Mariners
Stress-free Ichiro in rare form

By Bob Finnigan
Seattle Times staff reporter

CHARLIE RIEDEL / AP Ichiro has been hitting a sizzling .551 since getting his 200th hit of 2004 on Aug. 26.

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With the Mariners in freefall toward what could be their first 100-loss season in 21 years, Ichiro's one-man pennant race has never been more obvious than Monday night.

Nearing the end of a dreary, if mercifully quick, loss to Cleveland, Ichiro was due up in the ninth. You'd have thought it was your grandfathers pausing to see Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays or Ted Williams bat one last time.

In what is the truest tribute to a hitter, what was left of the crowd that had been announced at 33,084 paused. Some stopped in the exits, others grabbed seats where they had been climbing steps to leave, others stayed put.

"In my last at-bat, I heard some cheers," said Ichiro, belying the mystical idea he hears only the whispered whip of the ball leaving the pitchers' hand. "Then I saw some fans leaving after my at-bat."

That would have been after he had rewarded the faithful with a wickedly lined single to center, a purely struck baseball off the Indians' C.C. Sabathia, about to complete as dominating a game as has befallen Seattle this year.

That gave him 226 hits, leaving him on pace for 267 for the season, which would obliterate George Sisler's 84-year-old mark of 257. Moreover, his recent pace of 2.16 hits per game (26 in 12 games) would satisfy even traditionalists by giving him 265 hits in 154 games, the old standard season.

As he climbs, he shows no signs of trouble breathing rarified air.

Mariners update Tonight: Cleveland at Mariners, 7:05 p.m., FSN/KOMO 1000 AM Starting pitchers: M's RHP Cha Seung Baek (1-1, 12.71) vs. LHP Cliff Lee (10-7, 5.48) Tracking Ichiro: With 25 games remaining, Ichiro has 226 hits and is on pace for 267, which would surpass the season mark of 257 set by George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns in 1920.

"I am happier than happy," he said last week in Toronto, and he smiles warmly, easily and seems a lot looser now than late last year when he confessed to anxiety about trying to help the team in its failed push for the postseason.

Ichiro is deflecting attention as gently as possible while the attention builds on him outside of Seattle where postseason hopes still burn, where real baseball fans will have interest in him and their own clubs.

Ask him if he thinks he can catch Sisler, whom Seattle fans will soon be more familiar with than most of the current Mariners roster and you get a quip: "Ask a fortune teller."

Ask about his stance and the way he is being pitched and he reverts to the Zen baseball he featured in his MVP and rookie-of-the-year season of 2001: "You see it. I don't have to tell you."

Don't even bother to ask about pressure.

When one outside writer tried after Monday's game, Ichiro told him to ask a Seattle scribe what he has been saying. In short, every game has pressure.

"The next thing you'll want to know is the color of my underwear," he joked later.

He does not seem to feel pressure now, and Shigetoshi Hasegawa and Masao Kida, two men who have been watching him for more than a decade, know why.

"I got him out once with a high pitch, for a fly ball, the only time I ever pitched to him," said Kida, who pitched for Yomiuri and Orix in Japan. "But usually (he hits) liners all over, on all kinds of pitches. He knows."

Hasegawa sharpened the broad stroke of Kida's point. "He's smart," said the reliever, who, like Kida, has been Ichiro's teammate in two countries. "It's not that he knows what the pitcher is doing or what kind of pitch is coming, but he knows what to do with it when he sees it. Then, he knows."

	MARK HARRISON / THE SEATTLE TIMES Ichiro has been in a joking mood lately — and why not — since Aug. 1 the right fielder is batting .479 (70 for 146).

Hasegawa said that in Japan, Ichiro would often shoot for gaps in the outfield, hitting the ball deeper in general, something he does about once a game now.

Yet, he noted, it is tough to compare between Ichiro's performances in Japan and the U.S. "Here the pitching is better," Hasegawa said, "with lots of guys throwing 95-96 (mph). But you know what? Don't try that with him. He'll hit line drives off that stuff."

But to go with breaking balls, as most clubs seem to be doing right now — Chicago's Mark Buehrle did on eight of 10 pitches in one at-bat Saturday — it means throwing to Ichiro as they did in Japan. And he wore them out for seven straight batting titles before coming to America.

"He knows he can hit between third and short, off any pitch out over the plate, especially breaking balls," Hasegawa said. "He knows he can hit ground balls. When you throw him breaking balls, he'll smack it and run. And we know how he can run."

Dave Myers, who has been watching Ichiro for four years from the third-base coach's box, sees him being more selective.

"The only time he's swinging out of the strike zone now is with two strikes, being more protective," Myers said. "Most of those pitches, he's fouling off."

Ichiro is in an amazing stretch — hitting .479 (70 for 146) since Aug. 1. It may not take a fortune teller, as he suggested, to figure out if he can keep this up.

While he and the Mariners will face four of the top five pitching staffs in the league the rest of the way after tonight, he has hit Boston (.423), Anaheim (.328), Oakland (.434) and Texas (.276) for a combined .353 (71 for 201) this year.

Maintaining that average over the last 3-1/2 weeks would give him 35 hits in 100 at-bats, which he should get in 25 games, and give him a record 261 hits.

Or course, merely doing that would remove any chance of hitting .400, which would get everyone's attention. Can he?

Ichiro's general response to conjecture is a whimsical, "You tell me."

He has 597 at-bats, and if teams pitch to him and give him a shot, he will get at least 100 more. He would need 280 hits in 700 at-bats to hit .400, a .540 mark over the remaining games.

Including his 200th hit, a homer on Aug. 26, Ichiro has a 12-game streak in which he has 27 hits in 49 at-bats. In that span, Ichiro has hit .551.

Bob Finnigan: 206-464-8276 or bfinnigan@seattletimes.com

Chasing George Sisler

George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns set the single-season hit record in 1920:

Mariners games remaining: 25.

Ichiro is on pace for: 267 hits.

Today: vs. Clev. (LH Cliff Lee, 10-7, 5.48).

Down the stretch
How Ichiro has fared this season vs. upcoming teams:
Team	AB	H	Avg.	OBP
Anaheim	64	21	.328	.348
Boston	26	11	.423	.444
Oakland	53	23	.434	.474
Texas	58	16	.276	.345

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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