Ichiro Thread

[Mariner DNA]

Unbelievable. Ichiro is just AMAZING. This entire year for Ichiro is taking me back to the George Brett days, and the John Olerud days when he flirted with .400 -- thank god for it, too. This season has been a total disaster. And I can't imagine it without Ichiro's streak. :cringes:

For the last month or so, and I think most fervent Mariners' fans agree, the consensus was that Ichiro would eventually break the record for most hits in a season this year. What I'm more excited about is the possibility of Ichiro hitting .400 or better. And at this point, that is not impossible for him to do. Call me an extremist, but that's what I'm rooting for.

[element1151]

Ichiro is the only thing that keeps me watching the games now!

[Gaijin]

Welcome to Baseball Fever, element1151!

Just one hit today for Ichiro, but at least he extended his hit streak to 11 games.

[element1151]

Thanks for the welcome.

1-4 for Ichiro today. 34 more hits to break record.

[Gaijin]

2 for 4 yesterday.

14 hits through 6 games in September, which is the same number of hits he had through the first 6 games of August. Is another 50-hit month coming?

He's batting .560 so far this month. All hits save one have been singles.

[Edgartohof]

With Ichiro getting 2 hits last night, he has already had 71 muliple hit games this year.

broken down, he has:

22 games with 0 hits

45 games with 1 hit

40 games with 2 hits

23 games with 3 hits

5 games with 4 hits

3 games with 5 hits

All in all, quite impressive - although a few more 0 hit games than I would like

[Mariner DNA]

I think we all know Ichiro's hit patterns by now. He won't have another 0-4 game tomorrow. I think he'll take off once again, for a few games at least.

[Gaijin]

Ouch. 2 Ofers in a row.

It's still far from a sure thing that he'll break the record.

The Mariners have 21 games left. It took 24 games for Ichiro to reach 28 hits at the beginning of this season, and 25 games to get more than 28. Reaching the record in 154 games is looking even more unlikely - he would need more than 2 hits per game.

:noidea

[prof93]

Some info on the man Ichiro is chasing

George Sisler:

In 1920, Sisler played every inning of 154 games and had a major league record 257 hits en route to hitting .407. Among his 399 total bases were 49 doubles, 18 triples and 19 home runs. He went hitless in only 23 games and finished the campaign batting .442 in August and .448 in September.

According to research by retrosheet.org, Sisler had 10 50-hit months during his career, the most by any player (Ichiro has four career 50-hit months).

Sisler was named the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1922 when he had 246 hits and led the league in batting average with an American League record .420.


In 1939, Sisler became the first first baseman inducted into the Hall of

[Edgartohof]

Recently Ichiro has been skidding offensively, but picked it up tonight, going 2-4. But what was more impressive about his performance tonight, was his defense. He had an outfield assist, and was part of a double play.

Let's hope that was the end of his September slump.

[Edgartohof]

Ouch. 2 Ofers in a row.

An interesting note is that he has not gone hitless in three consecutive games since some time in 2002 (I'll try to get back on an exact date).

[Gaijin]

Finally a multi-hit game again. Ichiro had 2 hits and should have had 3 but he was robbed by a bad call. The replay showed that the ball was still a good three feet or so away from the firstbaseman's glove when Ichiro stepped on the bag, but he was called out nonetheless. Melvin came out to argue but it was no good.

Anyway, hopefully this means he's going to get on a hot streak again, and hopefully one hit won't be the difference when it's all over.

[Gaijin]

A few things are apparant now. By going 9 for 43 (.209) over the last 11 games, including 5 Ofers, it would take nothing short of a miracle for Ichiro to tie Sisler at 154 games, much less surpass him. It would require 18 hits in 5 or 6 games, depending on whether you count by team games or individual games. There's probably guys that have gotten that many hits over that few games in the history of baseball, but I imagine it is a very rare occurance. It's also apparant that he'll have to pick up the pace to even tie the record within 162 games. I think he needs to have at least 2 or 3 games with 3 or more hits, something he hasn't done since September 4, when he went 5 for 5.

But I think it's still very exiting. Because it looks like it might come down to the wire, which adds drama. Can he or can't he?

[Edgartohof]

well, just to keep us on the edge of our seats, Ichiro went 5-5 tonight with a run. So he is just barely on pace for the record, if he plays 162, also, with this outburst, I think it interesting to note, that he is also about on pace for another 50 hit month...that is as long as he does not have any more "ofers".

Can he do it? I don't know, but I sure love watching him try.

Good luck Ichiro!!!

[Gaijin]

Story Here

By going 5 for 5 he has now surpassed his own hits total for 2001, when he won MVP. It is also the most anyone has had since 1930.


He became the fifth player in Major League history to have four five-hit games in the same season.


I must admit he had me a little worried there until this game.

Although he appears to be cool, an article in the Japanese press quotes him as admitting that in reality he feels a lot of pressure, and sometimes feels like he wants to heave.