A Grip on Sports: If anything illustrates the Mariners’ management ineptitude, it was the way Servais found out he was fired Thursday

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The expected happened Thursday. Or inevitable, depending on your point of view. Scott Servais is no longer the manager of the Seattle Mariners. Oops. Maybe we should have prefaced that with the cliché of clichés, “spoiler alert.” After all, maybe Servais still doesn’t know.

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• One would think, after the deep history Servais and Mariners’ baseball operations head honcho Jerry Dipoto share, Servais’ firing would have gone smoother. With more respect. In person.

One would think Dipoto, after making the decision, would have contacted his old pal, the guy he picked to run the Mariners nine years ago, right away. Told his soon-to-be ex-manager they had to talk. Face to face. Got into an Uber Black or his black Escalade and made the trip, Seattle traffic be damned, to wherever Servais was. And let him know personally. Before everyone else in America knew.

One would think.

Unless, of course, you know the Mariners’ history intimately. Like most of us.

That Servais found out via social media and/or the crawl on ESPN, depending on the report you believe, before meeting with Dipoto, is just so like this franchise.

If there is ever a way to screw something up, be it on or off the field, the M’s find it. Embrace it. Almost seem to revel in it.

Everyone, including probably Servais, knew the ax was falling Thursday. The team had nosedived after the All-Star break. After a few cosmetic trade-deadline moves. After, and we can’t stress this enough, leading the American League West by 10 games in the middle of June. That last sentence is a tribute to, in order, the pitching staff, the schedule, Servais, heck, even the maligned offense.

The fall since? The same factors figure in, sure, but its foundation was built in the offseason, when payroll flexibility – the management group’s way of saying we use this franchise as an ATM and we need to make sure we can cover the down payment on a new yacht – undermined efforts to rebuild an 88-game-winning roster that really only needed a few tweaks. Instead, two guys currently helping their National League West teams fight for the postseason – Teoscar Hernandez in Los Angeles and Eugenio Suarez in Phoenix – were cut loose. Among others.

Dipoto, who battled ownership with the Angels, lost and learned his lesson, sold some baloney-filled story about cutting down on strikeouts. All he was cutting down were expenses. And, turns out, wins. Servais’ job security as well.

Blame Servais if you want. Managers are hired to be fired. His time was up. But we believe he never received enough credit for the unexpected M’s success through mid-June. And too much blame for the collapse since.

Were the two bullpen-destroying preseason injuries – offseason pickup Gregory Santos and Matt Brash, slated to cover the seventh and eighth innings each night, both were, basically, lost for the season – Servais’ fault? That Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander never replaced them, is that his as well?

Add it up and the least Dipoto owed his friend was the common courtesy of ensuring Servais knew he was out in a face-to-face meeting. Before the rest of us knew. Even that modest task turned out to be beyond this franchise.

Is it any wonder why the Mariners have never won a World Series? If you can’t get the simple things right, something that complicated is beyond their grasp.

• OK, we have to move on before the blood pressure cuff explodes.

Hey, college football begins this weekend. Not with a bang – unless you live in Dublin – certainly, but it’s a beginning.

There are at least six games on your TV, with a couple FBS matchups, some FCS ones and a mixture of the two. The season begins in Ireland, with 10th-ranked Florida State meeting Georgia Tech at 9 a.m. on ESPN. Other games of note include the Big Sky’s Montana State favored by double digits at New Mexico (1 p.m., FS1) and Nevada hosting new ACC member SMU (5, CBS Sports).

The Little League World Series wraps up, with Saturday’s U.S. (12:30 p.m.) and International (9:30 a.m.) championships and the title game (noon) on Sunday, all on ABC.

Add in FedEx Cup golf (noon Saturday and 11:15 a.m. Sunday, both on NBC) from Colorado, the Seahawks hosting Cleveland in the final preseason game (7 p.m. Saturday, Fox 28) and, of course, Dan Wilson’s first weekend as Mariner manager (7:10 p.m. Friday, 1:10 Saturday and Sunday, all on Root), and the schedule is pretty full.

