Monday, December 15, 2003
LEST WE FORGET...
This is from a post by Jeremy on 18 Sept at 7:13pm--
Ichiro in 2003:
1st Half: 8 HR, 28 RBI, .352 BA, .865 OPS, 25 SB, 22 BB, 137 H
2nd Half: 5 HR, 26 RBI, .240 BA!, .652 ops, 6 SB!, 11 BB, 59 H
Batting average as of right now: .309
Just thought I'd bring that back to everyone's attention.
I dug up a bunch of my Ichiro-related posts from the Mariners 2003 death march toward second place and no playoffs. I'm copying and pasting because back then I messed with the permalink portion of the HTML template a little too much and the permalinks don't work. I noticed there's quite a few David Locke quotes from the KJR postgame shows. Feast forth...
From 27 Aug at 10:15pm --
David Locke is on fire on KJR right now. He has used the phrase "Ichiro sucked tonight," and he basically has. He brought up that on a night when Miguel Tejada hit 2 dongs and carried the A's, Ichiro has carried his team by...whiffing in the first, bouncing out to end the 3rd with Sanchez on second, flying out to shallow center WITH THE BASES LOADED AND NOBODY OUT in the 5th, whiff[ing] to lead off the 7th, and with one run in and two on in scoring position in the 8th, Ichiro popped out to the third baseman. Ouch ouch ouch.
[...]
Now it's official. The Mariners are done. Tejada hit two bombs for the A's and Pineiro and Ichiro choked. Crunch time is where real players step up, y'all.
HA!!! AND ICHIRO WANTS MORE THAN WHAT TEJADA'S GETTING??!! Just read that last part again and try to tell me Ichiro is worth more than Tejada. Better yet, try to tell me after reading the rest of this post.
From 31 Aug at 4:52pm --
So who is the goat of the lineup, you ask? ICHIRO went 0-for-5 with a strikeout. Let's go over his at-bats: whiffed on a 1-2 pitch to lead off the game (1st inning); got ahead 2-0 in the count before flying out on a 3-2 pitch to left field with Wilson on first (3rd inning); bounced a ball right to Conine on a 2-1 pitch with one out (5th inning); grounded out to second on a 1-2 pitch in the 7th; flew out in foul ground thanks to a diving catch on an 0-1 pitch with the bases juiced and two out (8th inning). The Mariners have won these last three games with most everything turning out right. Ichiro made one great contribution in yesterday's game. Other than that, there's gonna be a bunch of times from this point through the rest of the year where the Mariners are gonna need this Ichiro guy to jumpstart the offense like we expect him to. Ichiro has got to step up because time is running out and this team needs him to perform to his capabilities at the plate, and going 0-for-5 and stranding four runners on the bases is not the way to do it. Come on, Ichiro. Show us what you're made of.
From 3 Sept at 9:22pm --
David Locke of KJR hitting us with this...Ichiro is 3-for his last 35.
From 4 Sept at 9:30pm --
Once again, a Locke stat. The Mariners have scored first once in the last 14 games. As I've argued earlier, this does in the Mariners because they are a get-ahead-and-hang-on team and are definitely NOT a come-from-behind team, especially in the late innings. As Locke said, this has a direct correlation to Ichiro getting on base to lead off the game.
From 1:26am on 6 Sept --
Top 3: Everyone swinging early in the count this inning off DuBose. Sanchez whiffs on three pitches, Wilson flies out on the second pitch, Ichiro singles on the third pitch, then gets run down after a pickoff move.
My 12:40am post on 8 Sept --
My bashing for tonight: Ichiro was 0-for-4 and left 2 runners on base. Please tell me the MVP talk has moved away from him. Please. The Orioles leadoff hitter, Brian Roberts, went 9-for-14 in the series. THAT'S leadoff hitting. THAT is a tablesetter right there.
From my post on 13 Sept at 2:09pm, another golden Ichiro moment --
Bot 6: Chris Bootcheck takes the mound for the Angels. Winn took a first-pitch strike and fell back 0-2 before singling up the middle. Mac singled to right (huh?) on the first pitch. Wilson flew out to right on the first pitch on an Owens diving catch to his right. Ichiro got ahead 3-0 AND SWUNG ON 3-0 TO FLY OUT TO SHORT. WHAT THE HELL?!!?! Guillen flew out to left on the first pitch.
