ROSEMONT, Ill. _ On a chilly Friday at Impact Field in Rosemont, the cars whizzing down I-294 almost looked as if they were driving on top of left field. In the stands, thousands of fans milled around in hot-dog costumes.
During a break in the sixth inning of the Chicago Dogs' season opener, the red "sumo" wrestler pancaked the blue sumo in a contest of fan combatants near third base.
Carlos Zambrano, you're not at Wrigley Field anymore.
The debut of the former Cubs starting pitcher on Friday as a member of the independent-league Dogs had everything you could imagine _ except Zambrano's debut.
Fans chanted "Zambrano" when reliever Ben Allison gave up three runs in the ninth, but with a 57-minute rain delay, the game pushed past 11 p.m. and only a smattering of fans were left.
"He was going to pitch tonight if we hadn't had all this rain and the delays," manager Butch Hobson said after the game. "We'll save him for (Saturday) and hopefully we'll have a big crowd."
Since last summer, the 37-year-old Zambrano has pitched in Mexico and Venezuela. He spent his first 11 major league seasons with the Cubs and made his last big league appearance in 2012 with the Marlins.
His goal: to attract the attention of an MLB team that needs a reliever.
The would-be christening of Big Z's comeback campaign Friday was about as colorful as one would expect for the man infamous for taking a bat to a Gatorade dispenser.
Before the game, Zambrano yukked it up and took turns at batting practice with Blackhawks legend Chris Chelios (there for ceremonial first-pitch duties) and actor D.B. Sweeney, who played Shoeless Joe Jackson in "Eight Men Out."
The Dogs took a 9-1 lead after two innings against the Gary SouthShore RailCats, whose green uniforms bore a striking resemblance to the Washington Generals.
Then came the rain delay.
After the unscheduled break, costumed hot-doggers cut loose during the musical interludes. More than a few fans wore Cubs hats, jackets and jerseys too.
It seems everyone wanted to get a look at Zambrano, though each had his or her reasons or viewed his path ahead through different prisms.
