Kosuke Fukudome
Despite Monday's Results, the Cubs and Dodgers Like 'em Loaded
Monday's tense victory over the Dodgers might have been much less so if the Cubs had capitalized on a bases loaded/one out situation in the last of the sixth inning. Instead Chad Billingsley turned Kosuke Fukudome's hard groundball back to the mound into a snappy, 1-2-3, inning-ending double play.
In general, the Cubs offense, which remains the highest-scoring in the NL at 5.7 R/G, has held up its end of the workload in 2008. It's certainly been true in the precise situation that Fukudome found himself.
According to numbers presented at Bill James Online (subscription required),
Cubs Hits Of The Week (For the Week of 4/14 through 4/20)
The five hits that did the most to enhance the Cubs' chance of winning during the past week of Dusty-dissing and Pirate punishment, as measured by FanGraphs' Win Probability Added (WPA):
#5 Big Hit: Friday, v. Pittsburgh, 4th inning-- With the Cubs trailing 1-0, Kosuke Fukudome rips a leadoff triple against Ian Snell. (Fukudome would score moments later on a Mark DeRosa single). WPA .120
Game 18 Thread / Pirates @ Cubs (3 of 3)
Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview
SP | *Zach Duke | SP | Ryan Dempster |
0-0, 2.89, 7 K, 4 BB | 2-0, 2.37, 13 K, 9 BB | ||
CF | *Nate McLouth | CF | Reed Johnson |
2B | Freddy Sanchez | SS | Ryan Theriot |
LF | Jason Bay | 1B | Derrek Lee |
1B | *Adam LaRoche | 3B | Aramis Ramirez |
RF | Xavier Nady | LF | Matt Murton |
C | #Ryan Doumit | RF | Mark DeRosa |
3B | Jose Bautista | C | Geovany Soto |
SS | Brian Bixler | 2B | Ronny Cedeno |
P | *Zach Duke | P | Ryan Dempster |
WGN Radio is reporting that Kosuke Fukudome has a sebaceous cyst on his forehead which is causing some swelling in his right eyelid and thus, some vision problems. However, according to WGN's Cory Provus, Fukudome is on medication and is expected to return to the lineup on Monday.
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Cubs Hits Of The Week (For The Week Ending 4/5)
The five hits that did the most to enhance the Cubs' chance of winning this week, as measured by FanGraphs' Win Probability Added (WPA):
#5 Big Hit: Saturday v. Houston, 3rd inning--Derrek Lee cracks a solo home run off Roy Oswalt to tie the Astros, 2-2. Lee would later employ his game-tying skills to more good use. (See #4 Big Hit.) WPA .120
Fukudome's First Was Fabulous, But He's No Kaz Matsui
Kosuke Fukudome's Cub debut was so riveting Monday afternoon, it was almost enough to distract from Kerry Wood's ninth-inning failure and the larger disappointment of losing the opener to the Brewers.
But terrific as it was, Fukudome's plate performance didn't quite match up to what one of his countrymen, Kaz Matsui, did when he first took the field for the Mets four years ago. On that evening, Matsui slugged the first pitch in his Major League career 429 feet, well over the center field fence in Atlanta's Turner Field, and set his new team off on a 7-2 season-opening victory. In addition to the homer, Matsui ripped a pair of doubles and walked twice, so he reached base five times in five PA's.
Given the way Matsui eventually stunk up New York, it could be argued that his Met career went straight downhill following that first game.
In any case, here's a review of the most prominent Japanese hitters to cross the Pacific and how they fared in their first regular season games on American soil:
It's All About Us: Opening Day 2008 From A Cub Perspective
For an Opening Day loss to a bitter in-division rival in which our ace had to leave the game prematurely, our leadoff man looked overmatched, and our new closer was tagged for three runs in an inning, that was a pretty satisfying game. All the credit goes to you, Kosuke. Thanks.
But former and perhaps future Cubs had a hand in games all across the land, and there were other Cub connections evident on this, the true Opening Day 2008.
Here is a Cub-flavored summary of today's already completed games:
D-Backs 4, Reds 2. Dusty loses his first game in the Cincy dugout. Corey Patterson goes 0-for-4, but doesn't strike out. Not once. In the whole game.
Nats 11, Phillies 6. Following their one-game home series against the Braves, the Nationals traveled to Philadelphia to play the Phils. I can't find any way to connect this game to the Cubs, except for the fact that scheduling a Cubs-Brewers game in Chicago in late March when there's a perfectly adequate domed stadium 90 miles north of Chicago is asinine...much like scheduling the Nationals for a one-game home stand and then sending them on the road.
Gameday Open Thread / Royals @ Cubs
It's back to Cactus League play as the Cubs host the Royals at HoHoKam Tuesday afternoon at 3:05 Central.
Kosuke Fukudome will see some familiar faces in new Royals manager Trey Hillman, who managed the past five seasons in Japan, and righthander Yasuhiko Yabuta, who pitched the last 12 seasons for Chiba Lotte. Yabuta has given up 14 hits and 8 earned runs in 7 innings pitched and Fukudome is hitting .229--I wonder if they'll talk about the good ol' days.
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Gameday Open Thread / Angels @ Cubs
The Angels (10-6) visit HoHoKam this afternoon at 3:05 to play the Cubs (6-12). The game will be carried on WGN Radio, WGN-TV, mlb.tv and Gameday Audio, but no one will be tuning in, as the world's attention will be focused instead on the University of Illinois' attempt to secure an NCAA Tournament berth.
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All The ???? That's Fit To Print
“The kind that caused my pitchers great anxiety.”(Actually, the comment came through Fukudome’s translator.
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Video Thursday
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Recent comments
Arizona Phil (view)
LHP Blake Weiman appears to have been the last cut from the AAA Iowa roster. He is with the Tennessee group at Minor League Camp.
crunch (view)
bruce bochy is hobbling rather badly for a guy who's had 2 hip replacements. his gait is extremely wonky taking the lineup card to the ump.
crunch (view)
yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd. it's madrigal, period. for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.
occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay. going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.
seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.
Dolorous Jon Lester (view)
Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.
He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.
crunch (view)
in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.
Eric S (view)
With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳
crunch (view)
madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.
making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster. if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.
morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.
madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game? it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.
this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone. cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.
anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season. it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.
Arizona Phil (view)
There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days.
Arizona Phil (view)
18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season.
Arizona Phil (view)
Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.