Slam by Ramirez leads Cubs to 8-3 win over Astros
HOUSTON -- Carlos Zambrano's newfound tranquillity got its first serious test Saturday night.
Give him a passing grade, all things considered.
Zambrano was none too happy about coming out of the Cubs' eventual 8-3 victory over the Astros in the seventh inning.
It just so happened that third baseman Bobby Scales made an error and a misplay that inning, when the Astros scored all 3 of their runs.
When manager Mike Quade came out to get Zambrano, it was a tense handoff of baseball from pitcher to manager.
"I didn't see that," said Quade, who is 24-12 as Cubs manager and who has lifted the team into a fourth-place tie with Houston. "I would like him not to (react poorly), but all I saw was a guy that was irritated, and when he handed me the ball, he was mad, and I'm OK with that. I didn't see anything that happened after that.
"I wish after the mistake he would have been able to get some people out. He didn't, so the bullpen picked us up. You know when you're going to go get the ball from him in a situation like that, he's not going to be happy to come out, and he's not going to be happy about what's taken place."
Zambrano was all smiles after the game. He finished a tumultuous season 11-6 with a 3.33 ERA. Since his return to the rotation from anger-management treatment, he is 8-0 with a 1.41 ERA.
"I was a little upset because I knew that if I threw to two more hitters and got two more outs, I wound end up with 130 innings," he said. "I was a little tired already. He took me out of the game. The most important thing was we won the game, and that's what counts.
"I came back strong off of the suspension and did what I had to do to come back and be ready and finish the season strong the way I did. It was pretty nice."
Zambrano got all of the offensive support he needed early, as the Cubs scored twice in each of the first two innings, with Marlon Byrd picking up 3 RBI.
Aramis Ramirez put the game out of reach with the ninth grand slam of his career in the fourth.
Zambrano is no longer the power pitcher he once was, but he had good movement on his pitches against the Astros. He again indicated he wants to be back next year he has a no-trade clause in his contract and he even offered a suggestion to general manager Jim Hendry for a big free-agent signing: slugger Adam Dunn of Washington.
"I think we need another good hitter to protect (Ramirez) and Marlon," he said. "I think you know which one I'm talking about. I want (Dunn) here. I want that guy. He wants to play for us, not only this year, but two years ago, he told me he wants to play at Wrigley Field. When you see a guy who wants to play for an organization and he wants to give everything he's got for that organization, that says a lot."
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Cubs 8, Astros 3</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Milestone homer: Aramis Ramirez's grand slam in the fourth was his first of the year and ninth of his career. It also gave him 25 homers for the year. He is one of six players to have six or more 25-plus-homer seasons with the Cubs. The others are Sammy Sosa, Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Ryne Sandberg.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Still Job 1: Carlos Zambrano turned in the Cubs' 95th quality start. The Cubs are 58-37 in those games, with the starters' having an ERA of 2.07.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Streak ends: Cubs pitching had its scoreless-innings streak snapped at 27. It was the longest since a string of 28 scoreless innings in 2005. </p>