The magnitude of the moment towering Ichiro Suzuki in his farewell

Yusei Kikuchi in reverential silence.Asked what that experience meant Jose Bautista Jersey , the Japanese rookie pitcher paused for a full minute.“Since spring training until now, Ichiro told us that it is a gift for him to play in Tokyo,” Kikuchi finally said through a translator Thursday night. “But for me, he gave me the greatest gift that I can play with him.”Ichiro was showered with cheers and chants while taking his final bow , and the Mariners sent him out with a win by beating the Oakland Athletics 5-4 in 12 innings.On the day Kikuchi pitched well in his big league debut, Ichiro concluded a magnificent career that lasted nearly three decades.The 45-year-old Ichiro went 0 for 4 in the second game of the Major League Baseball season. He got a chance at a storybook ending at the jammed Tokyo Dome when he came up with two outs, a runner on second base and a tie score in the eighth inning, but grounded out.Ichiro, whose pro career began in his homeland in 1992 when he was 18, took his spot in right field to begin the bottom of the eighth. He then was pulled to one more ovation, punctuating his walk with waves , tips of the hat and hugs as cameras flashed all around the park.Ichiro’s teammates met him outside the dugout for a proper send-off in a three-minute tribute. Kikuchi, who worked into the fifth inning, bowed to Ichiro — the 27-year-old lefty was tearing up as he buried his head into Ichiro’s shoulder.“For me it doesn’t get better than tonight,” Ichiro said through a translator. “Nothing can top what happened tonight for me.”In a fitting scene — a passing of the torch, possibly — Ichiro caught a flyball to end the fourth inning and Kikuchi waited for him outside the dugout for a fist bump. Kikuchi could be the next big star from Japan http://www.bluejaysfanproshop.com/authentic-curtis-granderson-jersey , having signed a contact in January that could be worth $109 million over seven years.“I enjoyed myself. I had fun. I wasn’t necessarily nervous. I didn’t shake. I was ready,” Kikuchi said. “I knew it was going to begin at the Tokyo Dome, where my journey as a major leaguer began.”“I wouldn’t say I was excellent, but I as able to play before the Japanese fans. I felt great support from them and I felt lucky.”Kikuchi became the first Japanese-born player to make his major league debut in Japan. Showing a firm fastball and sharp slider, he gave up four hits in 4 2/3 innings.Marcus Semien hit an RBI single on Kikuchi’s 91st and final pitch, making it 3-1. Roenis Elias relieved and got Matt Chapman to hit a comebacker, but first baseman Jay Bruce dropped the throw, allowing a run to score that pulled the A’s within 3-2.Kikuchi, who went to the same high school as Los Angeles Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani, signed with Seattle in January after pitching for the Seibu Lions in Japan.Effectively hiding the ball in his delivery, Kikuchi often kept Oakland batters off-balance while striking out three and walking one.Domingo Santana, who hit a grand slam in Seattle’s 9-7 win in the opener Wednesday, beat out a double-play relay with the bases loaded to drive in the go-ahead run in the 12th.Ryon Healy and Mitch Haniger homered for the Mariners, off to their first 2-0 start since opening 3-0 in 2014.Khris Davis hit a two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded in the Oakland seventh to make it 4-all. Davis led the majors with 48 home runs last year and homered Wednesday. Davis struck out with the bases loaded to end the 11th.“It was disappointing. We had our chances,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “I felt like a couple of times we had them on the ropes and had a chance to win the game Marcus Stroman Jersey , and we didn’t. So it’s frustrating.”“You don’t want to come here and lose two games,but we’ll regoup and take a few days off,” he said.Dee Gordon singled off losing pitcher Ryan Buchter to begin the Seattle 12th. He later scored on Santana’s one-out grounder when Semien and second baseman Jurickson Profar were slow on the turn.Zac Rosscup got the win and Hunter Strickland closed for his second save.Ichiro was all smiles as he greeted his teammates after the final out.A 10-time All-Star in the majors, Ichiro got 3,089 hits over a 19-year career in the big leagues after getting 1,278 hits while starring for nine seasons in Japan. His combined total of 4,367 is a professional record.Ichiro went 0 for 1 with a walk in Wednesday’s opener.A’s starter Marco Estrada allowed three runs in five innings.TRAINER’S ROOMMariners: 1B Daniel Vogelbach didn’t start, a day after being hit in the left elbow by a pitch.Athletics: Top A’s pitching prospect Jesus Luzardo will be shut down for four to six weeks because of a strained left shoulder. The 21-year-old was in the mix for a rotation spot.UP NEXTMariners: Back to spring training for the M’s. For the players who didn’t make the trip to Japan, there are exhibition games Thursday night in Arizona against the split-squad Reds