TSN: Ichiro Suzuki, looking better and better in pinstripes, defies doubters

Just don’t (.269 slash) play him (.288 slash) away from (.321 no slash) Yankee Stadium.

Months from now, perhaps as New York readies for another parade down the Canyon of Heroes, will we point to this week as the moment when it all crystallized? With the Baltimore Orioles huffing at the Yankees’ shins, Ichiro had one of those series that makes Yankee haters want to toss a mug at their TVs.

... But wouldn’t it be something if Girardi’s binder whispered to him to fiddle with his lineup and maybe bat Ichiro first and Jeter second consistently? Jeter, in the midst of a remarkable season at age 38, leads the majors with 203 hits. The move would defy all that we think we know about Yankee baseball, two pesky geezers at the top of the order creating chaos unusual for the big bopping club. Ichiro, alas, won’t even bother to entertain such a mad hatter idea.

“I’m very happy with how everything is right now,” he said.

Come the offseason, Ichiro will be a tantalizing free agent. The Hall of Fame waits, a second act in Japan beckons, but he’s not averse to a few more surprises. Never forget, there were an awful lot of baseball geniuses who reckoned he was too frail to survive long in the major leagues, that he’d never consistently endure grueling 162-game seasons.