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With the whirlwind circumstances of Ichiro Suzuki‘s trade to the New York Yankees on Monday, there wasn’t much time to reflect on his career with the Seattle Mariners. 

Before fans, reporters and bloggers had a chance to digest the news, the immaculately dressed Suzuki was sitting next to Yankees manager Joe Girardi at a table to discuss the trade with the media. 

There was plenty of time—five or six hours—for Mariners fans to find out that Ichiro had been traded. Yet, while watching him take the field at Safeco Field Monday night in a Yankees uniform, I kept imagining several thousand fans who either hadn’t heard the news, were casual Mariners followers wondering if some sort of elaborate prank had been played or if they had entered a wormhole into an alternate universe.

The man is a folk hero in Seattle. Actually, he’s a rock star. I’ve witnessed the adulation Ichiro receives from Mariners fans, and it was truly impressive. No one drew more cheers, no received more love, no one could do less wrong in front of the Safeco Field faithful. I’ve seen players who were popular with home fans before, but nothing like the continual affection directed at Ichiro. 

Now that the initial shock and surprise have worn off, however, we can contemplate Ichiro’s 12 seasons in Seattle and the legacy he left with the Mariners. We may never see another player like him in baseball. For one thing, Ichiro was a trailblazer. And that trail should lead all the way to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A Strong First Impression

Ichiro was the first Japanese position player to play baseball at the major-league level. That alone made him a curiosity. With that curiosity came skepticism, naturally. How would this thin slap hitter fare against big-league pitching? 

He could hit, but did it in a way we’d never really seen before.

Ichiro seemed to run out of the batter’s box as he swung, getting a head start toward first base that allowed him to run out many infield hits. But he could drive the ball into the outfield, as if the upper half of his body stayed back to hit while his lower half was running toward first base.

No one could argue with the results. Ichiro led the majors with 242 hits that season, 36 more than the next closest competitor. His.350 batting average tied for the best in the big leagues with Larry Walker. Ichiro also finished with the most stolen bases in baseball that season with 56.

As SI.com’s Joe Lemire reminds us, Ichiro was the first player to lead his league in batting average and stolen bases since Jackie Robinson in 1949. From one pioneer to another. 

Oh, and we can’t forget Ichiro’s defense. We especially can’t forget that straight-line throw he made from right field to nail Oakland‘s Terrence Long at third base. This was no little guy. He had a cannon for an arm. 

Despite being a rookie, Ichiro led all players in All-Star votes. He won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards as a right fielder. But most impressively, Ichiro went on to win the AL Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards. 

Ichiro had this major-league thing figured out pretty well. 

The Hitting Machine 

During his 12 years in Seattle, Ichiro led the majors in hits seven times.

In 2004, he not only got more hits than any major leaguer that year, but Ichiro accumulated more hits than any baseball player had in a single season. His 262 hits broke George Sisler’s 84-year-old record of 257 hits. 

Even when Ichiro didn’t lead the league in hits in three separate seasons between 2001-10, he still notched 200 hits for the year. 

As of this writing, Ichiro has 2,534 hits. Just think if he hadn’t spent nine seasons in Japan. During his professional Japanese career, he compiled 1,278 hits. That gives him 3,812 for a career total. 

Even so, Ichiro could still reach 3,000 hits in the major leagues. Depending on whether or not Ichiro signs with another team next season and continues to play another two or three years, he’ll reach that coveted milestone. 

They Love Him, They Really Love Him

Ichiro was named to 10 straight All-Star teams from 2001-10. During that span, he also won 10 Gold Gloves and three Silver Slugger Awards.

Those honors are decided by fan balloting, and voting from managers and coaches. So, it could be argued that the awards are subjective and not reflective of a player’s merit during a particular season.

But it’s generally understood that All-Stars, Gold Glove winners and Silver Slugger honorees are considered the best of the best at their positions. Ichiro didn’t get those awards simply because he was popular or had a good reputation. He earned them.

