Don’t drive – or write – angry
A GRIP ON SPORTS • It's never a good idea to write angry. That's why I will skip the Mariners this morning and move on to something else. Or not. Read on.
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• OK, angry is probably the wrong word, though it wasn't late last night when my phone dinged to inform me of an improbable Mariner defeat. By the time I awoke this morning, feeling slightly better was the order of the day. Better as in my cold and better as in how I feel about the M's. Oops, that was a typo. Bitter is what I meant to write concerning Seattle. Because, well, c'mon. Taijuan Walker, who had served up batting practice for two games, finally looks a bit like the pitcher the M's expect him to be. He leaves the game up 3-1 and turns it over to a bullpen that was seemingly lights out last season. Maybe my memory is faulty but I don't remember many games in which that group burped up a two-run lead in the eighth inning. Then again, I also don't remember Robinson Cano booting many routine ground balls to begin innings either. But both happened last night and the M's lost 6-3. To Houston. The turn-it-around nine game homestand now stands at 2-3 and seems more like treading water than surging into a lead in the standings. Whatever, it isn't May yet so I'm not going to get too angry. Or bitter. The word of the day is disappointment. It's time for the M's to start playing better. Not hit better, not pitch better but just play better. Lock things down. Make the routine plays. Quit with the mental mistakes. Have productive at-bats. Take what the pitchers are giving you. You know, play baseball with a focus, doing the little things right. If that happens, the big things – wins and losses – will take care of themselves.
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• WSU: The Cougars are trying to lock down their offense and defense as spring practice nears an end. Yesterday, the offense made big plays but also failed in little areas. That's the thrust of Jacob Thorpe's practice summary, which pairs nicely with this story on the offensive line – a group with too many false starts this spring – and his morning post. He also held a live chat yesterday and has this transcript.
• Gonzaga: There are grumblings in the Salt Lake City area about the state of the BYU basketball program.
• EWU: Most of the time during scrimmages, quarterbacks are off limits. Injury concerns trump everything else. That's not the case at Eastern right now. Jim Allen has the story.
• Idaho: The Vandals scrimmages Monday and Sean Kramer put up a blog post about it on Tuesday. So we pass along the link on Wednesday. Timely.
• Whitworth: John Blanchette has an interesting story about an interesting person: Buc pole vaulter Joe Green.
• Shock: The game of musical quarterbacks may have finally ended for the Shock, as Jim Meehan's notebook shows.
• Preps: Yesterday was certainly baseball and softball weather. Which makes it appropriate we have Chris Derrick's softball notebook and a game story to pass along as well as Tom Clouse's coverage of a key GSL baseball game.
• Seahawks: The NFL has got us in its pocket, doesn't it? The final schedule was announced yesterday and everyone, it seems, was waiting to see it. The Hawks were given five prime time games, though that's only one aspect of the schedule that was interesting. Two road games to start, a late bye and a key late-season homestand. It should be fun. ... How the team reacts to the Super Bowl loss is the key to the season, though.
• Mariners: A lineup change helped get the offense going early. But the late-game implosion led to boos and a 6-3 defeat. And to some questions. ... The middle of the lineup has been really solid. ... The worry with Hisashi Iwakuma is his command, not his velocity. Of course.
• Sounders: A couple of things happened in the recent win over Colorado that the Sounders are still buzzing about. One was Obafemi Martins' goal. The other was just the overall defensive play. ... A younger Sounder is headed to the national team. ... Time outs aren't a part of soccer. ... Time for power rankings.
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• That's it for today. I'm still not at 100 percent. But it's better. Until later ...
