Ichiro: Invaluable catalyst

Ichiro Suzuki bats .600 in the series and ties a record for hits

By Rich Myhre

Herald Writer

SEATTLE — At this time last fall, he had just finished a sensational season for the Orix Blue Wave of Japan’s Pacific League. He batted a hefty .387 to lead the league for a seventh consecutive year. He also had a league-best on-base percentage of .460 while winning his seventh straight Gold Glove.

Ichiro Suzuki arrived in the United States with credentials that were remarkable by any measure. And on Monday he added another chapter to an already impressive rookie season with a record-setting performance in the Seattle Mariners’ American League Division Series victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Suzuki was the catalyst in the 3-1 series-clinching win, just as he has been throughout Seattle’s memorable 2001 season. He finished his day with three infield singles in four at-bats, giving him 12 hits for the series, a total that ties the mark for a five-game AL Division Series established by teammate Edgar Martinez in the 1995 series vs. the New York Yankees. Also, Suzuki’s .600 batting average (12-for-20) is a new career ALDS mark for a minimum of 20 at-bats.

Needless to say, the Indians never quite figured how to keep Suzuki off the bases in this series. "But there haven’t been too many teams that have figured out how to do that," Seattle’s John Olerud said. "He’s been unbelievable, the way he’s been able to get hits, get on base, score runs. He’s definitely a big reason why we are where we are."

"He’s done the same thing all year — getting on base, scoring runs and making things happen," added Seattle’s Dan Wilson. "And in a close ballgame like this, it’s important to get him on base and cause things to happen. He’s done that all year with a tremendous amount of consistency and that’s been a big part of our season."

In Monday’s game, Suzuki led off Seattle’s first inning with a chopper deep into the hole at shortstop. Cleveland shortstop Omar Vizquel made the catch and throw, but not nearly in time to retire the speedy Suzuki.

Suzuki grounded out to second baseman Roberto Alomar in the third inning, but in the fifth Alomar could not handle Suzuki’s bouncer to his right, with the ball bouncing off his glove and rolling into shallow center field.

Suzuki failed to score on either of his early opportunities, but in the seventh inning he led off with a grounder behind the bag at second and outraced Vizquel’s throw to first. He was then sacrificed to second by teammate Stan Javier and, one out later, scored on a broken-bat single to center by Edgar Martinez. It was Seattle’s final run and gave the Mariners the benefit of a two-run cushion over the final two innings.

As is his custom, Suzuki downplayed his contributions.

"The only thing I can tell you," he said, speaking through an interpreter, "is that I prepared very well for this series. I’m really happy and pleased to play (well) under this pressure."

Neither did he have any expectations or objectives in his first American postseason experience. "I just come here every day and see what comes up in front of me," he said. Then he said, "I’m a part of a very special team."

For the series, Suzuki reached base in 14 of his 21 plate appearances (he also reached on a walk and an error) and scored four of Seattle’s 16 runs in the five games.

Defensively he provided some other shining moments. In the third inning Monday, with Cleveland’s Travis Fryman at second base and no outs, Marty Cordova lofted a fly ball to deep right field. Suzuki retreated to make the catch, then made a tremendous one-hop throw to third base. Fryman, who had tagged, was safe, but the toss was impressive nonetheless.

Moving from the regular season to the postseason, "Ichiro hasn’t missed a beat," said Seattle’s Bret Boone. "He’s been getting on base all year and he’s getting on base in the postseason. That hasn’t changed. It’s a comedy, really, the way he gets on base. It’s unbelievable. He just does it so many different ways, and it’s really fun to watch."