As much as Carlos Zambrano excites the Chicago Cubs faithful, he scares them a little bit as well.
Whether it's a full belly flop into third or a somersault in the infield, or even just one of his run-of-the-mill tantrums, you never know what he's going to do.
But in another season in which the Cubs' other aces have battled injury problems, Zambrano has also managed to stay pretty healthy and has been the one constant in the rotation.
So his recent turn on the soccer field on his day off probably wasn't that big of a risk. Right?
At any rate, it was a success. Zambrano, a 2005 All-Star, was the main show Thursday as the Chicago Fire hosted a media scrimmage before practice at Moody Bible Institute in downtown Chicago. The Venezuelan right-hander was supposed to simply coach and serve as honorary captain for his team, but he ended up turning in another complete game.
In a move that would have surely raised a few eyebrows inside the offices at Wrigley Field, Zambrano started the 40-minute friendly as an attacking midfielder and finished up as goaltender as his "Clark Street Crew" lost 4-1 to Fire coach Dave Sarachan's "South Siders."
"I wasn't tired," said the 6-5, 255-pound Zambrano, of his complete game. "When my body is ready to play, the whole 40 minutes or whatever, I'll be there. ... It's good exercise. You don't see many fat or out-of-shape soccer players."
Zambrano, 24, played about 15 minutes between the pipes, recording five saves, including one block with his pitching hand, and allowed one goal. He didn't score, taking a half-dozen shots, but impressed everyone with his athleticism.
"He's pretty good," said Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton, who watched Zambrano play his position in the waning minutes of the game. "I just saw him make a move to his right and he looked sharp. I don't know how happy the Cubs are about this."
Zambrano, a soccer buff who has attended a few Fire games as well as the club's match with Real Madrid earlier this summer, didn't think he was taking too much of a risk by playing.
"I didn't get injured, I didn't do nothing wrong," he said. "I play just for fun."
Zambrano played aggressive but smart, rarely putting his big body into any danger, not that this game was very intense. In one situation in goal, Zambrano was out of position and the South Siders had an open net, but his sweeper made a diving stop of a sure goal. Strangely enough, said defender looked a lot like Henry Blanco. Zambrano's best save was his instinctive deflection of a John Guppy shot.
"Sometimes when I have a comebacker, I stop the ball with a palm, so that was what I did," he said. "I'm not trying to do nothing with my fingers because my fingers are fragile."
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was supposed to be the opposing coach, but couldn't make it. The Fire knew Guillen was a little under the weather, but they thought he was coming. At Thursday's game against the Detroit Tigers, Guillen said he was feeling too ill to show up.
"I'm sorry I missed it," Guillen said.
Sarachan took over as coach, no stretch there, but mostly just led by example, playing midfield with team president Guppy, who scored one goal, and former U.S. National Team member and Chicago Storm coach Frank Klopas in what was a rather stacked lineup. Because this was billed as a media event, the winning team captain was Daily Southtown reporter Nate Whalen, who defended one of Zambrano's shots early in the game. The ball went far wide.
"He's overrated," Whalen cracked.
Zambrano, who starts for the Cubs on Saturday at Pittsburgh trying to pick up his team-high 12th win, was given a personalized Fire jersey after the game.
"He's a big target out there at forward," Sarachan mused. "We could use a big target like him up front."
The Fire hosted the event to remind the media it's back in town. The haven't played at home since Aug. 13 and won't play another home game until Oct. 15. Zambrano brought an excess of media attention.
"I think every year we'll look to do something similar," Guppy said. "I think clearly when we're in the new stadium, we'd have a great environment. This was great today but we'd love to do it in Bridgeview."
Jon Greenberg is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