One subjective vote remains. Hall of Fame voters will consider Ichiro one of the best at his position during his major-league career. With nearly 3,000 hits and a career batting average around .320, he has the resume.

Ichiro won’t have the power numbers that other Hall of Fame right fielders such as Al Kaline, Reggie Jackson, Roberto Clemente and, of course, Hank Aaron compiled. But he was a different kind of player.

As I wrote at the beginning of this article, we may never see another player like him again.

Follow @iancass on Twitter.

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Jay Buhner, a Seattle Mariners legend, apparently doesn’t like the idea of the team he played 14 seasons for re-signing Ichiro Suzuki to a multi-year extension, even if it comes at a sizable pay cut.

Buhner told ESPN 710 Seattle that he’d “vomit” if the Mariners offered Ichiro any type of long-term commitment.

Here‘s Buhner’s full comment:

I’d vomit. I mean, really, no offense. No offense, we’ve got to get this organization turned around. You can’t be spending all the money on one guy.

I’m sure if the Mariners offered a guy like Felix Hernandez or Jesus Montero a multi-year deal, Buhner would have absolutely nothing to say about it.

Buhner likely has absolutely no problem with the Mariners offering a ton of money to one guy, as long as the one guy isn’t an aging right fielder who is experiencing the worst season of his MLB career.

Ichiro, 38, is hitting just .260/.288/.351 this season with 97 hits and 13 stolen bases. Last season was only slightly better. He hit .272/.310/.335 with 184 hits and 40 stolen bases.

It’s no question that Ichiro is on the decline, but if the Mariners want to keep the face of the franchise around for a few more seasons, I say, “why not?”

If he’s willing to take a pay cut to play in Seattle for a few more seasons, there’s no harm in keeping him around in a platoon role. Even if he starts but gets dropped down in the lineup, you can do much worse than having Ichiro in the outfield.

Buhner’s comments will definitely cause some sort of an uproar in the Seattle media, but I would suggest fans think about the Mariners’ options before taking a definitive stance on the matter.

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In yet another “Year of the Pitcher”, the Seattle Mariners‘ ace Felix Hernandez finds himself at the top of the class. 

King Felix, the 2010 Cy Young Award winner, has been lights out all season long and continues to become more dominant as the year progresses. 

On Saturday night, against Major League Baseball’s best offense, the Texas Rangers, the King tossed perhaps his most impressive game of the season. 

With some rare and very unusual first-inning run support mixed with the huge crowd in the “King’s Court“, it was a night fit for something miraculous. The 26-year-old righty did not disappoint. 

Hernandez cruised through the highly-potent offense en route to his second shutout of the season. On the way he also collected 12 strikeouts, one shy of his season high. Of the 12 k’s, three of them were handed to the AL MVP front runner Josh Hamilton, along with three more to slugger Nelson Cruz. All in all, Hernandez struck out seven of the nine Rangers’ starters. 

After this inspiring performance by Felix, his record has improved to 7-5 on the year. It’s his third win in his past five starts, and he has not pitched a loss in over a month; June 12th against the Padres, to be exact. 

For those still stuck in the past, thinking wins are all that matters, one must first realize that this is the same guy who won the Cy Young in 2010 with a record of 13-12, and then take a look at the fact that he has the third lowest run support in the entire MLB. 

This was also the 11th time, out of 19 starts, that Hernandez has given up one run or less with at least seven innings pitched. 

Along with improving his record, Hernandez also moved into the lead for overall strikeouts at 140 for the year. This moved him out of a three way tie with fire-ballers Justin Verlander and Stephen Strasburg. This was the third time he had reached the 12-strikeout plateau, including a 13 K’s against the Red Sox just four games ago. It was also his fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season. 

The complete game win also tied him for most innings pitched, also held by Verlander, at 132.2. For all the talk about how the Tigers‘ ace is a workhorse, people tend to forget that Hernandez has pitched more innings than him in the past three and a half seasons combined in the same amount of starts. 

