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Ichiro's dismal World Baseball Classic opener a worry for Japan
AFP - 1 hour 39 minutes ago
TOKYO (AFP) - - Seattle Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki must bounce back from a dismal performance at the plate in the opener of the World Baseball Classic if Japan wants to defend its title, sports dailies said Friday.
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Japan's lead-off hitter went 0-for-5 in an otherwise routine 4-0 win over unfancied China in the first game of the Classic's all-Asian Pool A competition on Thursday.
Despite the easy win, the press offered bleak predictions about Japan's chances in the Classic if Suzuki's form does not improve.
"If Ichiro remains asleep, it will be a tough battle for Samurai Japan," the Sports Nippon warned.
"Without Ichiro's recovery, no second straight title in sight," chimed in the Sankei Sports daily.
The 35-year-old Suzuki, who set a single-season US Major League record of 262 hits in 2004, acknowledged his play had been less than stellar.
"I do feel frustrated," he told reporters after the game at the Tokyo Dome before a sell-out crowd of 43,000, many of whom flashed their cameras and roared out "Ichiro!" each time he came to the plate.
"Things didn't flow right today. And it put me down at the end."
The left-handed hitter, one of five US Major Leaguers on Japan's squad, grounded out four times and popped up to second in his final at-bat, leaving four runners in scoring position.
"I strained myself mentally. But it was not that I strained myself at bat," explained Suzuki, who was the driving force behind Japan's triumph in the inaugural 2006 WBC when they beat Cuba 10-6 in the final.
His batting average in five warm-up games was a weak .130 at 3-for-23. The China game brought his hitless streak to 16 at-bats.
Japan will next face either Olympic gold medallists South Korea or Taiwan on Saturday in Pool A play.
The two top teams from each of the four double-elimination pools will advance to the second round of the Classic in the United States.
In the inaugural 2006 Classic, Suzuki -- an eight-time Gold Glove outfielder who moved to Seattle in 2001 from Japan's Orix Blue Wave -- paced the team with 12 hits, seven runs, four stolen bases and one home run.
The Mariners star said he believed his batting would improve, saying he had soundly struck an outside curve ball in his third trip to the plate.
"I felt I caught the ball. I have no worry," he said.
Suzuki was also a slow-starter in the 2006 Classic, batting only .231 at the pool stage, but posting an overall average of .364.
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