Yay or nay?

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune wrote a story that suggested, no demanded, that the Cubs dump Carlos Zambrano immediately. He was tired of his antics against the White Sox on Sunday in losing 6-0.

The Tribune ran a poll asking fans should the Cubs get rid of him? So far over 16,000 votes and amazingly almost 57% say get rid of him.

The man does not control his emotions well. Granted. He is still one of the most talented pitchers in the game.

What the Cubs need to do is get rid of pitching coach Larry Rothschild and get a coach with backbone to stand up to the immature Zambrano. Thoughts?

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Missed the memo?

At what point do we deem somebody needing help or decide the guy is a blasted idiot?

Milwaukee Brewers prospect Jeremy Jeffress was suspended for 100 games Monday after his second violation of baseball's minor league program for a drug of abuse.

A 21-year-old right-hander, Jeffress also was suspended for 50 games on Aug. 30, 2007. He was Milwaukee's top pick in the 2006 amateur draft, the 16th selection overall, and received a $1.55 million signing bonus.

He was 2-1 with a 2.18 ERA in five starts and one relief appearance for Class-A Brevard County of the Florida State League when he was suspended Monday. He went 1-3 with a 7.57 ERA in eight starts for Double-A Huntsville of the Southern League earlier this season.

"We are obviously disappointed because Jeremy has such great major league potential, and this is a setback in his career," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said in a statement. "We will continue to assist Jeremy and help him with his problem as long as he wants to help himself."

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

More bat tricks

The bat guy is back with a couple more tricks.



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Great bat trick

This guy has an amazing maneuver with the bat. He's Josh Womack of the Long Beach Armada.

He gone! She gone! You're all gone!

If this is what it takes to control a game I'm for it. Was everybody afraid of him?

WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa - An umpire has emptied the stands at a high school baseball game, ejecting the entire crowd of more than 100 fans for being unruly.

Umpire Don Briggs said he had no problem with any of the student athletes during Thursday's game between Winfield-Mount Union and West Burlington.

He said he had to take action because fans were being unruly, yelling and arguing.

However, West Burlington Superintendent James Sleister said he didn't see any unusual behavior and said he thought the umpire overreacted.

The game resumed after a 40-minute delay. West Burlington won 12-11.

The umpire called police as a precaution. West Burlington police officer Al Waterman says there were no arrests.

See ball, hit ball!

As I write this the White Sox are facing another pitcher they have never seen, David Huff of the Cleveland Indians. As usual they have just three hits and are trailing 6-0. Should they go on to lose they will be 1-8 against unseen pitchers.

This is pathetic. I don't understand it and am quite frankly sick of the whole thing.

Last week the Sox came home for an 12 game homestand by winning seven of ten games. Two of the AL's weakest teams, Oakland and Cleveland, were the first opponents. After beating the A's in the first game 6-2 the Sox just stopped hitting and were shutout three times in six games.

How do professional hitters just stop hitting and then become terrorized by unseen pitchers? When the Sox usually start a rookie pitcher he gets lit up. I really think the Sox hitters would have trouble with a college team right now.

Our pitching has been fairly good so far except for Colon and with some decent timely hitting the Sox should be four or five games in front. Amazingly, they're just three and a half games back of Detroit who they have five games with this week.

If this team can't be more consistent hitting it will be a long summer.

Big Zzzzzz for Piniella

How long before Carlos Zambrano tears the team apart?

It will be up to Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella to decide what to do about Carlos Zambrano missing a team plane to Atlanta on Monday.

The Cubs manager is in charge of discipline for any violation of airplane policy.

It's common to get permission not to fly with the team. And according to sources close to the matter, Zambrano's teammate Ryan Dempster asked for -- and received -- permission to fly later to Atlanta in order to help take care of some personal family business.

Everyday when I see Piniella it just seems like he'd rather be somewhere else. Does this man care? His pitchers do as they please, except pitch. If not for Randy Wells pitching like he has who knows how bad they would look.

The rookie looked like a winner over Atlanta until Lou's top two relievers Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg couldn't hold a 5-1 lead with six outs to go only to lose 6-5 in 12 innings. I never saw any fire from Piniella once.

I think GM Jim Hendry needs to start thinking new manager. Piniella has no control of this team and he may not care either.