The Oakland Athletics-Seattle Mariners game Tuesday night took a surreal turn when an Ichiro Suzuki look-a-like interfered with a ball hit by Dustin Ackley. Ackley, the Mariners second baseman, rocketed a shot down the right-field line that came to a stop a few feet in front of the fake Ichiro. The man, who had been posing for pictures and signing autographs around Safeco Field the past couple of days, decided to reach out over the railing and pick up the baseball. Had he let it be, Ackley would have had an easy triple. The home crowd was not exactly thrilled with the interference and let the imposter know it with their boos.
This, of course, was not exactly the type of attention Me-Chiro was seeking.
The man was temporarily removed from his seat and Ackley was
temporarily sent back to second base. But the faux Ichiro was allowed to
return to his front-row perch by security and Ackley was sent to third
by umpires, who ruled he would have reached the bag easily.
"I know the fans were getting on [the fake Ichiro] pretty good, because it looked like Dustin was going to get to third base," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. "But ultimately, I think that he redeemed himself when the umpire awarded him third base. That's a judgment call. I think he would have got to third base, and that's what he thought, too."
"I know the fans were getting on [the fake Ichiro] pretty good, because it looked like Dustin was going to get to third base," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. "But ultimately, I think that he redeemed himself when the umpire awarded him third base. That's a judgment call. I think he would have got to third base, and that's what he thought, too."
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