Mariano Rivera Earns 600th Save for New York Yankees

Mariano Rivera earned his 600th career save Tuesday night, slamming the door on his New York Yankees' 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners.

The 41-year-old closer, who's enjoyed 12 All-Star considerations over his 17-year career, entered the game with a one-run lead in the ninth inning. He struck out pinch hitter Wily Mo Pena before Ichiro Suzuki blooped a single into left field. Kyle Seager then went down on strikes before Ichiro busted for second with Dustin Ackley at the plate. Russell Martin was having none of that though, and threw a perfect strike to Derek Jeter to end the game.

And I Got Mad Hits Like I Was [Ichiro] Rod Carew

On the 10th anniversary of his big league debut, Ichiro Suzuki nailed a ninth-inning RBI single to become the Seattle Mariners all-time hits leader.

During his team's 5-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics Saturday, the All-Star right-fielder tied the mark on an infield single in the third inning before his milestone hit in the ninth off Brian Fuentes.

And I Got Mad Hits Like I Was Rod Carew

Congratulations to Ichiro Suzuki on tying a major league record with his 10th 200-hit season.

The Seattle Mariners right fielder entered Thursday with 198 hits before collecting no. 199 with a third-inning double down the left-field line and a base hit two innings later in his team's tough 1-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, which was highlighted by an outstanding performance by Felix Hernandez, which was crushed by Jose Bautista's 50th home run of the season.

Until today, the 200-hit record was all Pete Rose's since back in September of 1979.

Ichiro is officially the first and only player to record 200 hits in 10 consecutive seasons to extend his own record. He's also the youngest guy to hit the mark, since Rose was 38 years old in his 17th big league season and Ty Cobb, who had only nine 200-hit seasons, was 37 when he last hit the milestone in his 20th and final season in the majors.

Ichiro, clearly one of the best hitters ever, will be 37 on October 22, and is polishing off his 10th season in the bigs. Way to go buddy!

[MLB Video]

OMG Ichiro Just Slapped Me in the Face!

OMG LOLOL ICHIRO JUST TOUCHED MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!1!!!1!!!

Rawlings Hands Out Gold Glove Hardware

Even though baseball season is over, that doesn’t mean the excitement has gone along with it.

Rawlings has handed out their 2009 Gold Glove awards (they’ve been doing so since 1957) and a couple of them went to World Series Champion New York Yankees. Managers and coaches make selections before the season ends, but are not allowed to choose members of their own clubs, of course.

Continue reading and comment on this story at Sports Untapped.

And I Got Mad Hits Like I Was Rod Carew

Ichiro Suzuki, being the total badass that he is, reached his ninth consecutive 200-hit season Sunday night after the second game of a double header against the Texas Rangers.

No one in the history of baseball has ever had that many 200-hit seasons in a row, now that the Seattle Mariners right fielder has passed up the legendary Wee Willie Keeler, who enjoyed eight consecutive 200-hit seasons from 1894-1901. Even more impressive? That record was 108 years old.

Post game, teammate Ken Griffey Jr. picked up Ichiro, slung him over his shoulder and carried him to the showers, where teammates then treated him to a beer shower.

Hot.

Ichiro is now batting .353 on the season with 9 homers and 40 RBIs.
[Reuters] | [Every Joe] | [The Hardball Times]

What's That Sucking Sound? It's the Twins.

Gil Meche was the big winner in his return from the disabled list Thursday as the Kansas City Royals crushed the Minnesota Twins' hopes and dreams of gaining any ground in the American League Central with a 5-4 victory.

Meche, who is notoriously pretty sucky, gave up four runs on seven hits over five innings in his first start since July 11th. At one point, pretty sure it was the sixth inning, the Twins were handed three walks and still managed not to score, thanks to Nick Punto not quite remembering how to bunt before spankin' new Twin Orlando Cabrera hit into an inning-ending double play. Yikes.

Say It Ain't So, Joe

Joe Mauer made history Sunday night.

