Cubs hope they've fixed some flaws with Zambrano

Posted September 03, 2009 11:00 pm

By Bruce Miles

Carlos Zambrano opens the weekend series against the Mets tonight in New York, and he's looking for his first win since July 22.

He's coming off 2 poor games in which he gave up a combined 12 runs in 72/3 innings. Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Zambrano and pitching coach Larry Rothschild have worked on a mechanical flaw.

"Our pitching coach has addressed it," Piniella said. "Look, when you give up as many hits as he did in 31/3 innings with the wind blowing in, a couple things come to mind.

"One, he needs to throw more breaking balls; he threw one the whole game (Sunday). Also, he must be opening up prematurely and the hitter's getting a real big long view of the pitch."

On the road, Zambrano is 5-2 with a 3.17 ERA. He's 2-4 with a 4.64 ERA at home.

"He had 2 starts on this homestand, and let's hope his 2 starts on the road are a little better than his 2 starts at home," Piniella said.

"For whatever reason, he's pitched better on the road this year than he has at home. Let's see what happens. Yeah, he needs to step it up.

"We need everybody to pitch. We don't have much margin for error anymore. We need all our pitchers pitching well."

Theriot hobbled: Shortstop Ryan Theriot was limping around the clubhouse after Thursday's 5-0 loss to the White Sox. It appeared he hurt his left leg or left knee in the ninth inning when the Sox' A.J. Pierzynski took him out on a force play at second.

It didn't help that pitcher Sean Marshall delivered a high throw to the bag.

Theriot was tight-lipped about the possible injury. "Good," he said. "It's nothing."

Theriot was moved from the leadoff spot to the No. 2 hole behind Kosuke Fukudome.

Theriot was 0-for-4 with a strikeout as his on-base percentage dropped to .338. It was .387 last year. Theriot also has only 35 walks to go along with 80 strikeouts.

Last season he had 73 walks and 58 strikeouts.

Lou Piniella said the Cubs would continue going with Fukudome as the leadoff man in the near future.

This and that: Milton Bradley was 15-for-37 (.405) on the homestand. He scored 11 runs and had 3 doubles, 3 homers and 6 RBI. - Kosuke Fukudome is batting .319 (29-for-91) as the leadoff hitter in 25 games. - Reliever Angel Guzman extended his scoreless-inning streak to 41/3.

Cubs scouting report Cubs vs. New York Mets at Citi Field TV: Comcast SportsNet today and Saturday; Channel 9 Sunday Radio: WGN 720-AM Pitching matchups: The Cubs' Carlos Zambrano (7-6) vs. Bobby Parnell (3-7) today at 6:10 p.m.; Rich Harden (8-8) vs. Nelson Figueroa (2-3) Saturday at 12:10 p.m.; Randy Wells (10-7) vs. Mike Pelfrey (9-10) Sunday at 12:10 p.m. At a glance: This is the Cubs' first foray into the Mets' new ballpark. The Cubs took two of three from the Mets last weekend at Wrigley Field. The Mets, who have been banged up by injuries, are 34-32 in their new park. The Cubs are 27-38 on the road. The Mets' Luis Castillo entered Thursday 10th in batting average, at .308. Next: Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park, Monday-Wednesday

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