I Think I'm Turning Japanese

I really think so.
It's hard to pin success on a single player, but I have seen more of the baseball that I have grown up loving in this particular season. The sight of dwindling baseball fundamentals has been building over the years,. But with the resurgence of Japanese players, we are seeing these fundamentals that we hold dear flourish, and I think it's becoming contagious (along with stolen bases). Coupled with an old school coach like Lou, it could be the winning combination that makes all the difference in the end. I have been seeing some great heads up baserunning, effective bunting and players battling themselves into better hitting counts at the plate. Not to mention some great glove work all around. It's made the game so much more fun to watch, even though there will always be times when you fall short. The D-Bags series was exciting in particular. I saw 4 close plays at the plate in the second game alone. It feels even better when you are winning the games on fundamentals and hopefully it continues. Fukudome possesses some of the strongest fundamentals I have seen in a Cubs uniform ever, and I really hope that the younger generation is watching him instead of getting fixated on adjusting batting gloves correctly for the fifteenth time in an at bat. Winning through fundamentals, who would have thunk?