago White Sox catcher mimicked Zambrano following a home run.

Or maybe he was referencing the “support” he showed his teammates the last six weeks, failing to win a game and watching his ERA balloon to 9.42 over that span.

Or possibly he was talking about he support he showed a struggling Cubs’ offense by blowing past Mike Quade’s stop sign like a runaway lumber truck.

And that slow motion Monday moment capsulizes, summarizes and symbolizes the complete incompetence of Chicago Cub baseball 2007 style. It defined and demonstrated the dire state of dysfunction in which the Cub franchise resides.

Because if it was any other way, Zambrano would have been held accountable instead of being coddled for his actions. But that’s not how it works with Chicago Cub baseball.
Both Cubs general manager Jim Hendry and manager Lou Piniella are the chief accomplices in this compassion play. Rather than show respect to Chicago Cub franchise, the faithful Cub following and the magnificent game of baseball, Hendry and Piniella responded like out-of-touch parents and their wayward child.

“No, I think he’s going to get better,” Hendry said of Zambrano, his man-child. ”If I didn’t know him so well off the field — I’ve known him 10 years — how badly he wants to win … it’s no secret how badly he wants to be here. He didn’t have to choose to stay here.

”I think he’s going to get better, and this may be one of those days where he learned his valuable lesson and maybe makes some adjustments before it goes any further.”

Hendry and Piniella may think of themselves as compassionate parents. I have another word for it - enablers.

It’s a track record that’s hard to hide. Take the second most recent case - Cub reliever Will (Bad) Ohman. After a string of poor pitching performances, Ohman gets demoted then proceeds to blame his ineffectiveness on a shoulder problem. But it didn’t stop there. He then insisted everyone from Hendry to the club trainer knew of his shoulder aches, but offered no treatment.

How does Cub management respond? By rewarding Ohman with a September call-up, of course. Rather than send Ohman packing like they did Eric Patterson, Hendry and crew decide to give the ineffective lefty another chance.

”Will did a few things that I’m sure he would do differently over again,” Hendry said. ”You can’t get caught up in it. I think he learned from it. He’s throwing the ball better. And the bottom line is I certainly wasn’t going to let that couple of days stand in the way of us trying to win it. If he gives us a better chance to win, he’s going to pitch.”

And how have the Cubs responded with all this tender loving care bestowed by Hendry and Piniella? By going 3-4 in the heat of a playoff race.

I guess it only shows it’s hard to win baseball games when you play without balls.