Ichiro/Sisler Watch!

Ichiro needs 26 hits to tie Sisler's seasonal record over the next 23 games. Let's say that he gets 4.4 ABs/game (seasonal average):

23 games * 4.4 ABs/game = 102 ABs

26/102 = .254 to tie the record, .265 to break it.

he's 0/8 for the weekend so far (you can't ignore his career numbers which long suggested that he was overdue for a fall back to reality). his 3 year splits show that September is by far his worst hitting month (.283, one of only 2 months that he averages less than .300). this really could go down to the wire. could you imagine if he got intentionally walked if it got close?

Here is SI's Ichiro countdown page, which is pretty cool.

In this article, the author says of the other Seattle hitters:

"Their bats are probably not much different than the one George Sisler swung back in 1920, when he banged out a major-league-record 257 hits."

Except for, like, their center of gravity and the thickness of their handles and their weight, sure.

higher grade pinetar nowadays too

Don't forget the cork!

On Topic: last night Ichiro got his third 0-4 in 4 days.

He's batting .200 in the past 7 days.

With a projected 84 at bats remaining in the season, he needs 25 hits to tie the record (.300), 26 to break it (.310).

Another oh-fer last night. Perhaps he has something blocking his windpipe?

he did get three walks though. two intentional.

maybe i should be posting this in the barry vs. ichiro thread...

Damn it. I want Ichiro to break this record, or at least get really, really close, so I can read old people getting pissed off. (This is the BEST EXAMPLE EVER.) "Dammit, I didn't watch my friends die in th' mud at Okinawa just so one-a them dadgurned Japaneseys could break Sisler's rekkid!"

(PS: hitters of the '20s were so prolific because the spitball had just been banned and pitchers were leery after the Ray Chapman beanball death incident and umpires ruled that old mushy deadened balls couldn't remain in play as often, so ta-da, offensive explosion. stick it, old-timers)

He's not gonna break the record.

He's certainly not gonna break it in 154 games. ASTERISK!!!

Exactly.

Nate, you still have to give credit to Sisler. Everyone in the league benefitted from the things you mentioned, but he was the only one who got that many hits.

Nate, that rant you linked to was awesome. Delusion at its finest.

I should really use the pejorative "scums" more often.

Ichiro is 5 for 5 tonight. 243 hits with 11 games left after tonight, needing 15 hits.

Ichiro broke the MLB record for singles in a a season (with an asterisk) yesterday:

If there's 12 games left, why the asterisk?

wait when did the switch to 154 games?

In 1898, when Wee Willie Keeler established the record for singles in a season, his Brooklyn Bridegrooms played 149 games. Other teams in the league played anywhere from 145-152 games that year.

Oops, I meant that Keeler played for the Baltimore Orioles. Still 149 games, though.

Based on some very cursory research, it looks like the 154-game season was established in 1904.

Although this site claims it was 1892, so I dunno. I'm guessing that maybe it was officially a 154-game season, but the actual likelihood of each team playing all 154 games was slim, as rain-outs probably weren't made up as frequently as they are now. (The Cubs' games from Sunday-Tuesday of this week were each in a different city!)

so how many anti-ichiro screeds has BP put up so far? or is he still not getting enough attention/praise to make the effort worthwhile?

Baseball Prospectus is like the No Depression of MLB mags

it's more like the OMNI of MLB mags.

more like the ILM of music mags (if ILM was a mag)

nah, it's not that bad.

ack, I meant to write "the ILM of MLB mags", but I guess the point was made.

Ichiro has 3 more hits tonight, giving him 246 on the year, 11 hits to tie with 10 games left. Y'all do the math

oh and to paraphrase gygax up yonder, Raul Ibanez is 6 for 6, wtf

make that four hits! Ichiro is up to 247 hits and a .374 BA

ten games to go...

He did it! He tied Sisler in the 1st inning tonight. With 3 games left, it seems academic at this point whether he'll get more than Sisler.

Incredible.

...and one AB later, he breaks Sisler's record. What a machine.

awesome! he's also got the record for most hits in a four year span.

he's 30 - i can't help but wonder how long he'll be keeping this up.

I'd like to take credit for beginning the countdown long before anyone in the media thx

Full credit given, Gear. I didn't know the name George Sisler prior to seeing this thread, and I sure as fuck wasn't paying attention to anything relating to the Mariners 'til this.

*

oops OTM

But of course.

awhile ago i mentioned a study of speed's traditionally unquantified effects on the game, with ichiro as the focal point. i finally found it: http://www.diamond-mind.com/articles/ichiro.htm

what's most interesting to me at the moment is that tippet implies ichiro's speed on the basepaths more than makes up for his many infield singles presumably failing to advance runners the traditional 2 bases. i don't know about that, but it would seem that basic run metrics like EQR, VORP, or RC might end up with a pretty accurate estimation of ichiro's worth after all. (he's also said to create a further unmeasured ~5 runs due to his DP/GB rate, so they may indeed undershoot his worth)

here's where he places among fellow ALers:

EQR 2nd
EQA 10th
VORP 4th
RC 1st
RC/27 7th

migawd are you asterisk ppl for real???

more specific q to asterisk-ppl: would you be saying the same of any other record? did you agree with the maris asterisk? if there's consistency here i've no major quarrel with you freaks.

reading over this thread i saw my BP anti-ichiro question, and while i can't answer it this http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=3518 is a free roundtable discussion they posted today

joe sheehan prepares to set the tone but is quickly taken to task by mariners fan zumsteg and left pleading "gut feeling". we only get one "it's just cuz he hustles and ppl are suckers for that" comment and it might be sarcastic, tho i doubt it. there is a hilarious reply to sheehan's drivel here http://ussmariner.com/index.php?p=1939

(sheehan does have a couple seeds for thought desperately trying to bud amidst all the bullshit but the unchecked acrimoniousness of that retort made me lol) (although that was probably because i inititally thought it was derek zumsteg himself, taking the gloves off after some kind of split!)

i think they're saying * on sisler's record cuz he only had to play against fat white guys

and wells is in the nl this year

i'm all for measuring records over averages rather than aggregates.

er, why not do both, like we do now? to some extent anyway. and that's totally unrealistic anyway but i'm sure you know that.

i was mistaken above, ichiro's in a tie for 2nd in AL VORP.

I think the essence is: Ichiro's ability to hit the ball in ways no one else seems able to is astounding. He's had one of the best seasons in the league this year, BUT not even close to one of the great years in history, and that's where his most wild-eyed fans are mistaken.

And I am curious, like Sheehan, to see if he can hit .420+ in several different months next year.

Ichiro/Waner Watch:

Jul 31: Ichiro belted a pair of home runs in the Mariners' 3-2 win over the Cleveland Indians Saturday, breaking Paul Waner's 75-year-old record for most hits in his first five major league seasons. He now has 1,059 career hits with 49 games still left on the schedule.

It took Waner 747 games to amass 1,057 hits from 1926-30. Ichiro has played in 737 big league contests to date.

based on his career averages, it seems like he should have broken that record about a month ago. what's going on this year?

i mean, he's still hitting .300, but after last year, it seems like a huge disappointment.

Dude's getting old.

Also, after last year, ANYTHING'S gonna be a disappointment!