Grip on Sports: How the wind will blow during a baseball season is not easy to predict
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Being a weatherperson is a tough job. People depend on you. They want to know if Thursday is going to be the right day for the backyard barbecue, among a million other things. But the weather is changeable. It’s hard to read what’s down the road. It’s sort of like trying to predict how a baseball season will go. Read on.
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• That was sort of our point this morning with our column on the Mariners. We picked Ariel Miranda’s season to illustrate it, because, honestly, Miranda’s solid year has been out of left field.
Though that’s not the only aspect of the M’s season that’s been surprising.
There’s been good and bad, with the ledger heavily tilted toward the latter thanks to a deluge of injuries.
And yet the Mariners, after a great week, are just a couple games under .500 and tied for second place in a weak American League West.
(How weak? Other than first-place Houston – its 41-16 mark is the best record in baseball by a wide margin – the division is a combined 15 games under the break-even mark.)
The burst has allowed the M’s to consider the postseason as still in play, which means Jerry Dipoto and his administrative crew will wait longer before deciding whether to keep the band together, break it up or try to add another lead guitarist for a late-summer jam.
You know Dipoto will make a trade or two. He can’t avoid it. It’s in his DNA. The only question is will they be for prospects or veterans?
At this point, not even the weatherperson knows which way the wind will blow.
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WSU: Klay Thompson had been showing his Tony Bennett training early on in the playoffs, defending like he was a freshman in the Palouse again. But his shot hadn’t been falling. That changed last night in the Warriors’ rout. … Around the Pac-12 yesterday, both Washington and Oregon lost in the softball World Series semifinals, the Huskies to Florida and the Ducks to defending champion Oklahoma. … Oregon State moved on to the baseball Super Regionals with another rout of Yale. … Arizona’s season ended with another loss to Sam Houston State.
Preps: The Spokane Youth Sports Awards will be handed out tonight.
Mariners: The three-game sweep of the Rays included some of the most potent hitting of the year from the bottom half of the order. The hottest one of the bunch is first baseman Danny Valencia, who tied a Mariner record with hits in nine consecutive at-bats. … Miranda was exceptional and not only rated words from an old guy on this side of the mountains, but more from an old guy on the West Side. … Mike Zunino has been hitting better as well. … The two franchises have been dealing with each other often over the past few years.
Sounders: There’s a break coming the next two weeks for MLS teams as the league pauses while World Cup qualifying matches occur. It’s either a good thing for Seattle – there are a few guys who need to get healthy, including the guy who scored yesterday, Will Bruin (with brace on left elbow in picture) – or a bad thing – the Sounders have earned nine points in their last four matches after its 1-0 win over Houston yesterday at CenturyLink.
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• Speaking of which way the wind blows, the next three days are looking warm and sunny. So get out and do stuff. Because the long-range forecast is mystifyingly cool and wet. Or, in other words, a typical June around here. Until later …