Eight games, 10 errors, nine home runs, and a .257 batting average...
Just a few team stats about the Chicago Cubs so far in the 2008 season. Ten errors in eight games. There aren't many teams that can average an error or more a game (Cubs average 1.25) and win. Even fewer can win four straight this early in the season while hurting themselves so badly.
Their start has been a positive one, and that is definitely saying something. The Cubs played in Arizona during Spring Training in 80 degree weather for a month and a half, then flew to Chicago, where temperatures were in the upper-30s, for a practice the day before their season opener at Wrigley. They ended up losing two out of three to their NL Central rival Milwaukee Brewers, though they did save themselves from being swept on getaway day with a 6-3 win.
They also had to grow accustomed to the new playing surface of Wrigley. The last crown infield in the MLB was taken out during the offseason, lowering the infield by 17 inches. This could help explain why the Cubs have committed seven errors in their own ballpark.
The biggest welcome so far is Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome (Koss-kay Foo-koo-DOH-may). He has been a dream for the Cubs; he took his first major league pitch, against Ben Sheets, and hammered a line drive over the head of Brewers center fielder Tony Gwynn Jr., coasting into second for a stand-up double.
He later hit a game-tying three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth as part of his three-for-three debut. Scouts have acclaimed Fukudome as a hybrid of Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui. Those attributions were showcased all in the last week as Fukudome kept nailing the ball, earning himself a .419 average.
He's also been patient at the plate (seven walks), stole two bases, and struck out six times. He has a .526 on-base percentage, an important dynamic to a Cubs lineup that sometimes struggles to reach base.
Derrek Lee turned around his performance from a small season opening slump. He's lifted his average to .333 and has three home runs, four RBI, and five walks. Mark DeRosa is the only other player who's really been solid at the plate. He's hitting .290 but has three doubles, one home run, and four RBI.
Lee and DeRosa are three of the five players who have had 30 or more at-bats; Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano are the other two. Alas, for the Cubs and their followers, they have not been anything close to their norm.
Ramirez is batting a mediocre .250 with a double, two home runs, five RBI, and five walks. His on base percentage (.342) should be his batting average—but at least he's getting on base.
Soriano hasn't done much of anything. He's batting .132 with a home run, three RBIs, and eight—count them, eight—strikeouts out of 38 at bats. Not to mention he is struggling to get on base with a .214 OBP.
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