I don't recall many people saying that Maddux was melting down every game, or hadn't done anything to deserve praise last April. No, they said he was old and a waste of money (not to mention pitching batting practice). Again, Zambrano has had at least one inning in every game this year where he's been his own worst enemy. You may not like my "melt down" term but that's what I call it. Maddux was/is old, and questioning his contract is far from irrational. On the other hand, you are picking apart Zambrano, even when he's done well. By that definition every pitcher in the league is their own worst enemy consistently by failing to put failure behind them, even if they don't actually get hurt because of it. I disagree. The lapses have cost him because it prevents him from pitching later into games and perhaps, giving the offense time to score so he can qualify for a win. Going into this game, he pitched 29.2 innings over 5 games. That's not even averaging 6 inning a start. Today he didn't record an out in the 5th. And in his 3 good outings, the ones you have refused to acknowledge and claim he's still melting down in, he's averaged 6.33 innings per start, to go with his 1.80 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and 9.47 K/9. And again, what you're talking about isn't exclusive to Z, every pitcher ever has it happen to them. I don't need to acknowledge them. His body of work speaks for itself. He has not been ace-like. I can turn the tables and say, why are you only looking at those 3 starts when overall he's been horrible? There's no doubt that he's been more bad than good this year. He's not my child; I don't need to say something positive to counterbalance the bad. In fact, those number are so good that it just magnifies how HORRIBLE he has been in his other starts. I'm not the one that has made definitive statements about him melting down in every start, or not doing anything deserving of praise.