Ichiro ties record with 10th 200-hit season

[MistaNova]

TORONTO -- Ichiro Suzuki stroked a fifth-inning single to center to collect his 200th hit Thursday, extending his own record with his 10th straight season reaching the milestone. He set the record last year, passing Wee Willie Keeler. Ichiro also tied the record for 200-hit seasons in a career, with 10, which he now shares with Pete Rose.

The milestone hit came against Blue Jays starter Shawn Hill. The Blue Jays went on to win the game, 1-0, over the Mariners.

"I think you can imagine how happy I am," Ichiro said through a translator. "I know how tough it is to accomplish 200 hits every season, and it's been another tough one this year, so that's how happy I am inside."
The Mariners dugout, along with the fans at Rogers Centre, gave the Japanese native a standing ovation. Following roughly 30 seconds of applause, Ichiro removed his cap and acknowledged the crowd. The ball, fielded by center fielder Vernon Wells, was promptly retrieved by a Mariners staff member.

Ichiro entered the game with 198 hits. He picked up No. 199 with a third-inning double down the left-field line.

"Today, after I accomplished 200 hits, when I looked to the dugout everyone was celebrating, everyone was pretty happy," Ichiro said. "They were showing that [celebratory] feeling. That's when I finally felt like I could express my feelings in a good way, where I could say I'm happy for what I've achieved."

Ichiro felt a sense of relief after reaching the mark, considering the high standard he's set for himself from the very beginning of his career.

"When you look at my rookie year, no one expected me to have 200-plus hits," Ichiro said. "I think if I [had been] at .260 or .270 with 180 hits, [everyone] would have said, 'Good job.' Now being in my shoes, I have to accomplish this. Because if I don't, people will say, 'How come you're not hitting anymore?'"

The record for most seasons with 200 hits had been in Rose's sole possession since Sept. 25, 1979, when he hit a first-inning single against Cardinals rookie right-hander John Fulgham at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

Read the rest here: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100923&content_id=14994916&vkey=news_sea&c_id=sea

[theremedy360]

The most amazing part about this is that Pete did it in a 24 year career, Ichiro did it in his first 10 MLB seasons and is showing no signs of slowing down 

[Chamillitary Click]

GOAT!

[The Come Up Shuffle]

GOAT!

His OPS+ ranks 44th amongst active players.  He is far from the GOAT.  He is a 1st ballot HOF'er but he isn't even the best ball player out there today. 

What amazing is the fact he may very well reach 3000 hits in America and 4000 total for his career.

[theremedy360]

GOAT!

His OPS+ ranks 44th amongst active players.  He is far from the GOAT.  He is a 1st ballot HOF'er but he isn't even the best ball player out there today. 

What amazing is the fact he may very well reach 3000 hits in America and 4000 total for his career.

I can agree with that, Ichiro is the type of guy that's so talented that he could excell at any playing style. When I went to the homerun derby in 01 Ichiro took BP before hand and hit about 20 balls into the stands effortlesly. But for whatever reason he chose to be a leadoff hitter, and it's hard to consider a guy who gets a lot of singles as the best in the game. He's definitely the most consistent though.

[Chamillitary Click]

GOAT is obviously an exaggeration, but I love the guy.

[MistaNova]

The most amazing part about this is that Pete did it in a 24 year career, Ichiro did it in his first 10 MLB seasons and is showing no signs of slowing down 

Plus he hit 210 hits in a single season back when he was still playing in Japan. Career-wise he's already beaten Rose, still I look foward to him hitting another 200+ next year .

When I went to the homerun derby in 01 Ichiro took BP before hand and hit about 20 balls into the stands effortlesly. But for whatever reason he chose to be a leadoff hitter, and it's hard to consider a guy who gets a lot of singles as the best in the game.

Ichiro's the kind of guy that wants to leave stats, plus whenever he reaches first base it's hell for the pitcher (Matsuzaka Daisuke quote). If he wasn't there to make the pitchers nervous I doubt Figgins would have half the number of hits he's had this season.

[theremedy360]

The most amazing part about this is that Pete did it in a 24 year career, Ichiro did it in his first 10 MLB seasons and is showing no signs of slowing down 

Plus he hit 210 hits in a single season back when he was still playing in Japan. Career-wise he's already beaten Rose, still I look foward to him hitting another 200+ next year .

When I went to the homerun derby in 01 Ichiro took BP before hand and hit about 20 balls into the stands effortlesly. But for whatever reason he chose to be a leadoff hitter, and it's hard to consider a guy who gets a lot of singles as the best in the game.

Ichiro's the kind of guy that wants to leave stats, plus whenever he reaches first base it's hell for the pitcher (Matsuzaka Daisuke quote). If he wasn't there to make the pitchers nervous I doubt Figgins would have half the number of hits he's had this season.

I don’t know how much you’ve actually watched the Mariners this season but I gotta completely disagree about Figgins. We signed the guy to a huge contract and he’s been having his worst season since his rookie year. At the all star break the guy was barely hitting .220 (and this was after an all star season in LA). He’s back up around .250, but that’s still 30 points below his average. Figgins has stated several times that he admires Ichiro and refuses to say that hitting behind him had to do with his stat decrease, but any time you move a leadoff hitter to second it’s gonna be hard. For whatever reason he just wasn’t being aggressive. He’s been hitting about .280 since the all star break so it sounds like he’s finally adjusted. Obviously I can’t blame Ichiro for his lack of production, but to credit him while the transition clearly hurt Figgins in the first half doesn’t make sense. That 1-2 punch finally working does give us something to look forward to next year though.

[MistaNova]

I don’t know how much you’ve actually watched the Mariners this season but I gotta completely disagree about Figgins. We signed the guy to a huge contract and he’s been having his worst season since his rookie year. At the all star break the guy was barely hitting .220 (and this was after an all star season in LA). He’s back up around .250, but that’s still 30 points below his average. Figgins has stated several times that he admires Ichiro and refuses to say that hitting behind him had to do with his stat decrease, but any time you move a leadoff hitter to second it’s gonna be hard. For whatever reason he just wasn’t being aggressive. He’s been hitting about .280 since the all star break so it sounds like he’s finally adjusted. Obviously I can’t blame Ichiro for his lack of production, but to credit him while the transition clearly hurt Figgins in the first half doesn’t make sense. That 1-2 punch finally working does give us something to look forward to next year though.

Okay, so maybe saying Ichiro's the reason Figgins has had his hits was far fetched. I was just trying to say that having Ichrio on one of the bases is a threat to any pitcher, got carried away.