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Last week's "tired" status has apparently been downgraded to "injured" for the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano. The Cubs ace's scheduled Sunday start was pushed back due to a "fatigued arm." But after leaving Tuesday's game, Big Z "told pitching coach [Larry Rothschild] he wasn't feeling good." That does not sound good.
Zambrano is expected to pay a visit to Cubs orthopedist Stephen Gryzlo today. Will we learn more about the severity of Z's arm problems later? We imagine the media will ask Lou Piniella about little else.
As the Cubs hit the final few weeks of the season and begin preparing for the post season, there's perhaps no other player on the team they'll need to rely on as heavily as their top pitcher. With the division just about wrapped up -- they're up 4 1/2 on Milwaukee -- do they shut him down until October? [Ed.'s Note: Uh, I wouldn't call the division "wrapped up" by any stretch of the imagination. These are the Cubs.] Or do they begin preparing for a World Series run without their ace? A century of hopes and dreams hang in the prognosis.
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
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Fatigued arm? Dehydration / Cramps? This tub needs to get in better shape to physically endure a 162 game season.
This is the first time in Z's career that he's had an significant arm trouble so I'd say that he's normally been able to endure a full season in the past. Every starter goes through some problems in a season, you're moving your arm in a violent, unnatural motion thousands of times over a 6 month period, eventually that's going to catch up with you.
I think all those Gatorade cooler assaults are coming back to haunt his ass.
I knew there was a reason why Radiohead's song "house of cards" was in my head this morning. The Cubs are starting to look like exactly that ... Marshall in the rotation doesn't strike as much fear in opponents like Z does.
If he's hurt, and if Harden's hurt too - the Cubs better hope that they're facing the Mets in the first round. If they have to play Arizona again, it's going to be Lilly, Dempster, and Marquis against Webb, Haren, and Randy Johnson. Good luck with that.