It seems like the last 2 months that Fukudome's 'stride towards first'
swing has gotten much more severe and that he's flying open and lunging
away from the plate. It looks to me like opposing pitchers have decided
that he's going to get breaking balls away until he makes the adjustment.

Perhaps he needs to take a cue from Johnson and move closer to the plate?

It sure looks like he's just bailing out a lot now.

It seems that many Japanese players have this "bail out" style of
swinging. Ichiro and Matsui do it, as does Kenji Jojima, but from the
right side.

But K-Fuk seems to be bailing out so early that his back is to the ball
by the time it's even in his hitting zone. He can't possibly be getting
a good look at the pitches.

I should have added that many of the Japanese players seem to swing like
little kids do, when they are afraid of the ball.

Of course, I'm not suggesting they ARE afraid of the ball, and in some
cases the style is very successful (Ichiro), but it is odd. But even
Ichiro looks bad when he misses.

wicky611@webtv.net (Dave S) wrote in
news:24727-48A96DF7-603@storefull-3212.bay.webtv.net:

> I should have added that many of the Japanese players seem to
> swing like little kids do, when they are afraid of the ball.
>
> Of course, I'm not suggesting they ARE afraid of the ball, and
> in some cases the style is very successful (Ichiro), but it is
> odd. But even Ichiro looks bad when he misses.

The thing about Fukudome is that he seems to have lost confidence in
his strike zone judgement. He takes balls for strikes right down the
middle, and he does his whirling swing and miss at balls a foot
outside. He wasn't doing that earlier in the year.