Not the kind of personal milestone a player would like to hit by any means, but the Minnesota Twins catcher found himself going 0-for-6 against Derek Holland and the Texas Rangers in their 5-3, 11-inning win.

After this weekend's series, the two-time batting champ has a career .284 batting average against Rangers pitchers, and is hitting .358 on the season. This drops him to second in the AL batting race behind Seattle Mariners sweet-swinging outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who's batting .363 on the year.

National League: Lucky #13?

Braveheart wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg.

Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls set an NBA record with 70 wins in a single season.

Sublime's Bradley Nowell dies from a drug overdose and Tupac is gunned down.

I get my driver's licence and fill the red Beretta with $1.00 gallons of gasoline.

The year was 1996. It was a leap year in Philadelphia, marking the last time the National League won the All-Star game. The Senior Circuit will be looking for it's first win in 13 years this evening when they take on the American League in the 80th annual All-Star game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Ichiro Makes Mariners History

Ichiro Suzuki has extended his hitting streak to 26 games, breaking his 2007 record of most consecutive games with a hit and setting the new standard in Seattle Mariners territory.

It took only three pitches into the first inning from Baltimore Orioles rookie right-hander David Hernandez for the sweet-swinging centerfielder to line a base hit to short. He then made his way around the horn and scored on a two-out double by Jose Lopez.

Ichiro, batting .354 on the season, is currently 1-for-2 with a run scored in the top half of the third inning. We'll keep you posted if he does anything else spectacular.

Update: Ichiro went 2-for-5 with 2 runs scored, adding a two-out single to left in the fourth in the Mariners 8-2 win.

And I Got Mad Hits Like I Was Rod Carew

Ichiro Suzuki nailed another one Monday, tying the Seattle Mariners’ club record of 25 consecutive games with a hit, which he set in 2007.

The eight-time All-Star lined a leadoff double -- his ninth of the season -- off Baltimore Orioles lefty Rich Hill before taking third on an error in the bottom of the first inning, bringing his batting average to an impressive .352 on the year just a day after enjoying four hits against the Los Angeles Angels.

And I Got Mad Hits Like I Was Rod Carew

If we were in Japan right now, Ichiro Suzuki's record-tying hit Wednesday would be a very, very big deal. I mean, it's still a pretty big deal, but it was sort of over-shadowed by the awesomeness of Ken Griffey Jr.'s 400th bomb as a Seattle Mariner.

Isao Harimoto's 3,085 hits (a lone, long-standing Japanese record until yesterday) was knotted up after Ichiro went 2-for-5 including a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh during his team's 11-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

Get Well Soon, Ichiro

Ichiro Suzuki has been suffering from a bleeding ulcer. That sounds incredibly painful.

The sweet-swinging Seattle Mariners star was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday, leaving his team without their Opening Day right fielder.

Doctors say the ulcer is no longer bleeding, but have restricted the 35-year-old's baseball-related activities in order to rehabilitate from his recent fatigue issues. The team is optimistic he’ll be ready to play when he’s able to come off the DL on April 15th.

Some blame the World Baseball Classic competition for not only Ichiro's ulcer, but the many other injuries suffered during the WBC by Americans, some who will now miss Opening Day festivities. Either Franklin Gutierrez or Endy Chavez will take over the leadoff spot in the batting order for the Mariners, and a variety of players could be used in right when the team opens the season Monday at Minnesota. Maybe Ken Griffey Jr. will get to play?

Here is a great read from The Seattle Times blog, shared with me by Kris Liakos of Walkoff Walk: An Inner Look at Ichiro.

[Seattle Times] | [U.S.S. Mariner] | [Japan Today]

Holy Crap Ichiro

The highlight of the Seattle Mariners year so far.

Style points for sure.

[SOX & Dawgs]

Tao of Ichiro in Question?

The saying "It's only Spring" sure comes in handy when you've kicked off the preseason with an 0-for-14 slump.

But Ichiro Suzuki has a perfectly good explanation for this.

