Aching for an answer
If Zambrano has sore arm, it's news to Rothschild, Piniella
Despite renewed speculation that Carlos Zambrano has a sore or fatigued pitching arm, the Cubs insist privately as well as publicly that he has complained of no problems, nor shown any signs of one.
''It's news to me because he's done his sides. He's done everything without any problems,'' pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. ''I've obviously seen him better, but you're not going to have your best stuff every start. I don't know that that's the issue. If it is, he's hiding it, which I don't think is the case.''
''It's news to me because he's done his sides. He's done everything without any problems,'' pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. ''I've obviously seen him better, but you're not going to have your best stuff every start. I don't know that that's the issue. If it is, he's hiding it, which I don't think is the case.''
Zambrano, who wore an elastic sleeve over his pitching arm Wednesday, was unavailable to media after a lengthy stretch in the weight room the day after one of his worst starts of the season.
(AP)
PHOTO GALLERY
Cubs vs. Reds
Zambrano, who wore an elastic sleeve over his pitching arm Wednesday, was unavailable to media after a lengthy stretch in the weight room the day after one of his worst starts of the season.
Speculation over the health of Zambrano's pitching shoulder arose early in the season, when the Cubs' ace stumbled out of the gate for two months. But that disappeared when he went 9-2 with a 1.41 ERA over his next 11 starts.
Now, though, he's winless in three August starts, with one cut short by cramps caused by his unwillingness to drink enough fluids. That was followed by a seven-run outing last week in Houston and a 13-hit, six-run, zero-strikeout start Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds.
Rothschild said Zambrano's arm slot may have dropped in his delivery in recent starts -- a sign some say indicates fatigue or soreness -- but that's also a sign of mechanics simply being out of whack. And it's common for Zambrano when he's not going well, Rothschild said.
''But I thought [Tuesday] night he used his legs well, and he just happened to get some balls up and they were aggressive swinging at them,'' Rothschild said. ''A guy that isn't feeling right usually won't use his legs the way that he used them [Tuesday].''
One thing's for sure: The Cubs need him now perhaps more than at any other time this season. After the rain-delayed, late-night 11-9 loss to the Reds on Wednesday, they have lost 10 of their last 13, including all of Zambrano's starts in that span, yet trail first-place Milwaukee by just 1½ games in the NL Central.
Zambrano is scheduled for a between-starts bullpen session today, and as long as nothing of concern arises, he remains on schedule to make his next start Sunday against St. Louis, Rothschild said.
Manager Lou Piniella also said he has no indication Zambrano has any health issues with his shoulder or anything else.
''It'd be news to me,'' Piniella said. ''I would think I would know something. I just talked to him inside [Wednesday afternoon], and he didn't mention anything.''
Zambrano was pitching with an extra day of rest Tuesday, and despite pitching seven innings, he threw only 107 pitches. That doesn't mean he's not fatigued, but it would seem to ease that issue.
Rothschild said Zambrano's velocity was consistent with his starts the last two months, but his location was off. And his strikeouts might have been down because of an aggressive approach by the Reds early in the count on a night Zambrano threw an unusually high 23 first-pitch strikes.
''He's pitched a lot of innings, and you're going to go through some ups and downs,'' Rothschild said. ''If it's fatigue, I don't know that it's ... something that lasts. I don't know that anybody can answer that. And I don't even know that people can speculate about it.
''I know he's had the two bad starts, and it's easy to connect those dots. But from my point of view, I don't know any more than what I've seen, and I've seen him do his routines regularly. He hasn't been in the training room any more than he's ever been. Those are the things you look for. And you ask him how he's feeling, and you get the response that you expect.''
Asked if Zambrano could simply be going through a common ''dead-arm'' period, Rothschild said: ''You can call things whatever you want, but he's been a workhorse for a lot of years. If you go back to last year, there was a time toward this time of year where he had some struggles. And then you go back a couple years, and he pulls out of it pretty well. So we'll go from there.''
REDS 11, CUBS 9
8/3, vs. Mets L, 6-2* 5 2 1 1 7 5
8/8, at Astros L, 8-2 5 2/3 8 7 7 3 6
8/14, vs. Reds L, 6-5 7 13 6 6 2 0
*Zambrano did not take the loss