Ichiro Suzuki has surprised even himself.
"In Japan, at about the 120th game, I had 201 hits," he said. "To go at the same pace and do the same thing over here, I didn't even imagine doing that."
PHOTO: AFP
Suzuki was talking about 10 years ago when he had 210 hits in 130 games in Japan in 1994, the only time he had 200 hits in his native country.
George Sisler established the record in 1920 with 257 hits while playing for the St. Louis Browns.
Suzuki became the first player in major league history to get 200 hits in his first four seasons in the major leagues when he homered to lead off the ninth inning off Kansas City closer Jeremy Affeldt in a 7-3 loss Thursday night.
A Safeco Field crowd of 30,962 chanted "Ichiro, Ichiro, Ichiro" after Suzuki connected for his seventh homer of the season. He reached 200 hits in his 125th game of the season, and after going 1-for-5 he was hitting .364, tops in the AL.
"This guy is unreal," Royals manager Tony Pena said. "He's a great hitter. He's a natural."
The 2001 AL MVP and four-time All-Star has missed only one game this season. The Mariners had 36 games left after Thursday night.
In 2001, Suzuki had 242 hits in 157 games. He followed that with 208 hits in 157 games in 2002 and 212 hits in 159 games last season.
Suzuki had 51 hits in May and 50 in July. He's primarily a contact hitter who slaps at the ball and gets singles. Since the All-Star break, Suzuki was hitting .458 (81-for-177). In August, he was hitting .449 (44-for-98).
The Sisler record remains a long shot, but it's not out of the question.
"At this point, I'm not going to think about that at all," Suzuki said through a translator. "I think you have goals that you can see and that goal is just too far for me to see."
Seattle manager Bob Melvin is amazed by what Suzuki has achieved during the Mariners' horrendous season.
"This season is killing him," Melvin said. "He has a way of putting it away at night, but it hurts him bad when we lose and we continue to go through stuff like this. He continues to come out the next day and prepares himself as well as anybody I've ever been around."
Affeldt gave up Suzuki's 200th hit on his first pitch to open the ninth, and didn't seem too troubled by it.
"Hopefully, he signs a bat for me," the pitcher said.
The Mariners, who have been in last place in the AL West since the second day of the season, wound up losing their 80th game to fall 34 games under .500 in one of the biggest plunges in the majors in 2004.
But the fan interest in Seattle is high and Suzuki said it's his responsibility to try to come through for the fans.
"I heard them," he said. "They were very loud. There's probably some fans who came out to see me hit this 200th hit. I knew I had one left to get to 200. I'm just glad and happy that I was able to get that."
Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui and Bernie Williams each homered and the New York Yankees held on for an 8-7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.
Esteban Loaiza failed to make it out of the fifth inning in another poor start since being acquired from the Chicago White Sox in a July 31 trade for Jose Contreras. He was removed after allowing four runs on seven hits in 4 1-3 innings.
Tanyon Sturtze (5-2) pitched 2 1-3 innings for the win. No Yankee starter has posted a win since Jon Lieber beat Seattle on Aug. 13 -- 13 games.
Carlos Delgado's three-run homer off left-hander C.J. Nitkowski cut New York's lead to 8-7 in the seventh.
Paul Quantrill allowed two runners to reach in the eighth, but Tom Gordon got Orlando Hudson to ground out to end the threat and pitched the ninth for his fourth save.
With the win, New York maintained its 5 1/2 games lead over the second-place Boston Red Sox in the AL East.
Red Sox 5, Tigers 3
In Boston, Manny Ramirez singled and scored before leaving with a bruised knee, and the streaking Red Sox beat Detroit for their 10th victory in 11 games.
Ricky Gutierrez singled three times and drove in two runs, and Mark Bellhorn had a pair of hits to help the Red Sox win for the 13th time in 16 games and improve to a season-high 21 games over .500. The win was tempered by the loss of Ramirez, who fouled a pitch off his left knee. He was day to day after X-rays were negative.
Derek Lowe (12-10) allowed three runs and seven hits in eight innings, striking out seven.
Mike Maroth (10-9) allowed five runs -- four earned -- and 10 hits in five innings. He has lost consecutive decisions after winning the previous seven.
Rangers 6, Orioles 4
In Arlington, Texas, John Wasdin pitched six strong innings in his return from the minors, and the Rangers handed Baltimore its 11th consecutive loss.
Eric Young reached base in all four plate appearances, with two walks and two singles. He stole a base, scored Texas' first run and drove in the last two.
