BASEBALL

Ichiro set for 9th straight All-Star game

Monday 06th July, 12:50 PM JST

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11 Comments

some14some at 05:28 PM JST - 6th July

Not bad considering his 6HR and 20RBI in 72 games so far.
Beelzebub at 06:48 PM JST - 6th July

Not bad considering his 6HR and 20RBI in 72 games so far.

He's a leadoff hitter, for crying out loud. Perhaps you should take notice of his 40 runs scored. Or his over .360 batting average. Or 230-plus hits per year. Or Golden Glove play in the outfield.

He also lead Japan to the WBC championship.

So who is better qualified to be on the All Star team, hmmmm?
Hotbox08 at 08:20 PM JST - 6th July

Although I'm not a big fan of Ichiro, I have to give credit where credit is due. He does indeed deserve to be an all-star this year since he is the leading hitter in the MLB with a .362 BA (which is over 20 points higher than the next in line), and he is one of the tops in BIP (balls in play). He is also leading in hits and has career highs in OBP and slugging pct. It would also be nice to see Ian Kinsler of Texas get in with the final fan vote (which is the last person who is allowed on the 33-man roster for each league).
xpompey8 at 02:47 AM JST - 7th July

Congrats Ichiro! This guy is a legend. Now only if he can pick up a World Series title then his career would be complete. Now I'm wondering why the Yankees or Red Sox haven't made any offers for him. Money is not an issue for them..
zurcronium at 04:29 AM JST - 7th July

Ichiro is a synch for the HOF in the USA once his career ends. It is too bad he has not made the Series with Seattle as he did for Orix in Japan. I agree it would be good for him to go to a contender but he is locked in right now through 2012 for $17 million per year with the Ms. Only a really rich team would be willing to trade for that salary.

BTW, Ichiro is second in batting right now in the Majors, not first.
some14some at 05:54 AM JST - 7th July

He's a leadoff hitter, for crying out loud. Perhaps you should take notice of his 40 runs scored. Or his over .360 batting average.

Your are looking at the photo frame that is good but i am looking at the picture inside...!
fightfan2008 at 08:16 AM JST - 7th July

^^You do know what is expected of a lead off batter right?

Also you do realize that the Mariners have one of the worst team batting avgs in the AL right??

Your are looking at the photo frame that is good but i am looking at the picture inside...!

lol@the hipocrisy in this statement
Hotbox08 at 07:37 PM JST - 7th July

>

Also you do realize that the Mariners have one of the worst team batting avgs in the AL right??

Good point. It is probably why players like Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez has never won a World Series ring. Good players on terrible teams amount to .... well, no rings.
Hotbox08 at 07:40 PM JST - 7th July

BTW, Ichiro is second in batting right now in the Majors, not first.

That depends on which website's stats you are looking at. According to Yahoo Sports, Ichiro is second. According to MLB.com, he is first.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/stats/
amerijap at 08:24 AM JST - 8th July

Ichiro is now 2nd in AL batting average, since the Twins Joe Mauer met the minimum plate appearances that qualify him for the race.

This time, Albert Pujols is gonna be the star. But it's quite interesting to note that Pujols and Suzuki have several things in common.

They made debut in the same year(2001); both won the Rookie of the Year; and they hit over .300 for the 9th consecutive years.
kitzrow at 07:54 PM JST - 8th July

Maybe I have more time than others, but I watch the stats very carefully for Ichiro and follow his play. I do not see Joe Mauer of Minnesota maintaining that average, and hope Ichiro does not go into his usual August swoon as far as his batting average and last year the team also got real bad about that time.

Ichiro is to me what a baseball player was to me when I was a boy. I used to watch players play on the same team for years and years and they played hard every day. There were also doubleheaders in those days ... and when I watch Ichiro play, he reminds me of the Ernie Banks, Stan Musials or the Willy Mays. They came to the ballpark and played for the same team year in and year out. D. Jeter is very much like that also.

I would love to see Ichiro in the home run hitting contest, but that has been slightly mentioned year in and year out and has never actually happened.

Ichiro will go 2-3 in this All Star game and be replaced.