Ichiro Thread

[Yankees]

Now 3/4, with a triple on fan interference! Game over, btw.

[Edgartohof]

Ichiro has continued to keep his Batting Average above .400, I wonder if he can keep it that way for the whole season - never have his BA drop below the "double" mendoza line.

[Edgartohof]

Ichiro, who is an amazing hitter any way you look at it, also happens to hit better agains left handed pitchers! Anyways, as I was looking at the splits so far, he is doing OK against RHP, but he is just CLOBBERING left handed pitchers!

G...AB...R...H...2B..3B...RBI...TB...BB...SO...SB. ..CS....OBP....Slg.....BA
10..13...2...9....1....1....2.....12...1.....0.... .1......0 .....714....923...692
11..31...8...10..1.....0....1....11....3....3..... .3......1......382...355...323


Now, .323 is still quite good, but compared to what he is doing against LHP, it is nothing. Of course, this is only 9 games into the season, so numbers are skewed for lots of players in lots of areas, but I just found this interesting.

[Gaijin]

400 cushion: 3

Ichiro's 400 cushion is back up to 3.

There's a great page that has all Ichiro's splits:

Here

His career batting average is .032 higher against lefties, so it's no suprise that his average is higher against lefies this year, although the small sample size is really out of whack.

An interesting thing to note on his splits are his batting averages by count.
When he puts the ball in play on the first or second pitch his average is over .400. This is for his career, so it is not just a quirk due to small sample size.
0-0: .421
0-1: .438
1-0: .414

By the way, his batting average has already dipped below .400, although during a game, not after the end of any game.

Those are great pictures Ichi Ro, Photoshop?

[Ichi Ro]

Ah, thought you meant "My" as in from my collection... I like the ones with b&w the best, you did a great job with them.

Thanks for the compliment.

[Sweet Lou]

We avoided the Sweep!

Ichiro started things off on the second pitch of the game with his first HR of the season. He went 2/3 with an intentional walk, and had 2 stolen bases. I was at The Cell on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, the unruly WhiteSox Fans were actually very well behaved, and Everyday Eddie gave us a bit to be nervous about in the 9th, but all's well that ends well.

BTW, VERY nice pics, Ich Ro. Where do you sit in the stands? Those looked like you were in the Press Dugout. Please, keep sharing!

Sweet Lou

[Edgartohof]

The hits just keep on coming don't they!

he is 2nd in BA, 3rd in runs, tied for 1st in SB's, and 10th in Slg, with .596 (let's see how long that one lasts )

Oh, did I mention, the Mariner's won as well?

[Gaijin]

400 cushion up to 5.
.447/.500/.596

In the AL, Ichiro is currently:
Tied for 1st in stolen bases and IBBs
2nd (but not for long I expect) in AL batting average, OBP and hits
3rd in Runs scored
5th in OPS
Tied for 9th in Total bases
10th in Slugging (how long can that last?)

Brian Roberts is white hot right now, leading or almost leading in virtually every category there is. Eventually he will cool off, although he still may be in for a great season.

(Edgartohof: I guess great minds think alike. I didn't see your post while I was composing mine. )

[Edgartohof]

I guess great minds think alike.

I tend to think so

[Yankees]

And another game set to begin in a few minutes... With this post, there are now 4,001 views to this thread, as an aside.

[Yankees]

0-5 Tonight (strictly speaking, last night).

[Yankees]

After his 1-3 night, Ichiro's is now even at .400

[Ichi Ro]

Ichiro started things off on the second pitch of the game with his first HR of the season. He went 2/3 with an intentional walk, and had 2 stolen bases. I was at The Cell on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, the unruly WhiteSox Fans were actually very well behaved, and Everyday Eddie gave us a bit to be nervous about in the 9th, but all's well that ends well.

BTW, VERY nice pics, Ich Ro. Where do you sit in the stands? Those looked like you were in the Press Dugout. Please, keep sharing!

Sweet Lou

That was a trip to Anaheim in 2002, one game. I snuck down there and nobody told me to move. Was sold out, last game of the year, the year they won the WS. First row next to the Anaheim on deck circle. I was actually sitting in the row set aside for Gene Autry's family (It was his birthday), but most of them were in the press box. I got an extra ticket stub from on of the people sitting next to me, and it says on it, "COMP $0.00 C AUTRY".
Best part was getting that picture signed by Ichiro the next year through former Mariners Ryan Anderson. Actually Ryan's dad did it for me.

[Gaijin]

Here is his speech that Ichiro gave yesterday after receiving the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award:

“I am honored to received this award,” Ichiro said. “Breaking the hits record here at Safeco Field in front of the Seattle fans is the greatest moment of my baseball career. First, I must thank George Sisler. I was able to experience that great moment only because he made such an impressive record.

“Without George Sisler, I never could have reached this level of emotion. I am honored to have broken this prestigious record. I also want to thank my wife, Yumiko, my teammates, the fans in Japan and most of all, Seattle fans. You give me great inspiration. Thank you.”

Unfortunately, he was so worried about giving a speech in English that he went hitless, or at least that's how the Japanese media see it. But he's still doing a lot better than he was in April of last year. He heated up in May of last year and cooled down again in June, and then was on fire for the rest of the year. He has yet to have a really big game this year with 4 or 5 hits.

[Gaijin]

Since April 18 Ichiro has gone 6 for 34 (.176), bringing his BA down to .333. His 400 cushion is at -13, meaning he would need 9 hits in a row to get back to .400. With .500 hitting he would need 26 hits in 52 at bats, or about 11 games (a very hot streak).

The good news is April has historically been his worst month for batting average, while May has been his best. He's still almost 80 points higher than in April last year.

Hopefully he'll get out of this mini-slump soon. Perhaps starting tomorrow.