Sports in brief: Blowers’ ‘Pick to Click’ on target

Baseball: There are predictions and then there is the one made by Mike Blowers.

Before the Seattle Mariners game at Toronto on Sunday Blowers, part of the M’s broadcasting crew, was asked to choose his “Pick to Click,” the Mariner who he thought would be the team’s player of the game.

Blowers chose infielder Matt Tuiasosopo. He predicted Tuiasosopo would hit his first major league home run. In his second at-bat. On a 3-1 count. Perhaps into the second deck.

Come the fifth inning in Tuiasosopo’s second at-bat the rookie made good on Blowers’ prediction … to the letter. Tuiasosopo smashed a 3-1 pitch that just missed going into the second deck.

M’s announcer Dave Niehaus was screaming “I don’t believe it!” while partner Rick Rizzs was laughing almost hysterically.

You can relive the moment by going to Shannon Drayer’s Mariners blog at mynorthwest.com.

Look for the entry “Call of the Year.”

NBA going with replacement refs

Basketball: The NBA has told teams it’s going ahead with replacement referees, days after the league thought a deal had been reached with locked-out officials.

The league sent a memo Tuesday informing teams it had “no expectation of concluding a timely labor contract.” The memo, obtained by the Associated Press, follows the latest failure in negotiations.

According to the memo, the sides had agreed in principle on a new two-year deal Friday. But the National Basketball Referees Association rejected the NBA’s proposal Sunday.

The memo alludes to the reversal, saying, “this is not the first time that commitments made by the NBRA’s negotiators were not met.”

Associated Press

U.S. will play in Honduras

Soccer: FIFA said the United States’ World Cup qualifier against Honduras will take place in San Pedro Sula next month despite turmoil in the Central American country.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said following an executive committee meeting that the crisis in Honduras following the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya on June 28 hasn’t caused safety concerns that jeopardize the match. He said FIFA’s stance can change if the situation worsens.

Associated Press