The Morning According to Us

Ichiro's value may decrease, but his greatest skill hasn't.

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This is pure beauty or ugly-but-effective, depending on your camp.

Ichiro Suzuki had the misfortune of missing the first two weeks to the season, quite a spell for a player who never seems to miss a game. That's because to miss a game is to miss a chance to hit, and Suzuki hits like the combined adoption efforts of Angelina Jolie and Madonna -- often and internationally.

Yesterday's 4-for-4 performance now inches Ichiro up to 57 hits, which is 16 back of the league lead, something that you'd expect he'll reach. He's led in that category five times in eight years in MLB, including the impossible 2004 season where he laced 262 hits and broke a record -- George Sisler's hits in a season mark -- that made the home run record look like a typical baton hand-off record by comparison. But back to his international exploits, which don't include Malawi-born infants. Including his time as a pro in Japan, Ichiro now has 3,292 hits, a massive total for a career, but considering he's just 35 -- dude legged out three infield hits yesterday -- it means Suzuki could even lay waste to Pete Rose's mark between the two leagues. (There's a bet to be made on this somewhere…)

The broader point is that a player some will never truly get to know -- and he prefers it that way -- will surely be the first Hall of Famer to go the route Ichiro has. But that could be ten or more years off, and perhaps 1,200 to 1,500 hits away. Ichiro is on pace for a mere 231 this year, which would push him over 2,000 hits in under nine full ML seasons. He has 200 hits in every season here (eight). Wade Boggs had 200 hits seven times in 18 ML seasons.

The Ichiro novelty has certainly, and rightfully worn off some as our OPS obsession grows. Consider that he was the MVP in 2001, a fascinating enigma driving a curiously dominating Mariners team that won 116 games. But he hasn't come closer than 7th since, even in 2004, a superior season to '01. He's a one-trick magician, critics say. Perhaps they're right, even as he piles up Gold Gloves and inches toward 400 base thefts.

In the end, Ichiro was born to hit, to literally swing the bat; and the game was created so somebody would.

They deserve each other.

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