"It's good to learn to pace yourself," he said.

The Seattle Mariners' sweet-swinging All Star center fielder's career-worst hitless streak came in 2005 when he went 0-for-24 -- a rare occurrence for the guy who's stacked up the most hits in the big leagues since the 2001 season, along with a couple of batting titles.

Maybe Kevin Youkilis can grab him an ice cold SlumpBuster.

[Seattle Post]

Fun With Polls: AL Batting Title

With a tight race for the American League Batting Title in the works, we thought it would be interesting to see who our readers think will pull ahead in the end.

As it stands today, Ichiro Suzuki leads the AL hitters with a .354 batting average with 11 games left in the Seattle Mariners' regular season.

And I Got Mad Hits Like I Was Rod Carew

Seattle Mariners All-Star center fielder Ichiro Suzuki became the third-quickest player in big league history to reach 1,500 hits after he singled in the second inning Sunday off Oakland Athletics' starter Lenny DiNardo.

The feat took him just 1,060 games to accomplish with Al Simmons and George Sisler reaching the mark in less time at 1,048 and 1,040 games, respectively. Ty Cobb comes in fourth at 1,070 contests.

Ichiro drops this bomb of wisdom on us:

"Unless I get to 1,500, I can't get 1,501. So in that sense, all numbers are important to me."

[Baseball, The Greatest Pastime]

*Be sure to check out the latest edition of Voodoo Sabermetrics highlighting the one and only, Barry Lamar Cheaterface.

Ichiro Hit By Verlander Pitch, Leaves Game

With a man on first and nobody out in the fifth, Ichiro Suzuki was nailed by a 96-mph Justin Verlander fastball.

The Seattle Mariners All-Star centerfielder limped halfway down the first baseline before being checked on by trainers. He remained in the game, but was pulled moments later after having trouble gaining second on a wild pitch.

Television replays clearly showed the ball hitting Ichiro on the outside of his right knee, but the team says he was hit in the muscle just above the knee and has a bruise on his right thigh. X-rays were negative and he will be evaluated today.

"I just met the guy a few days ago and here I go hitting him," Verlander said. "I hope he's all right. I hate to do it to that guy, he's really nice."

The drilling comes just days after Ichiro avoided free agency by agreeing to a $90 million, five-year contract extension that will keep him in Seattle through the 2012 season.

[Seattle Times]

Ichiro: What's in a Contract Year?

Dusty Baker Orestes Destrada's bold prediction on Baseball Tonight last night was that Ichiro Suzuki would hit safely in every game he plays in for the month of June. That would give him one amazing 51-game hitting streak.

While I doubt that will happen, I suppose if anyone is going to challenge Joe DiMaggio's streak, it's this guy.

Ichiro went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a stolen base, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 24 games as the Seattle Mariners held on to beat the Texas Rangers 9-5 last night. He can be thanked for Seattle's recent run of seven wins in their last ten games, as well.

In that span, Ichiro is batting .362 (12-for-47) with 17 hits, including 2 homers and 9 RBIs. He had 46 hits and an AL-best 13 stolen bases over 30 games in May, and batted .357 for the month.

So far, I'd say he's making a pretty good impression in the last year of his contract. Although, he claims that the lack of any serious talks on a new Seattle deal with free agency looming gives no added importance to his strong start.

[Lookout Landing]

Wednesday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Fans tuned in from all across the globe to witness an outstanding pitching performance. They got one - from strikeout leader Felix Hernandez (2-0, 0.00 ERA) - rather than the expected show by Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-1, 2.57 ERA). Seattle's pitching phenom racked up 6 more K's and didn't allow a hit until J.D. Drew spoiled his no-no bid with a single on the first pitch he saw in the eighth inning.

The Mariners' (3-2) victory, a 3-0 win over the Red Sox (4-4), marked Hernandez's third complete game in 45 starts - his performance overshadowing the much-anticipated first big league matchup between Dice-K and Ichiro Suzuki.