Ichiro’s career comes full circle against A’s
Future HOF outfielder collected his first MLB hit against Oakland in 2001
TOKYO >> When a future documentary on Ichiro Suzuki’s Major League Baseball stardom is released, you can expect the A’s to be heavily featured in the highlights.
The A’s meet the Seattle Mariners at the Tokyo Dome to open the regular season on Wednesday and Thursday (the games start at 2:35 a.m. Pacific) and it will likely be the final time Ichiro plays in a big league game. The Japanese superstar was included
in the Mariners roster, which is expanded to 28 players for the Japan series, and will be in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s Opening Day. But is not expected to stick around when the roster is cut to 25 players for the stateside opening Day.
The fact that the A’s are the last MLB club Ichiro might ever face is appropriate because the two go back a long way together.
It all began in 2001 when Ichiro made his United States debut against the A’s in Seattle. His first career atbat came against Tim Hudson — a groundout out. His first hit? Later in that same game against TJ Matthews — a tapper up the middle for a single.
The moment Ichiro put baseball on notice also came against the A’s later that year at the Oakland Coliseum on April 11 when he showed off his cannon of a right arm by gunning down Terence Long as he tried to go first to third on a single to right by Ramon Hernandez.
Few hitters have ever been more dominant in the history of baseball. Ichiro is a career .326 hitter against the A’s and has amassed 3,089 career hits over 18 big league seasons with 320 of those coming against Oakland. The 320 hits are the most hits he has collected against any opposing team in MLB.
A’s manager Bob Melvin has seen
the greatness of Ichiro first-hand not just coaching against him, but managing the star in his time as Seattle’s manager from 2003-04.
“He’s had a spectacular career. One of the great players in the game if not the greatest hitter as far as volume of hits worldwide,” Melvin said. “On top of that, a great entertainer. We know it’s our job as professional sports athletes to not only play but to also entertain. He did that as well as anybody.”
Melvin’s two seasons managing Ichiro formed a bond that has lasted to this day. The two often get together in spring training, going out for dinner along with their wives who have also become good friends.
“He had been there a couple of years on a veteran club and I was the new guy in town,” Melvin said of his first interaction with Ichiro. “He really helped me out as far as that went. Playing and preparing, there was nobody better. You tell him what time the game was and he was ready to play. It was a manager-player relationship at first and then became a little closer. He’s a bit of a foodie as well, so we have some things in common.”
The A’s will be the designated home team for the two games, but they know there won’t be too many fans on their side.
“There’s a little bit of a home-field advantage for them,” Melvin said. “Certainly their crowd is going to be behind them.”
Though the games will seem a bit like a festive send-off for one of the game’s greats, it still counts. At the age of 45, Ichiro is not what he once was. But playing in his home country could provide a jolt the A’s will be looking to contain.
“He’s the kind of guy you don’t want to come up in a big situation because he’s had a flair for the dramatic over his career,” Melvin said. “We feel like we’ll be up for the challenge.”
Ichiro is not the only Mariners player making a homecoming.
Yusei Kikuchi, the prized left-handed pitcher who made the jump from Japan to MLB this offseason to sign a four-year, $56 million deal with Seattle, will get the start in the second game.
There is some video on Kikuchi that hitters have managed to get their hands on. But the Japanese product will be an unknown for the A’s and the rest of MLB early in the season.
“We know he’s talented. I think we have to use the eye test a little bit,” A’s third baseman Matt Chapman said. “Get out there and feel it out. We know we’ll be playing him a lot, so it’s kind of that back and forth where he might have the advantage at the beginning.”
“He got the contract and signed with these guys for a reason,” Melvin said. “He’ll be a definite challenge and being in our division we’ll see quite a bit of him this year. This will be our first taste. So game two will be exciting probably even more because he’s on the mound.”
Before the A’s see Kikuchi they will send Mike Fiers to the mound today with the task of starting the season on the right foot.
It’s an honor Fiers earned after his run as arguably the A’s top pitcher throughout their 2018 playoff run. The right-hander combined to go 12-8 with a 3.56 ERA in 30 starts with the Tigers and A’s last year. He compiled a 3.74 ERA in nine starts with Oakland and the A’s won eight of those.
“It speaks highly of what the organization and coaching staff here thinks of me as a baseball player to lead this team,” Fiers
said. “I want to go out there and get the team off the field as quick to get the guys up swinging. But also set the tone for the season and that starts from game one.”
Fiers will be starting on Opening Day for the first time in what will be his ninth big league season. To be able to do it in another continent adds some icing to the cake.
“It’s a great environment,” Fiers said. “I feel like it’s more of an exciting game. Everyone is screaming from pitch one to the last pitch. The fans are very passionate about this game and so are we. The more noise, the more I’m ready to go.”
It’s a nice accomplishment for his career, but not one Fiers expects too many of his close friends to be watching back home in Florida.
“My Dad is definitely going to record it. My friends won’t be up,” Fiers said. “They’re not staying up for that, they have to be up for work early in the morning. I’m sure they’ll find a way to watch it somehow.
“We’re the only two teams playing right now so I’m sure the whole world will be watching.”
• The A’s battled with the Mariners for the second American League wild-card for most of 2018. Seattle faltered toward the end and finished 89-73, but this is a completely different team. It has added slugger Edwin Encarnacion, but lost key pieces like former No. 1 starter James Paxton, slugger Robinson Cano and All-Star closer Edwin Diaz.
The Mariners went 8-8 in the Cactus League while the A’s finished 11-8.
“We’ll have to do a little more homework as far as what type of team we think they will be,” Melvin said. “I wish I was able to watch their exhibition games here.”
One Mariner still around who the A’s won’t be facing is Felix Hernandez.
Once one of the game’s elite pitchers, Hernandez has struggled over the past few seasons. He’s in the final year of his contract and has now been relegated to a role as the club’s fifth starter.
After terrorizing the A’s for years on Opening Day, the A’s are relieved to not be seeing him on a mound this week, regardless of his current pitching state.
“I wanted to go over and kiss him when I saw him earlier,” Melvin said of avoiding Hernandez in the opener. “He’s had his way with us for a while now. Maybe he’s a little different at this point in time. But when you have experienced him on Opening Day, every time since I’ve been here you feel on the short end of the stick.”