{image1}This writer likes to describe Carlos Zambrano as Julian Tavarez on steroids.
Of course, to understand that description, you have to know just how flaky and unstable Tavarez, who now pitches for the Cardinals, has been throughout his career. His craziness started with a bean ball incident against the Brewers while he was a rookie for the Indians and extends to last year's NLCS, when he broke his hand pounding the dugout.
Zambrano is a much bigger man and has a lot more talent that Tavarez ever had, but he too might end up his own worst enemy. He's been ejected twice already this season and has been prone to emotional outbursts throughout his still young career.
But, the Brewers had not scored on Zambrano for 12 innings -- until the sixth inning on Tuesday night. Then, they broke through for three runs and sent Zambrano to the Cubs' dugout talking and gesturing to himself.
Bill Hall, Carlos Lee and Damian Miller had key doubles in the rally. The Brewers went on to a 4-1 win in the first game of a three-game series at Miller Park.
"He's as tough as they come," manager Ned Yost said of Zambrano. "We had some great at-bats against Zambrano all night. You have to take what he gives you and go to the opposite field when you can."
Zambrano actually was on relatively good behavior Tuesday. Usually, he erupts and doesn't apologize later.
"I don't care what the people say," Zambrano said after he was ejected in the Cubs' opener in Arizona. "I just care what my teammates say, what people think about me. ... You know me, and what kind of a good person I am in this clubhouse. I'm not a dirty (player)."
Cubs' manager Dusty Baker has spoken to Zambrano about corralling his emotions.
"We're addressing it," Baker said. "He doesn't like (the reputation), but sometimes his emotion gets away from him."
By the way, Zambrano and the Cubs are not playing before big crowds in Wrigley Field North this week. Attendance was only 27,079 Tuesday night and not as one-sided as many crowds have been over the years.
None of the three games are sold out. Perhaps the fact school is not out stopped Cubs' fans from flocking north for a weekday series.
The premium pricing, which raised ticket prices in some locations by $3 for these games, also might have kept some fans away, although Brewers' officials have denied that.
Greg Maddux was scheduled to face the Brewers' Victor Santos Wednesday night. See a Sports Buzz Update for the results of that game.
Playoff Updates
The Wave will host Cleveland in the first game of the MISL championship series on May 14. The game at the U.S. Cellular Arena will be shown at 8 p.m. on ESPN 2.
A second game is scheduled for Cleveland on May 21. The series pits the two regular season division champs against each other. The Wave has been to the finals of their league playoffs the last three seasons, but has lost.
The Admirals' loss with 12 seconds left on Sunday was a heartbreaking way to end the season, but after playing with uncertainty about the future of the franchise all season the Ads still had a great year. Now, with new ownership about to take over, the business of rebuilding the organization on and off the ice can begin.
The Name Game
Greg Howes of the Wave is the Sports Buzz Athlete of the Month for April. Howes led the Wave to the playoffs and likely will be the MISL MVP for a second straight year. The Admirals' Simon Gamache and Brewers' Brady Clark get special mention ... Lyle Overbay is the Brewers' Player of the Week. After receiving 17 stitches in his chin suffered when catching a foul ball in St. Louis, Overbay hit two homers and drove in all three runs on Friday night and had a career-high five hits in Sunday's game. He extended his hitting streak to 10 games Tuesday night ...The late Reggie White, former Brewer Jim Gantner, former MU coach Hank Raymonds, Olympic speedskater and cyclist Beth Heiden and Jim Walsh, UW boxing coach from 1933-'58, were selected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame last week. Induction ceremonies will be held in October ... A decision was possible this week on whether Marquette's nickname will be changed back to the Warriors or remain the Golden Eagles.
Beyond Milwaukee Sports
Some state football players will get shots at the NFL via free agency. Brian Wrobel, a quarterback from DeSoto and Winona State, signed with Seattle. His WS teammate, Chris Samp, who played at Green Bay Preble, will try out with the Packers. Matt Pagel, an Oconto native who played at UW-La Crosse, signed with San Diego. Pagel's teammate at UWL, linebacker Dustin Powell, who is from Tomah, was going to New Orleans for a tryout with the Saints this week ... La Crosse runner John Blanchar, who is 53, has now run in 44 states on his way toward a goal of competing in marathons in all 50 states ... The NCAA Division III baseball tournament will be held, May 27-31, at Fox Cities Stadium near Appleton.
Hot Tix
The Brewers wrap up their series with the Cubs Thursday at 12:05 p.m. The Mets follow the Cubs for games at 7:05 p.m. Friday, 6:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday. The Phillies then come to town to complete the homestand.
Later in the month, the Colorado Rockies and Houston Astros come to Miller Park for three-game series.
Prep and college baseball are heating up in May. The WIAC baseball tournament will be held May 13-14 at Witter Field in Wisconsin Rapids. UW-Whitewater leads the regular season standings in WIAC.
UWM, the only Division I baseball team in the state, continues to play in the Horizon League. That league's tournament, and state prep tournaments in all sports, start later in May.
In Australian Rules Football, the Bombers host the Dallas Magpies at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Brown Deer Park. By the way, the U.S. Australian Football League championships will be held in Milwaukee, Oct. 1. A new web site has been launched at usfooty.com with information about the Milwaukee tournament.
Sports Buzz columns run on Thursdays, but you can keep up on the latest in results and breaking state sports news by checking out Sports Buzz Updates, which are added to the column throughout the week.
