MLB

11 years later, Ichiro gets another shot at playoff glory with Yankees

ICHI-WHOA! Ichiro Suzuki cringes as Joba Chamberlain pours champagne down his back after the Yankees clinched the AL East title last night. But the cold splash of success agreed with him quickly, as he was spraying others shortly thereafter. (AP)

ICHI-WHOA! Ichiro Suzuki cringes as Joba Chamberlain pours champagne down his back after the Yankees clinched the AL East title last night. But the cold splash of success agreed with him quickly, as he was spraying others shortly thereafter. (AP (2))

The last time Ichiro Suzuki appeared in a playoff game, he was across the street at the old Yankee Stadium, being serenaded more than a decade ago in the ALCS.

“I played right field all year that year, but in the game we got knocked out, I played left field,” Ichiro said through a translator after the Yankees beat the Red Sox 14-2 last night at the Stadium, to clinch the AL East. “When I came to the Yankees [this year] had a lot of ‘Ichiro’ calls, but in 2001, in that last game, they started chanting ‘Sayonara Ichiro.’ That was a tough moment. That’s what I remember about 2001.”

That 12-3 loss in Game 5 — which ended the Mariners’ season, one in which they won 116 regular-season games — is now a distant memory, and he will be treated better in The Bronx this time around after finally making it back to the postseason.

Ichiro’s season turned around almost immediately upon his arrival to the Yankees on July 23 and he became a consistent offensive force down the stretch with the Yankees fighting for survival.

“He’s provided a huge spark,” Russell Martin said. “There’s no doubt he’s give us exactly what we’ve needed.”

It’s a long way from the morass he found himself in with the Mariners, who were hopelessly out of the playoff chase once again this season.

“I came in the middle of this and just wanted to contribute,” said Ichiro, who scored and drove in two more runs last night, hitting behind Derek Jeter. “I feel like we’ve taken the first step. … But we’ve got to move forward.”

Ichiro has been an integral part in getting the Yankees to the playoffs, hitting .322 as a Yankee after a miserable start to the season.

“In spring training, you always want to make the playoffs,” he said. “That doesn’t change. Seattle was the same way.”

But the results have been considerably better in his new home.

“This September has been tough,” Ichiro said of fighting off the Orioles in the division. “But after I came here, it’s been a whole different experience.”

dan.martin@nypost.com