Saturday, June 02, 2007

The Rumble at Wrigley...

The Cubs' Michael Barrett and Carlos Zambrano got into a shoving match in the dugout yesterday when catcher Barrett apparently pointed out to his pitcher that he was getting shelled. Zambrano took exception. The, er, discussion was broken up, and Pinella sent Zambrano to the showers. Barrett followed, and the next thing ya know Barrett had to go to the hospital for stitches in his lip. Pinella, who has been seething this year at the play of his team, let all his players have it in the post game interview. Remember, this is a man who was present when Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin got into it in the Yankees dugout in '78, and was a long term member of the Bronx Zoo. But that was a much better team than what Lou has in Chicago.

Zambrano, who was terrific last year, is in his walk year and stinking it up. Barrett, who punched out A.J. Pierzynski last year (fulfilling the dreams of practically everyone in North America, including Pierzynski's mother), has also been awful. He made about three mental mistakes in one inning against the Dodgers the other night. The whole team, which was expected to do well, has stunk. I'm not sure what they can do, either. It certainly looks like Barrett will be gone sooner rather than later, and if they can get a reasonable deal for Zambrano, he may go, too.

No comments: