My goodness, Zambrano always makes it interesting

Sorry, all you Carlos Zambrano bashers, but I still can’t get enough of the guy.

The Cubs’ burly right-handed pitcher is one of my favorites because he’s so, well, so Cubbish.

Things happen when big Z is around that just don’t happen when other athletes are around.

Isn’t that the definition of Cubbish?

Zambrano is so entertaining that I’m always willing to give him another chance, and then another, and then another … through all his melodramatics.

If Zambrano picks a fight with a teammate, I forgive him. When he comes out of anger management counseling, I’m ready for him. After a bad outing or two or three, I assume he’ll rebound.

The guy always leaves me wanting more.

Take Saturday, when the Cubs evened their season record at 1-1 with a 5-3 victory over the Pirates.

Zambrano was rolling along through six innings. The Pirates led 2-0 but the Cubs looked in good hands with the ball in his hand.

Ah, but then as so often has happened in recent years, that hand of Big Z cramped up. He threw an 81-mph home-run pitch and Mike Quade had to replace him.

“I saw him fiddling around (with his hand),” the Cubs’ manager said. “Then I saw that 81 on the board … ”

And the next thing you know, the Cubs were losing 3-0 and heading for a 0-2 record. Only a 5-run rally in the eighth inning saved them.

“Everybody collaborated for the victory,” Zambrano said.

Include Big Z among the collaborators. He kept the Cubs in the game until he couldn’t stay in the game any longer.

Zambrano headed to the mound for the seventh inning and felt a twinge in his hamstring. Then his throwing hand cramped up.

“Warming up I was worried about it,” Zambrano said. “Then I threw that pitch with nothing (on it).”

Cramps are a part of Zambrano now. They have been for years and as he says, “It’s just in my system.”

Soon after Zambrano left the game, ex-Cubs’ pitcher Fergie Jenkins sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

How ironic that was. Jenkins pitched more than 300 innings for four straight seasons and Zambrano couldn’t get through the seventh inning of his first start.

That should infuriate me but it doesn’t.

Forget Zambrano’s pitching and his subsequent cramping. Even before any of that, he charmed me at the plate with a hit in three at-bats.

The first time up, Zambrano made a sound pass at the ball for a double. But the real show came two innings later when he struck out.

Strike 1 was a mighty swing and foul liner into the third-base boxes; Strike 2 was a feeble swing and miss; Strike 3 was some concoction where before whiffing he danced a couple steps forward softball-style as the pitch approached.

You don’t get that stuff anywhere else, folks.

The good news now is that Zambrano’s latest cramps don’t appear to be serious and he should be ready for his next start.

“I don’t know whether it’s fluids or not,” Quade said. “What do I know? You just deal with it. If he pitches like he did (today), he can cramp up all he wants.”

Ernie Banks is Mr. Cub, Kerry Wood is the current beloved Cub but Carlos Zambrano is as Cubbish as any Cub ever has been.

Bless him for that.

mimrem@dailyherald.com