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Zambrano rips Marmol and this 'Triple-A' team
Pujols did it again, with another extra-inning walk-off homer, completing a sweep of the Cubs and spurning an epic rant from Carlos Zambrano.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Posted: 4:41 p.m. | Updated: 9:45 p.m.
By Patrick Mooney
CSNChicago.com
ST. LOUIS – It took less than 60 seconds for Carlos Zambrano to torch his teammates and perhaps all the bridges he built back toward the clubhouse.
The Cubs like to picture themselves as being only one pitch away. They imagine all the what-if scenarios. They wonder about a break here or there and what could happen with everyone healthy.
It’s better than thinking about how far away they are from the top of the National League Central, much less the .500 mark. Zambrano shattered that image after a 3-2 loss to the Cardinals that completed a brutal three-game sweep inside Busch Stadium’s sweltering heat.
Albert Pujols won Sunday’s game in the 10th inning with another walk-off homer. This time it was a Rodrigo Lopez fastball traveling 426 feet into the left-center field seats.
But Zambrano felt burned by Carlos Marmol. The closer blew the save in the ninth when Ryan Theriot lined a two-out double down the left-field line, scoring the game-tying run from first.
“The problem wasn’t Pujols,” Zambrano said. “We played like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing. Embarrassing for the team, for the owners. Embarrassing for the fans. Embarrassing. That’s the word here for this team.
“We should know better than this. … We should know that Ryan Theriot is not a good fastball hitter.”
It turned Zambrano’s brilliant outing – seven innings of one-run ball – into a footnote. It perfectly captured a team that has lost six in a row, and eight of the last nine to fall 11 games out of first place.
“It seems like we find different ways to lose a ballgame every day,” Aramis Ramirez said.
Playing with stitches in his mouth, Ramirez generated all the offense on Sunday with a two-run double. The Cubs scored seven runs combined in 31 innings across this lost weekend. It left no margin for error.
“I made a mistake,” Marmol said. “The pitch was right down the middle. I missed with my best pitch.”
Marmol quickly got two strikes on Theriot. When Koyie Hill signaled for a fastball, Marmol shook off his catcher and got beat with a 2-2 slider.
“You got your big guy out there on the mound in a close game,” Hill said. “(Marmol’s) good at (this). By God, if he wants to throw something that he believes (in), I’m all for it.
“That’s the oldest thing in the book – to sit back and say: ‘Oh, you should have done this. You should have done that.’”
Zambrano probably wasn’t the right messenger, and he didn’t need to point fingers at Marmol. But he did hit on a larger point that will resonate with anyone around the team. Hill understood the frustration.
“I don’t fault him for wanting the team to play better,” Hill said. “At some point I think we just get tired of saying: ‘All we got to do is play hard.’ We’ve been playing hard. Eventually you just say something else. I don’t think he means that the guys in here are Triple-A players or dogging it.
“He means that when you put together a string like we have, you start thinking maybe a Triple-A team would give us a run for our money.”
When told about Zambrano’s comments, manager Mike Quade said that will be something for his teammates to deal with on Monday. Quade said the relievers who picked up Zambrano certainly aren’t Triple-A caliber.
Quade also pointed out that if Marmol got beat on a fastball, people would rip him for not using his best pitch. In the end, the manager has bigger issues. This was only the first leg of a three-city road trip that will take the Cubs through Cincinnati and Philadelphia.
“You (bleeping) get pissed off,” Quade said. “You hitch up your belt and you go to Cincinnati and (make them) pay.”
That’s where Quade thought his team was nearing rock bottom last month, only to find out they weren’t even that close. Now here comes a very public fracture that the Cubs were still trying to process as they packed up and changed into suits.
Zambrano’s last start was ruined last week when Marmol gave up a career high six runs as a reliever. Afterward Zambrano told Marmol that it happens to the best closers in the game.
But Zambrano showed none of that graciousness on Sunday. Unaware of these comments, Marmol looked surprised when reporters showed up at his locker a second time.
Zambrano had just turned his head in Marmol’s direction before wheeling out his suitcase out of the room.
“We stink,” Zambrano said. “That’s all I got to say.”
Patrick Mooney is CSNChicago.com's Cubs beat writer. Follow Patrick on Twitter @CSNMooney for up-to-the-minute Cubs news and views.
