From the Chicago Tribune’s Dave van Dyck, whom, by the way, isn’t the guy who took Carlos Zambrano out of the game with a one run lead in the 5th.
Already chafing about his pitching during Friday’s 6-5 loss to the Reds, Lou Piniella lost his patience briefly when asked what’s not working after an 0-3 start at Wrigley Field.
“What the hell do you think isn’t working?” he roared, his eyes flashing. “You see the damn game.”
“I can start to see some of the ways this team has lost ballgames,” he said tersely, right before the outburst. “I can see it. We have to correct it.”
What had him boiling was either a meltdown or blowup by starter Carlos Zambrano (above) and reliever Will Ohman in the fifth inning. Whichever term you choose, it provoked Piniella’s famous temper.
After yielding only one hit in the first four innings, Zambrano allowed this sequence to start the fateful fifth: single, single, walk, single, single, double, hit batter.
The result was four runs home, the bases loaded and nobody out.
In came Ohman, who threw nine pitches, eight of them balls.
The result was two free runs and a 6-5 Reds lead.
It was hard to tell with whom Piniella was most upset, Zambrano or Ohman, while he spoke in a raised voice afterward.
“This guy’s your ace,” he said. “You have a 5-0 lead with the eighth and ninth hitters coming up. You feel pretty good about that, and all of a sudden it turns into a six-run inning.
“What do I do? I pitch him when it’s his turn again. What else can I do?
“And then I bring in the reliever who’s throwing 30- or 40-foot curveballs to boot.”
(audio of Sweet Lou turning sour, quicktime required).
That outburst was pretty sweet. I hate Piniella almost as much as I hate the Cubs.