With their 11th win in 14 games, the Rangers remained two games behind Boston in the AL wild-card race. They also beat the Orioles for the first time in 10 tries.
Angels 9, Twins 6
In Anaheim, Adam Kennedy and Garret Anderson each hit a two-run homer, and the Angels beat Minnesota for their ninth straight victory.
Aaron Sele (8-1) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings, improving to 17-4 in his career against the Twins while helping the Angels match their longest winning streak of the season. Anaheim has won 17 of 21 overall to move a season-best 20 games over .500.
Brad Radke (9-7) pitched 5 2-3 innings, allowing nine runs and 15 hits -- both season highs.
Mariners 7, Royals 5
In Seattle, Bret Boone hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning and the Mariners had a season-high six home runs in a victory over Kansas City.
The teams combined for nine home runs to match the most ever hit in a game at Safeco Field, which opened July 15, 1999. Cleveland and Seattle accomplished the feat on July 16. The Indians hit eight in an 18-6 win.
Trailing 5-4, Boone hit his 18th homer off D.J. Carrasco (2-2) with pinch-runner Ramon Santiago aboard. Scott Spiezio followed with a solo shot off Carrasco.
Barry Bonds hit a three-run shot for his 694th homer, but Chipper Jones' two-run drive helped the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 5-3 Friday night for their fifth straight victory.
Jaret Wright set a career high with his 13th win. Wright (13-6) also drove in the go-ahead run with a sixth-inning bunt.
The Giants remained one game behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL wild-card race. The Braves still lead Florida by 9 1/2 games in the NL East.
After Edgardo Alfonzo singled in the eighth, Braves manager Bobby Cox brought in left-handed reliever Tom Martin to face Bonds, who took a called third strike to end the inning.
John Smoltz worked a perfect ninth for his 35th save in 38 chances.
The Braves rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the sixth against Kirk Rueter (7-10).
Astros 15, Cubs 7
In Chicago, Carlos Beltran hit two home runs and three other Houston players homered off a shaky Kerry Wood as the Astros snapped Chicago's five-game winning streak.
Jeff Bagwell and Lance Berkman had back-to-back solo shots off Wood (7-6), and Jeff Kent added a homer as Houston won for the ninth time in 12 games, moving within six games of Chicago in the NL wild-card race.
Beltran hit a solo homer in the first inning and a three-run shot in the ninth, giving him home runs in five straight games.
Roy Oswalt (15-9) allowed six runs in eight innings for the win. The benches cleared following an angry verbal exchange between Oswalt and Cubs catcher Michael Barrett, five days after Oswalt was ejected for hitting Barrett with a pitch. No punches were thrown.
Nomar Garciaparra and Derrek Lee homered for the Cubs.
Cardinals 8, Pirates 5
In Pittsburgh, Jim Edmonds hit a pair of two-run homers and matched his career high with five RBIs, leading St. Louis over Pittsburgh.
Edmonds hit a two-run homer in the first inning and added another two-run shot in the third off Ryan Vogelsong (4-11) as St. Louis beat the Pirates for the fifth consecutive time.
Phillies 6, Brewers 1
In Philadelphia, Vicente Padilla pitched seven shutout innings for his first win since May 23, and Philadelphia sent Milwaukee to its ninth straight loss.
The Phillies snapped a seven-game home losing streak. They scored all their runs with two outs in the fifth inning against Victor Santos (10-9), keyed by two-run singles from Bobby Abreu and David Bell.
Mets 9, Dodgers 2
In New York, Gerald Williams singled twice in a six-run first inning and New York broke out of its offensive funk in a big way, beating Los Angeles to end a five-game losing streak.
Tom Glavine hit an RBI single during the early burst and coasted to his 260th career win. Dodgers starter Wilson Alvarez (7-5) came out in the second inning with a bruised left forearm after being struck by Cliff Floyd's hard one-hopper.
Glavine (9-10) won for only the second time in 12 starts. He pitched six effective innings for his first victory since losing two front teeth in a taxi accident earlier this month.
Rookie David Wright drove in three runs and Eric Valent launched his third pinch-hit homer of the season as the Mets avoided their longest losing streak of the year.
The Cleveland Indians recalled Japanese right-hander Kazuhito Tadano and optioned Puerto Rican right-hander Fernando Cabrera to Triple-A Buffalo on Friday.
Tadano, 25, went 1-1 with a 4.95 ERA in two previous stints this season with Cleveland. He was 2-4 with a 5.44 ERA in 12 games at Buffalo.
Cabrera made his major-league debut for Cleveland on Aug. 21 and pitched in two games for the Indians.
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