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I was thinking your hypothesis could make sense if it was his plant foot but I can't see someone going for power with a balky back leg quad. Sure enough it's his right quad just above the knee that was injured. It makes perfect sense to me why he would have done what you're suggesting.
And speaking to the "well conditioned athlete" quote from Dipoto, "Ichiro had never been treated in the training room in his 16-year big league career until Tuesday afternoon"