Meet and greet with Suzuki

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Kosuke Fukudome and Ichiro Suzuki met outside the first-base line Monday, bowed to each other and said "konnichiwa" quickly before the Cubs played the Mariners.

At that precise moment, a horde of media members from Japan materialized quickly to capture the moment, and just as quickly, they retreated to send their photos and feed their video.

"I'm used to it in Japan, so it didn't bother me at all," Fukudome said through his translator.

On the field, Fukudome made a catch against the right-field wall in the second inning and nearly doubled a runner off first base with a throw that arrived on the fly.

"I thought the umpire should have called the runner out just alone on the degree of the difficulty of the play," manager Lou Piniella said.

At the plate, he grounded into a force play in the first inning, got hit by a pitch and then rolled to second after getting jammed.

"I found a couple things I need to work on," he said. "I'll keep on working throughout spring training."

Piniella said he may move Fukudome from the third spot to second in the batting order.

"We need for him to swing it," Piniella said. "I might drop him back down to the 2-spot and see what happens. … Maybe the 3-hole might be asking a little bit too much too soon."