Aug 13th 2008 5:30PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Earlier this week, Lou Piniella admitted that Kosuke Fukudome might lose at-bats to Reed Johnson or Mike Fontenot if he doesn’t start hitting soon. He reinforced that idea again yesterday (even if the headlines in today’s falsely suggests otherwise). But if an impending trip to the bench bothers Fukudome, he didn’t let it show yesterday:
Fukudome seemed oblivious to the slump he’s in, saying through an interpreter: “I haven’t made any drastic changes. I feel just as comfortable as before.”
He’s just as comfortable as before? Forgive me if I don’t believe him. After opening the year hitting .305 in April, he went on to hit .293 in May, .264 in June and .236 in July. Unfortunately, he hasn’t come close to stopping the downward spiral this month, hitting just .107 thus far in August.

His renowned patience has been something less than advertised, as well. After averaging 17 walks the first three months, he was down to nine in July and just three so far this month. Either that’s a hell of a slump … or it only took two months for opposing pitchers to learn the book on him.

Sure, it’s presumptious to write off Fukudome just yet — now that he has his feet wet, maybe he’ll bounce back next season — but as far as year, he’s been a black hole in Chicago’s lineup for the better part of two months, and absolutely nothing about his (admittedly painfully small) track record suggests anything will change soon.