Finger Crossing Time for Fukudome Fans

I've been listening a bit to the White Sox audio feed of the Cubs/Sox game this afternoon. Normally, I can't stand listening to the visiting teams' announcers because it makes me miss Pat Hughes too much. (I also like Ron, but I can add my own "Oh nooo!!"s when listening to a game.)

Today, I didn't mind so much because I've grown to appreciate Ed Farmer a bit as a broadcaster. He's got a bit of a dry sense of humor that gets easily missed, but its there. If he didn't broadcast Sox games, I might actually like him.

During the broadcast, I usually perked up a little when Fukudome came to the plate since this was his first game back with the Cubs after returning from the WBC. Unfortunately, a couple of the quotes from Farmer that I heard didn't sound promising for those of us hoping to see a resurgence in his numbers this season.

During his second at-bat (in the first inning - it was a good inning for the Cubs):

"Fukudome almost broke MY back with that swing."

In the 6th:

"Swing at a breaking ball... looked like he had never seen one of those before."

Again, I didn't actually see the game, and these were quotes taken from the opposing team's broadcaster, but I don't believe they were said with a vindictive anti-Cub sentiment. Farmer and Darren Jackson spent quite a bit of time talking about what a good team the Cubs have again this year, so there seemed to be at least professional respect from them.

If that is true, those are not the kind of descriptions that you want to hear about Fukudome at-bats. You want to hear about how he battled. He want to hear about how he was "right on" that pitch but fouled it off. You want to hear a description of a hard hit ball somewhere, even if it is foul.

You don't want to hear that he looks lost and/or awkward at the plate. We saw enough of that at the end of the year last year. Between the two Farmer descriptions and the analysis of his WBC at-bats at Cubs f/x, I'm not feeling very positive about Fukudome's ability to achieve even the lowered expectations we have for him.

Its the first game and he has a couple more weeks to learn what a breaking ball looks like, but if I'm Reed Johnson, I'm starting to get ready to play more than 100 games this year.

If I'm Jim Hendry, I'm making sure I have Jim Edmonds phone number saved in my cell phone.

As it is, I'm practicing writing "K" on a score card.