The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Seattle Mariners slugger and 10- time All-Star Ichiro Suzuki is a career .327 hitter. So far this season, he is batting a respectable .269. To the casual observer, that's a pretty consistent and impressive record.

But a close fan of the game would also suggest that this year, Ichiro is in a bit of a slump.

Sports columnist Les Carpenter even points out that over a few weeks this spring, from May 19 to June 9, he was especially cold - hitting only .149.

Fans would likely say that Ichiro is indeed a great ballplayer, but that something needs to be done to get his hitting back on track.

Maybe...