Homers in the Gloaming

Let’s examine how handedness has affected Cubs pitching.  Here are the OPS’s allowed by Cubs pitchers this year:

Righties   vs. RHB   LHB   Difference
Hart          .674 1.330     .656
Marmol        .434  .795     .361
Lieber        .732 1.082     .350
Dempster      .571  .682     .111
Marquis       .699  .785     .086
Zambrano      .622  .684     .062
Wood          .571  .629     .058
Wuertz        .741  .748     .007
Harden        .593  .589    -.004
Howry         .858  .787    -.071
Gaudin        .722  .646    -.076

Lefties    vs. RHB   LHB  Difference
Eyre          .909  .835     .074
Marshall      .722  .824    -.102
Cotts         .690  .793    -.103
Lilly         .741  .885    -.144

A positive difference indicates the pitcher has done better against same-handed hitters; a negative difference means the pitcher has done better again opposite-handed hitters.  All Cubs pitchers have been either more or less indifferent, or better against righties.

MLB

No one would argue that Kosuke Fukudome has been solid thus far this season, and certainly a fan-favorite after his first-pitch-of-the-season double and first-game ninth inning three-run homer (I know I bought his T-shirt).  His stats (.279/.383/.408) are respectable, and his VORP is fifth-best among rookie position players.

However, dude has a problem on the road.  In fact, his splits are almost unbelievable:

   Split   G  PA  R  H  2B HR RBI  BB  SO  BA   OBP  SLG  OPS  BAbip
   Home    46 192 39 56 11  5  23  29  36 .348 .450 .522 .972  .425
   Away    44 194 20 35  6  2  13  26  34 .212 .316 .297 .613  .252

Yikes.  Oddly, the difference seems to come almost completely down to Kosuke’s difference in home and road BAbip.  I would be tempted to chalk this up to luck, but we’re dealing with quite a few PAs here.  At first, I thought maybe it had something to do with his performance during day games at Wrigley, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.  Kosuke OPS’s .799 under the sun and .783 under the lights.  A difference, for sure, but not the whole story.

Any thoughts as to the discrepancy?  If Kosuke starts to get comfy in those hotels, and a few hits drop our way, we may begin to improve on that less-than-stellar 20-26 road record.