It'll be interesting to track the splits of Kosuke Fukudome as the year goes on.
Heading into Tuesday, the Cubs had played six games at home and six on the road. All of the home games were played during the day, and four of the night games were at night. Fukudome's splits showed quite a disparity. At home, he was 8-for-19 (.421) with one homer and an on-base percentage of .542. On the road, he was 6-for-25 (.240) with no extra-base hits and a respectable OBP of .345.
During the day, he was batting .414 (12-for-29), and all four of his extra-base hits and all six of his RBIs came under the sunshine. At night, he checked into Tuesday hitting .133 (2-for-15).
It's way too early to draw conclusions off this small sample size, but Fukudome may be a player who benefits from the advantages Wrigley Field offers an offensive player (short alleys, very little foul territory).
One thing should remain constant, and that's Fukudome's OBP. He's a patient, selective hitter who will draw walks in any parks.
He enjoyed another strong home game Tuesday in the Cubs' first outing of the season under the Wrigley lights. Fukudome went 2-for-4 with a walk.
CUBS 9, REDS 5: Derrek Lee hit his fifth homer of the season to put the Cubs ahead 5-3 in the fifth, and they held on for the win Tuesday. Mark DeRosa and Ryan Theriot also homered. The Cubs overcame the loss of Alfonso Soriano to a strained right calf, an injury he suffered fielding a flyball in the first inning. Ryan Dempster worked six decent innings, giving up five hits and four runs. Carlos Marmol got out of trouble in the seventh and struck out the side in the eighth.