If having a double-digit strikeout lead isn’t impressive enough, Hernandez also lowered his ERA to sub-3.00 after tonight. His 2.92 mark places him at sixth overall in the American League. It’s the firs time since his last start against Texas on May 21th that his ERA has been in the 2.00 range. His recent surge of excellence has seen his average drop from his season high 3.70 on June 12th, all the way down to where it sits now, in just six games. 

In those past six starts he’s gone 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA and recorded 56 punch outs. 

If Hernandez can continue to roll like this, only divine intervention can block him from hoisting up the Cy Young yet again. 

*Stats are from ESPN.com. 

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Quietly tucked away in the northwest region of the country, the Seattle Mariners are developing a homegrown starting rotation that could compete for years to come.

However, the secret is getting out.

The Mariners, despite playing below .500 in 2012, are growing and developing one of the better minor league systems in baseball. With a plethora of draft picks over the last few seasons, the franchise has re-dedicated itself to building a competitive, young pitching staff.

Seattle is putting itself in a position to compete as early as 2013, so let’s take a look at how the starting rotation could look by next season.

Enjoy the show!

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Major League Baseball has reached a point where seeing a no-hitter is as special as seeing a team score a run. 

Watching six Seattle Mariners pitchers combine to hold the Los Angeles Dodgers to no hits and three walks on Friday night, I was reminded of the late 1990s, when we would see hitters make the most impossible things look elementary. 

Like the offensive era—or steroid era, if that’s what you prefer to call it—that baseball is clearly past, the new pitching era has taken something away from the allure of seeing a no-hitter. In the ’90s, home runs were so commonplace, it was a shock if you didn’t see at least one in a game. 

In today’s game, we are teased by the threat of a no-hitter on a nightly basis. Every time you turn the television to watch baseball, odds are good you are going to see a cut-in to show some pitcher going for a no-hitter. 

This year alone, there have been four no-hitters—by Philip Humber (a perfect game), Jered Weaver, Johan Santana and Seattle’s staff. Going back to 2010, there have been 13. 

Speaking strictly as a baseball fan, hearing that there is even the threat of a no-hitter does not have nearly the same effect it once did. I will still tune in to see if it happens. But when it is over, it doesn’t feel special. 

Watching all of these no-hitters is a lot like watching a great movie over and over again. You know that what you are watching is special, but it doesn’t leave you with the same feeling it once did.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that pitching in baseball has ever been better. The velocity that we are seeing from these pitchers is remarkable, and the ability to sustain it over multiple seasons is even more impressive. 

But all this great pitching comes at a price. A no-hitter is no longer the must-see spectacle that it once was. It is just like watching any other game on any other day. 

Congratulations go out to the Mariners for their accomplishment, but it doesn’t feel as special as it should. 

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Watching your favorite team get no-hit in person on the road is one of the weirdest feelings in the world.

At some point do you start rooting for a no-hitter? Are you required to remain loyal even in the face of history?

Regardless of what was going through my mind and heart, however, nothing would change what was going on at Safeco Field on Friday night.

As Kevin Millwood stormed through the Dodgers lineup early on, the expectations were low. I mean, this was Kevin Millwood after all.

Then, the zeros kept coming.

After a strained groin forced Millwood to retire early, the fate of the no-hitter was left on the shoulders of a series of unknown relievers: Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League and Tom Wilhelmsen. 

Fortunately for Millwood and his relievers, their defense provided plenty of help behind them.

Kyle Seager was the first Mariner to preserve history in the fourth when Dodgers speedster Dee Gordon tried to bunt his way aboard. In anticipation of the coming bunt, Seager was already on the grass, but with a perfect bunt, Gordon put the pressure on the rookie Seager.

Charging hard, Seager bare-handed the ball and threw a strike to first baseman Justin Smoak that got Gordon by a half step.

While Seager’s play will likely go un-remembered, it was the eighth inning that provided all the drama that any baseball fan could dream of.

