Grip on Sports: There has to be some reason why the Mariners are staying in the wild-card race, but besides witchcraft, it’s hard to think of one

A GRIP ON SPORTS • I’m really not sure how they are doing it. Are the M’s magicians or sorcerers or what? They won again last night, 2-1 in 11 innings at Yankee Stadium. They are 5-2 on their key road trip. They are right in the wild-card race. And it’s almost impossible to figure out how. Read on.

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• I have this vision of Edgar Martinez, Scott Servais and Jerry DiPoto around a big, black cauldron, throwing in eye of newt and heart of toad, chanting something and stirring the mixture with one of Edgar’s light bats.

That’s all I can figure out.

The M’s are 66-63 and have been decimated by injuries more than any team this side of our nation’s capital.

In the past few days, they have jumped the Angels, who held the second wild card not that long ago, and the Royals. They trail the Twins by a half-game for the last playoff spot. The Yankees, and a first-round home game, aren’t even out of reach. The M’s are just three games behind New York after last night’s improbable 2-1, 11-inning win.

I wrote “improbable” because Ariel Miranda was pitching, Aaron Judge was on the other side and there seemed little chance Miranda could keep the American League home run leader, slump or not, from going deep at least once.

But he did. And ended up throwing 4 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball.

Hey, these days, that qualifies as a quality start for an M’s pitcher. Just ask Dave Sims, he’ll tell you.

The bullpen, except former Yankee David Phelps, did its job and the M’s, without a Guillermo Heredia error, might have won 1-0 in regulation. Then again, the Yankees might have won 2-1 if Joe Girardi were paying attention. And asked the umpires to review Jordan Baker’s out call on Didi Gregorius at third base in the eighth.

If he had, the Yankees would have had runners on first and third with one out, instead of just a runner on first with two.

Maybe Girardi wanted to teach Gregorius a lesson after he tried to take third on a ground ball hit in front of him. It’s the type of play that would make a high school coach upset. But Gregorius bailed himself out with a great slide, and Kyle Seager’s tag came after Gregorius’ trailing foot hit the bag.

Who knows what would have happened, but Phelps two ensuing walks were, in hindsight, enough to force in a win.

But that’s the way it’s going with the M’s on this trip. Despite injuries, despite errors, despite everything, they are winning. There must be some sort of occult thing going on. Has to be.

How do I know? Mike Zunino had three hits last night. If that isn’t proof enough the Mariners are getting help from Newt Scamander or someone of his ilk, I’m not sure what will convince you.

• What did I do last night? I watched the Mariners’ game, of course. It was 1-0, then 1-1, then into extra innings. How could I, in good conscience, turn away?

Sure, pitching changes and between innings, I flipped to the Seahawks. Saw flashes of their game.

But most of my attention was on the team playing a regular season game and making a playoff push.

As it should be.

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WSU: Another person takes a swing at predicting the Cougars’ results this season, though Theo Lawson has a better view than the rest of us. He still, however, comes up with the same conclusion as I professed earlier: WSU will win nine regular season games. So many folks are predicting this outcome I’m beginning to doubt it will happen. I’m not a big fan of consensus thinking. … Theo also has a story on a Texas cornerback committing to the Cougars. I have enough institutional memory to remember when Leon Burnett was recruiting Texas players and Coug fans were grumbling about it. … The women’s basketball team is headed for a prestigious tournament this fall. … The soccer team posted another shutout. This time it won. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Jon Wilner’s look at the Pac-12 Networks continues with the presidents’ perspective. … There have been rumors, but Washington isn’t going to put its biggest defensive lineman in the offensive backfield. Though if Chris Petersen thought that would help win, he probably would. … Oregon State needs to improve its run defense. … Oregon is trying to bounce back with a new coaching staff. …  Stanford opens the season today against a Rice team that expects to have a decent offense. … Colorado will retire the number of a Heisman-winning running back, Rashaan Shalaam. … An injury can make any player anywhere, not just Utah, take stock in his future. … UCLA has found its fullback. … Dependability is an often-overlooked quality, But not this season at Arizona State. … Arizona is going to be relying on freshmen in many different spots.

EWU: The Eagles scrimmaged in the afternoon, hoping for Texas-like heat. It wasn’t all that hot, but the offense tried to make it a bit warmer for the defense, and succeeded. Jim Allen was in Cheney for the final preseason scrimmage and has this story. … Around the Big Sky, Portland State opens the season today at BYU, big underdogs, sure, but also more than a half-million dollars richer. … Northern Arizona finds its cornerbacks where it can. … A local former walk on is happy to be punting for Montana. … Montana State expects to be strong on special teams.

Preps: The high school football season in Idaho began last night and Greg Lee was there. He covered host Post Falls’ 56-12 rout of Sandpoint.

Indians: The North Division second-half race in the Northwest League is coming down to the wire. And the Indians are currently looking up at the leaders. Whitney Ogden has the story of their 4-0 loss last night at Avista. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Everett helped keep Spokane in the race with a win over Vancouver. … Hillsboro and Eugene also won.

Mariners: For only the sixth time this season, the M’s scored three or fewer runs and won. As I said, something odd is at work. … Yonder Alonso turned around a 100-miles-per-hour fastball to give the Mariners the 2-1 win over the Yankees. … Jarrod Dyson hopes to be back this weekend. … The Dodgers this season remind me so much of the 2001 Mariners. And their record is the same at this point.

Seahawks: Two great things happened for the Hawks in their 26-13 preseason win over Kansas City last night. To whit, Russell Wilson was extremely sharp and auditioning left tackle Rees Odhiambo did a solid job. That was all the Hawks were looking for from Odhiambo. … The way Trevone Boykin played, it made one wonder if there is a battle still for the backup quarterback spot. … The running game was sound. … David Bass was solid in his bid to make the roster.

Sounders: The Portland Timbers could jump into first place in the Western Conference with a win at Seattle on Sunday.

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• The dog was restless last night. And when the dog is restless, guess who also doesn’t sleep well. Yep, this guy. If I could I would go back to bed. But it’s Saturday and all that entails. So it’s carpe diem and the nap will have to wait. Until later …