Ichiro is AL's trick-shot artist
SAN FRANCISCO – Well, it was nine-ball of sorts. Nine men wearing different colored jerseys were spread around a lush green surface that from the top deck of AT&T Park could have passed as felt.
And when Ichiro Suzuki wielded his cue stick – er, bat – Earl Strickland would have been impressed.
There were three over-the-wall home runs Tuesday night in the American League's 5-4 victory over the National League, but none were as riveting as the in-house homer produced by Suzuki's lightning-quick stick in the fifth inning.
The Seattle Mariners outfielder earned Most Valuable Player honors by going 3-for-3 and hitting the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star Game history and the first of his two-country career. The drive caromed crazily off the right-center field wall like a kick shot with serious draw, rolling past a shocked Ken Griffey Jr. into right field.
Suzuki didn't pause to admire his stick work, dashing around the bases behind Brian Roberts and not even bothering to slide.
The two-run homer erased a one-run AL deficit and was the talk of both clubhouses afterward even though the NL came within one swing of winning for the first time since 1996. Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run home run in the ninth against J.J. Putz, and Los Angeles Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez battled control problems before getting the Philadelphia Phillies' Aaron Rowand to fly out with the bases loaded.
"I'd heard things about Ichiro and his bat control but never saw it for myself like this," AL second baseman Placido Polanco said. "It's amazing to watch."
AL manager Jim Leyland was amazed before the game when Suzuki launched ball after ball into the stands.
"He probably hit more homers in BP than anybody," he said. "I couldn't believe it."
Suzuki couldn't believe the one he hit in the game didn't leave the park.
"I thought it was going to go over the fence," he said through a translator. "When it didn't, I was bummed out."
This was Suzuki's seventh All-Star Game since coming to the U.S. from Japan in 2001, but it was the first time he made a significant impact. He was 3-for-15 coming into the game.
"It's one I'll never forget," he said. "In six previous years, I never had one where I could give my all, so I'm really happy."
Suzuki is in the final year of a four-year, $41 million contract and had vowed before the season to explore free agency, but reports surfaced the last two days that he is close to an extension with the Mariners for five years and nearly $100 million. He was coy after the game.
"You'll find out sometime," he said.
He continued his playful banter with the media – a horde that included about 200 Japanese reporters. Asked how many home runs he could accumulate if he tried to hit them all the time, he said: "If I was allowed to hit .220, I could probably hit 40."
Instead, he is batting .359 this season and .333 in his career. He has 66 home runs in 1,042 games, and the most he's hit in a season is 15.
None have been anything like this one.
Griffey said he was shocked by the bounce the ball took off the wall. Asked when he knew Suzuki had the home run, he said, "As soon as it kicked that way." Barry Bonds told him he'd never seen a ball do that before in this park.
Pool players refer to trick shots as artistic pool. Suzuki, a cue wizard in his own right, was described aptly by NL manager Tony La Russa.
"He's an artist with the bat, a wonderful baserunner and outfielder," he said. "The guy is a complete player, and you just try to get him to hit the ball at somebody."
Instead, he hit a wall, and so did the NL, again.
