From Wrigley

After finishing the last home stand with an 8-1 record, the Chicago Cubs travel today to begin a trip in Colorado and then Washington before coming back home next Tuesday to face the Brewers.  This is another two-game series, like the on with the Mets the last two days.  Can I say how stupid two-game series are to me?  Seriously.

To call the Cubs  red-hot right now would be an understatement.  Since the beginning of this young season their defense has improved dramatically, the starting pitching is starting to come around, with Lilly getting his first win yesterday and Marquis doing well in both of his last outtings.  In addition to all that, since Soriano went on the DL the Cubs have been on an offensive tear.  In the last week the Cubs, as a team, are hitting .336 with 7 home runs, two by D-Lee and Ramirez each and a grand slam by, and you are reading this correctly, Ronnie Cedeno.  In the last two weeks?  Hitting a solid .300 with 17 home runs.  These guys are firing on all cylinders and I think you can find the root cause in one Kosuke Fukudome.

Sometimes it may sound like, in the media, here, talking to people, that Fukudome has to be overrated.  You hear praise all the time for this guy, and people talk like he can do no wrong.  It seems to good to be true, but so far it hasn’t been.  I think that if you look up and down the Cubs lineup right now you can see how Fukudome’s approach at the plate has rubbed off on all of the Cubs hitters (with the exception of Soriano).  The Cubs as a team are batting patiently, which is a complete turn-around from last year.  Fukudome himself, going into yesterday’s game was seeing a league leading 4.7 pitches per at bat.  Thats astronomical.  The Cubs as a team were seeing over 4 pitches per at bat and leading the league as a team in that category.  What does this translate to?  A team that also leads the league in hits, runs, batting average, on base percentage, and second in walks taken.  I don’t think this is a coaching thing.  I think it is the Fukudome effect.  And I’m glad to be seeing it.

Where you are seeing this effect more than anywhere else in the lineup is with the young players coming of age, as Jay mentioned in his post from yesterday.  When Cedeno has a long at bat where he runs the count up full, fouls off a bunch of pitches, then comes through with a clutch hit (or in this case a grand slam), you can’t help but be surprised.  After all, as a Cubs fan, you’ve watched Cedeno the last 3, 4 years and he has never been patient at the plate, generally just happy to get his cuts in.  But now you’re seeing him exude some control at the plate, making the pitcher make his pitches.  I think that being able to watch someone as patient, with as good an eye as Fukudome has, took him from being a marginal utility player in to a valuable asset.

It doesn’t stop there either.  You’re also beginning to see Felix Pie be a little more patient at the place and for the Corey Patterson-clone of a center fielder, that can’t help but make you smile.  Of course the way Reed Johnson has played it might be a case of too-little, too-late on Pie’s part if wanted to have a full time role, as Johnson looks to have that pretty well locked up at the moment.

Tonight the Cubs have Rich Hill on the mound against the Rockies Franklin Morales.  I’m going to run through this quick because I’ve droned on way to long.  Hill has not faired well in his previous two starts in Colorado, going a total of 10.2 innings and giving up 13 runs, all earned.  As for Morales, he’s in his first full year at the big league level and is off to a mediocre 1-1 start in his first three starts, giving up 11 free passes.  This will be his first time to face the Cubs and as a rookie I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.

If the Cubs can keep up their hot hitting against the Rockies (which in Coors Field they’ll need to do), then they sure fair well tonight, a 7:35 PM CST start, and continue to grow their 1.5 game advantage on the Cardinals.