SEATTLE -- Ichiro was his usual guarded self during formal interviews Monday, backing away from the microphones, delivering short answers that politely and humbly revealed little. Asked what was the best advice he received regarding the All-Star Game, he replied through a translator, "I was advised that I don't have to wear a tie at this time."
|  | | The first Japanese position player in All-Star history, Ichiro has been a huge hit so far this season. |
Mariners center fielder Mike Cameron, however, could tell it was a special day for his teammate.
"You could see he was more excited today," Cameron said. "It wasn't so much that he was more emotional, but you could just tell. He was more open today. He smiled a lot more."
Of course, when Ichiro is more open than usual, it only means that he is willing to confide that, yes, it is rather warm today.
"It is hard to compare this to other events," he said through the Mariners' translator. "But like opening day, this is one of the memorable events in my lifetime."
Still, this is a special day for Japanese baseball. Tonight, Ichiro will bat leadoff and play center field for the American League as the first Japanese position player in All-Star history and the game's top vote-getter.
Meanwhile, Japan's Kazuhiro Sasaki, the major league leader in saves, will be in the bullpen. Hideo Nomo, who is 8-4 and threw a no-hitter this year, is not on the All-Star team because he made the mistake of not playing for either the Mariners or the Yankees.
Apparently, this Japanese baseball thing is working out.
"We need them all to come over," shortstop Alex Rodriguez said. "We only have Shinjo, Ichiro, Sasaki and Nomo. We need more of them. It's fun and it's great for baseball. It's taken the game to new heights. Hopefully, they'll keep coming."
Ichiro is batting .347, second in the league. He has 134 hits, 14 more than anyone else and enough to give him a possibility of breaking George Sisler's record for most hits in a season. He leads the league in stolen bases and runs. And remember, he's just a rookie.
"In terms of the feeling of hitting, it's close to what I expected," he said. "I'm not talking about the numbers, I'm talking about the feeling when I hit. I can't think of numbers."
"He reminds me of Tony Gwynn," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "He has a different style but they both have an ability to look at the defense and see where they're playing and hit the ball somewhere else. When we played them, we positioned our shortstop up the middle and he hit the ball through the hole between short and third. Then we played the shortstop in the hole and he hit the ball up the middle. I don't think that was an accident."
It wasn't. Baseball hasn't seen a hitter like this since players wore baggy flannels and managers wore three-piece suits. While players take creatine and andro intravenously, Ichiro proves that the humble single can be the most exciting hit in baseball. Players talk about how fun he is to watch.
Home runs might be dramatic but they also can be numbingly similar. Batter swings at fastball, batter connects with fastball, batter hits fastball over the fence. Ichiro's hits are innovative. There are wedge shots over the mound, slow rollers down the third base line, bouncers off the bag, blistering one-hoppers into the hole, flares into the outfield . . . you name it.
"You have to play in on him to have a chance of throwing him out on a groundball," Rodriguez said.
And just when you bring in the outfielders, Ichiro drives one into the gap or into the bleachers. He took three swings during batting practice Monday, slamming two balls far over the right field fence.
One question that remains to be seen is whether Ichiro can keep this up in the second half. The Japanese season was only 130 games when he played (the league expanded the schedule this year) and when Ichiro first signed with the Mariners, manager Lou Piniella said he was concerned how the outfielder would hold up during the long season.
"There are elements that might come up later," Ichiro said when asked what areas he needs to improve. "When we went to Texas, it was so hot that I had to conserve my energy for practice and the game. The climate is different. That's a small thing but there are elements like that to improve on."
Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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