Thoughts on Big Z? A better 2nd half perhaps?

[B1leper]

1 run thru 8 innings.....that run was earned?

I thought the run scored on an error. I guess we'll see. Zambrano was filthy.

[rookies and cream]

It was definitely UNEARNED.

[nolanwood]

Also hit a dong that represented the winning run...

[FalcoAtL]

Good to see signs of his old self again. Hopefully he can carry this over to starts against better teams.

[Laean]

i believe his splits when barrett is catching him is horrible, while when another catcher is catching him he is good.

after that blow up with barrett, i don't think he'll be catching czam anymore. i'm hopefully for solid #s from here on out, so much so that i don't feel any regret about trading konerko for czam earlier in the season.

[Ender]

Good to see him dominate the 14th best offense in the NL while they are playing poorly and he historically destroys them... I'm sure his owners are happy with the results but it really means very little. Of course he gets to face the NL central a lot and now that the Brewers came down to earth there isn't really a .500 team in that division, so I guess thats a plus for him and every other pitcher in that division.

[warrn2001]

It meant a lot to me, 8 innings, 8 ks, 0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 1 WIN. He was a great buy low.

[AKhomebrewer]

i believe his splits when barrett is catching him is horrible, while when another catcher is catching him he is good.

This observation, combined with the "between the ears" comment brought up earlier, pretty much sum up Zambrano's season. And the numbers are pretty stark.

7 starts with Barrett:
40.2 IP, 7.53 ERA, 1.89 WHIP, 5.3 K/9, 2-4 record (one no-decision, he left trailing)

7 starts with Blanco/Hill:
47.2 IP, 2.64 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 8.7 K/9, 5-1 record (one no-decision, he left with lead and pen blew it)

As an owner, I'm checking pre-game lineups for the starting catcher, though I doubt we see much of Barrett the rest of the way. The Cubs had already announced Blanco would be Zambrano's personal catcher a couple weeks back, but he went on the DL right before the big Zam-Barrett bout.
This isn't to say he'll be perfect the rest of the way. The between-the-ears issues remain, but it seems to help when Barrett isn't between them.

[Giambis]

I'm skeptical that Zambrano just flipped a switch and started his "new season," but to me, the one undeniable is his velocity is up. No one ever said he's perfectly consistent all the time, especially with his control, but you can get away with more mistakes throwing 94-96 than 90-91. Zambrano was throwing seeds tonight, at 94-96, I saw 97 on the gun a couple times. He was also throwing around this speed against the Brewers in his last outing. I don't know how or why, but with his velocity back, I think Zambrano's in for the turnaround we've been hoping for. Then again, I own Zambrano and might just be trying to prepare a speech to give to my leaguemates when I shop him.

Also, though, who am I to contradict the guys at rotoworld?
"Carlos Zambrano pitched eight innings of one-run ball and hit his second homer in a 2-1 win over Houston on Monday.

At 862, Zambrano has a higher OPS than Astros cleanup hitter Carlos Lee (859). More importantly, he's pitched very well in three of his last four starts. He didn't have a single eight-strikeout game over his first 10 starts. Now he has three. All three hits he allowed tonight were singles, and he walked just one. We wouldn't expect Zambrano to start being Mr. Consistency, but he's probably going to be one of the NL's top-five fantasy starters the rest of the way."

[Jschmuck2]

Well, my trade for him went through this morning, so I'm hoping last night's start will be the beginning of a rest-of-the-season trend. Guess those of us who just got him did so at the end of the "buy low" window.