All-Star Ichiro shows his worth

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ichiro Suzuki gave more than a hint of why he just might be worth $20 million a year Tuesday.

Seattle's center fielder was the driving force behind the American League's 5-4 victory in Tuesday's All-Star Game, pounding out three hits, including a two-run inside-the-park home run, the first homer in All-Star history not to clear the fence.

"When I first hit it, I thought I hit it out of here," Ichiro said in accepting the Ted Williams MVP award in the 78th All-Star Game.

With two hits already in the bag and the AL down 1-0 in the fifth, Ichiro came up with two outs and ripped a shot off the base of the oddly angled brick wall in right field.

Former Seattle center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. thought he had a bead on the carom, but the ball came off the wall in a weird motion.

"I asked Barry (Bonds), and he had never seen that happen," Griffey said. "As soon as the ball was hit, I went to where it was going to come down. If it hit on the brick, it was going to bounce into center field; if it hit the mesh, it would come straight down.

"It didn't hit either one."

And how did Griffey react?

"I said a four-letter word with 'Oh' in front of it," Griffey said with a laugh.

While Griffey had to reverse course to get the ball, Ichiro just revved up.

"I saw that ball hit the wall," said third base coach Ron Washington, the Texas manager, "and I started thinking he could go all the way right away. I mean, the man was flying. By the time he got past third base, he almost walked home."

With Washington frantically waving him home, Ichiro sprinted, then eased up and was able to score standing up as the relay throw didn't come particularly close to the plate. That homer lifted the American League into a lead it wouldn't relinquish, although Mariners closer J.J. Putz gave up a two-out, two-run homer to Alfonso Soriano in the bottom of the ninth to make it close.

Putz, who was on the bench with the rest of the AL squad, said the place went absolutely nuts on Ichiro's mad-dash homer.

"As soon as I saw the ball hit the wall, then I thought he had a chance at it," Putz said. "When he was going around second base, it was like he was in another gear.

"In the dugout it was kind of like shock for a moment. Then everybody went crazy. It was like, did we really see that happen, an inside-the-park homer in an All-Star Game?"

Ichiro didn't quite believe it, either, but not for the same reason.

"I thought it was going to go over the fence," he said. "And when it didn't, I was really bummed."

Not so bummed that he stopped running, however, and even the National League came away impressed.

"He's an artist with the bat," NL manager Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals said. "He's a wonderful base runner and fielder. This guy is a complete player, and (pitchers have) no place to go to get him out. You just try to get him to hit the ball at somebody."

Ichiro had hit a flock of homers during batting practice, including one that landed in McCovey Cove over the right-field wall. His power is such that the Mariners for years have been trying to find a way to get him in the All-Star Home Run Derby. Putz went so far Monday as to say that he would put his paycheck for the year on Ichiro winning the derby.

AL manager Jim Leyland had heard tales, but he'd never seen it in person until this week.

"I had heard this about Ichiro, but I never paid that much attention to it," Leyland said. "They said he hits balls out in batting practice like it's nothing. He probably hit more home runs tonight than any player on the field, and he made it look easy.

"I can't believe it. This happened to be an inside-the-parker. I'm not really too happy about it, because we play them (the Mariners) on Thursday."

That brought some serious laughter, as did Ichiro's response when asked how many homers he could hit if he wanted to.

"It's a tough question," he said. "If I'm allowed to bat .220, I could probably hit 40. But nobody wants that."

Especially not the Mariners, who are happy with Ichiro hitting 10 to 15 homers a year while getting about 220 assorted other hits.

"This is what Ichiro does," Putz said. "Every day is something amazing."

Tampa Bay outfielder Carl Crawford hit a solo homer in the sixth for the American League and Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez added a two-run pinch-hit homer in the eighth, but it was Ichiro who started the AL on the road to its 10th win without a loss since 1996 (there was an infamous 11-inning tie in 2002).

And on Tuesday, everybody saw.

ICHIRO BY THE NUMBERS

.359 Batting average at the All-Star break, the second-highest mark in the American League (trailing Detroit's Magglio Ordonez) and the highest first-half average of Ichiro's MLB career (previous .357 in 2002).

61 Runs scored this season, placing him on a pace to score 116, which would be the second-highest single-season total of his career (127 in 2001).

128 Hits in the first half, the most in the majors, putting him on pace for his seventh consecutive 200-hit season.

23 Stolen bases (he's been caught only twice), tied for third in the American League, and four shy of the league lead.

.410 On-base percentage in the first half, the highest of his career.

5 Number of hitting streaks of at least 20 games, including a 25-game streak this season (May 7-June 1). The total is tied for the second most 20-game hitting streaks in major league history. All-time hits leader Pete Rose had seven 20-game hitting streaks -- in 24 seasons.

6 Consecutive seasons with more than 200 hits, the most by any player to start a career. He is on pace for 244 this season.