A GRIP ON SPORTS • The coffee pot dings when its turns itself off in the morning. Hot coffee is so important to this operation, however, our ears are attuned to the sound to such a degree that we can seem to hear it even if it should be drowned out by the neighbor’s gardener and his leaf blower. Read on.

••••••••••

• That Pavlovian response – we jump out of our chair and restart the warmer – is similar to an M’s fan reading about a player from their favorite franchise excelling somewhere else. Though Mariner fans probably hear that more often than we drink coffee.

What’s funny is ex-Mariners succeeding are probably not any more common than ex-Diamondbacks or ex-Rays or ex-Yankees. It’s just everyone in these parts have their antenna set on hypersensitivity when it comes to former M’s players.

Heck, Brandon Morrow has been around the major leagues so long, the guy the M’s passed over – Washington’s Tim Lincecum – to draft, is retired – and has been for a year. But when Morrow appears in the World Series, most folks in the Inland Northwest don’t see a Dodger reliever. Nope, they see the hard-throwing right-handed starter that flopped in Seattle. Another first-round draft pick – he was taken fifth overall in 2006 – that didn’t pan out.

The same criteria fits Josh Fields. He was one of the goats for Los Angeles in Game Two of the series, sure. But who can forget he was supposed to be Seattle’s World Series closer? That was the plan, wasn’t it, when the Mariners used the 20th pick of the 2008 first round on Georgia’s hard-throwing reliever?

Except he never made it to Safeco. He was part of an M’s trade that was supposed to be addition by subtraction. The subtraction part was getting rid of Erik Bedard, who is part of the worst Seattle trade ever. Until possibly now.

That designation goes to a deal last year that sent another high draft pick, shortstop Chris Taylor, to the Dodgers for a pitcher with two first names, Zach Lee.

Taylor wasn’t a first-round pick. He dropped to the fifth round of the 2012 draft. Coming out of Virginia, he was considered a bit of a marginal prospect, a good-field, would-he-hit type of guy.

But he did hit well in the minor leagues, from Bellingham (.328) to High Desert (.335) to Jackson (.293) as he went up the ladder. In less than two years he moved through Tacoma (.328) and to the M’s, who were struggling in 2014. But he didn’t, hitting .287 with an OPS of .692. The one glitch? The latter number shows a lack of power, a key component in baseball these days.

But the other numbers weren’t bad for an athletic guy getting his first taste of the Bigs. He didn’t do as well in 2015, struggling with a .170 average, but he still hit .300 for Tacoma. That wasn’t enough for Jerry Dipoto.

See, Taylor was a holdover from the Jack Zduriencik era and as such was a tradeable commodity for Trader Jerry. When the Dodgers offered a minor league pitcher for Taylor in 2016, Dipoto jumped.

Off a cliff, it seems.

Taylor blossomed with Los Angeles this season. Not only did he hit .288 with an .850 OPS, he played just about every position in the field, filling in wherever needed while hitting leadoff much of the year.

He’s a big reason the Dodgers are in the Series. And why they have a chance to win it.

To Dipoto’s credit, he told the Times’ Matt Calkins recently the Taylor trade is “clearly the worst trade I’ve ever made.”

You think?

“I whiffed. There’s no other way to categorize it,” Dipoto told Calkins. “He’s young, he was under club control — that was one I wish I could undo.”

He can’t. Just like he can’t undo Bill Bavasi’s deals or Jack Zduriencik’s deals. They happen.

And ex-Mariners end up starring other places.

Some, like Taylor, just needed to make some changes to hit their stride, changes the Mariners weren’t ready to wait for. Others, like Morrow or Fields, needed to get a handle on their talent before they could reach their potential.

And help a team, not in the Northwest, reach the World Series.

•••

WSU: The hottest player in the Pac-12? That would be Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate, who Theo Lawson tells us, was once a Washington State recruit – as a defensive back. … The Times’ Stefanie Loh has a piece on the Cougars’ small, quick and young inside receivers. … Arizona recruited a strong freshman class and a lot of them are playing. … The Wildcats’ injury news going into Saturday night’s game is mixed.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12, commissioner Larry Scott feels the conference still has a good shot at the playoffs. … The weekend began last night in Corvallis, though Stanford’s season almost seemed to end. Leading by five, all the Beavers needed to do was run out the clock. But Ryan Nall fumbled following what looked to be an uncalled helmet-to-helmet hit and the Cardinal recovered with less than 3 minutes left. Stanford scored in the final 30 seconds and earned a 15-14 win. … Washington is taking the time this weekend to honor legendary coach Don James, most notably with a statue outside Husky Stadium … The Huskies’ opponent this week is UCLA, which sometimes plays like a bunch of statues. … Arizona State wasn’t expected to do much this season, but the Sun Devils are. USC was expected to succeed and aren’t, at least not to the fans’ expectations. That’s causing problems, like they did for a former coach. So are injuries. … Even with a transfer wide receiver from Oregon, Utah’s offense continues to struggle. The Ducks’ offense has as well, for different reasons. … The winner of the game in Boulder between California and Colorado is probably going to become bowl eligible. The loser may not. At least they have the past.

Gonzaga: The volleyball team recorded another sweep. … Is there a curse on the BYU basketball program?

EWU: Around the Big Sky, Montana is still dealing with the fallout from an incident in Pullman over the weekend.

Preps: The GSL’s 3A teams finished off their regular season last night at Albi, with Mt. Spokane winning another title, defeating Shadle Park 30-0. Dave Nichols and Jesse Tinsley were there with Dave covering the game with words and Jesse with photographs. … In other prep action, we can offer roundups in girls’ soccer and volleyball.

Seahawks: The NFL suspended Marshawn Lynch. But he’s still playing, which makes his former teammates laugh. … The Hawks have some new traditions. … Michael Bennett doesn’t care what others think of his Las Vegas incident. … The defense needs this.

Mariners: We covered the ex-Mariner factor above. We also want to pass along the news a front-office mainstay is retiring.

Sounders: Seattle opens the MLS playoffs Sunday as the defending champions. And the Sounders will be playing a familiar foe: the Vancouver Whitecaps. … Portland opens the postseason playing its best soccer of the year. … Real Salt Lake didn’t make the playoffs but the franchise likes its coach.

•••       

• Too bad the weather is going to be so nice this weekend. It would be a good couple days to settle in and hold a “Stranger Things 2” marathon. Instead the hours will be filled with leaves, lawns and other get-ready-for-winter things. Sniffle. Hey, maybe a cold is coming on. Until later …