With the right fielder’s batting average having dipped from .372 to .303 from 2004 to 2005, the Tacoma News Tribune’s John McGrath alleges that Ichiro Suzuki is in rapid decline and oughta be traded. More offensive to McGrath, however, is Ichiro’s ‘tude.
After the Mariners on Saturday lost their 92nd game of the season “ their 191st defeat since the 2004 opener “ Ichiro Suzuki talked of how the weight of œa giant man on my body was lifted Friday night.
He had accomplished his quest to record 200 hits for the fifth consecutive season.
œOnce I got within 10 hits of 200, Ichiro said, œI felt the pressure.
During a summer as bleak and joyless as this one, perhaps it™s only natural for a gifted player to dwell on personal achievements. But Ichiro takes the stat-watch vigil to another level: The more obscure the number, the more he stews and frets.
œWhen your goals are almost there “ when you can see them within reach “ that™s where the fear comes, he said Saturday. œThe fear of not reaching them.
I realize foreign-language nuances can be lost in translation, and that there are cultural differences between Japan and the United States. In an American pro baseball clubhouse, œfear is as likely to be enunciated as œstrudels or œGinger Rogers.
But a ballplayer who fears falling short of 200 hits is a ballplayer whose priorities are whacked.
Does anybody care that Ichiro got 206 hits in 2005 instead of, say, 199? Or that he hit .303 instead of .299? Did Ichiro™s avoidance of personal humiliation ease the long season™s journey to a last-place record of 69-93?
Were a power hitter to ponder the importance of finishing with 40 homers instead of 39, or 50 homers instead of 49, he™d be labeled a self-absorbed prima donna. And yet Ichiro recites his statistics as if they were dollar figures in a disaster-relief telethon and he™s perceived to be the essence of a competitor.
œI felt this was the year where he really had to grind it out, and he did that, manager Mike Hargrove said Sunday.
A grinder, Skip? Really? Ichiro has a multitude of athletic skills, some of which he occasionally puts to use in an effort to help the Seattle Mariners win baseball games. But he™s no more a grinder than the Prince of Wales is a gamer.
Ichiro plays RF not Center
indeed he does. And very well, too.
I guess Adrian Beltre’s failure to achieve his personal goal of having his weight exceed his batting average was lost in the shuffle?
If there was ever a player with more than 200 hits who was overrated, it’s Ichiro. My favorite non-truth about him is that he could “hit homers” if he wanted to. But he doesn’t to settle for singles? Yeah.
I’m not sure I completely agree with the idea that Ichiro couldn’t hit more homers. Specifically, I’m thinking about Roberto Clemente in 1966-67 being asked to hit in the middle of the order and drive in more runs. It isn’t as if Ichiro is Scott Posednick with a better arm – he does have “some” pop and I think could hit more fly balls if he wanted to sacrifice his batting average some. All of that said…if anyone puts John McGrath in charge of the M’s – I’m pretty sure the Mets could create a vacancy in RF.
bThe year he had 262 hits his slugging was only .455. I know what you’re saying but who knows if he could get the ball in the air on a consistent basis given his swing and career stats?
Clemente actually led the league in hitting in ’67 and hit for more power.