We’ve reached that almost midpoint in the MLB season where the boys of summer have just about had enough of seeing each other’s mugs everyday, good thing the allstar break is just around the corner. Ballplayers are as close as brothers, they play practical jokes on each other and they battle hard for their fellow teammates, but sometimes that fire boils over and it usually happens at around the midpoint of the season.
Everyone who knows and watches baseball and the Chicago Cubs, knows Carlos Zambrano is one crazy mutherf…Don’t believe me? Look at this.
Now Zambrano, may have had a right to be angry with Lee for mistakes in the field, but Lee wasn’t the one who gave up the three run bomb. Cubs fans have seen this before, both losing seasons and meltdowns, particularly from Zambrano. Zambrano, who routinely breaks bats over his knee and can lose his mind in an instant, is what they call a loose cannon. One day, he can throw no hitter for you and the next he’s trying to remove his belt to whip someone during a bench clearing brawl. That’s funny on so many levels, but the seriousness of Zambrano’s recent actions isn’t being understated by skipper sweet Lou who is considering regulating Zambrano to the bullpen. Read more.
The Tampa Bay Rays, once the hottest and best team in baseball a month ago, oh how the tables have turned. The Rays, have gone just 3-7 in their last ten games and have found themselves all the way back in third place of the American League East division behind the Yankees and the Red Sox. Losing is never easy, and for the young Rays it didn’t take long for tempers to flare up. Evan Longoria and BJ Upton, the two brightest stars on the team, recently got into it in the dugout and had to be restrained by teammates. Read more.
For the record, I’d take Upton in that fight… But this is the last thing bench boss Joe Maddon wants to see. For an experienced winning club, these type of things happen and the team moves on, for the Rays, it could be the start of huge backslide. Everyone wants to hype the Rays, but we shouldn’t forget that last year they didn’t make the post season, and excluding the 08, when they went to World Series, this team was one of baseball’s worst. It takes time to learn how to consistently win, and with the talent the Rays have, you have to believe they’re on the cusp. But already at 3 games back of the Yankees, they can’t afford to be infighting if they want a shot at the postseason, and they’ll definitely need to find ways to start winning at the Trop again, 20-19 in your own ballpark is just not going to get it done.
