" Carlos Zambrano cleaned out his locker and told friends he was retiring Friday night after serving up five home runs and getting ejected in a 10-4 loss to the Braves.

Whether or not he will pitch again remains to be seen, though even if he does decide to apologize, his days as a Cub are probably over.

"He didn't have it tonight," manager Mike Quade said. "I'm really disappointed. His locker is empty. I don't know where he's at. He walked out on 24 guys that are battling their (butts) off for him. I don't know where he's gone or what he's doing. I heard he has retired, or talking about retiring.

"I can't have a guy walking out on 24 guys, that's for damn sure."

General manager Jim Hendry was with the Double-A team in Knoxville. When contacted for comment he said: "We will respect his wishes and honor them and move forward."

Things became really ugly in the fifth when Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla hit back to back home runs. Zambrano then threw two inside pitches at Chipper Jones, missing both times."