Zambrano scuffles, bats silent in 4-1 loss to Mets
It's an open-and-shut case for the Cubs and pitcher Carlos Zambrano.
The nominal ace of the pitching staff got knocked around for the second straight start Sunday in a 4-1 loss to the New York Mets at Wrigley Field.
Overall, it was Zambrano's third straight subpar performance, the first one being caused by back problems.
Seemingly healthy now, Zambrano has a new problem: mechanics.
Maybe that's what accounted for him giving up 11 hits and 4 runs (3 earned) in only 31/3 innings against the Mets.
"I thought he'd be better today, I really did," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, whose Cubs fell to 65-63 and to 10 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central.
According to Piniella and pitching coach Larry Rothschild, Zambrano's problem is that he's "opening up" in his delivery.
"He's opening up; his front shoulder and his arm are dragging," Piniella said. "He's going to have to work on it. They (the hitters) are getting a good look at him. They're not swinging and missing at all, which gives you a pretty good indication that you're showing the ball to the hitter a little prematurely, and it gives the hitter a longer look.
"In other words, you're not staying closed enough to drive through the ball."
Zambrano has lost two straight. He gave up 7 hits and 8 runs in 41/3 innings against Washington last week in his return from the disabled list. That figures to an ERA of 12.91 over his last 2 starts.
"We're in the middle of the pennant race, and I pitched OK today," Zambrano offered. "I didn't make too (many) mistakes, but it looked like they came ready to hit today.
"It was disappointing for me, for the team."
Zambrano added that he saw the mechanical flaw during the game while watching the pitches on video.
"I was talking to Larry during the game, and I was watching the video after I left the game," he said. "He told me probably I opened too soon and they can see the ball better.
"I think I'm going to work on that in my next bullpen session. Otherwise, my fastball was good, and my split-finger was good. And everything was good today."
Everything but the end result.
The Cubs took a short-lived lead in the first. Milton Bradley walked with one out and went to second on Derrek Lee's single. Bradley scored on Aramis Ramirez's single.
Zambrano gave up 2 runs in the third, when he also committed a throwing error trying to pick a runner off second base. He didn't make it out of the fourth, as he gave up 5 straight hits after one out.
The bright spot for the Cubs was that the bullpen allowed only 1 hit the rest of the way.
"Lot of hits," Piniella said. "Some of them were the seeing-eye variety."
Cubs batters did little with Mets starter Nelson Figueroa, who worked 7 innings and gave up 6 hits. It was his first career win against the Cubs in his 10th game against them.
"Our bullpen pitchers did an excellent job - same lineup," Piniella noted. "In fact, they kept us in the game. We just didn't mount much offensively, and a few double plays hurt us there toward the end of the game."
Bruce Miles' game tracker
Bad stuff: Losing pitcher Carlos Zambrano has thrown 4⅓ or fewer innings in each of his last 3 starts, going 0-2 with a 10.13 ERA. The 11 hits he gave up Sunday were the most since he allowed 13 on June 7, 2008, at Dodger Stadium.
A-Ram tough: Third baseman Aramis Ramirez extended his hitting streak to eight games with a first-inning RBI single. He is 13-for-33 (.394) during the streak. He also has hit safely in a career-best 18 straight home games.
Bradley's hot: Right fielder Milton Bradley raised his on-base percentage to .401 as he walked, was hit by a pitch and singled. He is 12-for-22 (.545) with 5 walks and 2 homers on this homestand.