Mariners
Notebook: Ichiro leaves marks all over 2004 season

By Bob Finnigan
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Ichiro finished the season with 262 hits, and while that was the best of the marks he established, there were several others.

His .372 average was the eighth highest since 1950, the exact average of .372159 ranking behind Nomar Garciaparra's .372400 in 2000.

He also has 924 hits in his four years, breaking Bill Terry's mark of 918 (1929-32) as most ever for four seasons.

He had 50 hits for September/October, giving him five months in his career with 50 or more. He already was the only player in history with more than two 50-hit months in a season.

Ichiro's season by the numbers 262 MLB hits record 225 MLB singles record .372 MLB-leading and M's-record batting average 762 AL plate appearances record 19 AL-leading intentional base on balls 924 MLB four-year-span hits record

He had 225 singles, passing Wee Willie Keeler's mark of 206 in 1898.

He had 762 plate appearances, an American League record, 11 shy of the major-league mark of Lenny Dykstra in 1993.

"I don't think any player can have a perfect season, a complete season," Ichiro said. "You can only prepare for such a season."

Asked if he was satisfied with 262 hits after the pursuit of George Sisler's mark of 257, he replied, "If I didn't think I was satisfied, a lot of guys would kill me."

No risk at third

Manager Bob Melvin's decision Saturday to send Edgar Martinez out to third base, for the first time since July 2, 1997, was a surprise to the veteran Mariner, who had said he did not want to play in the field and risk injury or, worse, embarrassing himself.

It turns out there was no risk, even when reliever Aaron Taylor whipped a fastball away to Texas' Mark Teixeira, the type of pitch a left-handed hitter might stroke toward third.

First, Martinez was on defense for only that pitch.

Second, "I told (catcher) Danny Wilson to tell (Mark) Teixeira to take the first pitch," Melvin said, "and assure him it would be a ball."

Melvin said you could tell that Wilson had delivered the message when Teixeira backed out of the batter's box. Said Melvin: "You could tell Teixeira was thinking, 'Don't I usually get that from the third-base coach?' "

Park doesn't lose his groove

With Chan Ho Park starting for Texas in Martinez's final game, it begged the question whether Park would do the same favor he supposedly did for Cal Ripken Jr. in the 2001 All-Star Game at Safeco Field.

Ripken hit a home run off Park and won the MVP award for the game, and there was much speculation — which Park reportedly has never acknowledged — that he had grooved the pitch.

While it was highly unlikely it was intentional, Park gave Martinez a pitch he almost hit out in the third inning, a 2-2 fastball the designated hitter belted deep to left that was caught for an out on the warning track.

1-2-3 to Ibanez

An oddity occurred in the fifth inning when one fielder, in this case Seattle left fielder Raul Ibanez, made throws home on balls hit by three straight batters.

The first, possibly unnecessary, was after a fly ball by Hank Blalock with Ken Huckaby on third and allowed Andy Fox to move from first to second. The second, on Michael Young's two-run single, was late to get Fox at home. The third, on Teixeira's single, got Young at the plate on a nice catch-and-tag by catcher Miguel Olivo.

Notes

• Seattle finished with 2,940,731 total attendance, fifth most in history, breaking a string of four seasons with more 3 million per year. The Mariners drew 137,048 for the final weekend.

• Ron Villone led the pitching staff with eight wins, an 8-6 record, the first time in Mariners history they have not had one pitcher with at least 10 wins.

• Mickey Lopez got his first major-league hit, a single in the ninth, and was given the first-base bag as a souvenir.

• Laynce Nix has four hits off of Gil Meche, all homers.

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

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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