Ichiro Suzuki is trying to reach 200 hits for his tenth consecutive season, but is still 73 hits short after slumping since the All-Star break.
He has only nine hits in 52 at-bats since the break while hitting .173 in that span.
Only one of his 22 hits in July has been for extra bases, when he doubled on July 15.
He was hitting .360 on May 15 but his batting average has dropped to .307 after an 0-for-4 game yesterday against the Chicago White Sox.
It takes roughly 34 hits a month to have a 200 hit season, but Ichiro only has 22 hits this month with four games remaining.
Another interesting stat is that he has only four multi-hit games in July. He had 12 in April, 13 in May and 11 in June.
Ichiro will be 37 in October and has played a lot of baseball having played nine years in Japan, and he is in his tenth year in the United States. He has 2,157 hits with the Mariners and 1,434 hits with Orix while playing in Japan for a total of 3,591 hits.
Even though Suzuki has had some bad slumps in the past, this one is a major concern since his average has dropped from .360 to .307 in the last two and a half months. He is hitting only .175 in his last ten games with seven hits in his last 40 at-bats.
He may bust loose any day and have a four or five hit game, but right now it is questionable whether he will reach 200 hits this season. If he finishes the season batting under .300, it will be for the first time in his career with the Mariners.
Around the Diamond
The Nationals pulled Stephen Strasburg from his scheduled start against the Braves Tuesday, and they later found he has an inflamed right shoulder. With the Nationals fourteen and a half games behind the NL East-leading Braves, there is no reason to send him to the mound till they are 100 percent sure he is healthy.
The Reds took an easy 12-4 win over the Brewers behind a 19 hit attack. The first four Reds in the batting order accounted for 15 of those hits with Brandon Phillips having a 4-for-6 game while Orlando Cabrera was 3-for-6, Joey Votto 4-for-6 and Scott Rolen 4-for-4. Those four players also drove in seven runs.
It looked like the perfect time for Alex Rodriguez to hit his 600th home run against the Indians yesterday with Josh Tomlin making his major league debut. Instead Tomlin held Rodriguez hitless.
Fausto Carmona will take the mound today against the Yankees and try to prevent the slugger from hitting No. 600 and taking Carmona into the record books with him as the pitcher who gave up the 600th home run.
Jose Bautista hit two more home runs yesterday extending his major league lead to 30. Bautista had hit 13 home runs in 59 games before the All-Star break. Since then he has hit six in his last 12 games.
He had never hit more than 16 home runs or drove in more than 63 runs in his career before this season. He has already hit 30 home runs and drove in 75 runs this season with 61 games remaining in the 2010 season.
Cubs rookie Tyler Colvin is only two home runs behind team leader Alfonso Soriano who has 18 while Colvin has hit 16 in 82 fewer at bats.
Yovani Gallardo had a better game at bat than on the pitcher’s mound. He gave up six runs for the second time in his last three starts in the Brewers' 12-4 loss to the Reds but hit the eighth home run of his major league career and his fourth on this season.
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