Zambrano said all the right things after the 6-2 win. The night before, he told himself, "Tomorrow is the season opening for you. Forget about anything else. Just start from tomorrow." But isn't that a dicey proposition for anyone thinking of paying him up to $100 million -- that he starts the season two months late?

This is the Wham Bam Thank You Zam that Cubdom adores. This is the ace/stud/stopper who gives his team a chance not only to topple the Brewers -- a rotation-challenged ballclub with no arm to match him -- but do some damage in a month that must be whispered around Wrigley Field (October, shhhh). In nine starts since his Nuts on Clark, two-round smackdown of Barrett, he has been baseball's surest thing, allowing two or fewer runs eight times. His latest win was his 12th, inching him toward Cy Young Award contention and his first 20-win season. He has been so brilliant, you wonder if he'd have won 30 if he'd punched out Barrett in Mesa...

It is the duty of the Tribsters, then, to respond in kind and give him his money now in their final act.