We hope we were missed

A GRIP ON SPORTS • And we’re back. Read on.

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• Sorry about the weekend. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to be here Saturday due to previously scheduled commitments, but Sunday was a bit of a surprise, even for me. I was on the road and, for some reason, my computer wouldn’t start up. That made it a bit tough to post. Actually, impossible. So it was a weekend without your usual does of local news. What happened while we were away? Well, Jim Meehan had an interesting golf column , John Blanchette wrote about Ken Stabler’s short, but memorable, time in Spokane and Jacob Thorpe had a blog post about an intriguing offseason endeavor for a Cougar safety. Other than that, a quiet weekend. Thankfully.

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• WSU: The Cougars’ newest look on offense is interesting enough to elicit this post from ESPN.com’s Pac-12 blog. … Oregon’s recruitment of Vernon Adams , and the ensuing delays, is bothersome in a lot of ways, according to Register-Guard columnist Austin Meeks.

• Gonzaga: Santa Clara’s newest leader finally met the media.

• Indians: Spokane snapped a three-game losing streak and salvaged the final game of a five-game series in Hillsboro, winning 6-5 in 11 innings.

• Shock: Spokane couldn’t have been any worse offensively in the first half yesterday in Los Angeles. The Shock were shutout. Yet they still had the ball and a chance to tie or win as the game ended. But they did neither and lost, 34-28 .

• Golf: Brian Miller won the Lilac Invitational and the $5,000 first-prize money. As he did all weekend, Jim Meehan has the story .

• Mariners: Lloyd McClendon was not a happy camper after the M’s 10-3 loss to the first-place Angels yesterday. (Yes, the Angels passed Houston with the victory and head into the All-Star break on top of the A.L. West.) McClendon called the loss the M’s “ worst game of the year ,” and said “we’ve got to change things .” Will one of the things that changes be the manager ? If the M’s don’t get their act together – they made three errors yesterday and looked like, to quote Brad Adams on radio, “a circus” at times – it just might be. … Before the game McClendon said the bullpen was the biggest disappointment of the first half . … Robinson Cano knows the highs and lows of the home run derby. … Larry Stone took a long look on Sunday at Edgar Martinez’s roles as hitting coach. … The M’s have a couple of players who were part of the Futures Game last night.

• Sounders: A stoppage-time goal Saturday night sent the Sounders home from Chicago with a 1-0 defeat . … The L.A. Galaxy’s newest star helped them defeat Mexico’s Club America 2-1 in an exhibition tournament yesterday. … Real Salt Lake gave up three late goals and lost to Colorado, 3-1, Sunday.

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• We’re back on the road tomorrow, but we have taken care of our computer problems. So we’ll be posting just about everyday. Until then …