"Put it this way, he's going to play alot more than he has been." said Lou Piniella about Cub rookie Tyler Colvin.
I'm pretty sure I've heard Lou say things that sound real similar to that in the past. What I'm also pretty sure about is that Kosuke Fukudome is doing something real similar to what he's done in the past: get all bat-sucky in June.
Oh, in 2008 when Fukudome first came here...I was so excited. First that we had an Asian player - it's just cool being sort of a global team that way. But mostly because he was gonna be at least solid in right and with the bat, and just mayyyyybe he'd be brilliant.
He got immediate respect from the umps, his eye was incredible, he could bunt, he could hit it out, he was pretty fast... and then it all started to go not so good. He went to the All-Star game, pretty much based on his fabulous start. But by then, he was already spinning and yanking his head out and looking really not All-Star like at all. When the Cubs got into the playoffs, he went 1 for 10 with 4 Ks.
Next year, the same kind of thing without the playoffs.
And now in 2010, it's Groundhog Season all over again for Kosuke.
This from Bruce Miles over at the Daily Herald: "Fukudome is in the middle of another June swoon. In April he batted .344. In May, it was .253. So far in June, it's been .185."
So if you were the coach of a little league team, you'd look at Kosuke's numbers and say man, maybe I should let another kid play - yes, even if Kid Kosuke was getting 20 gatorades a game and the kid on the bench a half bag of Fritos and a trip to the water fountain.
This really is a big deal with the money being paid to Fukudome, but that's basically what Lou's hopefully going to really do.
Because I believe that Lou believes what that drawing up at the top believes.
Some day, Wrigley Field really will be Colvin's.
So let him start now and give us something to root for!
Tonight the Cubs start those "other" inter-league games (the ones against teams that aren't from Chicago).
The Oakland Athletics come to town with Jake Fox and Eric Patterson on the bench, and Michael Wuertz in the pen.
Go Cubs.