With runners at second and third with just one out after two walks and a sacrifice bunt, the Mariners turned to reliever Brandon League.

“We might as well go home now,” the Mariners fan next to me said.

In his final five save opportunities as the closer, League had blown three of them; and in the month of May he posted a dreadful 6.48 ERA.

Friday night, however, was a new day.

Amped up on the energy surrounding him, League hit as high as 97 on the radar gun as he jumped ahead in the count on A.J. Ellis. Then, on a 1-2 count, Ellis lined what I was sure would be the Dodgers first hit of the game towards the Mariners new defensive replacement, Chone Figgins.

As the Ellis liner seemed to just float in the air towards a charging Figgins, all of Safeco Field collectively held their breath. With the speed he was brought to Seattle to display, Figgins not only caught the ball but remained upright enough to rifle the ball towards the plate, keeping pinch-runner Alex Castellanos at third.

(On a side note, the same Mariners fan who lamented the appearance of League acknowledged that if Mike Carp had remained in left field there was little chance that the defensively-limited Carp would have made the same play.)

So with the unlikeliest duo in all of Seattle leaving the Mariners just three outs away from a no-hitter, the game rolled on towards the ninth.

First up was the pesky Gordon, who put first base umpire Ted Barrett in the most undesirable of situations. With visions of Jim Joyce blowing Armando Galarraga’s perfect game with a missed call surely fresh in his mind, Barrett was left to discern the outcome of a truly bang-bang play.

As Gordon dribbled a ball towards shortstop Brendan Ryan (a ninth-inning defensive replacement), Ryan made the best play he could to get the ball towards Smoak. While even replays seemed to leave the true outcome of the play unknown, Barrett signaled that the throw just beat Gordon, leaving the Mariners two outs away.

(As much as the Dodgers fan in me wants to argue he was safe, there’s no way a human umpire can be criticized for making this call. Even replay probably wouldn’t have overturned this call, and in reality, it’s better to be safe then sorry in a no-hitter as we’ve learned.)

So with two outs between him and a no-hitter, closer Tom Wilhelmsen retired Elian Herrera and Andre Ethier with little fan-fare, sending the city of Seattle into jubilation they surely haven’t felt in years.

Nine innings, 27 outs and six pitchers later, the only number that mattered was zero.

As a baseball fan, I rejoiced.

For just the 27th time since 2000, a major league game contained a no-hitter and while many fans see hundreds of games in person without ever witnessing a no-hitter, here I was witnessing one first-hand.

As a Dodgers fan, the feeling was more bitter. My team had lost in the most frustrating way possible—a 1-0 game in which they logged exactly zero hits. 

In a way, this was actually the second no-hitter I had witnessed in person. The last, in June of 2008, was at home against the Angels, except that contained one brief catch: the Dodgers won.

After reaching on an error, stealing second and advancing to third on an error, Matt Kemp scored without a single hit from the Dodgers. The reason the game isn’t in the history books, however, is because the Dodgers only batted eight times (leading heading into the bottom of the ninth, they didn’t come back up).

The moral of the story, however, is that witnessing your team get no-hit while they win isn’t a hard mental situation to discern. It still doesn’t explain what one should feel while witnessing history performed against their team.

So it begs the question: With your team losing in the last inning of a game you’re at, are you rooting for a no-hitter?

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The Seattle Mariners made history Friday night as six pitchers combined on a 1-0 no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It was just the 10th combined no-hit game in Major League Baseball history and was the fourth no-hitter already of this still young 2012 season.

Veteran right-hander Kevin Millwood started for the M’s and pitched six no-hit innings at Safeco Field before leaving the game with a right groin injury.

Millwood was followed up by Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League and, finally, Tom Wilhelmsen, who finished off the Dodgers in the ninth.

Still scoreless after six innings, Millwood had struck out six and given up just a single walk. “But while warming up for the seventh,” according to the Associated Press, “he felt a twinge in his groin and was pulled from the game.”

