Grip on Sports: Forget what the calendar says, summer is about to end

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s Thursday. That means college football is about 48 hours away. Really. All those summer weekend plans? Too late. You missed your chance. Read on.

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• Do you remember when Labor Day was the official unofficial end to summer? When school began after the holiday? When college football kicked off that weekend?

No more.

Labor Day as the end of summer is as dead as Julius Caeser, to quote my favorite Brian DePalma film.

The last weekend of August is the new Labor Day. Without the holiday honoring workers, I mean.

Stanford is playing in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday. (Or is it Sunday there? I always get these things mixed up. Time math is hard.) Oregon State kicks off Gary Andersen’s third season traveling to Colorado State, as the Rams open a new stadium. A Big Sky team, Portland State, is at BYU.

Heck, even though it takes a special exemption from the NCAA to play on the last weekend in August, there are five games scheduled. Not all of them can be special.

No matter. College football is back. At least on TV.

• Something happened in last night’s Mariners 9-6 win at Atlanta – twice – that bugs me no end. Always has. Always will.

Two batters reached first base because a pitch made contact with their body. Except the pitch didn’t hit them. They hit the pitch.

Let me explain, using Guillermo Heredia as an example, though he is far from the only one who does this. Picture how Heredia hits. He stands a bit away from the plate and moves toward it, diving into the pitch so to speak.

Heredia was facing Jason Motte in the seventh inning with two outs and Mike Zunino on first.

Motte threw a fastball on the inner half that moved off the plate. It must have looked good to Heredia because he decided to swing at it. His arms were still moving forward when Motte’s fastball connected with Heredia’s right forearm.

In other words, the ball didn’t strike Heredia. His arm hit the ball. Accidentally, sure, but Heredia’s movement made the contact happen.

The umpires at first thought Heredia had made contact with the bat. The ball rolled out toward Motte, who picked it up and tossed it to first. Three outs.

Scott Servais talked with the crew, it was reviewed by the folks in New York and they saw what everyone saw: the ball made contact with Heredia’s arm, not the bat. They awarded him first base.

Why?

The ball didn’t hit him. He hit the ball with his arm. I’m sure the rule was interpreted correctly but, if that’s the case, the rule is dumb. And that was shown even more clearly in the bottom of the inning.

Atlanta catcher Tyler Flowers came to the plate wearing an elbow protector on his left arm. David Phelps threw a fastball in, just off the plate. Flowers took his left elbow and moved it into the path of the ball. It glanced off the protector. Hit by pitch. First base.

Are you kidding me?

At least Heredia paid a price. He eventually had to leave the game. Flowers trotted down to first, safely encased in space-age plastic.

Such instances happen, and have happened, way too often. I get that it is impossible for umpires to determine, in a split second, when a hitter moves into the path of the ball. But that’s not true anymore, not in major league baseball at least.

Replay has changed that. It made it obvious to see Heredia was in the act of swinging at the pitch and initiated the contact. It made it obvious to see Flowers moved his elbow into the ball’s path.

If the ball hits the batter, give him the base, even if he doesn’t get out of the way. But if the batter moves into the path of the pitch, kill the play, call it a ball and that’s that.

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WSU: Isaac Dotson was recruited as an “athlete,” though that’s just a fancy term for someone whose college position is uncertain. Now, in his last year at Washington State, Dotson is certain of his spot. Theo Lawson has his story. … Our buddy Tim Booth has a feature on Luke Falk for the Associated Press. … The San Jose Mercury News has an interesting feature on Klay Thompson. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, everyone has a prediction how the season will go. And how the weekend’s game will go. … With Jake Browning running the show, maybe literally, Washington opens with Rutgers in a week. … Oregon has a lot of depth on the offensive line. … Oregon State will try to make Colorado State one-dimensional. … California is preparing for its opener. … Troy Williams has another role with Utah, which is trying to win its first division title. … Colorado’s running backs have a well-respected teacher. … USC needed to build depth on the offensive line. It turned to its freshmen. … Earning a scholarship to UCLA is a big deal, no matter how the season plays out. … It’s fun to watch ASU’s defense go through a drill designed for the offense. … Arizona will have to play some true freshmen, which is tough on the coaches.

EWU: Heath Pulver once coached at Eastern Washington. He left. But he’s back and working with the tight ends and special teams. Jim Allen has the story of his wandering since helping the Eagles win an FCS title. … Around in the Big Sky, Southern Utah wants to exceed expectations. … Some local kids have helped Idaho State succeed. … Success breeds increased interest at North Dakota. … Montana only has one senior cornerback on the roster. … Portland State will have a new look Saturday.

Indians: A former major league pitcher made a visit to Spokane yesterday and the Indians decided to rally and give him an 8-7 victory over Tri-City as a welcome gift. Whitney Ogden has a game story that includes chronicling Colby Lewis’ visit. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Everett defeated Vancouver, Salem-Keizer buried Eugene and Boise handled Hillsboro.

Mariners: It can’t happen again, can it? Not another injury to a key player while the stretch run looms? Whatever the prognosis, we do know Robinson Cano had to leave Wednesday’s game after straining a hamstring. He will be evaluated in New York. … The M’s made some roster moves before the 9-6 victory, including designating Leonys Martin for assignment again.

Seahawks: In the NFL, you don’t have to be a top draft pick to make the team. … The Vikings are disputing Blair Walsh’s contention he was taunted. … Bobby Wagner had to play without K.J. Wright last week. … And here is your offensive line story of the day.

Sounders: Seattle is playing two matches this week. So the Sounders rested some of their better players in Wednesday night’s match in Vancouver. Which made their 1-1 draw with the Whitecaps even better. But Vancouver had a player ejected with a red card trailing by a goal, so that makes the draw a bit worse. … Portland got past last-place Colorado 2-1 at home. … Real Salt Lake is making a move toward the last playoff spot, winning at home last night 4-0 over San Jose. … The Galaxy lost on the road again.

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• Most football fans around here don’t have a dog in any of Saturday’s hunts. But it will be nice to sit down and watch a game or two. Right? Until later …