Well, the Cubs got their favorite ragdoll of a baseball team to beat on and beat on them they did with a 12-3 victory over the Pirates last night. The storyline? Carlos Zambrano, in addition to securing his 7th win, went 4-5 behind the plate with 2 RBI. I always like to talk about pitchers helping their own cause, but wow. Looks like he'd been waiting since that last poor outting to get his hands on a bat again. The Big Z is batting .343 this season. That's unreal. It's time to talk about who the Cubs' biggest asset is.
While you'd certainly like to see Carlos with more than six
strikeouts in a game, (Lilly and Dempster lead the team overall)
getting the wins is the most important thing and the Cubs can
appear to rely on Zambrano for many more of them. Considering the
glaring question mark in the 5th spot of the rotation, the known
inconsistencies of Ted Lilly, the tendency for Jason Marquis to get
slapped around in the latter portion of the season, and the
question of whether Dempster can continue his success down the
road, Zambrano provides the Cubs a lot of cushion.
Look at the way the bats lit up with Big Z at the helm. Much
like Brandon Webb in Arizona who already has 9 wins, the players
get excited because Zambrano gives them an opportunity to win when
he steps on the mound. Any excuse for the Cubs bats to get excited
is a good one, considering how deadly the Cubs offense can be when
they're fired up. A pitcher that can spark good offense is
definitely an invaluable one, and if the Cubs can get another win
streak going against the Bucs before heading back home against the
NL west, it'll show just how much of a spark Big Z really is.
Discuss