Pitchers gone wild

Edwin Jackson's no-hitter Friday was a bit of a throwback, what with a pitch count approaching 150 and eight walks. A perfect game it wasn't. He threw 79 strikes and 70 balls, a truly ugly ratio. But it worked.

Eight walks in a no-hitter is a lot, but hardly a record.

In 1967, Steve Barber and Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles combined for a no-hitter that included 10 walks, two hit batters and two fielding errors — 14 base runners in all. The Orioles lost 2-1. In 1965, Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds walked 10 (and hit a batter) all by himself in a 10-inning no-no.

But my favorite, partly because I remember reading about the game when it occurred, was Dock Ellis' 1970 no-no for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the San Diego Padres. He walked eight and hit one — nine baserunners.

It later emerged that there was a reason for that; not a good one, but a reason. Ellis was tripping on LSD when he took the mound.

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If there's a reason for Carlos Zambrano's dugout meltdown Friday, it's escaped pretty much everybody (except perhaps Ozzie Guillen, who may be trying to fan the flames a bit.)

This isn't anything new for Zambrano: The Chicago Tribune's coverage included this list of his five worst temper tantrums.

And this isn't anything new for the Cubs. Milton Bradley last year, Zambrano pretty much every year — the Cubs seem to have a boundless attraction for, and patience with, knuckleheads with no self-control.

How has Jim Hendry managed to refrain from picking up Elijah Dukes?