Will Ichiro break the Hits record?

[dmp]

Anyone feel Ichiro will get the 14 hits, with 11 remaining games, he needs?

I'm on the fence. I'd like to think he could find at least a couple-three 3-for-4 nights....

 

[5stringJeff]

I'm rooting for him but reaminaing pessimistic. That way when he gets it I can be happy, but if not, I won't be down about it. Kind of like the way you treat the Seahawks!

 

[dmp]

I'm rooting for him but reaminaing pessimistic. That way when he gets it I can be happy, but if not, I won't be down about it. Kind of like the way you treat the Seahawks!

I suspect you are teasing me.

 

[HGROKIT]

seeing as how he went 5 for 5 last night, I think he has a great shot at it - wish his sorry ass team mates could help out though. they shouldn't be called the seattle mariners, but the seattle ichiro's

 

[NATO AIR]

he's an awesome player who seems to be a pretty good guy with a great work ethic... i hope he breaks it and i think he will.

too bad the japanese here don't much cheer for him, they go for matsui (sp?) the yankees guy

 

[nakedemperor]

he's an awesome player who seems to be a pretty good guy with a great work ethic... i hope he breaks it and i think he will.

too bad the japanese here don't much cheer for him, they go for matsui (sp?) the yankees guy

Not to diminish what Ichiro is about to accomplish, for its certainly incredibly impressive, but from this avid baseball fan's standpoint, its not THAT impressive. He may break the single season hit record, but if he does, that would only place him 74th in the single season on base list. He's a singles hitter who gets to first a lot, but in terms of producing runs, he's not significantly above average. Without hitting doubles and homeruns, Ichiro doesn't score people from first or drive himself in, or put himself in scoring position significantly more than a gap hitter who bats .290. He's scored and driven in 155 runs, whereas the other premiere Japanese player, Hideki Matsui has driven in or scored 203. The best indication of what I'm trying to point out is Bret Boone, arguably the second most effective bat in that lineup of the Mariners. He has 145 runs scored or driven in, only 10 less than Ichiro. BUT, by all accounts, Boone is having DISMAL offensive season hittin at a .250 clip. I chose to point out Boone because, like Ichiro, he is on a Mariners team which is last in the league in runs, begging the argument 'Ichiro's doing it all by himself'. Well, Brett Boone, another 'ineffective' cog in the M's offensive wheel, produces just about the same amount of runs as Ichiro, despite hitting 120 points less than him.


Basically I'm trying to say that Ichiro is doing his job and doing it about as well as its ever been done, but I think it needs to be put into perspective in terms of what he does to help his team win games, especially considering he's an MVP candidate. I do think he'll break Sisler's mark, by the bye.

 

[NATO AIR]

That is a good argument emperor.

I don't think he is MVP material because his team is last-place.

 

[5stringJeff]

emp, I agree that as a team, the Mariners need to get it together and figure out how to translate all those hits into runs. However, I will say that it's pretty impressive to get 250 hits in a season, even if 4/5 of them are singles.

 

[nakedemperor]

emp, I agree that as a team, the Mariners need to get it together and figure out how to translate all those hits into runs. However, I will say that it's pretty impressive to get 250 hits in a season, even if 4/5 of them are singles.

Oh, definitely agreed. Even if the Mariners were contenders though, I'd posit that a leadoff hitter who rarely hits for extra bases or any kind of power is *as valuable* as say a Vladamir Guerrero or Gary Sheffield, etc. There are any number of "table-setters" with on bases % as good or higher than Ichiro.