IT’S CURTAIN

Ichiro earns cheers as 2 HRs back Hiro

ICHIRO AND HIROKI were the unquestioned heroes Sunday night, and the Stadium fans certainly let them know about it.

Hiroki Kuroda continued his threemonth roll as one of the top pitchers in the American League, and Ichiro Suzuki earned his first Bronx curtain call with two solo homers in a 4-1 win over Bobby Valentine’s dysfunctional Red Sox.

“Position players are always a little different than pitchers… but the one thing I do see in both of them is they’re extremely prepared and ready to go,” Joe Girardi said of the two Japanese stars. “And they expect a lot of themselves.”

The Yankees, who will open a sixgame road trip Monday night against the White Sox in Chicago, have come to expect a great deal from both veteran players.

Kuroda’s sinker/slider combination was lethal yet again; the righty allowed one run on four hits on 111 pitches over eight efficient innings to improve to 9-2 with a 2.22 ERA in 16 starts since May 27.

“This is how good he’s been. He’s been on a tremendous roll for us,” Girardi said.

“He’s been so consistent and just so good lately,” Ichiro added through his interpreter. “Being behind him, he has such good rhythm and good tempo that you want to get some runs for him.”

Curtis Granderson, making his cleanup debut as a Yankee, added an RBI double and two walks, while Derek Jeter rapped three more hits as the Bombers (72-49) took two of three from the turmoil-ridden Sox.

But it was Ichiro who importantly doubled the Yanks’ lead from two runs to 4-0 with solo shots against Boston starter Josh Beckett in the fourth and sixth innings, fully using his new home park’s short right-field dimensions to his advantage.

“He’s probably hit to his ballpark, in a sense, all these years,” Girardi said of Ichiro, who has 102 career home runs. “Seattle plays extremely large. If he’d been a Yankee for a number of years, who knows how many home runs he might have hit. But we know that there’s power there. You watch his BP and you can see it.”

It also easy to see how quickly the Stadium fans have embraced the future Hall of Famer. Ichiro’s second home run prompted the former Mariners star to tip his helmet during his first curtain call in the Bronx since he was acquired from the Mariners on July 23. It also marked the seventh multihomer game of Ichiro’s career and his second this season.

“I didn’t really know how the fans were going to react. I’m so happy that they’re behind me,” Ichiro, who is hitting .322 in 26 games since the trade,” said through an interpreter. “It’s really one of the special moments in my career to have that support of the fans.

“Obviously, I still need to be ready and play well in the future and that’s what I’m going to do.

Ichiro added that he was “embarrassed” to take a curtain call, although he did wink at a reporter when asked if he was trying to belt a third home run against reliever Junichi Tazawa in the eighth inning before reaching on an infield single. “I swung too hard, my neck hurts,” Ichiro joked.

Kuroda (12-8) retired the first eight Red Sox he faced until Nick Punto smacked a two-out single to center in the third. Adrian Gonzalez spoiled Kuroda’s chance for a second straight shutout with a home run in the seventh inning.

But Rafael Soriano worked the ninth for his 31st save, sealing Kuroda’s latest gem in the absence of injured starters CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte.

“I just want to contribute and want to give the highest percentage for this team to win whenever I pitch,” Kuroda said through a translator. “Not at all, I can’t think about (Sabathia and Pettitte being out). I just think about pitching my game.”