Suzuki Tries Magic Act on Yankees

The legend of Ichiro Suzuki continues to grow, so much so that his Seattle teammates might be running out of superlatives to describe the star right fielder who will be the focus of the American League championship series between the Mariners and New York Yankees, which begins today in Safeco Field.

Catcher Dan Wilson called Suzuki “a magician with the bat” after Seattle’s division series victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Batting instructor Gerald Perry said Suzuki “belongs in another universe.”

Center fielder Mike Cameron said Suzuki “makes a mockery of hitting,” so one-sided were Suzuki’s battles with Cleveland pitchers.

Second baseman Bret Boone could only laugh at how easily Suzuki, the first Japanese-born position player to play in the major leagues, handled everything the Indians threw at him. “It’s comedy,” Boone said. “It really is comedy.”

Seattle hopes the joke will now be on the Yankees, who have to contend with the blur on the basepaths that is Suzuki. Cleveland General Manager John Hart is just glad his team no longer has to contend with him this season.

“What he did to us in the playoffs, he shouldn’t have done,” Hart said. “I mean, that’s unfair.”

A recap: Suzuki, who led the major leagues in batting average (.350), hits (242) and stolen bases (56), hit .600 (12 for 20) in five division series games, beating out three infield singles in Monday’s Game 5 clincher. He also walked once and reached once on an error, meaning that in 21 plate appearances, he reached base 14 times.

Suzuki, 27, scored four of the Mariners’ 16 runs in the series and knocked in two runs, one on a clutch seventh-inning single that gave Seattle a 2-1 lead in Game 4. He reached base in his first at-bat in all five games. Though he wasn’t a huge factor defensively, Suzuki is arguably the best outfielder in baseball, an impressive blend of arm strength, leaping ability, speed and instincts.

“What doesn’t he do?” Mariner reliever Norm Charlton said. “He’s got all the tools. He runs, he hits, he throws. Really, the only thing he doesn’t do is hit 50 home runs, but if he wanted to do that, he probably could.”

On a team that includes power hitters Edgar Martinez and Boone, Charlton said it’s the 5-foot-9, 160-pound Suzuki who hits some of the most impressive batting practice homers.

“If he wanted to hit .280 with 40 home runs and drive in 100 runs or so, he could probably do that,” Charlton said. “You could put him in the three or four hole.”

He’s doing enough damage in the leadoff spot. Suzuki is the fastest man in baseball from home to first, and if he can place a grounder between third base and shortstop, he is virtually assured of a hit.

Omar Vizquel, the Indians’ Gold Glove shortstop, made an outstanding play on Suzuki’s hard shot up the middle in the seventh inning Monday, lunging to his left to stop the ball and making a quick throw to first. It wasn’t in time.

“I couldn’t have made a better play than that,” Vizquel said. “If he hits it anywhere near the hole, it’s a base hit.”

Most teams have defended Suzuki by positioning their shortstop several steps toward the infield grass and shading him toward third. That makes the grounder up the middle an automatic hit. When teams play Suzuki straight up, he’ll often slap a grounder to the shortstop hole and beat it out.

“I don’t know if he actually aims the ball,” Boone said. “Tony Gwynn once told me that he did that. He’d look before each pitch to see where I was playing and try to hit it where I wasn’t. Must be nice.”

Suzuki is as dangerous at first base as he is in the batter’s box, but not only because he can steal second. His speed can distract a pitcher, forcing him to throw more fastballs to give the catcher a better chance to throw Suzuki out.

That was probably a factor in the 0-2 fastball that Cameron hit for a homer off Indian left-hander Chuck Finley in the first inning of Game 2. Suzuki was on first at the time.

“He causes a lot of chaos when he gets on,” said Andy Pettitte, the Yankees’ Game 1 starter today. “Obviously, he’s a big part of the reason they’ve had the season they’ve had.”

Suzuki came to the U.S. with so many questions. Could he hit major league pitching? He hit .336 in April and .379 in May en route to the AL batting title. Could he handle the rigors of a 162-game schedule after playing only 130 games a year in Japan. Asked and answered.

“He weighs about a buck-forty, and he hasn’t gotten hurt or worn down at all,” Charlton said. “He’s still playing like it’s April.”

This is not April, though. It is October. The pressure is on, and Suzuki has admitted that “every day I am nervous,” but he doesn’t look it. In his first taste of playoff baseball in the U.S., Suzuki was, as Cleveland first baseman Jim Thome said, “the difference” in the Mariner’s first-round series.

“Ichiro is a rookie, and he’s playing like he’s been in this league for 15 years,” Martinez said. “It’s amazing to watch.”