A Grip on Sports: A big night for Kraken, an important week for Seahawks and a couple key months for the M’s all loom
A GRIP ON SPORTS • For those of you who took the weekend off (and missed our recap of the past couple weeks), we ask again. Where were we? And the answer is the same. In the middle of the best run in Northwest pro sports in a while.
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• The Kraken are still playing, though that could end tonight. Or not. The Mariners are a quarter of the way through their season, so it’s about time we check to see how they’ve been doing. And the final franchise of the Big Three, the Seahawks? Well, the future looks bright.
• We’ll start with hockey, the newest professional sport in the Evergreen State. The Kraken forced their second consecutive seventh game in a best-of-seven series. And, once again, they’ll try to win on the opponent’s ice. Which isn’t a bad thing.
Seattle has played so well away from the long-named Climate Pledge Arena, the Kraken players pretended game six against the Stars was a road contest. It worked.
No pretending tonight. The Dallas fans will make it tough. The boards will be shaking at the opening faceoff. Which means the Kraken need to do exactly what they did in their first elimination game. Score early. Not only quiet the crowd, but allow time to settle in. Do that and the road to the Western Conference finals – starting in Las Vegas later this week – is much easier.
• The baseball season is about a quarter of the way through. Enough time, in fact, to know what type of team your favorite local franchise is putting on the field.
Is 50/50 good enough?
Heck no. Not after an offseason of hope – and one of abject failure. The Mariners’ 20-20 mark was easy to see coming, as Jerry Dipoto failed to upgrade the offense to the degree needed. Even myopic fans knew it back in March. And, we suspect, Dipoto did as well.
The M’s aren’t a hitter or two short, they are four. But there is a chance that can be rectified. Four players counted on to carry a big part of the offensive load, Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh, Teoscar Hernadez and Eugenio Suarez, are scuffling. If any two or three of them can revert to the mean, and if Jarred Kelenic and J.P. Crawford stay where they’re at, that’s part of the problem solved.
The rest of it can be fixed between now and the trade deadline, if the will is there. The Mariners’ starting pitching has been great. A revelation, in fact, considering one of the erstwhile staff aces, Robbie Ray, is out for the year with an arm injury. But the youngsters have come through. And there seems to be even more arms about ready in the minors.
Bryce Miller has been more than solid in his three starts. Easton McGee showed dominating stuff in his one start before landing on the injured list. And touted prospect Emerson Hancock has seemed to put it together in Arkansas, dominating in his last two starts, one of which he struck out 10 in six innings.
In other words, even with Ray out, Dipoto may have a young arm to dangle. In return, he’ll want a bat. Maybe a rental who he feels he can sign long-term. A left-fielder or a designated hitter, possibly. Anything to give the lineup a bit more depth.
They’ll need it to win 70 of their final 122 games, the minimum needed to return to the postseason.
• Last year the Seahawks struck gold with their draft class. This year? First returns were pretty solid. However, like those old stock market ads used to say, past returns do not guarantee future success.
The Hawks may have added key parts at receiver, running back, interior offensive and defensive line as well as depth at corner and on the edge. That’s pretty much what was needed.
Will it be enough to stay competitive in the NFC West and run with the 49ers? No one can answer that just yet. But the NFL is a year-by-year league, with every aspect of the rules – from scheduling to draft position to roster financial dynamics – in place to allow franchises to make quick turnarounds.
It sure looks as if the Hawks are moving in that direction.
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WSU: Armani Marsh may not have made it in New York, but he did enough in Nashville over the weekend to earn a contract with the Tennessee Titans. Colton Clark has this story on the Gonzaga Prep grad signing a free-agent contract. … The baseball team picked up a series win just when it needed it most. Sunday’s 7-1 win over California allows the Cougars to stay in the conference’s top nine, which is key to making the postseason tournament. … Funny, this look at the most intriguing portal changes of basketball’s offseason contains two players with Inland Northwest ties. One is T.J. Bamba. The other is incoming Gonzaga player Graham Ike. … Elsewhere around the Pac-12 and the nation, Washington won its first Pac-12 men’s track title over the weekend. Oregon won on the women’s side. … The NCAA softball tournament draw took place Sunday. The Pac-12 will send six teams to the 64-tean tourney. UCLA is the second seed, while Stanford and California are on the same side of the draw with No. 1 Oklahoma. Oregon is headed to Arkansas and Washington, seeded seventh, will host, facing Big Sky tourney champion Northern Colorado in the first round. Pac-12 tournament champ Utah also hosts. The odd fact? Neither Arizona State nor Arizona made it. The Wildcats streak ends at 35 consecutive tournaments. … No day is complete without a Colorado football transfer or two. … Utah believes its secondary is not going to miss star Clark Phillips III.
Gonzaga: Anton Watson competed at the G-League combine over the weekend in Chicago. His measurables were not among the best and he wasn’t one of the eight players invited to stay in town and attend the NBA combine.
Preps: The State baseball and boys soccer tournaments are ready to go and Dave Nichols tells us which local schools will be competing this week. … The District 8 golf tournament will be held today and tomorrow at the Creek at Qualchan, though Gonzaga Prep senior Alex Cooke won’t be playing. Jim Meehan has this story on the injury problems that have cost Cooke his final high school season.
Indians: New Spokane player Aiverson Rodriguez played a major role in Spokane’s 9-8 victory yesterday at Avista. Dave was there and has this story. The Indians won the series with Hillsboro 4-2 and are two games over .500 as they head out on the road.
Kraken: There is no game seven without a game six win. Now both teams have an equal opportunity to move on.
Mariners: Logan Gilbert is still a little off. The best indicator his command isn’t where the righthander wants it? The starter has thrown five wild pitches in 46 innings, easily the most on the M’s staff. He had issues yesterday but the M’s still would have won if the bullpen had come in and shut down the Tigers. It didn’t – the bullpen has been another up-and-down aspect of the season – and Detroit won 5-3. … Kelenic has been happy. In fact, his celebration is the team’s celebration.
Seahawks: As we mentioned above, the rookie class seems pretty solid.
Storm: Finding balance isn’t easy for pro athletes who have children.
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• We’re glad to be back. Not so glad, however, to realize our body is still on East Coast time. Ah, well. Maybe old Ben Franklin was right. Maybe early to bed and early to rise will make me healthy. The wealthy and wise parts are out of the question. Until later …