Losing, changes seem to take toll on Ichiro

All season long — and 93 losses made it an excruciatingly long season — it seemed there was something wrong with Ichiro. It was nothing overt or obvious, nothing physically wrong with the Mariners' All-Star right fielder.

He played in every game, and again had more than 200 hits (206), one of just six major-leaguers to do that five years in a row.

But unlike the previous four years, there seemed to be none of the joy he took in playing. While he has always been a deeply focused, serious performer, he had always shown a lightness of heart in other years.

"Ichi didn't seem very happy this year," one of the teammates closest to him said in the last week of the season. "He wasn't himself. He seemed ... sad or something."

Ichiro seemed alone in the clubhouse, as if some kind of distance had been drawn between himself and teammates who barely knew him, especially the influx of younger players.

"It was different for Ichi this year," the teammate said. "He was kind of isolated."

Tony Attanasio did not disagree that something was going on with his client, that something was on Ichiro's mind as he played on.

"I don't think I'd call it sadness," Attanasio said via phone. "He plays at the highest level he can, 162 games in all kinds of weather and conditions. No one said, 'Maybe he's tired.'

"Was he satisfied with this past year? Absolutely not, not his own play or the way the team played."

This will almost certainly be included in his annual offseason chat with Mariners owner Hiroshi Yamauchi when Ichiro visits him in Kyoto, Japan.

Attanasio explained that such visits are obligatory.

"He has to go and see Mr. Yamauchi," the agent said. "He has an obligation to visit the owner. Every Japanese player for Seattle has to go back to Japan and tell the owner he is thankful for the opportunity to play for him and to report on the year in question.

"He will tell him he will try to do better, that all the players will try to do better."

In an interview following the Mariners' final game, Ichiro smiled when he spoke of Yamauchi. "He always says, 'I don't know much about baseball.' But he does know and he will ask about the team."

Will Ichiro tell Yamauchi about the disappointing season?

"Yes, but I might go into more details," Ichiro said. "I will tell him the truth. I won't lie to him."

Changing times for Ichiro

There have been changes around Ichiro that were perhaps unanticipated when he signed a four-year, $44 million extension after the 2003 season.

It was not just the loss of almost 200 games in the seasons since. But also the loss of friends: Mike Cameron, the gregarious outfield partner who had the locker next to him, was gone, as were Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez, two who transcended language or cultural differences and drew Ichiro out, who relaxed him, who made him feel more a part of the team.

There were changes in management, from general manager — Pat Gillick replaced by Bill Bavasi — to field manager, where Ichiro has played for three vastly different personalities in five years.

While the Seattle organization came to terms over the years with Ichiro's distinct style of play, in which entertainment value to fans is placed on a par with winning, manager Mike Hargrove and his coaches were virtual newcomers to it.

Hargrove at times seemed nonplussed with Ichiro's way, bunting and/or stealing at times at odds with conventional U.S. style, not diving for balls, not running into walls.

But when asked about it, the manager would state without any apparent displeasure, "Ichiro does not dive for balls; that's his way."

Near the end of the season, Hargrove took pains to explain what he had discovered of his right fielder.

"Ichiro has the same thought as [Angels left fielder] Garret Anderson. They can dive for balls or run into walls and could miss a bunch of games as a result. Do you want them for 160 games or so, or maybe only 120 games? You look at it that way and odd as you make think it is at first, it makes sense."

There were some indications the Mariners would try to check on Ichiro's contentment after the season. However, Bavasi said he had no reason to be more concerned for Ichiro than he would for anyone else on the team, physically or emotionally.

"In a year continuing in transition, it can get kind of tough," Bavasi said. "But I don't think it was any more difficult for him to go through a year in transition than other vets like Adrian Beltre or Richie Sexson playing with a lot of young guys."

One thing that could be troubling Ichiro off the field is the pending decision whether he'll play for Japan in the World Cup in March, which conflicts with spring training in Arizona.

Bavasi said unless he is told something specific about a player being troubled, "I look at performance and go from there. But I've only been around him for two years and his performance in those two years has been fine. I don't know what he was like personally or how he appeared to be in previous years.

"I try to keep track of all our players, and their mental and physical situations. But I don't know of anything that makes me worried about Ichiro."

Trade isn't an option

Ichiro was asked after the Mariners' final game if he would ever consider asking for a trade.

His answer, through interpreter Allen Turner, was quick: "No."

When told he seemed somehow isolated from this group of teammates as he had never been before, Ichiro said:

"I have had a lot of fun here. I like a lot of things about Seattle and our team, although I know the team is not perfect. There are things to improve on.

"This team definitely has possibilities and some teams that have not done well as we have not in recent years can't say that."

When asked if he felt more alone, distant from the rest of the team, Ichiro said: "It is tough to be on those teams not doing well, but this team is capable of doing better.

"However, I do feel that this year was worse than last year. I may be worried if we had been like this last year. There are lots of things, tons and tons of big things to do."

Does loyalty keep him a Mariner, or is it a personal belief one does not jump teams?

"I think Seattle is a special place," Ichiro said. "It is not that I have to stay here ... it is just a special place."

Attanasio said, "Asking for a trade doesn't come into it. That is not something Japanese players do. But it's incorrect for anyone to say he hasn't been through it before. He was with Orix. He spent three years in misery, and that was in his hometown, Kobe."

Speaking with the Japanese media after the last game, Ichiro was asked if it was a difficult season for him. His response: "It was awful, not only personally, but also team-wide."

What was the significant aspect of this season? Ichiro said: "There were not many positive elements, including the team environments."

Of his thoughts on finishing in last place two years in a row, he gave a cryptic: "I can't say it openly."

He can be expected, however, to speak openly to Yamauchi when he pays his respects to the Mariners' owner. What, if anything, comes of that remains to be seen.

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