and Friday night with the split-squad Angels. Seattle opens the regular season at home March 28 against the World Series champion Boston Red Sox.Athletics: The A’s get a couple days off before resuming exhibition play Sunday at the Coliseum vs. San Francisco. Oakland begins the regular season March 28 at home against Mike Trout and the Angels. Putting their trust in a newly bulked-up analytics department, the Marlins are shifting to an extreme this year...but is the strategy paying off?"WhiteFanposts Sections News & RumorsAnalysisPodcastsProspects & DraftGame CoverageFull ArchiveMasthead Social Marlins Players on TwitterFish Stripes on InstagramMarlins Media Members Fish Stripes Best of 2018 Marlins StoriesScheduleRosterStatsCommunity Guidelines StubHub 鉁昅iami Marlins AnalysisTo shift or not to shift?New,6commentsPutting their trust in a newly bulked-up analytics department, the Marlins are shifting to an extreme this year...but is the strategy paying off?EDTShareTweetShareShareTo shift or not to shift?April 7 vs. the Braves@fishstripes/TwitterSince defensive shifting began to surge in popularity across Major League Baseball around a decade ago, it’s been a lightning rod for constant debate. Do the benefits actually outweigh the risk of leaving—in some cases—an entire side the infield being left unguarded? While fans and media are encouraged to form their own opinions, the decision-makers within MLB organizations seem to be on the same page.Shifting has increased exponentially. You’ll see it from all 30 teams during the season and 24.0% of plate appearances overall, according to Baseball Savant. As the size of analytics departments and the amount of data available to teams has grown, so has the frequency of employing the shift. This would point to the logical conclusion that the data is telling teams that employing a shift on a consistent basis pays off in the long term. The breakdowns for 2018 are below Devon Travis Jersey , and with the exception of right-handed hitters facing left-handed pitchers, that theory would seem to be confirmed:However, there has been a small decrease in the number of shifts employed across the league in the last couple of seasons. One reason for this could be that the payoff has leveled off a bit, and so teams are getting less aggressive with it. Another could be that the increased emphasis on roster versatility and athleticism has resulted in defenses that are able to cover more ground, lessening the need for more extreme positioning. Or perhaps hitters are having an influence by beginning to adjust their approach at the plate and consciously using the opposite field. Marlins fans in 2019 have had a negative experience with the shift (under the direction of new first base/infield coach Trey Hillman). Simply from watching the games, there seem to have been several balls hit already that would have been outs under traditional circumstances, that have instead led to base hits and costly runs scored. Once very reluctant to implement data-driven strategy under previous ownership, the Marlins enter Wednesday as MLB’s “shiftiest” team with a 51.6% shift rate. When facing left-handed batters, they overload the pull side of the infield with defenders 75.9% of the time (leading the league in that split), while doing it against righties more frequently than many other clubs as well (25.7%). This is certainly an interesting departure from previous years, when beloved infield coach Perry Hill was mostly responsible for infield positioning. The Marlins employed very little extreme shifting overall, at a rate of 22.5% last year and only 8.5% in 2017. The team’s growing reliance on analytics was likely a factor in Hill being relieved of his duties (he now holds a similar job for the red-hot Seattle Mariners).So, how has the shift been treating them? Prior to Tuesday’s BullChen disaster, the batting average on balls in play (BABIP) against the Marlins while employing a shift was .335. That’s compared to only .200 when deploying a more traditional defensive alignment. This makes them the fourth most “unlucky” team in the entire league to this point, ahead of only the Reds, Padres Roy Halladay Jersey , and Giants.Baseball SavantFor MLB overall, we see only a 13-point average variance in BABIP between shifting and not shifting, to this point in favor of not shifting. It is important to note, however, that these early 2019 results are a departure from previous years, which have shown BABIP results in favor of shifting—10+ points per season on average, dating back to 2012.Despite indications that their luck will normalize eventually, it will be interesting to see how invested the Marlins are in this strategy if it continues failing them in critical situations.My personal feeling is they should be a bit more selective with which batters they shift heavily against, particularly with runners on base. Overall, though, I am encouraged that the organization as a whole seems much more engaged in the analytics of the game, which will help them in many different areas going forward.