Jacque & Carlos

The ever-loyal Funky was curious about my response to Bleacher Bums booing Jacque Jones yesterday. Funky is against. My take is a bit different. Jones came here for more money, pure and simple. So any complaint he has about loyalty is suspect to begin with. Add in the fact that Cubs fans come through the turnstiles to the tune of more than 3+ million a year -- no mean feat given the fact that Wrigley seats barely 40,000 and the Cubs haven't even sniffed a Series since 1945 and I'm almost ready to boo Jones myself. The real kicker, however, is his performance merited a verbal butt-kicking. Twice, not once, but twice, the batter in front of him (Matt Murton) walked on four straight pitches. What does Jones, who is in a slump, do? He swings at the first pitch both times, and pops out. So long as the fans weren't using profanity or calling out Jones' family members, I'm fine with the boos. Jones also made things worse by waiting until after the game, after he had hit the game winning homerun (which fans gave him his props for) to call out Cubs fans. Why in the world would you moan about it after you won the game? He's asking to be booed now.

The other dunce of the game, is Carlos Zambrano, who is lucky he didn't end up on the DL with splinters after breaking a bat over his leg after whiffing. What is he, 10? Many fans like his shows of emotion, arguing that he feeds off his antics. The problem is, when things are going lousy, he loses focus and acts unprofessionally. , by doing things like showing up his teamates. And we true blue fans wonder why we're reaching a Century of Futility?