A brief comparison of Ichiro and Ibanez
I wanted to expand a little on this diary at Lookout Landing, which takes a different issue with Baker’s piece.
When it came to Ichiro, who got off to a typically slow start in April and part of May, the internal turmoil nearly hit its boiling point.
Ichiro, career April: .293/.348/.395
Ichiro, career May: .364/.412/.464
Ichiro, April: .252/.310/.361
Ichiro, May: .319/.384/.398
Ichiro, first seven games of May: .423/.464/.500
Ichiro, May 1-May 15: .310/.344/.379
Quick and dirty, M’s hitters through May 15th, by OPS
Ibanez .854
Beltre .777
Lopez .737
Ichiro .688
Betancourt .630
Johjima .570
(Did Sexson have a .714 or is that a query artifact?)
But others point out that Ichiro, along with Ibanez, is one of the few Mariners to put up consistently high numbers during a season in which the team has all but collapsed.
Ibanez, May, when Ichiro was supposedly about to be beaten up by his teammates: .218/.307/.366
Ibanez, September: .256/.316/.337
Shouldn’t the conversation have gone more like
Anonymous clubhouse coward: “Hey, so yeah, we all hate Ichiro and in May we were going to kick his ass because he wasn’t hitting.”
Baker: “Okay, but he was hitting, he started off May on an amazing streak and was stealing bases two a game.”
Anonymous clubhouse coward: “Uh, never mind.”
I don’t expect that. But the very least we should demand from people who cover the team is that they check these things before they go into print. Ibanez hasn’t been consistent unless consistent is “good except when he isn’t” and Ichiro’s stats don’t line up with the given reasons for discontent. And if they don’t, again — what’s the reason for the hate?
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The parallels also extend to each preferring to play a position that isn’t necessarily in the best interests of the team.
How much better would this team be if Raul didn’t insist on playing LF? I think thats what your hinting at…
and according to the paraphrased Puckett:
“[Ichiro] is exactly like Raul, they are both focused– doing stretches, extra fielding, extra hitting — so locked in to what they are doing before the game, not sitting around on the sofa joking around.”
So not only was he selfish at the end of the year, but he was getting hits in the beginning of the year too!?
Damn you Ichiro!
Stupid selfish Ichiro, leading off with a single in a meaningless game.
Details cloud a good story…
Or as a certain player might say, those who look no deeper into the pool than their reflection miss the fish.
Speaking of details,
It turns out that Ichiro’s OPS on May 15th was at its lowest point for the entire month of May. It came right after a 1-16 stretch and right before a 6-game hitting streak. So I guess Baker was technically correct to say that Ichiro got off to a slow start for “part of May” if he meant three days in the middle of the month.