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.

Kosuke Fukudome is definitely seeing the ball well to start of the season. Through the first two games Fukudome gathered 2 walks, and he added 2 more today. Kosuke Fukudome gotten on base in all but four of his 12 plate appearances.

Today Kosuke Fukudome was 1-2 with a double as well as those two walks. Kosuke also stole second base after being walked once and later scored in the inning.

Fukudome definitely looks to be seeing the ball well, putting behind all questions of a poor spring training. And as for those right field fans, well they have completely fallen in love with their new right fielder. Welcome to the summer of Fukudome Mania!

The Chicago Cubs also won their first game of the season, a 6-3 victory over the Brewers to keep for getting swept. Kerry Wood also recieved his first save of the season, Ryan Dempster his win as a starter in a few years, and Aramis Rameriz hit his first home run.

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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.