Furbush came on to record the first two outs in the top of the seventh for Seattle before he was relieved by eventual winner Pryor, who struck out Juan Rivera to end the inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, third baseman Kyle Seager knocked in Ichiro Suzuki with a and the Mariners took a lead they would never relinquish. 

Pryor was yanked after allowing two walks in the top of the eighth, but Luetge and League combined to retire the side.

In the ninth, Wilhelmsen came on and though Dee Gordon nearly beat out a slow grounder to short in a bang-bang play at first, the 6’6” righty took down the Dodgers in order.

The struggling Andre Ethier made the final out on a grounder to second as Wilhelmsen secured his third save of the season.

After the final out, catcher Jesus Montero jogged out to the mound and shared an awkward embrace with Wilhelmsen, who appeared not to know quite how to celebrate a no-hitter he shared with five other teammates.

“That was unbelievable,” Seager told the AP after the game. “I’ve never been a part of anything like that with that many guys coming in and keeping the no-hitter intact.”

It was the third no-no in Mariners history, following Randy Johnson in 1990 and Chris Bosio in 1993.

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Eric Wedge is old school. After the management catastrophes of the last few years, that’s not such a bad thing. But his stubbornness and insistence on doing the same thing over and over regardless of the result is hurting this team.

If Wedge doesn’t get with the times, we’ll have a lot more days like today to look forward to.

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One of the more interesting headlines of the Mariners offseason was the switch of Ichiro from the leadoff role to the No. 3 spot in the lineup.  It was a decision that broke 10 years of tradition.

With that move, Chone Figgins became the new leadoff man, and Dustin Ackley remained in the No. 2 spot.

But with all the experimenting going on in the Mariners lineup, would it make sense to try Ackley hitting third and Ichiro second?

In the long run, Ackley is going to be the No. 3 three hitter anyway. When Ichiro retires, somebody is going to have to fill that role.

On paper, it makes sense for Ichiro to bat third.  He has the ability to put the ball in play, something that is crucial when there are runners on base.  He doesn’t strike out a lot, he’s patient.

But dig deeper, and you’ll find a decent number of Ichiro’s hits are infield singles.  And infield singles will do your team no good with runners on base.

Ichiro does have the ability to hit for power, but through 15 games, he’s only popped one home run.

I’m not saying Ackley is going to hit a lot of home runs, but he is much more of a natural No. 3 hitter than Ichiro.

Ackley’s smooth, compact stroke naturally generates line drives all over the ballpark.  It seems like 90 percent of his hits are frozen ropes in the gaps.

This will come in handy with runners on base, especially when the two hitters ahead of him are the speedy Figgins and Ichiro. 

Figgins is doing much better in the leadoff role and Ichiro will give you good production pretty much anywhere in the lineup, so it wouldn’t hurt to try Ackley in a different role.

The run production still isn’t where we want it to be, and at this point Eric Wedge is willing to try anything to push a few more runs across. 

Especially after that heartbreaking loss to the Indians last Thursday, a 2-1 defeat despite Felix Hernandez’s gem of an outing.

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Jesus Montero is one of the most valuable players in the Seattle Mariners organization, but he has a ways to go and grow before he’s recognized as one of the most valuable players in the entire league.

The M’s paid a lot to get him, giving up Michael Pineda, the flamethrowing Dominican, and Jose Campos, a younger pitcher with high potential, but they also received right-handed starting pitcher Hector Noesi.

At this point, the Mariners appear to be the big winners, with Campos still in the minors, Pineda on the disabled list and Noesi and Montero combining on April 14th for a nice Seattle win (Noesi went eight innings, allowing no runs on five hits, and Montero batted in three of the team’s four runs.)

While Montero has looked pretty nice at the plate thus far, he hasn’t seen a lot of time behind the plate, which is where he can impact his full, intended effect.

So, what’s it going to take for him to become the next MLB superstar? Here are five things he needs to work on if he wants to reach stardom.

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