A lot is being made of how this isn't a home run chase, but it is a record that has stood for 84 years. Back in 1920 George Sisler had 257 hits and no one has been able to match that mark since. To put that mark in perspective, last year's hit leader was Vernon Wells at 215 and the prior season it was Alfonso Soriano with 209. In 2000 Darin Erstad made a run at it with 240 while batting .355 and the following year Ichiro took a stab with 242 hitting .350.

Now to understand how difficult it is to reach this mark first you have to realize that last season just 32 major league players had over 600 at-bats and at that number one would have to hit .428 to reach the magic number. Just 7 players had over 650 trips to the plate and at that it would take a .395 average. In today's game that is pretty tough to do.

Ichiro is currently on pace for 260 hits in 702 at-bats, and is hitting .372 at the moment. After picking up 5 hits yesterday he needs 15 over the course of his final 11 games to break the record.

It is hard to imagine what he could have done if he started hot. Since going 26/102 (.255) in the opening month he is hitting .393 meaning if April had gone the way that the rest of his campaign did he would already be at 257.

I suppose if there is a downside to Ichiro it is that he obviously hardly ever walks, in fact just 45 times or once every 3 games which is not what you expect from a leadoff man. His .413 on-base percentage still ranks #9 in the majors, but I think I would rather have one of the two guys just ahead of them in that category. Those men are Abreu of Philadelphia and Hafner of Cleveland, who have 29/101 and 28/109 home run/RBI numbers. They also have 71 and 72 extra base hits, respectively or basically double Ichiro's 36.

Baseball is about production, which is knocking runs in (granted a leadoff hitter has a tough time with #8 and #9 hitters setting the table) and scoring them. You would think Ichiro would be scoring 130 or even 140 runs, but he is just #39 in that category with 93. Sure, his team is terrible but that is a low number. Guys like Bip Roberts and his 167 hits have 100 and last I checked the Orioles weren't a good team either, and he has just 4 home runs so he's not driving himself in.

So Ichiro is not an MVP candidate in case you are wondering. That award probably goes to Manny Ramirez (.306 41/120) although Miguel Tejada (.306 29/131) might have won it if not for already having one and the fact that his team sucks. Gary Sheffield (.297 36/117) might steal it simply because some voters might go to Manny's BoSox teammate Ortiz (.296 39/128). In the NL it is Barry, and anyone who says differently is just stupid.

One final thought on Ichiro, and it has to be said. I am hopeful that teams will not pitch around him as a Japanese born player to protect the record. It hasn't happened yet, but I would watch the final series against Texas very closely.