Baseball: just how hot is ichiro?

Ichiro is hitting .457 (53-for-116) in August. When Rod Carew had 54 hits for the Twins in June, 1977, he had a .486 batting average for the month (54-for-111). When Alex Rodriguez had 54 hits in August, 1996, he had a .435 average (54-for-124). Until now, Ichiro's best batting average month was July, when he hit .432 (51-for-118).

AUGUST HARVEST

With three more hits yesterday, Ichiro Suzuki reached 53 for the month of August, becoming just the sixth player in the past 32 years to hit safely 53 or more times in a month. Ichiro still has one more game to play in August -- tomorrow in Toronto.

PLAYER TEAM MONTH-YEAR HITS
Rod Carew Twins June 1977 54
Alex Rodriguez Mariners August 1996 54
Billy Williams Cubs July 1972 53
Cal Ripken Orioles Sept. 1983 53
Roberto Alomar Indians Sept. 2000 53
Ichiro Suzuki Mariners August 2004 53


Ichiro has 209 hits for the season, just three shy of the 212 hits he had in all of 2003. He is on a pace for 261 (George Sisler holds the major league record with 257).

i read on one of the seattle papers today that at his current rate of at bats ichiro could go hitless the rest of the season and still finish above 300.....AMAZING

he is on fire right now, nothing about it

I hope he beats the record... how old is that record again?

george sislers record goes back to 1920

Mariners
M's Ichiro: history in motion

By Bob Sherwin
Seattle Times staff reporter


JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Among his accomplishments this season, Ichiro became the first player to have 50 hits in back-to-back months since 1936.



History has a way of escaping before you really know it's there.
As Mariners manager Bob Melvin points out, where Ichiro's historical hitting pace is concerned, fans "should enjoy what they are watching. This has never really been done before."

While the Mariners are having a forgettable season, Ichiro is in the middle of perhaps the greatest hit season in baseball's grand history. He has had three 50-hit months this season, the first player to do that, according to extensive research. He also has 209 hits with 32 games remaining, beginning tonight in Toronto. He's on a pace for 260 hits. The major-league record is 257 set by George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns in 1920.

"The record was set when you were seeing one pitcher, maybe two. Now they're specializing by bringing in guys just to get him out," Melvin said last weekend. "What he's doing just hasn't happened.

"You talk every day about him and try to come up with more superlatives. He's the best. He is as good a bat handler as you'll ever see."

Ichiro already has set a record for most 200-hit seasons to start a career with four. He also has the most hits in the first four years of a career (871 and counting).

He is averaging a blistering .459 since the All-Star break as he seeks his second batting title in four years.


Asked whether he can become the all-time single-season hits leader, Ichiro said through an interpreter, "At this point, I'm not going to think about that at all. I think you have goals that you can see, and that goal is just too far for me to see."

But the rest of us should be watching.

Bob Sherwin: 206-464-8286 or [email protected]


Chasing George Sisler

George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns set the single-season hit record in 1920:


Mariners games remaining: 32.

Ichiro is on pace for: 260 hits

This is pretty amazing, what a show!

tonight ichiro went 3-5 with 2 rbi's....he is amazing

He's on my fantasy team . He's even belted a couple homers in recent weeks. If it hadn't been for such a slow start we'd be having another .400 hitter. Hell, I guess we still could.

i hope he beats the record, he is a class act, you never hear anything bad about him

So, what do you throw this guy?
CHICAGO (AP) — Teams have no idea how to pitch to Ichiro Suzuki these days.

Ichiro Suzuki swings for one of his five singles against the White Sox on Saturday. The Mariners outfielder needs 35 hits to set the season record.
Jeff Roberson, AP

"He's got everybody in the other dugout shaking their heads," Seattle manager Bob Melvin said.

"It's almost laughable."

Suzuki went 5-for-5, but Paul Konerko hit two home runs and Mark Buehrle pitched seven strong innings to lead the Chicago White Sox to an 8-7 win over the Mariners on Saturday night.

Suzuki leads the majors with 223 hits, 35 from breaking the season record set in 1920 by Hall of Famer George Sisler. The Mariners have 27 games remaining in their 162-game season.

Sisler played all 154 games for the St. Louis Browns during his record year.

Suzuki, whose is batting .379, has had five or more hits in a game three times — all this season. He has 20 hits in his last seven games and has upped his average since the All-Star break from .321.

"You pitch the guy wide, inside, up or down and it doesn't matter," said Buehrle, who allowed four of Suzuki's five singles. (Related item: Game report)

"He didn't hit the ball hard — it barely got out of the infield — and he's still 5-for-5."

Suzuki has had five or more hits in a game three times — all this season. He has two or more hits in six of his last seven games.

Buehrle (13-8), who left after seven innings with an 8-3 lead, even lobbed an eephus pitch to start Suzuki's seventh-inning at-bat.

"In Japan, I saw that a lot," Suzuki said through a translator. "But here, it's probably the first time."

After Suzuki's fifth hit in the ninth, the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

"To give an ovation to an opposing player, I think they really love the game," Suzuki said. "It really made me feel good to see that

ichiro only got 1 hit today going 1-4, he saw his batting average plunge to 378

hes still on fire though. 378 is a great average

Originally posted by toejam
ichiro only got 1 hit today going 1-4, he saw his batting average plunge to 378

Plunge to .378, LOL!

I'd like to see him break the single-season record and he should if he keeps up this pace. They said on SportsCenter this morning that he just got his 223rd hit, Pete Rose(all-time hits leader) only had one season of 223+ hits and Tony Gwynn never had that many in a season.

Mariners: Ichiro extends hit streak

by Fanball Staff - Fanball.com
Monday, September 6, 2004

News
While making a serious run at the major league record for hits in a single season, outfielder Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a one-for-four performance on Sunday against the White Sox.

Views
Ichiro remains on pace to break George Sisler's record. He needs 33 more hits in the remaining 26 games

It'd be neat to see an old-time record like that fall, especially to a guy who appears to be a class act.

Originally posted by Gibbs Baby!!!
It'd be neat to see an old-time record like that fall, especially to a guy who appears to be a class act.

Very true Gibbs!

He is 1 for 2 so far tonight vs the Tribe with a single in the 3rd. He's due up 2nd this inning. I wonder if they'll start showing his at-bats on ESPN like they've done for Bonds, McGwire, etc. when he gets closer to the record.

What a tough record to break. This seems bigger than the homerun record to me, just because of the length of time it has stood. Yet today was the first i'd heard of it. Maybe my heads in sand, maybe this should be getting more fan-fare.

2 more hits for ichiro monday night

Suzuki went 2-for-4, getting singles in the third and ninth innings to push his season hits total to 226 -- 31 short of George Sisler's 1920 major league record of 257 hits. Suzuki has 25 games remaining

i hope he gets it i really do

talk about an obscure achievement....ichiro is the first player in the HISTORY OF BASEBALL....to have 100 more singles than the league average....obscure but interesting

Originally posted by toejam
talk about an obscure achievement....ichiro is the first player in the HISTORY OF BASEBALL....to have 100 more singles than the league average....obscure but interesting

hmmm, neat