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WSU: Our favorite story of the day? Theo Lawson’s piece on Isaac Jones and his unexpected, though remarkably uplifting, basketball journey. We can’t recommend it highly enough. … The Cougars don’t play this weekend. Two of their opponents, Hawaii (vs. Delaware overnight in Honolulu) and New Mexico (vs. Montana State) do, however. Greg Woods has the news one of the Cougs’ top receivers will miss that game as well as a few others. There is even more in Greg’s notebook. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, yep, the fun is about to beginning. Different looking fun, sure, but fun nonetheless. … This John Canzano column really covers that part of it, through the eyes of one fan. … The season may not be all that much fun for the coaches Jon Wilner lists in his first Hot Seat Index of 2024 in the Mercury News. … Wilner also delves into how to find the Big Ten Network and how the conference games are picked by its television partners. … Transfers will play a huge role for everyone. … Just who will be playing in the postseason? Here’s another guess. … We’re pretty sure Oregon will make it. After all, the Big Ten is easier this season than the Pac-12 was last year. And, of course, there are three times the spots available. … The Oregonian’s number stories are winding down. Today we pass along No. 9 for Oregon State and Oregon and No. 8 for the Ducks and Beavers as well. … Who will be California’s starting quarterback in next week’s opener at home vs. UC Davis? Justin Wilcox is not saying. … The Colorado assistant coach who was recently dismissed? There’s a report he was trying to solicit NIL funds in Saudi Arabia. … Has Utah shored up a weak spot from last season? … It seems as if USC has done that with its the secondary. And maybe Pete Carroll could help. … Arizona State will be relying on a freshman punter. … Arizona is relying on its offensive line. … In the Mountain West, we have this look at Boise State from Corvallis. … Hawaii opens tomorrow against Delaware, an FCS power. We can pass along one link to a bunch of Hawaii stories if you are interested – and can access them … As we mentioned, New Mexico hosts Montana State tomorrow, with the Bobcats favored in the odds we saw. … Wyoming has lost its top running back to injury already. … A San Diego State player is making a difference off the field. … How does Utah State’s wide receiver group stack up? … You will have to stand but you can get into Colorado State’s game with Colorado next week. … Finally, there are two sports at Oregon State that needed to find new homes.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana State will go into the game at New Mexico with a different look than last year. Like almost every Big Sky school. … Weber State has moved many of last year’s backups into starting roles this season. … A Northern Colorado player is up for an award. … In basketball news, Matt Logie is challenging his Montana State team in nonconference play.

Indians: The bats seem to be missing in Oregon this week. Dave Nichols has this story on Spokane’s 8-2 loss last night in Hillsboro. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Vancouver moved into a second-half tie with Spokane after a 6-4 win over visiting Everett. … Eugene fell at Tri-City 5-3.

Mariners: Yes, Servais and one of his assistant coaches were fired Thursday. Wilson, who is a franchise legend but has never managed, will replace Servais. On a permanent basis, if there is such a thing. Edgar Martinez is expected to be announced today as the new hitting coach. … A change had to be made. The one that really needs to be made – a change in ownership – isn’t going to happen. So the manager is axed. … It’s not going to matter. The playoff races are basically over.

Seahawks: The Hawks have secondary depth. They need help at linebacker. A trade was made yesterday, with cornerback Michael Jackson sent to Carolina for a rookie linebacker with connections to coach Mike Macdonald. … We linked this Geno Smith contract story yesterday when it ran in the Times. … This weekend’s game is most important to those fighting for a roster spot. Starters for both teams will play some, though.

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• Our thought process: We covered Servais’ imminent firing often in the past week. It happened. You all know it happened. The circumstances? They might have been glossed over a bit in Thursday’s reports. They also ticked us off. And seemed to perfectly illustrate the failings of the front office and ownership. What a fiasco. Until later …