The Annual Meltdown

It was a little later in the season than usual, but by now you all know about Carlos Zambrano's yearly meltdown on Friday against the Braves. I, like most Cubs fans, hope he stays retired. His act has run its course, his arm has lost its speed, and his head has lost its marbles.

One interesting fact from the game was that he became the fourth Cubs pitcher to allow five home runs in a game.

Here are the other three:



Warren Hacker, gave up five to the Reds at Crosley Field on August 11, 1954. Taking him deep were Jim Greengrass twice, Ted Kluszewski twice, and Ed Bailey.



Steve Stone was also pounded by the Reds at Wrigley on July 9, 1974. Just about every cog in the Big Red Machine was involved, with Dan Driesen, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, and Cesar Geronimo each taking him deep.



The third gopher king was Ismael Valdez, who was victimized by the White Sox on the south side on June 11, 2000. All five Sox homers were solo shots, hit by Ray Durham, Magglio Ordonez, Frank Thomas, and Jose Valentin twice. The good news is that the Cubs actually won the game 6-5!

What is most interesting to me is that of the four games, only one was at Wrigley Field. For all the talk about the homers at Wrigley, three of these guys had their trouble on the road.

And I hope Zambrano and his troubles hit the road, too; permanently.