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.

Kosuke Fukudome continues to show no signs of slowing down. Fukudome gathered two hits in four at bats today, scoring one run.

Spring training was tough for Kosuke Fukudome, hitting below .225 for the spring, but Kosuke is showing spring means nothing. In four games thus far he has six hits in twelve at bats and continues to see the ball well. Fukudome is proving once again that Japanese players especially should not be judge by their first spring training, as Ichiro and Akinori Iwamura each struggled in their first spring trainings and went on to have great first seasons

As for the Chicago Cubs as a whole, game four was nothing special. The bats were quiet for the first six innings before making a come back that fell short in the bottom of the ninth. The Cubs dropped the first game of a three game series to the Astros 4-3. Alfonso Soriano made an error in left that cause the Cubs a couple runs and later played a little second base, Rich Hill started good before losing his control, and Jon Lieber made his first appearance as a Cubs since 2002.

Yesterday on ESPN.com’s weekly chat, where fans ask ESPN analyst questions and they respond with their opinions, a couple fans asked questions regarding Kosuke Fukudome’s poor spring.

ESPN.com

One fan wondered if Fukudome would get off to as slow a career in Major League Baseball as Kaz Matsui, who struggled mightily as a New York Met, but has since shown signs of improvement with the Colorado Rockies, which led to a big deal with the Houston Astros. Kieth Law’s response was:

“I like him better than that. Kaz Matsui had poor walk rates in Japan. That seems to matter for guys who come over.”

Although Kosuke Fukudome has struggled at the plate thus far, he has remained patient at the plate. Compiling 14 base on balls with an on base percentage of .409 through Tuesday evening.

Another fan asked whether is was fair to proclaim Fukudome a bust already. Noting his lack of plate coverage, and coverage, and his bat shattering, weakly hit ground balls. ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian responded to this noting his poor spring, but stating it is way to early to label Kosuke Fukudome a bust:

“He has not had a good spring, and it is way too early to suggest that he is going to be a bust. Keep in mind that Ichiro hit a bunch of soft singles and weak ground balls to the left side his first spring. Lou Piniella privately wondered if he was going to be able to hit in the bigs. Of course, he went on to be the rookie of the year and MVP. Fukudome is no Ichiro, but he is going to be an above-average major league outfielder who is going to hit between 15 and 20 homers, around .280, and will be well above average on the bases and defensively. It’s a huge adjustment coming from Japan, he hasn’t made it yet, but he will.”

It is crazy to think Cub fans are already upset with Fukudome’s play. Yes, it may be a bit disappointing not to see him producing All-Star numbers right off the bat, but remember, he only has 52 big league at bats thus far. He is still considered a rookie in the Majors. And remember this, his numbers now, if he does make the Hall of Fame someday, won’t matter.