"In his 10 seasons with the Seattle Mariners, Ichiro Suzuki has had nine batting coaches - but only one who won batting titles three times in a row with him.

Alonzo Powell spent six years playing in Japan, where he was a five-time All-Star and won the Central League batting title in 1994, 1995 and 1996. The batting title in the Pacific League each of those years?

Ichiro.

"He likes to remind me he won seven in a row, and I only won three," Powell said.

Powell has nothing but fond memories of his years in Japan, although he acknowledges there was a transition on and off the field.

"Everybody had a great breaking pitch. The good thing for me was I was a pretty good breaking-ball hitter," Powell said. "In a lot of ways, that contributed to a lot of my success there.

"The fans were outstanding from Day 1. They welcomed me from the first day I got there until the day I left."

He played with a few American players there, including pitcher Scott Anderson.

"He pitched with the Rangers and the Expos, was my teammate when I got there," Powell said. "He would always call me 'Zo' - and I could hear the guys kind of snicker a little bit."