Posts tagged CarlosZambrano at FanHouse

Ever since the Cubs were swept out of the NLDS by the Dodgers on Saturday night, I've heard quite a few different excuses for their postseason collapse. First and foremost, there's the idiotic ones about the team being cursed, which we all know is a bunch of crap. Then there are some who just think that the team collapsed under the weight of a 100-year title drought.

While some of the excuses are viable, and others are just plain dumb, there's one explanation for the Cubs failures that rules the roost of ridiculousness, and it comes from left fielder Alfonso Soriano.

"Yeah, it's tough," he said. "We tried, but it just didn't happen. We played all year like a very good team and we expected a little bit more, but it didn't happen.

"We're a very good team for [162] games, but we don't do nothing after that. That's the difference. We're not put together for [a short series]."

That could honestly be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard, and keep in mind that I have to listen to myself talk 24 hours a day.

The Cubs aren't built for a short series? That's funny, because I always thought that the most important part of a team in a short series was their starting rotation, and last I checked the Cubs had a pretty good one. Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, and Ted Lilly seem like a rotation that's built for a short series to me.

I mean, isn't the entire regular season just a whole lot of short series packaged together? They did pretty well there, didn't they?

I had the displeasure of attending last night's game between the Cubs and Dodgers. I'd like to thank everyone who played for the Cubs last night other than Mark DeRosa -- and this girl with the awesome shirt -- for not showing up. I've heard from several people today that Dick Stockton -- Fornelli's favorite announcer -- kept proclaiming that the crowd was dead. We stood and cheered at several big moments, only to see a walk or inning-ending double play (thank you 6-4-3 Lee). When the pitcher can't throw a freaking strike, it's sorta difficult to stay loud the entire time. Fans are funny like that.

Anyway, I'm bound to my fandom, and that is why I'm still on board with my Cubs in four games prediction. Carlos Zambrano is going to pitch like an ace tonight, and the offense will show up. Consider Game 1 a wake-up call in which the team played with significant rust.

The one thing I will not tolerate is more piling on the fans. It's pathetic and lazy. Fans had nothing to do with that team not showing up last night, and every person in my section was paying attention to the game. People on talk radio today spewing crap about how Cubs fans don't care need to get a life. It's a farce, and on behalf of my entire extended family, I'm offended. We care. Quit overgeneralizing and come up with an original thought for once.

I've included more pictures from the atmosphere after the jump.

Stop that, Cubs fans. You know what I mean -- the repeated mumblings of "That's why they call it a series" followed by the "Something-something ... don't mind if I do!" Homer Simpson-like behavior. Seriously, stop. It's totally okay to freak out.

After all, you are down 1-0 in the National League Division Series to the Dodgers, and as TBS was kind enough to squeeze in between "I Love This Town" soundbites, the team that wins the first game of such a series has gone on to win said series 24 of 28 times.

Of course, it didn't have to be this way. There were a lot of things going in your favor. On paper (in theory) you had the better team. You also had a hefty wind (17 mph at last check) blowing into Wrigley. And Joe Torre made the mistake of using ground ball pitcher Derek Lowe tonight instead of saving him for a change in weather.

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Matt Snyder and Will Brinson discuss the NLDS between the Cubs and Dodgers.

We'll run through different aspects of each team -- starting rotation, bullpen, defense, starting lineup, bench, manager, and end with a prediction. We'll do it with numbers and snarky commentary (most of which was used by Brinson), and we'll get right to it after the jump.

The mantra of every single non-Cubs fan in the world is the same heading into this postseason, and it couldn't be more misguided.

If you really don't think the Cubs are going to the win the World Series, that's fine. It's neither offensive nor outlandish, as long as your reasons are rational. If your reason is something along the lines of "because they are the Cubs" or has anything to do with any circumstance outside Lou Pinella and his 25 troops, however, you have no idea what you're talking about. Wake up.

Let me lay it out for you. Jerseys and logos don't cause winners and losers. Players and managers do. The Cubs franchise hasn't won the World Series since 1908. That's as much a coincidence as anything else. There's been bad management, what some would call bad luck, and plenty of bad players ... none of which have been inflicting the team during this 2008 season.

If you think teams need postseason experience to excel -- you better not look at last year's Rockies -- then the Cubs have plenty of it. The team was in the playoffs last year. They got swept, but as Ryan Theriot said, "sometimes you have to lose before you win." It's a learning curve.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Little did these furry creatures know back when this friendly picture was taken that they would be fighting to the death just two and a half short months later on the last day of the season ... albeit in different cities. But with the White Sox and Twins both refusing to the chokeslam down on their respective weekend opponents (the Indians and the Royals), this divisional fight to the death is looking like what you would expect a fight between furry mascots to look like: sloppy, clumsy, and downright hilarious.

