ATLANTA—Is the Carlos Zambrano over on the North Side? Deside for yourself. Dan Uggla belted a pair of solo homers off Carlos Zambrano to extend his hitting streak to an Atlanta-record 32 games and lead the Braves to a 10-4 victory over the Cubs on Friday night. “It’s crazy,” Uggla said following his second straight three-hit game. “It’s not one of the things I set for a goal when I came over here.”
Zambrano (9-7) gave up eight runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. The volatile right-hander then packed up his locker and talked about retiring before leaving the clubhouse. After an outing in which he allowed five home runs as part of eight earned runs in 4 1/3 inning — before getting himself ejected seemingly on purpose — mercurial Cubs starting pitcher Zambrano has cleaned out his locker, left the clubhouse and told some people he’s retiring from baseball (per multiple reporters, including Sun Times).
This is not the first time Zambrano has mentioned retirement, but in the past it always seemed like a bit of a joke or his response to questions from reporters. This time around, he left the locker room before anyone even noticed. He reportedly told a Cubs’ trainer that he was “retired” and just left with all his belongings (Tribune via Twitter).
Given that Zambrano is prone to emotional overreactions, it’s hard to tell if he’s serious or not. Of course, all the reporters in the locker room said manager Mike Quade was incredibly angry and that Zambrano’s status is “unclear” even if he tries to return to the Cubs. There is a precedent in place, as general manager Jim Hendry suspended disgruntled outfielder Milton Bradley for the last several weeks of the 2009 season before trading him in the offseason.
“We will respect his wishes and honor them and move forward,” Hendry told Paul Sullivan of the Tribune, when asked about the retirement.
Zambrano, 30, is a three-time All Star and finished fifth in Cy Young voting three times for the Cubs as well. He’s 125-80 with a 3.25 ERA in his 11-year career, which has been spent entirely with the Cubs. He has regressed in the past several years, however, save for a few spurts where it appeared he was back to his old self.
Zambrano does have one year and $19 million left on his contract, which also includes a vesting option for 2013. Should he file retirement papers, he’d forfeit it.
Freeman and Uggla hit back-to-back homers in the fifth to give Atlanta an 8-1 lead. Zambrano then threw one pitch inside to Jones and was immediately tossed after the Atlanta star had to jump back to avoid another inside pitch. As Jones stood at the plate, staring at Zambrano, the Braves came out of their dugout. Plate Umpire Tim Timmons rushed toward the dugout, cautioning the players not to come out any farther. Zambrano looked back at Jones as he walked off the field, then was shown on TV smiling before leaving the dugout. Zambrano dropped to 2-5 with a 6.08 ERA in 13 career starts against Atlanta. The right-hander has dropped his last five decisions against the Braves. Atlanta rookie Mike Minor (2-2) gave up three runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. The left-hander allowed three hits in the sixth, including a two-run double by Soriano. Braves left fielder Martin Prado almost caught Soriano’s drive, but the ball bounced out of his glove when he crashed into the wall. Rookie right-hander Arodys Vizcaino pitched two scoreless innings for Atlanta. Jones, three of Cox’s top former pitchers — Former Cub Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz — and team president John Schuerholz spoke at the pregame ceremony. Cox also was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame.Zambrano allowed a career-worst five homers, and Mike Quade said he then left the team. “I’m really disappointed,” Quade said. “His locker is empty. He walked out on 24 guys … I don’t know where he’s gone or what he’s doing. He’s talking about retiring … but I can’t have a guy walking out on 24 guys.”
Zambrano was ejected by Timmons in the fifth inning after throwing two inside pitches to Jones, the second going all the way to the backstop. The brush-back pitches followed homers by Freddie Freeman and Uggla.
Jose Constanza also went deep against Zambrano. Starlin Castro homered and Alfonso Soriano had two RBI for the Cubs, who had won nine of 11.
NOTES—Uggla entered Friday night’s game batting .355 (44 for 124) with 12 homers and 29 RBI during the streak, but only .224 overall….The Cubs announced they have agreed to terms with first baseman Trevor Gretzky, the son of former hockey great Wayne Gretzky. Trevor Gretzky, 18, was a seventh-round pick from Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Christian High School…..Braves C Brian McCann [strained left oblique] began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett. He was to have one game as a designated hitter, one game as a catcher and then possibly come off the disabled list on Sunday…..Jones’ homer was his 1,000th extra-base hit…..Attendance was 50,146.