Cubs Leave The Mark Of The Z

What they're saying, blog-wise, about Carlos Zambrano's no-hitter vs. the Astros on Sunday ... • The Most Interesting Man In The World On Hits. No. With the city in ruins, their billionaire idiot owner was finally convinced to move the games somewhere else. But with that same hurricane dumping rain over the entire midwest, the only suitable place was a crappy little dome 90 miles north of Chicago. Filled with Cubs’ fans, it wasn’t even close to a home field for the Astros. No Astro hit the ball hard. Only two hit the ball to the outfield. Hell, Carlos didn’t even let them hit the ball near Alfonso Soriano all night. [ Desipio]• History! Cubs's Z No-Hits Astros 5-0. And the raucous Miller Park crowd — 99% Cubs fans, a handful of Brewers fans looking lost, and two or three lonely-looking Astros fans who got booed every time one of them appeared on the Jumbotron — got on its feet for every pitch of the ninth inning. There's nothing like it in a regular-season baseball game, the tension of each out of the ninth inning of a no-hitter. Carlos Zambrano made that inning look easy. Two groundouts to Ryan Theriot and his tenth K of the night — on a low, outside splitter to Darin Erstad — he had his first career no-hitter, a 5-0 win over the Astros, and in my opinion, only Kerry Wood's 20-K game ten years ago was a more dominant pitching performance by a Cub in my lifetime. [ Bleed Cubbie Blue] • Zambrano No-Hits The Astros In A 'Neutral Park'. How disheartening must it have been for the entire Houston staff to have just weathered a hurricane with their families, have to go through a logistical whirlwind of travel, and then play a game in a hostile environment in spite of MLB's claims to the contrary? I just can't help feeling that Zambrano was able to no hit the Astros because they were shell shocked. [ Houston Crawfish Boxes] • Brilliance. If there was any doubt about Z’s health, that should be gone. And don’t look now, but all the Chicken Littles should note that the Cubs have now won three in a row, and lowered the division magic number to just 7. Yes we can? [ The View From The Bleachers] • The Big Z Gets The Big No. This is the first Cubs No-No since 1972. Z did it in an almost un-Z-like 110 pitches. Not bad, considering Lou wanted to limit him to 100. But with the 100th pitch being thrown in the bottom of the 9th inning, Lou may not have made it back to the dugout if he had tried to take Z out of the game. Z may have also been helped before the ninth began, as he was scheduled to bat fourth in the inning. He didn't get a chance, as the Cubs went 1-2-3, but the fact that he had to mentall prep (and we know Z takes every AB importantly) may have allowed him to ignore the fact that he was heading into the ninth without a hit. [ Towel Drills] • Astros Facing 'Homefield Disadvantage'. The homefield disadvantage, however, was no laughing matter. The Astros took exception with how the entire situation was handled, beginning with the decision in the wake of Hurricane Ike to move the games to Milwaukee — a hop, skip and a jump north of Chicago. "This is not a home game," manager Cecil Cooper said. "This is definitely advantage Cubs. That's the bottom line." The Players Union lobbied for the games to played in Atlanta, while several other cities were considered as well. Ultimately, the Commissioner's Office insisted on the games being played under a roof. More than 23,000 showed up for Sunday's game. Loosely estimated, 22,997 were Cubs fans. In Berkman's estimation, the games "might as well be played at Wrigley Field." [ Houston Astros]