It’s been a few days since Fukudome was put on the hot seat by Lou Piniella. He was supposedly on track to be benched for Tuesday’s game only to see it rained out. Common sense would deduce that he would then, in turn, be benched in one of the games in the doubleheader yesterday, but he wasn’t. With Lou’s comments still hanging out there, it’s time for the Fukudome Watch.
Game 1
Hitting 2nd in the lineup, which makes no sense to me when he’s been struggling the way he has, Fukudome put up a beautiful 0-4. He moved the count to 2-1 in the first inning but flew out to CF. In the 2nd, he came up with two men on and a chance to come up with some runs. He saw seven pitches, but was only able to ground out to leave the runners on base as the inning came to a close. At bat # 3 was a disaster. Three pitches and a ground out to the pitcher. In the 6th, a liner to left failed to move Soriano into scoring position after he led off the inning with an opposite field single. His best at bat of the game came in the 8th as he coaxed a 5 pitch walk. Game over.
Game 2
For some reason, Lou marched him out there again in game two instead of shifting DeRosa to right and getting Fontenot or Cedeno some at bats. He delivered in the first with an opposite field dink to drive in two runs. It was the kind of hit that helps the self esteem when a guy is struggling and maybe that was what he needs. At this point, something has got to help. In the 4th, he lined out to CF, but hit the ball hard. The 6th inning saw another single and a 2-3 night with two RBI. He capped the night off with a ground out into a fielder’s choice and a fly out to CF.
Overall, an under whelming day at 2-9 with two RBI and 6 left on base. At this point, if Lou is going to bench him, it needs to be tonight against the lefty, Tom Glavine. Give him the night off. I’d love to see Lou even tell him to not even come to the park. Stay in the hotel, call your wife and relax. Watch some Olympics and prepare to head into the Florida series.
Bob said it last night- Fukudome needs to get back to being more patient at the plate. I’ve been saying it for three weeks now. Fukudome may very well know the strike zone better than anyone else on the team, but he’s got to resist the hacking disease that seemed to infect him coming into this month. He’s showing signs of coming out of it.
I think Lou needs to mix and match more. Give Fukudome 4 out of 6 games a week and let Reed Johnson play some right field, as well as DeRosa. Then you could get Fontenot, Cedeno, and Johnson 2-3 games a week. He should use the match-ups to our advantage. We have plenty of guys who can get the job done. This may give Fukudome the rest he needs to get back to his normal self.
I think what the man needs right now more than anything is a sweet-ass ’80s training montage. By the end, he’ll be hitting them out of the park again and raising a single fist skyward. Then we’ll be in good shape.
MONTAGE!
linngggger longer!
Fortunately, Fukudome is starting and 2-2 so far, scoring both times. On the whole, I agree, though.
ENOUGH ALREADY WITH BOB FRICKIN HOWRY! GET RID OF THE BUM!
Billy beat me to it. I said it over a month ago: BOB HOWRY IS A RUN MACHINE! Send him to Iowa. Send him to Tennessee. Send him to Peoria. Just send him far away from the Chicago Cubs.
Do you really want this bum in the bullpen during the playoffs?
I don’t even want to see him in the stands.
Has anyone considered that maybe the real Fukodome is actually just a weak-hitting .270 batter who strikes out a lot? Just because he got off to a .300 clip early doesn’t mean he’s necessarily a natural .300 major league batter. Whatever he did in Japan goes out the window. He’s got to prove himself all over again. Wishful thinking doesn’t make him better than he is. Maybe what happened early in the season was the real fluke. He could end up being a weakness in the Cubs’ postseason lineup.
Lou seems very committed however to letting Howry “work it out”, though I tend to think he is cooked. Maybe it’s because Howry was so bad early last year, but righted the ship in June and was very very good for us the last 3 months. (Remember?)
The other thing is that the options are not that enticing. It would probably be Mike Wuertz again, or Jose Ascanio, or John Lieber off the DL, or someone like Mitch Atkins. None of those are good options, NL batters are hitting Lieber at almost the pace they are hitting Howry, and Wuertz and Ascanio are having location problems.
ABH…Anyone But Howry would be better. The guy is a Star Spangled Banner type of Pitcher in which we see the rockets homerun red glare and hear 400 foot bombs bursting through the air.
Enough bring up a kid if you have to. I am happy with Jon Lieber stick with him LR.
I’m sure Howry has SEEN 1-2-3 innings. I’m pretty sure he’s almost never PITCHED one. The guy pitches like he’s afraid of ending the inning too soon.
I’m pretty sure he’s almost never PITCHED one.
Well… being that he has at least 12 1-2-3 innings this season, I am pretty sure you are wrong.
Hence the “almost NEVER”. Mostly a joke. 12 1-2-3 innings over the course of 120-plus games aint so hot.
12 1-2-3 innings over the course of 120-plus games aint so hot.
I am not sure how the number of games that the Cubs have played is relevant. He has pitched in 57 games. But I also only counted full innings. He also had several no hit, no walk partial innings.
All it takes is one big HR for Howry to ruin a Cub win…and I can tell you there have been WAY TOO many of those!
Get rid of Howry!
Don’t get me wrong – Howry has been a bad pitcher this year.
I would be content if we didn’t see him pitch for the Cubs again.
I am just saying that the number of 1-2-3 innings is somewhat irrelevant to the discussion.
Uh…it’s just an add-on for one. For another, to pitch 57 innings and only have 12 go three up and three down is very poor. That’s 21 percent. When you’re a RELIEVER and can only get 21 percent of your 1-2 innings as a 1-2-3, you’re not a MLB reliever anymore. You’re starting for the Cincinnati Reds.