A Grip on Sports: The Mariners have been showing signs of life already, and now they show they have some fight – the baseball variety – in them

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The Mariners’ start to what was seen as a season of hope was anything but. In fact, the word despair came to mind when they dropped into the American League West cellar last month. And yet, here we are, just a couple weeks later and they seem to be fighting out of their funk.

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• Literally. Though baseball “fights” are rarely anything close to, say, hockey’s version. More verbal than visual. But there we were last night, the sound up as we saw – and heard – M’s manager Scott Servais and his charges on the third-base side of home plate, spilling onto the field to square off against the Astros in something that looked a bit like the street scene in “West Side Story.”

Without sharp objects.

It might just have been what the Mariners, who have won their last three series, need to get back into the battle for the A.L. West.

And the Astros will have no one to blame but themselves. Or, more specifically, a two-out, no-one-on-base inside fastball from the hand of Hector Neris. That it found the back of Ty France with two out in the ninth isn’t unusual. After all, France has been hit a big league-leading 12 times this season. He is the designated piñata of the Seattle lineup. But that the pitch found his back with the M’s leading 5-4 – in Houston of all places – and got Servais all riled up, now that’s unusual.

See, Servais is the epitome of the modern field general, all calm and under control even as umpires call pitches just outside of Shreveport strikes against his team. And the Mariners with a late lead in Houston? That happens about as often as gas prices drop in California.

We could hear bad words. Many of them, seemingly, coming from Servais. We assume that because he was ejected, though he expressed surprise afterward. Drop of few verbal bombs and major league umpires will send you packing if only to shut you up.

After the field cleared, Neris was still pitching and Julio Rodriguez was at the plate. His weapon of choice? A Herculean swing. Or one that resembles those taken by Jose Altuve about a hundred times each year against the M’s.

Rodriguez connected, driving the ball into the right-field seats and putting the perfect emoji on the friendly text messages between the two clubs. Well, the perfect emoji would be the walking one, because Rodriguez took his time getting around the bases.

Maybe that’s why Neris threw a fastball behind the head of Eugenio Suarez, the next hitter. Surprisingly, we didn’t see a repeat team meeting at the plate, though Neris and Houston manager Dusty Baker joined Servais in the penalty box.

Though the M’s didn’t score again, Diego Castillo, he of the barrel stomach and barely hittable slider, didn’t need more. He handled the Astros in the bottom of the ninth and Seattle had a 7-4 victory. The win snapped a three-game losing streak in Minute Maid Park, a place that has been the devil’s own workshop for the M’s. Houston has won 15 of the last 19 games between the teams there.

Which is why Mike Cameron, who occasionally helps coach the Mariner outfielders, decided to burn some sage in the clubhouse before the contest. A fake exorcism that may have annoyed Servais just enough to cause the ninth-inning fracas.

Whatever the impetus, the emotion was good to see. As was the victory.

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WSU: If you had told Ryan Leaf a decade ago he would be on the 2023 ballot for the college football Hall of Fame, he probably would have looked at you a bit askew. If he recognized what was being said at all. But Leaf has turned his life around from those dark days that saw the former Cougar quarterback spend time in prison. The latest step in his life journey occurred yesterday, when he was one of 80 players nominated for the Hall. Colton Clark has more on Leaf’s latest honor. … Around the Pac-12 and college sports, two Pac-12 schools will play in baseball’s Super Regionals. Second overall seed Stanford rallied with three in the bottom of the ninth to get past Texas State 4-3. That came after second-seed Oregon State edged Vanderbilt 7-6 to move on to the Supers. Both will host. … Arizona fell to Mississippi in the Miami regional. … The UCLA season ended with a loss at Auburn. The Tigers are headed to Corvallis. … As we said yesterday, UCLA had a tough assignment in the softball World Series. The Bruins handed top-seed Oklahoma only its third loss of the season but the Sooners rolled in the nightcap. … It looks as if Texas A&M is hiring Arizona State’s softball coach Trisha Ford. … Back to baseball, Washington and USC are both looking for new coaches. Lyndsey Meggs retired at UW while the Trojans fired Jason Gill after just three seasons. … A couple Oregon and Colorado players are also on the Hall of Fame ballot. … In basketball news, an Arizona player is rehabbing a wrist injury this summer. … Oregon State added one more player to its roster. … Washington picked up a Kentucky transfer.

Gonzaga: We have a lot of Zag news today, beginning with their place in next year’s hierarchy, as forecast by the Mercury News’ Jon Wilner and the NCAA’s Andy Katz. … We can also pass along this KREM-2 story on CBS analyst Gary Parrish’s view of GU’s roster after the return of Drew Timme, Rasir Bolton and Julian Strawther. … Those decisions probably led to this one: Spanish wing Baba Miller will attend Florida State. 

EWU: There will be new track coaches at Eastern next season. The retirements of longtime coaches leads off the latest S-R local briefs. … Around the Big Sky, Athlon released its football preseason top 25, with five conference schools in the top 15. Besides Eastern, which checked in at 15, there is Montana (third), Montana State (fourth), Sacramento State (sixth) and Weber State (13th).

Hoopfest: There hasn’t been a Hoopfest on the streets of downtown for a couple years – thanks, COVID-19 – so it may not be much of a surprise this year’s numbers will be less than the high-water marks of past events. But new executive director Riley Stockton hopes to keep re-vitalizing the 3-on-3 tournament through the youth groups. And not just during the June event. But all year, through a revitalized Hooptown USA AAU league. Dave Cook has more in this story.

Mariners: Besides the win (and fireworks), there is other Seattle news. The M’s have picked up a new relief pitcher.

Seahawks: As minicamp convenes this week, the Hawks have as many questionable position groups as they have strong ones. More even.

Storm: Seattle is 5-5 in its first 10 games. What have we learned?

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• COVID-19 not only robbed us of Hoopfest the past couple years, it also took away the fabled Wet Dog Fur Open, the S-R sports department’s more than 30-year-old golf tournament. Instead of an early June golf outing, many of those involved in the tournament’s inception are gathering together today for a lunch. We can guarantee only two things: A lot of lies will be told and everyone will give Rich Landers a hard time. Until later …