Ichiro! On Monday night, Ichiro went 3 for 4 in the Marlins' drubbing of the Padres (MIA 13, SD 4). Before we delve further into Ichiro's hit-compiling, though, know that this particular enthusiast was on hand to witness Ichiro's continuing assault on history ...

And know that his imitative powers go beyond just standing there looking all Ichiroian and stuff ...

Excelsior! Fake Ichiro!

As for that assault on history, Ichiro's efforts on Monday night left him with a 2016 line of .350/.414/.392 and a career hits tally of 2,977 hits. Simple arithmetic will tell you that he's only 23 knocks shy of his 3,000th career hit. As well, throw the 1,278 hits that Ichiro racked up in Japan, and he's closing in on Pete Rose's mark of 4,256 hits. In fact, Ichiro is only hit away from tying Rose.

The obvious distinction is that Rose registered all of his hits in the U.S. major leagues, while Ichiro did not. Japanese baseball is very good, but it's not on the level of MLB. That's why Rose himself doesn't see Ichiro's combined totals as being any kind of threat to his all-time record. Here's what Rose told Bob Nightengale about the prospect of Ichiro's "passing" him:

"It sounds like in Japan they're trying to make me the Hit Queen. I'm not trying to take anything away from Ichiro, he's had a Hall of Fame career, but the next thing you know, they'll be counting his high-school hits."

What is beyond dispute is that Ichiro, barring injury or steep reversal of fortune, will be joining the 3,000 hit club at some point later this summer. Perhaps Fake Ichiro will be there to share the moment with him.