Kosuke Fukudome is flourshing in his first ‘Crosstown Classisc.’ When both theses teams bid for Kosuke in December the Cubs came out on top, just as they have in the first two games of the series. Kosuke if 4-9 in the two games, adding one rbi and one run scored.

In game one, the Cubs won 4-3. They came back in the 7th innings off back to back home runs in the bottom of the inning by Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee. Kerry Wood also picked up his 17th save of the season. In came two the Cubs feel behind early, down 4-1 heading into the bottom of the 4th inning. That wouldn’t last long though, as the Cubs scored 9 runs in the bottom of the fourth. Back to back home runs once again to center stage, twice, as Edmonds and Theriot hit back to back first, followed by Ramirez and Edmonds last on. The Cubbies would go on to win 11-7, Wood also picked up his 18th save. Read the rest of this entry »

Phil Velasquez

Kosuke Fukudome’s played comeback kid once again. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Kosuke came up to bat with two on and the Cubs trailing the Astros. The chants of ‘Fukudome’ from the Cubs faithful shook the Wrigley Field bricks once again. Once again, Fukudome delivered the go ahead run. A two run double to left field put the Cubs ahead on their way to the second win of the season.

On the day Kosuke Fukudome was 2-4, scored two runs and provided the two go ahead RBIs. The rest of the Cubs bats came alive as well. The Cubs won 9-7, and the team combined for 14 hits. Derrek Lee went 4-4 with his first home run of the season, Kerry Wood recorded his second save of the season and Reed Johnson made his first Cubs start.

As Kosuke Fukudome stepped up to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning in his Major League debut, the Chicago Cubs were down 3-0 to division rival Milwaukee Brewers.

The stage was set for Kosuke to make his name. Derrek Lee and Aramis Rameriz where on second and first base. Eric Gagne was pitching to save the game and give the Brewers their first victory of the year. Kosuke Fukudome had already gathered a single and double as well as a walk in the game. He had done more than many expected after a tough spring training. As Fukudome walked up to the plate with 2 on in the bottom of the ninth, Cubs fans began to chant: “FUKUDOME!”

Kosuke Fukudome took the first pitch for ball one. The count was now 1-0, with any chance of a Cubs comeback on the line. The next pitch Fukudome fouled off for strike one, 1-1. The next pitch ended in a way that couldnt be written any better. Kosuke Fukudome got a pitch waist high, over the heart of the plate. Gone! Kosuke Fukudome hit his first career home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in his first Major League game. Kosuke Fukudome became a hero overnight, and as the ESPN commentator said:

“A star is born!”

The right field fans, who once praised and bowwed at Sammy Sosa’s knees, had found a new love. Fans filled the right field bleachers with signs, hats, and more in Japanese and English, praising their love for the Cubs new right fielder, Kosuke Fukudome.

Although in the end the Cubs could not pull out the W, dropping the game 4-3 in 10 innings, Kosuke Fukudome became a Cubs hero overnight, and promise for the future.

After Fridays game, Lou Piniella said he would make another switch to the batting order. Kosuke Fukudome will try batting in the number 1 slot Saturday. This switch will move everyone down one spot. Ryan Theriot will bat 2nd, Alfonso Soriano 3rd, Derek Lee 4th, and Aramis Rameriz will bat 5th, as reported by ChicagoSports.com.

The move from the 5th to 1st slot in the batting order is the fourth change for Kosuke Fukudome. Fukudome will now have batted 3rd, 2nd, 5th, and first. ‘Fooky,’ as Piniella calls Fukudome, did not like what he saw from Kosuke batting behind Rameriz. The fact that Fukudome has an on base percentage of .357, despite the .205 batting average, means he’s still seeing the ball well.

The one this Lou Piniella does not like about this though means that Felix Pie and Kosuke, the Cubs only two lefties, will be batting in the 8th spot and 1st. Piniella does want to find the most comfortable spot in the batting order though before the season starts.

“I’m not all that pleased with the fifth spot,” he said. “We want to make it as comfortable as we can for Fukudome also.”

In the attempt to getting the 48 million dollar man charged up, Piniella will once again switch Kosuke Fukudome’s spot in the batting order.

Kosuke Fukudome had the day off Friday. The Chicago Cubs fell to the Colorado Rockies 7-3. Bring the Cubs spring training record to 10-14.

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If Kosuke Fukudome’s early struggles in spring training are anything to worry about, his presence in the club house definitely isn’t. Club houses of the good baseball teams are always a place of laughter and pranks, especially early in spring training. And Fukudome has found himself right in the middle of all the joking, from day one as note in the Sun-Sentinel.

When Kosuke first arrived at spring training last month, in his locker was not the ‘#1’ jersey he had worn at his signing day press conference, but a ‘#11’ jersey. A few minutes later Carlos Zambrano arrived and started getting dressed, but instead of putting on his big, ‘#38’ jersey, he was dressing in a slimmer, ‘#1” jersey. As the club house erupted in laughed, Kosuke gave a wide smile and shook his head.

Fukudome wasn’t going to let Big Z get the last laugh.

In spring training, players are given boxes of balls to autograph, usually a couple a week. One day after practice, Big Z returned to his locker to find a stack of 14 boxes to autograph. Fukudome has pushed his stack over to his locker neighbor. Big Z just pushed both of their stacks right back over, and this continued for a few days before the two just began signing the balls.

Others interacting with Kosuke:

Alfonso Soriano played minor league ball in Japan before being signed by the Yankees. Soriano is able to talk rather fluently with Kosuke on a day to day basis… Derek Lee spent some time growing up in Japan when we was younger but doesn’t remember much Japanese except a few basic phrases… And Kerry Wood has taken the time to learn how to greet his teammate every morning, learning ‘Good Morning’ in Japanese.