Ichiro nervous, but delivers in clutch
MIAMI— Ichiro Suzuki is approaching 3,000 hits in the major leagues and has more than 4,200 counting his years in Japan.
Yet the future Hall of Famer acknowledged that he was extremely nervous when he came up as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning Tuesday with the bases loaded and the Marlins trailing the Diamondbacks by a run.
Or as he said through interpreter Allen Taylor, “I think I pee my pants a little bit.”
That didn’t prevent him from calmly lining a single to center to drive in two runs with what proved to be the decisive hit in a 7-4 Marlins victory.
Ichiro has had 50 hits in the majors that drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning or later. But that was the first time he has done it as a pinch hitter.
At 42, Ichiro is showing signs of a revival after hitting a career-low .229 for the Marlins last season. That included an anemic .139 over the final month.
Playing mostly in a parttime role off the bench, he was batting .333 (12-for-36) after Wednesday’s hit, with an on-base percentage of .385.
His struggles last season led to speculation he was hanging on just to reach 3,000hits— hewent into Wednesday 53 away fromthe milestone.
Ichiro said this spring that he isn’t motivated by career numbers, but rather, “I play the game because I love the game.” He said Wednesday that neither is he driven to prove doubters wrong about his ability to remain productive.
“Those naysayers that maybe think at age 42 you can’t produce, I think they’re always going to think that. Theway I think is I don’t try and prove anybody wrong,” he said.
“But I do want to be able to be a player where they… just think this guy is kind of different, he cando it and not even be a topic at that age. That I’m just playing. I do want to be able to do that.”
Ichiro said he still is adjusting to playing off the bench. He has had only six starts this season. Last year he started 89 of the 153 games he appeared in due to all three starting outfielders missing extended time.
“I go back tomy days in New York when I had to learn how to come off the bench. I think I’ve found that routine and what I have to do, and I’m ready,” he said. “Fifth inning on, I’m ready to go at any time. Obviously, I’m still nervous, like [Tuesday] night. I was really nervous at that at-bat.”
Ichiro also discounted the notion that a reduced workload is easier and enables him to stay fresher.
“I think I get more tired not playing in the game because of the way I prepare. It’s probably more work,” he said. “Mentally you’re in the game — you don’t know when you’re going in so you’re using all sorts of energy thatway.
“I also feel like I can do more, that I need to do more. So I’mnot satisfied.”
Bour injured
First baseman Justin Bour was confident about avoiding the disabled list after dislocating his left pinky finger Tuesday. The mishap was unnecessary as the final out of the inning had already been recorded. Bour popped the finger back into place on the field.