This is who a multimillion dollar sports franchise goes to. I never heard of them.:shrug:
Zambrano is a stubborn ass. From what I'm hearing, he chugs Red Bulls and chases that with a lot of coffee. They have talked to him already about this and he still opens the season all jacked up (like he usually is) and cramps up again in the 1st game of the season.
A bad sweater: 'Z' says he'll drop coffee, drink more water
April 3, 2008
BY GORDON WITTENMYER gwittenmyer@suntimes.com
You can lead a workhorse to water, and the Cubs say they can make him drink. But unless pitcher Carlos Zambrano gets serious about cutting the coffee and energy drinks from his pregame ritual, his recurring problems with cramps might never get resolved.
Zambrano, who was forced to leave Monday's opener in the seventh when his right hand cramped up, said Wednesday that he'll start to heed the advice the training staff has delivered for the last few years.
''I have to stop drinking coffee and Red Bull and put more [clear fluids] in,'' said Zambrano, who has suffered cramps in his forearm and hand several times a year for at least three years, including in three of his four Opening Day starts.
It's one thing to say it, but Zambrano seemed to be taking it seriously this time. ''You have to put that in your system and your mind,'' he said. ''I like to drink coffee, but if I [can't] drink coffee because this happens, I won't drink it.''
The Cubs' medical staff is taking the issue as seriously as it took second baseman Mark DeRosa's heart arrhythmia during spring training. Zambrano had blood and urine samples taken almost immediately after he left the game Monday and again Tuesday, when he spent much of the day being examined by a team doctor and a kidney specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Those samples were compared with Zambrano's blood work at the beginning of spring training, and the only abnormality revealed was a drop in his potassium level after Monday's start -- not necessarily an unusual sign after his workload.
Despite the cool temperature Monday, the high humidity on a rainy day can contribute as much as heat to draining the body of fluids. That factor is consistent with Zambrano's Opening Day trend. The only time he hasn't cramped in an opener was in 2005 in dry Arizona, and that year he suffered cramps in his first start at Wrigley Field.
So despite manager Lou Piniella's suggestion that eating more bananas could be a solution, the problem is much more complicated than that, team officials say.
That's why the Cubs have contacted the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, which conducts detailed analyses and research studies on replacing the fluids and nutrition the body loses during stressful activity. Zambrano's sweat is to be analyzed by the GSSI as part of an examination of his cramping issues.
Zambrano, who changed sweat-soaked shirts three times Monday, is given an estimated 12 to 16 ounces of water and Gatorade between innings, and the team took the extreme measure late last season of administering IVs of fluid to hydrate him before starts.
Yet he still cramped up in a late-season game. That's why, as much as the problem might be Zambrano's unique physiology, it might come down to how much fluid he's costing his body by loading up on diuretics such as caffeine before games.
And that's why he had another lengthy sit-down with trainer Mark O'Neal after Monday's cramps.
''Our medical people are on top of it,'' general manager Jim Hendry said. ''Mark O'Neal works with him every day to keep him hydrated, and we're going to continue to stay on top of the situation until we can eliminate the problem.''
Zambrano is a stubborn ass. From what I'm hearing, he chugs Red Bulls and chases that with a lot of coffee. They have talked to him already about this and he still opens the season all jacked up (like he usually is) and cramps up again in the 1st game of the season.
A bad sweater: 'Z' says he'll drop coffee, drink more water
April 3, 2008
BY GORDON WITTENMYER gwittenmyer@suntimes.com
You can lead a workhorse to water, and the Cubs say they can make him drink. But unless pitcher Carlos Zambrano gets serious about cutting the coffee and energy drinks from his pregame ritual, his recurring problems with cramps might never get resolved.
Zambrano, who was forced to leave Monday's opener in the seventh when his right hand cramped up, said Wednesday that he'll start to heed the advice the training staff has delivered for the last few years.
''I have to stop drinking coffee and Red Bull and put more [clear fluids] in,'' said Zambrano, who has suffered cramps in his forearm and hand several times a year for at least three years, including in three of his four Opening Day starts.
It's one thing to say it, but Zambrano seemed to be taking it seriously this time. ''You have to put that in your system and your mind,'' he said. ''I like to drink coffee, but if I [can't] drink coffee because this happens, I won't drink it.''
The Cubs' medical staff is taking the issue as seriously as it took second baseman Mark DeRosa's heart arrhythmia during spring training. Zambrano had blood and urine samples taken almost immediately after he left the game Monday and again Tuesday, when he spent much of the day being examined by a team doctor and a kidney specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Those samples were compared with Zambrano's blood work at the beginning of spring training, and the only abnormality revealed was a drop in his potassium level after Monday's start -- not necessarily an unusual sign after his workload.
Despite the cool temperature Monday, the high humidity on a rainy day can contribute as much as heat to draining the body of fluids. That factor is consistent with Zambrano's Opening Day trend. The only time he hasn't cramped in an opener was in 2005 in dry Arizona, and that year he suffered cramps in his first start at Wrigley Field.
So despite manager Lou Piniella's suggestion that eating more bananas could be a solution, the problem is much more complicated than that, team officials say.
That's why the Cubs have contacted the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, which conducts detailed analyses and research studies on replacing the fluids and nutrition the body loses during stressful activity. Zambrano's sweat is to be analyzed by the GSSI as part of an examination of his cramping issues.
Zambrano, who changed sweat-soaked shirts three times Monday, is given an estimated 12 to 16 ounces of water and Gatorade between innings, and the team took the extreme measure late last season of administering IVs of fluid to hydrate him before starts.
Yet he still cramped up in a late-season game. That's why, as much as the problem might be Zambrano's unique physiology, it might come down to how much fluid he's costing his body by loading up on diuretics such as caffeine before games.
And that's why he had another lengthy sit-down with trainer Mark O'Neal after Monday's cramps.
''Our medical people are on top of it,'' general manager Jim Hendry said. ''Mark O'Neal works with him every day to keep him hydrated, and we're going to continue to stay on top of the situation until we can eliminate the problem.''
