Out in Seattle, where the baseball gloom is as deep as anywhere in the country, something brilliant is happening. And it’s only appropriate that some people are saying what Ichiro Suzuki is about to accomplish, like the Mariners themselves, isn’t worth a hill of beans.

I say that because it seems as if we can never simply enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience without finding a way to diminish it — even before it’s happened. Ichiro is on track to break George Sisler’s 84-year-old record of 257 hits in a single season. And the people who know stats better than they know the wonder of living are saying it doesn’t mean anything.

Hits aren’t as valuable as they used to be, it seems. A walk, as they say, is as good as one anyway. And what really matters isn’t how many hits you get but your OPS — that’s on-base percentage plus slugging percentage. And since Ichiro is getting a whole lot of singles and not terribly many home runs, what’s the big deal?

At such times and in the face of such heartless logic, the only recourse is to blow a raspberry at the stat heads, sit back, and appreciate the show.

And if they persist, remind them that degree-of-difficulty has to mean something. We measure how great records are initially by how far they are beyond everyone else’s efforts. But records don’t become objects of adoration until they’ve withstood the test of time.

After all, records, as we say every time one falls, are made to be broken. That’s a cliché because it’s true. Athletes are always getting better in every sport and if you look at Olympic records in swimming and track from a half century ago, they seem positively slow compared to the standards of today.

So when one stands up to great individuals' various assaults over decades, they take on a glow and come to be viewed as inviolate. After enough time, we even start to resent it when someone threatens them because we’ve convinced ourselves that they are the exceptions that test the rule — the records that were made to stand forever.

THE HIT MACHINE Reuters file Ichiro's chase for George Sisler's all-time season hit record Record: 257, in 1920 (154-game season) Ichiro's hit total: 256 Games left: 3 Ichiro's pace: 262 (162-game season) Thursday: 1-for-5 at Oakland Friday: vs. Rangers (Ryan Drese, 14-9, 3.98)

Others came close to Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record of 60, set in 1927. But as time passed and none of the greatest sluggers to follow could get closer than 58, the record took on mythic status, which is why such enormous pressure was put on Roger Maris in 1961 when he finally broke it.

Another record that was spoken of in hushed tones of reverence was Ty Cobb’s single-season stolen-base record of 96. No one came within dozens of that number for 17 years, until Maury Wills erased it in 1962.

Then there was Ruth’s all-time home-run record that lasted 37 years and Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record that was the “unbreakable” standard for 57 years before Pete Rose broke it. Ruth’s single-season slugging record has fallen to Barry Bonds, as has his record for walks in a season.

Compared to all of those, compared even to the consecutive-game streak of Lou Gehrig’s that Cal Ripken Jr. broke, Sisler’s record for hits in a season shouldn’t be carved in granite, it should be engraved in diamond.

Sisler set his record in 1920. At the time, it couldn’t have seemed as if it would last. Within the next 10 years, two players — Lefty O’Doul and Bill Terry — came within three hits of matching it, Al Simmons came within four, and Rogers Hornsby and Chuck Klein came within seven.

But from 1930 until 2000, only two players — Wade Boggs and Darin Erstad — had as many as 240 hits. The following year, 2001, Ichiro got to 242, the highest total since Terry’s 254 in 1930. But, despite having eight more games to play than Sisler had, Ichiro was still 15 away from a tie.

It’s not as if there haven’t been a lot of great hitters since Sisler played for the hapless St. Louis Browns, either. Rod Carew, Boggs, Don Mattingly, George Brett, Tony Gwynn, Hornsby, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, and Rose are just a few.

And for 83 years, none have topped Sisler.

But now Ichiro is on pace to ease on by 257. He has played in all but one of Seattle's games; Sisler played in every one of the Browns’ 154 in 1920. If Ichiro keeps hitting at the same rate he has been, he’ll have 261 hits — not bad.

Say what you will about OPS being more important than just how many singles you get. You may be right. By those averages, Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez are the most productive hitters in the game, and that reflects what we intuitively know. Ichiro is 18th in that category. And his on-base percentage of .417 is good, but there are six in the majors who get on base more often.

The fact remains that Ichiro is about to do something that we’ve said is impossible. He’s about to break a record that’s lasted nearly as long as Boston’s string of championship-less seasons.

All you can do is watch and admire it for what it is — a rare opportunity to see someone do something better than anyone has ever done before.

And while you watch, you might also wonder whether it’s just a coincidence that Ichiro is getting more little hits than anyone ever in the same year that Major League Baseball started seriously testing for steroids. I don’t know about you, but if I were Bud Selig, I’d test him every day until I found out what he isn’t taking.

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