A Winning Combination


Ichi leads it off, Shiggy works in relief and Kaz closes it. With that combination—the Japanese threesome—the Mariners are secure.

When Ichiro is up you can breathe easy. You know the M’s have a chance. He will do something to get on base more times than not. He will bunt, beat out an infield hit or slap one into the gap.

It is no surprise he leads the Mariners and the major league in batting average again this year (.363). It is no surprise that he is second in the American league in hits (69) and stolen bases (15) or that he is first in triples (5). It will be no surprise if he equals or surpasses his numbers from last season.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa, former teammate of Ichiro on the 1996 Orix Blue Wave team that won the Japanese World Series, is “Mr. Dependable” so far this year for the Mariners. His ERA is 0.82 in 22 innings pitched. During that span he gave up only two runs, 14 hits and seven walks while striking out 11. He throws a variety of pitches and gets people out.

It was Shiggy’s dream to be on an American team with two or three Japanese players. When he signed with the Anaheim Angels in ’97, he was the only one and could barely speak English. Now he is a fluent speaker and enjoys the camaraderie of his fellow Japanese nationals.

After ten years with the Yokohama Bay Stars, the Japanese Series Champions of 1998, Kazuhiro Sasaki was the career saves leader in Japan. He is likely to be the career saves leader for the Mariners soon. He only needs six more saves to tie Mike Schooler’s mark of 98 set from 1988-92.

Though he is very intense on the mound, he is always wearing a big smile at the end after he gets the save. He has 10 of them this year and a 0.00 ERA in 18.2 innings.

Kaz’s split-finger, also called a forkball, is his killer pitch, but he also has a decent fastball in the mid-90’s and worked the last two springs to fine-tune his curveball. In his third year on the team, his numbers are only getting better.

In spite of their reliability this season, though, the Japanese threesome are almost non-news. We hear more about the unreliable parts of the lineup—the struggling hitters, the bungling baserunners, the ever-changing pitching rotation.

Least we forget—the Mariners have Ichi, Shiggy and Kaz. And they are a winning combination.

The copyright of the article A Winning Combination in Seattle Mariners is owned by C. A. Wright. Permission to republish A Winning Combination in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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