Grip on Sports: The Mariners are atop the American League West but are on their way to a Texas showdown
A GRIP ON SPORTS • The juggernaut that is the Seattle Mariners just keeps rolling through the dregs of the American League, leading to these unlikely words: The M’s are a game clear of the Astros in the West. But guess who is up next? Read on.
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• The Mariners are off today. They will be traveling. To Houston, home of the defending World Series champions. And home of the second-place team in the American League West.
See, the M’s, the Northwest team that hasn’t played in the postseason season since 2001, are in first place. They have won eight of their last 10. They are 15-5 since No. 3 hitter Robinson Cano broke his hand May 13 and, subsequently, was suspended for 80 games – not for breaking his hand but for using a banned drug.
Meanwhile, the rest of the West has played mediocre baseball.
But we all know the Astros are still the team to beat, right? So Tuesday and Wednesday – it’s just a quick stop on the way to Tampa – the M’s get to measure themselves.
Will they pass the test?
The key game is tomorrow. James Paxton, the ace of the staff, starts. He’s 4-1 and has been pitching like an ace recently. The Astros counter with Dallas Keuchel. He’s, ahem, 3-7 and is coming off another short outing with a lot of pitches (105 in five innings). But he’s been really good throughout his career and his earned run average this season is still 3.65, matching his career mark.
Thursday the Mariners’ surprise of 2018, Wade LeBlanc, faces Lance McCullers, whose record is the mirror image of Keuchel’s. But LeBlanc has been a revelation since coming out of the bullpen, and his 2.60 ERA is the best among Mariner starters.
In other words, the M’s enter a key series with at least a shot of matching their opponent on the mound, which hasn’t always been the case during the long playoff drought.
• The major league draft starts today and for thousands of young men around the nation, including a few in this area, a dream will be realized. Though today is just the start of a long journey, one that is full of more potholes than Freya in late March.
But that’s for tomorrow and next month and next year. Today is about hearing your name called, of being able to tell your buddies your hard work has paid off, of dreaming about that first contract and what it signifies.
To all of those who are chosen today, congratulations.
• Speaking of realizing a dream, Gonzaga Prep’s Anton Watson, who has already committed to Mark Few and Gonzaga, showed this week he belongs among the best young basketball players in the nation.
Watson, who will be a senior next year, survived the first cut during USA Basketball’s Under-18 tryouts. He was one of 33 players invited to the camp in Colorado Springs and now is one of the 18 finalists, hoping to make the 12-man squad. Dave Nichols has more in this story.
As someone who knows first hand how hard Watson has worked to become the player he is today, this is an accomplishment years in the making. Remember, the Under-18 group includes players who will be college freshmen next fall, so Watson’s inclusion wasn’t a foregone conclusion. But he’s held his own against the older players and will get a few more days to show why he should be on the squad that will compete at the FIBA Americas U18 Championships.
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Gonzaga: The Bulldogs’ baseball season ended yesterday in Minneapolis, swept away 10-4 by a UCLA team that would go on to lose to host Minnesota.
WSU: Around the Pac-12, Washington will play for the NCAA softball title, meeting Florida State in the best-of-three title series. The Seminoles defeated UCLA twice yesterday. … There are two conference teams in baseball’s super regionals, including the Huskies, who are there for the first time. Washington will play against Cal State Fullerton, which eliminated Stanford. … Oregon State, which has been this far many times, will host Minnesota. … Hey, there is football news. OK, it’s from Arizona but it is football news.
Mariners: Yes, the draft starts today. Which, if you are a Mariner fan, means something. Something ugly, perhaps. Our Gene Warnick takes a look at the M’s top draft picks since they last made the playoffs in this Out of Right Field column. It isn’t pretty. … What was pretty yesterday was Felix Hernandez’s pitching – he was as good as he’s been all season – and the “rope” Dee Gordon stroked to left field in the eighth to give them a 2-1 win. Hey, it looks like a line drive in the box score.
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• Steph Curry doesn’t care about the shot clock. Or the distance from the hoop. Give him and inch or two and, boom, three points. At least that was the case last night as the Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Now the series heads to Cleveland. Until later …