For high-priced pitchers, it can be a lonely time on the mound

Barry Zito thinks more deeply about most things than the average major leaguer. At $18 million a year, he also makes more money than most of the guys who play the game for a living.

The combination, along with a terrible start with his new team this season, makes Zito uniquely qualified to talk about the pressures of performing for pay.

"The truth is that I've never pitched with a number on my forehead," Zito said the other night in Washington, D.C.

Zito was speaking figuratively, of course, but he's not alone. He might as well have $126 million tattooed on his forehead this season, just like Carlos Zambrano might have $91.5 million.

Put $17.4 million just below the bill of the cap on Roger Clemens while you're at it.

Everyone in the ballpark knows what they make on the day they pitch, from the guy selling beer in the upper deck to those sitting in the pricey seats down below.

With the windfalls come the burden of expectations even Cy Young would have trouble delivering.

"You want to be everything for everyone," Zito said. "You want to show everyone that you're worth every dollar."

That's an impossible task given that Zito makes in one night what the average school teacher makes in 10 years. But most of us have long since accepted the fact that baseball salaries will always be far out of whack with what goes on in the real world.

Still, it's hard to feel sorry for someone making that kind of money, no matter how tough it gets on the field.

Clemens is as sure a lock for the Hall of Fame as there is, but that didn't stop Yankees fans from booing him off the mound after a rocky start last month. The Yankees coughed up some $24 million for Clemens this year, an investment that has gotten them six wins, some innings eaten up and little else.

Dodgers fans can't boo Jason Schmidt, because they can't find him. Schmidt signed for $47 million over three years during the offseason, but won only one game in six starts before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.

Although Boston fans have spent lifetimes perfecting the art of being patient, they have to be growing increasingly anxious about heading into the playoffs with the pitcher they spent so many millions for struggling on the mound. That would be Daisuke Matsuzaka, who nearly blew a nine-run lead Monday over Toronto and has given up at least five runs in three of his last four starts.

The average fan struggling to pay his mortgage and still take his family to the ballpark once in awhile can relate to the numbers Zito puts up on the mound, but not the ones on his paycheck.

Zito can talk about it with a bit more perspective now because he's pitching better -- a 1.24 ERA to show for the $2 million he earned for his last four starts. But he's 9-11 with a big ERA, the season is long over for the Giants, and their one big free agent signing has so far pretty much been a bust.

The good news, though, is that number on his forehead doesn't look quite as big anymore. And Zito has Carlos Zambrano, his agent, and the always desperate Chicago Cubs to thank for that.

Yes, that Carlos Zambrano, last seen wondering out loud why Cubs fans were booing him at Wrigley Field the same way fans in San Francisco booed Zito earlier this summer. The same Carlos Zambrano who last month signed a new contract that took some of the pressure off Zito by making him the highest priced pitcher with a multiyear contract at $18.3 million a year.

The same Carlos Zambrano who is 0-5 with an 8.29 ERA in six starts since beating Cincinnati more than a month ago and can't figure out why Cubs fans seem to care.

"I thought these were the greatest fans in baseball. They showed me today they just care about them," Zambrano said Monday after he was shelled in his latest outing. "That's no fair."

It's not fair to pay 35 bucks for a seat in the upper deck or $9.50 for a beer, either, but those are the prices fans must pay to fund the ever increasing arms race in baseball. And pay they do, packing ballparks so often this year that baseball likely will set a new attendance record.

They want results for their hard-earned cash. And the guy with the big contract standing on the mound can be an awfully big target.

Some, like Chan Ho Park with the Texas Rangers, never figure it out. Others like Kevin Brown, in his final year with the Yankees, just collect their paychecks and don't seem to try.

Zito, though, thinks he finally understands. A season of pain has given him a new outlook on success.

The best part is he's still got six years to prove his worth.

"It's all in how you view it," he said. "It's like a freshly waxed car -- the water just beads off, doesn't affect you at all. That's where you want to be. Then you pitch out there under your own circumstances instead of pitching under everybody else's."

Tim Dahlberg is a sports columnist for The Associated Press.