Haters' gotta hate, what can you do about it. For the love of God the Mariners are playing for next year and Ichiro is the only bright spot on this team, so why not let him achieve his goal and make the team look better by having something good to remember the horrible 2004 season.

What I disliked about the Miller article is that it somehow suggested that Ichiro didn't deserve respect for breaking the hits record. I don't get this. Ichiro is a great baseball player. He is not the best player (why does he have to be the best?) but he is probably the best leadoff hitter in the game. Lets face it. Ichiro hitting off first for the Mariners is meaningless because the heart of the order has underperformed. Ichiro hitting off first for the Yankees or Red Sox would have such unbelievable run production numbers that there would be a collective jaw drop.

Miller desparately misses the point in my book. Yes, Ichiro has a weakness. But Miller's point is somehow that Ichiro is a bad, selfish player because of his weaknesses at the plate. I don't get this. His strengths are his strengths and all good/smart players will play to their strengths.

Ichiro is pretty clearly the best leadoff hitter in the game. His .413 OBA + baserunning prowess (as noted earlier) pretty much says that. But I think that Miller was trying to build a case around a couple of at-bats where Ichiro failed to try to hit runners in when the situation pretty clearly called for it.

As to the record, I think David pointed out research that showed how much more difficult it was for Sisler to achieve what he did in 154 games vs. the current 162 game format. More than anything else, that cheapens it for me. In so many ways, Sislers record-breaking season was so much better than Ichiro's this year...but others have pointed out, and I think correctly, that Ichiro breaking Sisler's record has lead to people taking a peek at Sisler's career, and hopefully to their realization of just how outrageous a player he was.

Right. I think people are treating the Ichiro chase with the proper perspective. Nobody is saying he's the best player in the game, and he'll probably wind up somewhere in the middle of the top ten in voting for the AL MVP. But it is a pretty big record, and one that's meaningful to the game in a way that, say, Cal Ripken's Perfect Attendance Award was most definitely *not*. (Now THAT was overhyped.) People realize that the Mariners are a bad team this year and that Ichiro's performance is one of the few bright spots for them.

Yes, Ichiro could do better, but what he is accomplishing is certainly worth noting.

Adam

who says his process is wrong? there's no one correct "process" among successful hitters and even those whose strike-zone judgment and patience are lauded can have different approaches to hitting. as the article points out, Molitor tried to screw with his process this spring and he had a .309 OBP (albeit in a small sample). the rest of the year he has gotten on base close to 45% of the time. his process of getting there is simply different, but it works for him. rather than laying off bad/borderline pitches he attacks them and has coordination, control and speed that he can use to his (and his team's) advantage. i'm not going to argue that he deserves the MVP, but i will argue with anyone who denigrates his skill. he's an above-average player who is a lot of fun to watch. enjoy him while he lasts.

here we go again.

the stats say that a single is always more valuable than a walk. so if ichiro gets mostly on base with singles instead of walks, what is the problem here? how zackly is it gonna make this team better for ichiro to walk more? if he swings at junk out of the strike zone and gets on base, like so what? getting on base is getting on base, as long as it's not a GIDP, which he doesn't do much. i think it's unfair to say that he could somehow turn himself into a barry or jim thome. and i'm tired of everyone complaining that he doesn't score enough runs. well, he needs to other guys to knock him in.

i don't think he's the BEST player in the AL, but he's doing just fine for leadoff.

5/5, one run. Boone went 3/4 from the three spot.

Ichiro is an interesting player to watch, and he generates excitement, but I wouldn't build a team around him.

Lisa,

In 1985, Wade Boggs had 240 hits and 96 walks. So it's possible to have both a lot of hits and a lot of walks. Boggs had an OBA that year of .450. Now, Ichiro has one thing Wade didn't have, and that's speed. If you combined Wade's process with Ichiro's speed, you get a .400 hitter with a .500 OBA. That would be really valuable.

If Sosa could learn to be selective at the plate, so can Ichiro. It will only improve his game.

So what's next for Scott Miller? Write an article tomorrow complain Ichiro being selfish of refusing to come out during tonight's game when Mariners blow out the Angels so he can get more ABs?

At this rate he may actually break the 154-game mark!

While it's obvious that a higher on base percentage is always a good thing it does not follow that if Ichiro walked more he would have a higher on base percentage. The assumption that it is possible to simply turn outs into walks simply through greater pitch selection is faulty. Along the way he'll also turn some hits into walks, and worse, some hits into outs. Stats are a great way of evaluating the value players produce but I don't think they act as very good prescriptions. If Vlad Guerrero was more selective at the plate he would have more walks but he also have less hits, homeruns etc.

Now Soriano . . . that's another story.