September 9
St. Paul Pioneer Press
columnist Charley Walters
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The Twins probably are out of the playoff race, but Joe Mauer's quest for a record third batting championship for a catcher — he's tied with Ernie Lombardi at two — should keep fans interested through the rest of the season. The Twins have 24 games remaining, the Seattle Mariners 23. Entering Tuesday night's games, Mauer was hitting .369, Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki .362. Let's say Mauer and Ichiro each get 100 at-bats the rest of the season. If Ichiro gets 35 hits, the Mariners' star would finish at .3599 (230 hits in 639 at-bats). Mauer, who missed the first 22 games of the season with a sore back, would need 33 hits to finish at .3614 (193 hits in 534 at-bats). For Mauer, 32 ..."
November 6
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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The Mariners had much go wrong from start to finish in 2008, but they got a couple of postseason honors when third baseman Adrian Beltre and outfielder Ichiro Suzuki were honored with Gold Gloves, tokens of defensive excellence. It was the second consecutive Gold Glove for Beltre, who spent the season battling thumb and shoulder pain and who ended his season early to have two surgeries. For Ichiro, it is the eighth time in eight years he has earned a Gold Glove. And it was the second time in three years that he'd won after changing positions midseason. He began the season in center field, then moved to right field about 10 weeks into the season. "I take it to heart that this award is given ..."
October 20
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Don't plan on seeing much of Ichiro Suzuki at spring training next year. Ichiro told the Kyodo News Service on Sunday that he plans on playing for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic next spring. "I will try to win the WBC in earnest again," Ichiro told Kyodo. Three years ago, when Japan won the inaugural WBC, Ichiro started the year in Japan and not in Peoria, Ariz., with the Mariners. With Japan advancing to the finals, the right fielder didn't join the Mariners until the last two weeks of March. This year, Major League Baseball is handling the World Baseball Classic differently, starting spring training earlier and having Cactus League games stretch into the first week of April ..."
September 18
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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The Mariners were gifted with two tremendously satisfying performances Wednesday night. That they lost the game, anyway, says everything about their season. Ryan Rowland-Smith turned in his sixth consecutive quality start, and Ichiro Suzuki went where only one man had gone before by getting 200 hits for the eighth consecutive year. It added up to another Mariners loss, 5-2 to the Royals. It's the Mariners' seventh consecutive loss on the final road trip of the year. It would have been nice for Ichiro, Rowland-Smith and their teammates to pull this one out and enjoy a sense of shared accomplishment for one night. It didn't happen. Rowland-Smith's six innings of one-run ball gave the ..."