Game 138, M’s at A’s
DMZ · September 6, 2009 at 11:53 am · Filed Under Mariners
Fister v Gonzalez. 1:05.
If it has to happen on the road trip, I would love to see Ichiro! get his 2,000th MLB hit in front of Oakland fans, who are not fans. And I hope when he gets back, he gets the ovation his milestone’s worthy of.
I don’t care if anyone thinks Ichiro! is over/under rated, or over/under paid, and my scorn for the “Ichiro’s bad for the clubhouse” crowd and their leaders is well-known. But if you can’t watch Ichiro! play and appreciate his ability and take some joy from it, I’m sad for you.
Howsabout a HR into the visitors dugout.
What are the odds Fister gets shelled? Alot of Lt. handed bats in Oaklands lineup.
I know that “counting” stats aren’t a true measure of a player’s worth, but Ichiro! is facing an uphill climb to get his ninth straight 100-run season to go along with his ninth straight 200-hit season.
He has 76 runs, so he needs 24 runs in 25 games to reach 100. It’s not unheard of, but the odds are proably against it, even for Ichiro!
It would kinda be nice to see, so I’m pulling for him to do it. I don’t pretend that it means a lot.
Drayer: What is the coolest thing you’ve gotten to do because of playing baseball?
Bill Hall: baseball gives you so many opportunities … probably the All Star team that went to Japan in 2006 … Kenji was on that team and we got to go to a lot restaurants that American don’t usually get to go to
Samuel Johnson said when you are tired of London, you are tired of life. When you are tired of Ichiro, you are tired of baseball.
And Rizzs fakes the call once more.
Congrats Ichiro. Just incredible.
Nice to see him looking so happy & relaxed in the dugout
Congrats Ichi! 🙂
Awesome, awesome, awesome… Good for Ichiro! Nice to see his whole team giving him a standing ovation.
With all the high fives they give for a sac fly or bunting the runners over, getting your 2000th hit certainly deserves more than that.
Very nice shirts on the Fister family.
For your edification, this is the prior list of players who had 2000 hits in a decade. And Ichiro, of course, didn’t play in the first year of the decade.
Why are they all so dressed up?
Since Sweeney has had a chance to play regularly, he has been very good. He has fifteen hits in the last ten games. The last seven games, he has an on base percentage of .417 and a slugging percentage of .500.
Stop hurting Adrian.
That ball went very far.
I think the Ms need to score some more runs.
Ichiro’s in the top 1% of hitters that have ever lived, IMHO.
First-ballot Hall-of-Famer. Won’t be unanimous but should be.
Sweeney has been getting to play regularly because he’s been hitting, not the other way around. Wak seems to be a believer in the hot hand. Of course Griffey’s knees (and the lack of any other obvious big bats on the bench) have been a factor as well. (Despite those walk-offs, I don’t think “Ryan Langerhans, Designated Hitter” holds much terror for any pitching staff).
If Rickey Henderson wasn’t unanimous, nobody else ever will be either. Too many voters make up their own criteria and create imaginary “sub HOFs” that turn on how many votes it takes or how many tries. Not to mention at least some of them are of an age where Ichiro’s background will be a factor, whether they publicly admit it or not.
Beltre couldn’t have made that move if his testicles were still hurting.
I always wince at trying to pick off a runner at third. If it goes into the outfield, it’s a score.
Great, Fister’s family in here to watch him get the big hook early?
Lopez continues to make me nervous at first.
Wow… glad Fister got out of it.
Wow, so the M’s aren’t the only team afflicted by “bases loaded, so what?”
Yes he could. He made moves like that in the game where he got injured, [i]after[/i] the injury. He seems to have an incredibly high pain threshold. Like, average-woman-giving-birth high.
Nice inning, Shawn Kelley.
Nice inning, Shawn Kelley.
Bad double post, Breadbaker.
Not a nice inning, Shawn Kelley
Sigh. Well, you knew the M’s pitching staff couldn’t tip-toe past the graveyard forever… even if the zombies are wearing 2009 Athletics uniforms, they’ll catch up to you eventually.
Shawn Kelley makes baby Jesus cry. And by Jesus, I mean Jesus Ortega, infant son of my next-door neighbor Juan, who’s cursing up a storm after that dreadful inning.
And in other fun baseball news, Colorado and Arizona have so far combined for 18 BB through seven-plus innings. Rocks 13-3 Dbacks.
I’m guessing Huston Street isn’t coming in to that one ^^^
Speaking of which, it’s kind of distressing the M’s have so many “only bring them in when the score is out of reach” bullpen arms that none ever risks getting tired (or that the team keeps trying to burn through them all anyway). Batista, Messenger, etc…
Ah, well.
Tomorrow! Felix v. Kazmir! The Re-Match!
Felix wins #15 to-morrah. “Felix Dayyyyyy….gotta have me some of that Feeeee-lix Dayyyyy….”
Felix vs. Angels Tuesday. Tomorrow is an open date for the M’s.
Oh, right, right. My bad. Hey, but I wish it was tomorrow.
Congratulations Ichiro!!
  And thanks again, Ichiro! Thank you.
That Junior Griffey is quite the cut-up. I think it would have been funnier, however, if Junior drew a lot of funny faces and text slang like LOLZ and OMG on Ichiro’s 2000th hit ball.
In the dugout later, after Jose Lopez drove him home with a single, his teammates mobbed him with congratulations. Ken Griffey Jr. took the historic ball, which will be shipped to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and according to Ichiro wrote “some ridiculous things” on it.
Griffey told reporters his scribbling was a play on words with the first name of A’s pitcher Gonzalez and a Geo Metro car.
“So I signed it, ‘Got a hit off a Geo Metro 09/06/09,’ ” Griffey quipped.
Ichiro’s the second fastest to 2000 hits in terms of games played, but I wonder about at-bats.
He got his 2000th hit in his 5996th at-bat (the list of guys who got 2000 hits in under 6000 at-bats has to be pretty short).
Baker points out he was unclear in his report– that it was a fake ball with the wacky info (as is a long baseball tradition)
from someone over at the Times:
“Only five players have reached 2,000 hits in less than 6,100 AB’s. They are…
Tony Gywnn (6,094 AB’s)
Todd Helton (6,088 AB’s)
Ichiro Suzuki (5,996 AB’s)
Rod Carew (5,965 AB’s)
Wade Boggs (5,832 AB’s)”