"The Mariners' season of monumental disappointment might actually yield one of Ichiro's most impressive records yet: He could become the first player in history to twice produce 200 hits in a 100-loss season.

Ichiro tied the bittersweet mark with 213 hits in the Mariners' 101-loss season of 2008. He became the eighth player overall and first since Beau Bell of the 1937 St. Louis Browns to enjoy the exhilaration of 200 hits while enduring the agony of 100 losses.

Since Bell's hapless Browns went 46-108, a total of 88 teams have suffered a triple-digit loss season, some with elite hitters in the lineup, such as Tony Gwynn (1993 Padres), Eddie Murray ('93 Mets and '88 Orioles) and Julio Franco ('85 Indians), but only Ichiro has created 200 hits out of the ashes of such disaster since 1937.

Alas, his and the Mariners' stars are aligned once again to produce the rare event. Eleven Ichiro hits and nine Mariners losses in the final 16 games will yield the exacta.

Ultimately, even if the two events don't occur, make no mistake, the potential is not due to any chance cosmic alignment. For a record nine straight seasons, Ichiro has harnessed the focus and motivation required to produce 200 hits regardless of the team's doldrums, including 101 losses (2008), 99 losses (2004) and 93 losses (2005).

Asked recently to explain the mentality that has sustained his approach, he revealed a key lesson he has learned during his pursuit of excellence, which, interestingly, has little to do with enduring all the losing.

"I'm not swayed by others' opinions," Ichiro says. "I've learned that people's appraisals are a very ambiguous thing, and I don't let them affect my sense of self worth."

For sure, when euphoria spread throughout Japan when he became the first Japanese player to win a batting title in America as a rookie in 2001, the prime minister proposed one of Japan's highest civilian honors, a national award of distinction; Ichiro refused, saying it was inappropriate for an athlete to accept such an honor while still active.

He might have unknowingly set another record when he declined the honor again after rewriting the season hits record in 2004. Such restraint simply underscores how Ichiro avoids the dangerous whirlpool of jubilation over his pursuits so as not to inadvertently get sucked into complacency."