It’s true. I regularly listen to Mully and Hanley in the morning. I really like Mike Mulligan, even though he is The Frightener. Brian Hanley annoys the shit out of me, but at least he’s not Dan McNeil or Matt Spiegel (seriously, how is that a real show?). Unfortunately, when either Mully or Hanley are out, the only voices awake and with nothing constructive to do at 5:00 a.m. are Steve Rosenbloom and Barry Rozner. When either of those guys fill in, it’s radio cancer.

This morning, Mulligan was out, so Hanley was paired with Barry Rozner. I disagree with approximately 100% of the things that Rozner says, but I’d like to hope that he is at least a responsible journalist. Oops. When I tuned in to the program, Rozner was defending an earlier statement that Carlos Zambrano had to have at least thought of tanking a game or two to get himself out of the bullpen and back into the starting rotation.

Fucking. Bullshit.

Rozner claimed that by saying Zambrano only thought about tanking, and didn’t actually accuse him of tanking makes a difference. Nonsense. That’s the same argument you use on your girlfriend when you say she was just acting like a bitch. She’s acting like a bitch because she is a bitch. Deal with it.

Just by accusing Zambrano of thinking of tanking a game, Rozner either deliberately (if he’s not a total idiot) or accidentally (if he’s a total idiot) casts doubt on every bad outing Zambrano has had since he moved to the bullpen. If Rozner’s attributed Zambranothoughts are true, Zambrano can’t be trusted. By way of example, take the following phrase, “Sure, I thought about killing my boss a bunch of times. And sure he and I worked late last night all by ourselves. And sure you found him this morning stabbed 36 times in the back. And sure that’s his blood on my hands. But I just thought about killing him, had the means to kill him, and he ended up dead. I didn’t do it, though.”

If Zambrano ever admitted that he did consider tanking a game, one would almost have to assume he did just that, based on his poor performance in the bullpen. Anyone who’s not a short-sighted idiot would have to know that accusing Zambrano of thinking it would call his character into question. Rozner didn’t bother asking Zambrano if he had these thoughts. He didn’t– you know– do his job at any point. He just threw a shitty accusation at a pitcher he doesn’t personally like. At best, it’s journalistic laziness. At worst, it’s malicious.

I know nothing about Carlos Zambrano personally. All I see is how he behaves on the mound, which is generally like a crazy person, but also an unbelievable competitor. I don’t care if Zambrano was only allowed to face one batter a season. Based solely on his behavior on the mound, it sure seems to me that Carlos would want to strike that guy out on three pitches, drive to his house, smash his mailbox, key his car, lick all of his spoons, and change his alarm code. Zambrano is a ferocious competitor, which, in my opinion, causes some of his histrionics on the mound. To suggest that he would even think of grooving a pitch, tanking a play, or giving something less than his best effort is lazy, stupid, and totally irresponsible.

Rozner owes Zambrano an apology.