Zambrano rips Marmol and this 'Triple-A' team
Pujols did it again, with another extra-inning walk-off homer, completing a sweep of the Cubs and spurning an epic rant from Carlos Zambrano.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Posted: 4:41 p.m. | Updated: 9:45 p.m.
By Patrick Mooney
CSNChicago.com
ST. LOUIS – It took less than 60 seconds for Carlos Zambrano to torch his teammates and perhaps all the bridges he built back toward the clubhouse.
The Cubs like to picture themselves as being only one pitch away. They imagine all the what-if scenarios. They wonder about a break here or there and what could happen with everyone healthy.
It’s better than thinking about how far away they are from the top of the National League Central, much less the .500 mark. Zambrano shattered that image after a 3-2 loss to the Cardinals that completed a brutal three-game sweep inside Busch Stadium’s sweltering heat.
Albert Pujols won Sunday’s game in the 10th inning with another walk-off homer. This time it was a Rodrigo Lopez fastball traveling 426 feet into the left-center field seats.
But Zambrano felt burned by Carlos Marmol. The closer blew the save in the ninth when Ryan Theriot lined a two-out double down the left-field line, scoring the game-tying run from first.
“The problem wasn’t Pujols,” Zambrano said. “We played like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing. Embarrassing for the team, for the owners. Embarrassing for the fans. Embarrassing. That’s the word here for this team.
“We should know better than this. … We should know that Ryan Theriot is not a good fastball hitter.”
It turned Zambrano’s brilliant outing – seven innings of one-run ball – into a footnote. It perfectly captured a team that has lost six in a row, and eight of the last nine to fall 11 games out of first place.
“It seems like we find different ways to lose a ballgame every day,” Aramis Ramirez said.
Playing with stitches in his mouth, Ramirez generated all the offense on Sunday with a two-run double. The Cubs scored seven runs combined in 31 innings across this lost weekend. It left no margin for error.
“I made a mistake,” Marmol said. “The pitch was right down the middle. I missed with my best pitch.”
Marmol quickly got two strikes on Theriot. When Koyie Hill signaled for a fastball, Marmol shook off his catcher and got beat with a 2-2 slider.
“You got your big guy out there on the mound in a close game,” Hill said. “(Marmol’s) good at (this). By God, if he wants to throw something that he believes (in), I’m all for it.
“That’s the oldest thing in the book – to sit back and say: ‘Oh, you should have done this. You should have done that.’”
Zambrano probably wasn’t the right messenger, and he didn’t need to point fingers at Marmol. But he did hit on a larger point that will resonate with anyone around the team. Hill understood the frustration.
“I don’t fault him for wanting the team to play better,” Hill said. “At some point I think we just get tired of saying: ‘All we got to do is play hard.’ We’ve been playing hard. Eventually you just say something else. I don’t think he means that the guys in here are Triple-A players or dogging it.
“He means that when you put together a string like we have, you start thinking maybe a Triple-A team would give us a run for our money.”
When told about Zambrano’s comments, manager Mike Quade said that will be something for his teammates to deal with on Monday. Quade said the relievers who picked up Zambrano certainly aren’t Triple-A caliber.
Quade also pointed out that if Marmol got beat on a fastball, people would rip him for not using his best pitch. In the end, the manager has bigger issues. This was only the first leg of a three-city road trip that will take the Cubs through Cincinnati and Philadelphia.
“You (bleeping) get pissed off,” Quade said. “You hitch up your belt and you go to Cincinnati and (make them) pay.”
That’s where Quade thought his team was nearing rock bottom last month, only to find out they weren’t even that close. Now here comes a very public fracture that the Cubs were still trying to process as they packed up and changed into suits.
Zambrano’s last start was ruined last week when Marmol gave up a career high six runs as a reliever. Afterward Zambrano told Marmol that it happens to the best closers in the game.
But Zambrano showed none of that graciousness on Sunday. Unaware of these comments, Marmol looked surprised when reporters showed up at his locker a second time.
Zambrano had just turned his head in Marmol’s direction before wheeling out his suitcase out of the room.
“We stink,” Zambrano said. “That’s all I got to say.”
Patrick Mooney is CSNChicago.com's Cubs beat writer. Follow Patrick on Twitter @CSNMooney for up-to-the-minute Cubs news and views.