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- Pressure on Brewers: With a pair of dramatic walk-off wins Thursday night, the Mets and Brewers earned a little less than 24 hours of breathing room -- a momentary respite from the words choker and collapse. They enter the final weekend of the regular season tied for the wild-card lead, and, in another bit of symmetry, both teams must wait until Sunday for their aces -- Johan Santana and CC Sabathia -- to start.

The pressure is always on in the Big Apple, but make no mistake, Milwaukee is facing a tougher road to the postseason. The Brewers must deal with the best team in the National League, the Cubs, as they claw and scratch for a playoff spot.

Lou Piniella rested Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto in Chicago's final game against the Mets Thursday, but it's unlikely he will sit them all weekend against Milwaukee, especially with a chance to knock out a Brewers team that presents a real threat in October. And Piniella will also send his best two starters of late -- Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly -- to the mound in the first two games of the series. The Brewers will start the shaky Jeff Suppan and Ben Sheets coming off injury before turning to Sabathia in the finale.

Of course, the Mets won't have it easy this weekend. The Marlins are a dangerous team and New York is using a spot starter on Saturday. The Phillies will have to take care of business against the Nationals too. But as good as the vibes have been for the Brewers this week against the Pirates, the Cubs present a major obstacle to Milwaukee's playoff hopes.

When the Cubs were forced to play two "road" games against the Houston Astros this week at Miller Park, they saw a side of the place they haven't seen before when in town to play against the Milwaukee Brewers. Instead of using the visitor's clubhouse, the Cubs were given access to the Brewers clubhouse, and they loved what they saw.

The loved it so much, in fact, that they're getting downright blasphemous. Yep, that's right, ever since they had to return from the spacious clubhouse of Miller Park to the closet they dress in at Wrigley Field, Cubs players are starting to think it'd be nice to have a place like that of their own.

"You never want to see a landmark taken down, a place with so much history," [Jason] Marquis said. "The fans love it. That being said, the game is changing, stadiums are getting updated. There are better facilities, not only for the players, but for the fans-better food concessions, comfortable seats, better views. ...

"If I had a personal choice, I think they should knock Wrigley down and build a replica in the exact same spot to give it that same feel. The same colored seats, same ivy, same wall, and throw up a Jumbotron, but have it look like a replica of the scoreboard that's up there now, try to give it the same feel, in the same spot. I wouldn't be opposed to that."

That sounds great, Jason, but where do you suggest that the team plays while they're doing this? Marquis isn't the only Cub who wouldn't mind new digs, as both Carlos Zambrano and Jim Edmonds said they wouldn't have any problems with playing in a new ballpark either.

With no outs in the seventh inning, Mark Loretta came through with a base hit to right-center field in Miller Park. Yes, Ted Lilly followed up Carlos Zambrano's no-no with six no-hit innings of his own. You have to give credit to the Cubs duo on the hill for their work, but must be equally harsh with the Houston Astros.

Maybe if they spent more time in the batting cage instead of whining about the venue situation they could have gotten a hit before the 16th inning of the series.

A notable defensive play for the Cubs was a completely stretched out diving catch by Jim Edmonds.

A very amusing moment occurred the batter before Loretta. Reggie Abercrombie hit a laser right at Aramis Ramirez, who promptly booted the ball. The entire crowd gasped, and immediately started chanting, "E." About a minute later, the official scorer finally placed an ERROR on the scoreboard, and the crowd erupted. I've never seen anything like it.

All in all, a weird series ... quite fun for Cubs fans, though.

From the Windup is FanHouse's daily, extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

One Cubs-related drought ended in 2008, so why not another?

Yeah, yeah ... I know. Lame. I couldn't resist.

Still, Carlos Zambrano threw a no-hitter on Sunday. The Cubs hadn't had one since 1972, when Milt Pappas did it. If we can sift through the emotions involved with such an exciting circumstance -- and a weird one, considering the game was full of Cubs fans at Miller Park even though it was an Astros home game -- there was something extremely significant about this outing ... even if Darin Erstad had dribbled a grounder through a hole in that last at-bat. What was it?

Big Z is back.

The burly right-hander anchors the Cubs rotation. He is the heart and soul of the team from an emotional leader standpoint. The team is now 19-9 in his starts. So he's the staff ace, and we all knew that. The problem was, the Cubs were on the verge of hitting the panic button with Big Z. He hadn't started a game since September 2. In his five previous starts before the no-no, dating back to August 9th, he was quite poor. In 26 2/3 innings, the ERA was 8.10. The 33 hits and 17 walks made the WHIP dangerously close to 2.00.