Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A Grip on Sports: After starting at leisurely pace, Sunday’s sporting events hit about 66 mph as day winds down

Jon Rahm, of Spain, hits from the 18th tee during the third round of the Memorial golf tournament, Saturday, July 18, 2020, in Dublin, Ohio.  (Associated Press)

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Sunday was pretty boring, wasn’t it? A calm, cool day in Spokane. The Mariners make a seven-player trade. The Sounders explode past LAFC at an empty CenturyLink Field. And one guy makes a 66-foot snaking putt to win a golf tournament, beating a guy who made a 45-foot downhill putt to force sudden death. Come to think of it, only one of those things was truly boring.

•••••••

• To be honest, I took an almost two-hour nap in the middle of the afternoon – hey, it was a boring day in some respects – and missed most of the BMW Championship on NBC. But I awoke in enough time to discover Dustin Johnson in the rough on 18 at Olympia Fields, needing a birdie to force a playoff with Jon Rahm.

So I sat down to watch.

Johnson hacked his ball out to 45 feet. Above the hole. With a couple of breaks to the upcoming putt. No chance. Except he made it. The crowd, all seven folks gathered around the green, went nuts. As did golf Twitter. What a finish. Except it wasn’t done.

Rahm had to pull himself off the driving range and get mentally prepared for a playoff. Not an easy task. So it was understandable when he hit his drive in the right rough, near where Johnson had been minutes earlier. The Arizona State alum proceeded to fly his second about as far from the hole as possible on Olympia Field’s 18th green, the upper left quadrant with the cup in the lower right. In between? About three humps.

Big deal.

Rahm aimed far to the left, followed his birdie putt as it crested the top of the final hill and watched it drop in the cup. He screamed and added two first pumps. When Johnson’s long birdie putt came up a couple inches short, everyone was headed to Eastlake in Atlanta for next week’s FedEx Cup Championship.

There is no way that tournament, the last big one until September’s U.S. Open, can finish with more drama, is there?

• That was only the start of a Sunday evening with little pause. Heck, there was a Law and Order marathon on WE, so we were set. Even if the action was constantly interrupted by cheers from downstairs, where the hyper-local Sounders fan club was holding a meeting. It’s easy to tell how Seattle’s MLS team is doing when their matches are on, based on either loud cheers – goals – or loud profanities – goals from the opponent – coming from the TV room.

One set of cheers punctuated the first half, two more almost back-to-back in the second and the Sounders were well on their way to a 3-1 win over LAFC.

• While that action was occurring downstairs, upstairs my twitter machine was exploding with rumors of a Mariner trade. The rumors were true. Jerry Dipoto had struck again. This time he turned an aging asset, catcher/utility man Austin Nola, and two older power pitchers, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla, into four prospects.

The San Diego Padres were the recipient of Dipoto’s largesse, which includes a player, Nola, who has improved himself in many ways the past couple years. So much so, in fact, not only was he one of the M’s few bright spots in the year of the virus, he was also one of their top trade assets.

What did Dipoto get for the Nola and the pitchers? The core to the deal is left-handed hitting outfielder Taylor Trammel, one of the best prospects in the Padres’ organization. There is also infielder Ty France, the Pacific Coast league’s MVP last season. And injured pitcher Andres Munoz, who hit 103 on the gun before having Tommy John surgery in March. But the dark horse is catcher Luis Torrens, a 21-year-old who could step in soon behind the plate for the M’s.

Dipoto has made no secret he’s building the organization with an eye on the future. He’s been at it for five years. If he’s chosen wisely, the fruits should ripen in the next couple seasons.

That’s the plan, anyway.

• Monday has started with some news. John Thompson, who put Georgetown basketball on the map in the 1980s, died this morning. He was 78.

Thompson, inducted in the basketball Hall of Fame in 1999, won a national title in 1984 at the Kingdome and propelled his Hoya teams to two other Final Fours. He also won seven Big East titles back when the Big East was either the best or second-best basketball conference in the nation.

•••

WSU: Around the Pac-12, a former Arizona linebacker will play at Texas Tech. Four Arizona football players have all ended up at Big 12 schools. … in basketball news, Colorado is waiting patiently for the season to be ironed out.

EWU: Former Eagle quarterback Vernon Adams is going to try to find an NFL job. At least that is what he announced yesterday. It seems awful late in the process, but Ryan Collingwood details what Adams had to say.

Mariners: Justin Dunn was spot on again yesterday, though it took until the 10th inning – after Dunn’s six scoreless innings – for the M’s to score a second run and win 2-1. … Want to know more about the trade? We have you covered in that regard. … The deadline isn’t until 1 this afternoon, Seattle time, so Dipoto could make more deals. … The M’s are scheduled to face Oakland in Seattle tomorrow. But the A’s are dealing with a case of COVID-19, so there is some uncertainty there.

Seahawks: The Hawks held their final mock game before their season opener in Atlanta in a couple weeks. But what the players wanted to talk about afterward was mainly Pete Carroll’s speech from the day before. … Chris Carson’s legs are fresh. … Branden Jackson’s neck is injured worse than previously thought. He’s out for the season.

Sounders: Seattle led 1-0 against their nemesis from Los Angeles until Jordan Morris outran the LAFC defense for two second-half goals. … The Sounders won without one of their biggest weapons, the CenturyLink crowd. … Want to own your own MLS team? Or any Salt Lake City soccer franchise? They are all for sale.

•••       

• If you agreed with me and thought Sunday was a bit boring – until later in the afternoon – then you should love today. Unless, of course, Dipoto trades Marco Gonzales or Kyle Seager. That would get our attention. And probably interrupt another nap. Until later …