Choi Likes Playing for the Marlins

....in less than a week, fans have started chanting his name during at-bats.

``It's got to be a plus for him,'' McKeon said. ``To get received like this has got to be a tremendous lift for him. He's come out and done it early and gotten the fans on his side. It's got to help his confidence.''

Ohh man it was awesome when they would shout his names during Cubs games. Do we hear anyone chanting Derek Lee, Derek Lee? Not to bag on Lee, but Choi brought excitement to the fans and probably the team. Right now it's just kinda bland.

Choi is enjoying his role with the Marlins and likes playing in Florida more than he did Chicago, the franchise he signed with in 1999. The biggest reason is his relationship with McKeon, Cox and hitting coach Bill Robinson.

I am sure this is just the standard getting accustomed to the new guy, which Baker did extremely well. Or is it......

The coaches have gone out of their way to communicate with the 6-foot-5 first baseman. Even though Choi speaks and understands some English, McKeon and Cox learned about a dozen Korean phrases during spring training to use in the clubhouse and dugout. ``Cho ta,'' which means ``great job,'' is their most popular one.

``I sympathize with him, I really do,'' Robinson said. ``I realize how tough it's got to be here. It's a different culture, a different way of life. But the thing we've got to remember is it's still baseball. And he knows baseball.''

I don't remember our coaches even attempting to learn any Korean to help out Choi, just passing it off on his interpreter. What McKeon and his coaches are doing is trying to make Choi as much at home as possible. That goes along way in itself to help out Choi.

For me personally this tells me Choi is glad to get away from Dusty Baker, who lied to him and tried to personally keep him in a slump just so he wouldn't have to play him. Much like what he did with Bobby Hill vs. Lenny Harris. Harris started, Hill rotted on the bench.

And I don't blame Choi one bit, he is probably bitter at how Baker treated him and is finally happy he has a coach that respects him.

Kudos to McKeon for taking a personal interest in Choi which is more than Baker even tried to do. Atleast he now has a manager that will honestly help him, not hinder him.