Man, I don't mean to take the focus away from Ichiro's hits record, but the Mariners play-by-play guy really blew it the other night.

As we all know by now, Ichiro's single in the 3rd inning of the Mariners-Rangers game Friday gave him hit number 258, the new single-season record for hits. The Mariners' play-by-by man -- Dave Niehaus, I think -- made this call:

"There it is, up the middle, base hit! He is the ALL-TIME hit king in Major League history, number 2-5-8!"

Pause for thought......

You know, a lot of you might have been cool with that call, and maybe I'm just being an overly critical ass, but Ichiro Suzuki isn't the new all-time hit king in Major League history. He's the new single-season hit king. That's nitpicky, maybe, but there's a significant difference between "all-time" and "single-season." You can look it up if you want. Pete Rose is the all-time hit king. Hank Aaron is the all-time home run king. Barry Bonds is the single-season home run king. Those terms have distinct meanings, and for a big moment like this -- probably the Mariners' most newsworthy moment in years, not to mention one of the biggest for an Asian in American sports -- I think the team's play-by-play announcer should have been able to get the dang call right.

Right?

I'm actually pretty sure nobody noticed the error, or even cared, so it's ultimately not a big deal. (SportsCenter didn't seem to care; they used the call Friday in their Mariners-Rangers segment.) But still, this was a huge sports moment. Ichiro broke a record that had stood for over 80 years, and his record hit was something everyone had been anticipating for week and weeks -- meaning, I'm assuming, the announcer could have rehearsed his call weeks in advance.

This would have worked: "Up the middle.... there it is! Ichiro Suzuki has become Major League Baseball's new single-season hit king, that's number 258!"

Nothing fancy, but unlike the real call, this one doesn't tell people that Ichiro broke Pete Rose's all-time hits record.

Sorry. Just being anal.