It took exactly 11 games to remember why Ichiro is so special.

He didn’t get off to the best start. His batting average through the first seven games of the season stood at a paltry .192. Over a particular three-game span in Boston and Texas, Ichiro went hitless in twelve at bats with a completely uncharacteristic seven strikeouts, throwing in an embarrassing performance against Daisuke Matsuzaka in the middle for good measure. The questions were flying. What was wrong with Ichiro? Was he starting to get old? Was he getting sick of playing in Seattle? Had Major League baseball finally found a hole in his swing?

Four days later, Ichiro was batting .318.

One needs only to consider these first 11 games of the season to really understand what Ichiro is all about, and what makes him such a superstar. There are few other players in the league for whom the bar of expectations is set so consistently high, and for whom undershooting that bar becomes worthy of the headlines. Manny Ramirez hit .202 for the entire month of April and in Boston they called it “just another typical slow start.” For Ichiro, though, every rough patch he hits feels like it means something. People don’t expect Ichiro to slump. They expect him to go 2-4 or 3-5 every night, and it’s a disappointment if doesn’t. Think about that for a second.

People see Ichiro as a machine. Nevermind his unwavering concentration, lack of outward emotion, or weirdass interviews; the way he just hits and hits and hits simply doesn’t feel human. What reason do we have to believe that Ichiro bleeds red blood like the rest of us? His performance since coming over from Japan seems to suggest otherwise. Seven straight seasons of 200+ hits. A career .333 batting average. Not a single stint on the DL. In Seattle he’s revered as some kind of higher form of life, and this is why it’s always such a total shock when he strings a few bad games together.

Sure enough, just as he always has, Ichiro bounced back from his early struggles and proceeded to put on a clinic. For the next two months he hit an otherworldly .384, and as if that weren’t already enough to placate the masses, the All Star Break brought news that Ichiro and the Mariners had agreed on an extension that would keep the free-agent-to-be star center fielder in Seattle through 2012. Concerns that Ichiro didn’t get along very well with manager Mike Hargrove went out the window when Hargrove up and left the team, and replacing him with John McLaren – a favorite of Ichiro’s since his early days with the M’s – all but ensured that he wasn’t going to go anywhere. A new manager, an Ichiro extension, and a competitive team? Being a Mariner fan hadn’t felt this good in years.

The season, of course, wound up taking a nasty and unprecedented turn for the worse come late August, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at Ichiro. Following the break his average never dipped below .343, and he was one of the only players on the team who kept producing through the godawful 1-13 skid that knocked the M’s out of contention. Even when it seemed like the psychological blow of the slump might finally be enough to interrupt Ichiro’s inhuman momentum, he just kept on going, and didn’t stop until the end of the year. He hit in the big games. He hit in the meaningless games. He hit in every game in between. All Ichiro does is hit. You wonder where he finds the time to also be a good glove in center field and an outstanding baserunner.

It’s absolutely incredible how much (seemingly effortless) work Ichiro has put in to remain the same baseball player for the last seven years. Pitchers have changed their approaches, defenses have changed their alignments, and managers have changed their plans of attack, but even if they manage to get a leg up for a little while, it’s always Ichiro who gets the last laugh. Always.

Some players go hitless for days in a row and it’s not a big deal. Some players swing and miss at least once every other time they come to the plate, and no one bats an eye. But Ichiro is a different story, and for good reason – these are things that, as far as Ichiro’s concerned, are unacceptable. And these are things that pitchers and opposing teams must celebrate as victories, because in the fight against Ichiro, all you can win are the occasional small battles in an unwinnable war.

Jeff’s Lookout Landing is one of the best team blogs around. He also recently won an  award for the “Blog Most Likely to Attract Beautiful Women” at the inaugural Bloggers…Choosing the Choice Cuts Awards. Yes ladies, he’s available.