Ichiro Suzuki

It is customary, I suppose, at the beginning of each year to list some resolutions you intend to adhere to, in an effort to become a better person.

I, Caesar Cliffius, realizing that I cannot improve on what I am (not that I am perfect, just complacent), decided to try my hand at prognostication.

Below are five of my predictions for 2010 in the world of Major League Baseball.

No. 5: 20 Wins for Homer Bailey

No.

I could probably end the article right there, but perhaps I should elaborate.

After winning the World Series MVP, Hideki Matsui has drawn praise from Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese-born player to play in the MLB.

Murakami stated that "Ichiro Suzuki has had many accomplishments, but they've all been in the regular season. As the first Japanese to win an MVP in the World Series, this is a great accomplishment for Matsui and will have a huge impact."

You have got to be kidding me.

In a comment I read recently, someone attempted to explain the reason why Ichiro hits a lot of home runs. Basically, the premise of the argument was that Ichiro felt that if he tried to hit home runs, his batting average would suffer.

Well it's comparison time now because I found a player who has the same career high in average as Ichiro and did exactly what Ichiro said he could not do.

In 2004, Ichiro had his best season in the Major Leagues; it was the year he set the record for most hits in a season.

Here's a look at the numbers for Ichiro:

Here are a few thoughts that I had during the All-Star selection:

[11:59]

 Waiting for the All-Star selection show to start, flipping between the epic Wimbledon battle and TBS.

[12:01]

Wow. Boomer got skinnier, not skinny, just less fat. But who cares about David Wells highlights? Get to the selecting. How does Ernie Johnson have a job? Oh yeah, Daddy.

[12:03]

No doubt about it, the A.L. West is one of the worst divisions in baseball.  Good thing for Mariners fans: The M's are 2.5 games back in the division, trailing only the Rangers and Angels through the first half of the season. 

Fans cannot look at just the negatives surrounding the ball club. With the negatives there are also many positives following the Mariners into the second half of the season.

One of the many things going the Mariners way is their starting pitching.

Even as King Felix dominated Sunday's game, the Mariners offense slumbered. It took a crucial mistake from the opposing first baseman to seal a 3-2 Seattle win.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the game tied at two, Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Tony Clark flat-out dropped the throw from third baseman Mark Reynolds on a Franklin Gutierrez groundout.

It wasn't the ideal way to win a game, but I guess it sorta makes up for the one of the Brandon Morrow meltdowns in Texas.

I had no idea that a series win in Anaheim could be this depressing. Nevermind the fact that the Mariners should have completed a three game sweep though, let's look at exactly how they were able to take two out of three from their division rivals, the Angels.

Game One: 5-2 Mariners

After scoring three early runs, the M's took this game pretty easily. Jason Vargas showed once again that he's got the poise to be a Major League starter, and the Mariners offense was able to tally a respectable five runs against the formidable John Lackey.

Thanks to Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Suzuki, the World Baseball Classic, Orestes Destrade et al., baseball in Japan is less of a mystery than it used to be. But here is a list of 10 things the average MLB fan probably doesn't know.

[If you want my credentials, I moved to Japan with my parents when I was seven years old, and lived there for 10 years as a child, attending around 200 baseball games in Japan. If you don't want my credentials, the facts are still the same.]

When Randy Johnson left the game in the 6th inning last night, a great moment occurred. As I watched history unfold, I started to think about all of the other great moments that he's had in his long career.

I quickly realized that there have been way too many to count, which is fairly common when dealing with someone who's had a career like Randy's.