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Carlos Zambrano's latest outburst has earned him an indefinite seat on the bench. The Cubs suspended the pitcher indefinitely after he went off in general and had some words for Derrek Lee specifically after giving up four runs in the first inning of what became a 6-0 loss to the White Sox.
"His conduct was not acceptable," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said following the game. "It has become a bit of a tired act."
Manager Lou Piniella sent Zambrano home in the middle of the game after the pitcher stormed through the dugout, leaving an overturned tray of drinks in his wake. (Watch the video here.)
Carlos Quentin's three-run homer was the key blow in the first inning, and Zambrano returned to the Cubs' dugout following the inning on a rampage. Zambrano was immediately removed from the game by Lou Piniella and replaced by Tom Gorzelanny.
"He was ranting and raving and was out of control," Piniella told reporters. "I had a conversation with our general manager and we'll see what we do. But we just couldn't tolerate that. We just told him to go back in [to the clubhouse]. Even though our bullpen was really short because we played 13 innings yesterday, those guys sucked it up and did a great job.
"That's something that can't be tolerated. He came in after he got the third out and he started yelling and screaming. It was embarrassing. ... There's no excuse for this, none at all, no excuse whatsoever.
"I'm embarrassed, he should be embarrassed. He's going to have to apologize to his teammates, that's for darn sure. We've got our share of problems, we don't need those. I sent him home, yes."
Prior to Friday's blowup, Zambrano had been pitching fairly well since returning to the rotation at the beginning of this month. Quentin's home run was the first he'd allowed and prior to Friday, he had a 3.63 ERA in 22 1/3 innings over four starts. His K/BB ratio was only 16/12 over that span, but it was a big improvement over his early-season struggles.
That didn't carry over to Friday, though, and whatever went wrong obviously frustrated Zambrano enough to lash out at his teammate. Of course, given his history (this isn't the first time he's attacked a Gatorade cooler), it probably wouldn't take all that much.
And at least one outside-but-interested observer almost sounded disappointed the Zambrano-Lee fireworks didn't escalate a bit further.
"I wouldn't mind getting a seat for that one," Reds manager Dusty Baker said from Cincinnati. "Get some popcorn. That'd be a good one."
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