Does Ichiro deserve a penny over $10M/yr? You know what I think.
Ichiro in 2003:
1st Half: 8 HR, 28 RBI, .352 BA, .865 OPS, 25 SB, 22 BB, 137 H
2nd Half: 5 HR, 26 RBI, .240 BA!, .652 ops, 6 SB!, 11 BB, 59 H
Batting average as of right now: .309
Just thought I'd bring that back to everyone's attention.
I dug up a bunch of my Ichiro-related posts from the Mariners 2003 death march toward second place and no playoffs. I'm copying and pasting because back then I messed with the permalink portion of the HTML template a little too much and the permalinks don't work. I noticed there's quite a few David Locke quotes from the KJR postgame shows. Feast forth...
From 27 Aug at 10:15pm --
David Locke is on fire on KJR right now. He has used the phrase "Ichiro sucked tonight," and he basically has. He brought up that on a night when Miguel Tejada hit 2 dongs and carried the A's, Ichiro has carried his team by...whiffing in the first, bouncing out to end the 3rd with Sanchez on second, flying out to shallow center WITH THE BASES LOADED AND NOBODY OUT in the 5th, whiff[ing] to lead off the 7th, and with one run in and two on in scoring position in the 8th, Ichiro popped out to the third baseman. Ouch ouch ouch.
[...]
Now it's official. The Mariners are done. Tejada hit two bombs for the A's and Pineiro and Ichiro choked. Crunch time is where real players step up, y'all.
HA!!! AND ICHIRO WANTS MORE THAN WHAT TEJADA'S GETTING??!! Just read that last part again and try to tell me Ichiro is worth more than Tejada. Better yet, try to tell me after reading the rest of this post.
From 31 Aug at 4:52pm --
So who is the goat of the lineup, you ask? ICHIRO went 0-for-5 with a strikeout. Let's go over his at-bats: whiffed on a 1-2 pitch to lead off the game (1st inning); got ahead 2-0 in the count before flying out on a 3-2 pitch to left field with Wilson on first (3rd inning); bounced a ball right to Conine on a 2-1 pitch with one out (5th inning); grounded out to second on a 1-2 pitch in the 7th; flew out in foul ground thanks to a diving catch on an 0-1 pitch with the bases juiced and two out (8th inning). The Mariners have won these last three games with most everything turning out right. Ichiro made one great contribution in yesterday's game. Other than that, there's gonna be a bunch of times from this point through the rest of the year where the Mariners are gonna need this Ichiro guy to jumpstart the offense like we expect him to. Ichiro has got to step up because time is running out and this team needs him to perform to his capabilities at the plate, and going 0-for-5 and stranding four runners on the bases is not the way to do it. Come on, Ichiro. Show us what you're made of.
From 3 Sept at 9:22pm --
David Locke of KJR hitting us with this...Ichiro is 3-for his last 35.
From 4 Sept at 9:30pm --
Once again, a Locke stat. The Mariners have scored first once in the last 14 games. As I've argued earlier, this does in the Mariners because they are a get-ahead-and-hang-on team and are definitely NOT a come-from-behind team, especially in the late innings. As Locke said, this has a direct correlation to Ichiro getting on base to lead off the game.
From 1:26am on 6 Sept --
Top 3: Everyone swinging early in the count this inning off DuBose. Sanchez whiffs on three pitches, Wilson flies out on the second pitch, Ichiro singles on the third pitch, then gets run down after a pickoff move.
My 12:40am post on 8 Sept --
My bashing for tonight: Ichiro was 0-for-4 and left 2 runners on base. Please tell me the MVP talk has moved away from him. Please. The Orioles leadoff hitter, Brian Roberts, went 9-for-14 in the series. THAT'S leadoff hitting. THAT is a tablesetter right there.
From my post on 13 Sept at 2:09pm, another golden Ichiro moment --
Bot 6: Chris Bootcheck takes the mound for the Angels. Winn took a first-pitch strike and fell back 0-2 before singling up the middle. Mac singled to right (huh?) on the first pitch. Wilson flew out to right on the first pitch on an Owens diving catch to his right. Ichiro got ahead 3-0 AND SWUNG ON 3-0 TO FLY OUT TO SHORT. WHAT THE HELL?!!?! Guillen flew out to left on the first pitch.
Does Ichiro deserve a penny over $10M/yr? You know what I think.
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