Fukudome Strikes Back: Cubs-White Sox Gamethread

The Cubs’ vaunted outfielder makes his triumphant return from the WBC, where the Japanese national team won the title, largely in spite of his efforts. Carlos Zambrano will oppose young lefty Clayton Richard. Richard is the 6th straight lefty starter the Cubs will face this ST; they have won five of those games, and the guys they beat are no slouches—Buehrle, Bedard, Eveland, and Greg Smith. This is a good sign, folks. The Cubs had a 6-game winning streak snapped last night, so they’ll hope to get back on the winning side today. Cubs have won two and dropped two against the White Sox this ST. A few nice ST tidbits: —The Cubs are hitting .359 with RiSP this ST. Fontenot leads the team, hitting .500 with RiSP. —The Cubs are averaging 6.6 R/G this ST and are third in total runs in the Cactus League with 192. —Micah Hoffpauir is the ST RBI leader, with 19. —Lou says the closer decision will be made Sunday, so I would expect to see a lot of Marmol and Gregg the next two games. Lou has said he wants to see both guys go two days in a row, and Marmol went last night, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him today, even with the late game last night. The game is on WGN TV, WSCR 670 AM (which you can stream on their website, if you’re out of market and don’t have gameday audio), mlb.tv, and Gameday Audio, which is carrying the WSCR (White Sox—Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson) radio feed only. If those options don’t prove exhaustive, the live box is here. Lineups: Cubs: Soriano, LF Fukudome, CF Lee, 1B Bradley, RF Ramirez, 3B Miles, 2B Theriot, SS Hill, C Zambrano, P White Sox: Owens, CF Getz, 2B Quentin, LF Dye, RF Pierzynski, C Ramirez, SS Kroeger, 1B Fields, 3B Richard, P