2006 Season
In 2006 Ichiro continued his all-star play. After a slow start, which included hitting near the Mendoza Line (a .200 batting average) during the month of April, he rebounded and finished the season hitting .322 (6th in the AL and 11th in the Majors), accumulating 224 hits (leading the Majors), 41 infield hits (leading the majors), 110 runs, and 45 stolen bases (3rd in the AL and 7th in the Majors). Ichiro stole the second most bases of his career (56 in 2001). Ichiro was voted onto the 2006 American League All-Star team by the fans. He started in the outfield for the AL in Pittsburgh, but went 0-3. It was Ichiro's sixth All-Star selection in his six years in the major leagues, and his fifth start (only in 2005 did he not start). On September 16, Ichiro set records in the MLB for hits and stolen bases in a 7-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Ichiro stole his AL-Single-Season record 33rd consecutive base. He also had two singles in the game in his first two at bats against Mark Redman. These singles helped him extend his own record of most consecutive 200-hit seasons to begin a career to six. He broke Wade Boggs' record of most hits in a six-year period in MLB.[8] Ichiro also won his sixth straight American League Gold Glove Award since he entered MLB.
I'd like to meet:
Inaugural World Baseball Classic
Ichiro played for the Japan national baseball team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March of 2006. During the March 15 Japan-Korea game Ichiro was booed by a few spectators during every at-bat, reportedly in response to a previous statement that he wanted "to beat South Korea so badly, that the South Koreans won't want to play Japan for another 30 years."[6] That, however, was an incorrect translation mostly spread to the public through ESPN. Ichiro was variously quoted as saying 「戦ã£ãŸç›¸æ‰‹ãŒã€Žå‘ã“ã†30å¹´ã¯æ—¥æœ¬ã«æ‰‹ã¯å‡ºã
›ãªã„ãªã€ã¨ã„ã†æ„Ÿã˜ã§å‹ã¡ãŸã„ã¨æ€ã†ã€ which roughly translates to "I would like to win in a way for the opponent to think that 'we cannot catch up with Japan for 30 years in the future.'" as well as 「アジアラウンド,,1次リーグ,,ã§ã¯å‘ã“ã†30å¹
´ã€æ—¥æœ¬ã«å‹ã¦ãªã„ã¨æ€ã‚ã›ã‚‹ãらã„ã‚„ã£ã¤ã
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…ã—ã¦ãã ã•ã„〠which roughly translates to "I want to beat the teams in the Asia Round so they think they can't win against Japan for another 30 years. Fans, you will see the best team in Asia." He apparently intended for these comments to be taken as "tongue in cheek," since he is seen laughing and smiling in the video while making the comment. Japan won the tournament, defeating Cuba in the finals, 10-6.[7] Ichiro was one of only two Major League Baseball players on Team Japan, the other being reliever Akinori Otsuka. Throughout the course of the tournament, Ichiro provided twelve hits, seven runs, four stolen bases, and one home run.
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2007 Season
On June 1, 2007, Ichiro hit in his 25th consecutive game, breaking the previous team record set by Joey Cora in 1997. Breaking Tim Raines' 1995 record of 40 consecutive steals, Ichiro's consecutive 41st was stolen on May 3rd, he went on to set a new American League record of 45 consecutive stolen bases.
