A Grip on Sports: Weekend highlights include Rodriguez scorching the ball, Cougars scrimmaging and everyone in Spokane having trouble drawing a deep breath

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We are living in a weekend of records. The particulate number in Spokane hit 506 this morning, which sounds more like an area code than a healthy level of crud in the air to breath. A Russian spacecraft hit the moon at about 500 miles an hour yesterday, when it was actually supposed to float in for a landing. And Julio Rodriguez has hit .773 in his past four games, which sounds more like Boeing’s newest plane than a real batting average.

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• How does one get 17 hits is 22 at bats over four games? Don’t ask us. Or anyone else besides Julio, for that matter. No one has ever done it before in MLB history. Oh, the 22 at-bats has been done many times. But the 17 hits? Nope. No one else. Ever. Not Ty Cobb. Pete Rose. Tony Gwynn. Hank Aaron. Not even Milt Stock.

What, you don’t know who Milt Stock is? And you call yourself a baseball fan. You didn’t know Stock hit .328 for the Brooklyn Robins in 1925? Did you even know that was what the Dodgers were called in 1925? That last one, we knew, as we studied our Dodger history as a 12-year-old much more intently than anything covered in school. But Stock? If not for Baseball Reference, we wouldn’t know he had a 14-year career in the National League with New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Brooklyn. Or that the .328 he hit in 1925, at age 31 his last full major league season, was his career best.

And if not for Julio Rodriguez and his scorching streak – calling Julio hot would be an understatement – we wouldn’t have had any reason to study Stock, who had 16 hits in a four-game span back covering June 30 to July 3 in 1925.

Now Stock is out of the record book. And Rodriguez is in.

And now the Blue Jays are out of the third wild-card spot and the Mariners are in. A 13-3 record since Aug. 2 has lifted the M’s into that position and put them right back in the division race as well. In those 16 games, can you guess how many times Rodriguez has failed to get on base? Twice. And he’s collected 33 hits.

You know about a rising tide raising all boats? Well, Julio has been a tidal wave. And he’s lifting the M’s to the heights.

• A quick note. If you want to watch the Mariners and Astros finish out their series this morning, you’ll have to have access to Peacock. The streaming service has the game for some reason – oh, we know the reason and it’s spelled m-o-n-e-y – which means a Sunday morning spent roaming around with the remote until we happen to run into the correct station. We’ll find it.

• Reading Greg Woods’ account of Saturday’s Cougar scrimmage – the air quality index in Pullman, less than 100 miles south of Spokane, was about one-tenth of ours, which allowed the scrimmage to go on – we were more than heartened.

Quarterback Cameron Ward put on a show.

That’s exactly what the Cougars will need this season as they try to keep up with the Huskies and the Utes and the Trojans and the Ducks and, yes, the Beavers in the Pac-12’s final season.

Ward was expected to be a star last season, his first in Pullman after a rocket-like career at Incarnate Word in San Antonio. But even his former-head-coach-turned-offensive-coordinator Eric Morris could coax an expectation-meeting year from Ward. Mainly, because the expectations were too high.

Ward was up-and-down, not an earth-shattering development considering he was coming from the FCS level and Washington State was developing a rebuilt offensive line. The latter is still in play but Ward has the confidence, and comfort, of a year’s worth of Pac-12 experience.

If the line can keep him upright – Cougar quarterbacks were sacked 46 times in 2022 – and his talents mesh with new OC Ben Arbuckle’s philosophy, Ward’s ability should lead to a breakout season.

Not that the Cougars couldn’t use it. Between the off-the-field foibles of Nick Rolovich and the disintegration of Washington State’s long-time home conference, the school has dealt with a Biff Tannen-like car full of horse manure in the past few years. A million-yard passing season would be appreciated.

Which is exactly what Jake Dickert told Ward wasn’t needed in a pre-scrimmage meeting Saturday, according to Woods.

Pressure off, Ward went out and played freely. Played like himself, circa 2021. And that’s good news for the Cougars.

• The final installment of Howie Stalwick’s look at the top athletes in Inland Northwest history appears in today’s S-R. His stories highlight high school athletes and other minutiae. He also looks at athletes in all categories that just missed top-three status.

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WSU: Saturday was the Cougars’ final scrimmage before the opener Sept. 2 at Colorado State. We linked Greg’s story above and do it again here. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, there is a little less than usual concerning conference realignment this morning, with some John Canzano thoughts in this mailbag. … Washington held a scrimmage Saturday and its quarterback shined as well. … The defense won the day over the receivers and the Oregon offense in the Ducks’ second scrimmage. … It must be nice to punt in the mile-high air at Colorado. … Uh oh. Kyle Whittingham thinks this is his most talented Utah team. … The offense at USC is playoff worthy. Can the defense help the Trojans enough for a 12-0 season? … UCLA needs its secondary to help out more. … Arizona also scrimmaged yesterday. … In basketball news, Arizona defeated Lebanon’s national team and then headed home from its Middle East tour.

EWU: As we predicted in this space yesterday morning (when the air quality index was quite a bit lower than it is today), the scrimmage scheduled for Cheney was called off. Dan Thompson has more in this story. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana State features a freakish athlete. … UC Davis could have a special season.

Idaho: If there was a better UI football player (not athlete, not more heralded, but a better football player) than Mark Schlereth, he is going to take some digging to find. Dave Boling spends time today re-acquainting us all with Schlereth and his remarkable career. And his post-NFL life.

Indians: No game last night. The air was too unhealthy, even for young athletes. They will try to play today but unless something happens in the next few hours, the finale against visiting Tri-City will be hard to get in.

Mariners: For the first time since 2018, the M’s will have a winning season series against Houston. They assured that with yesterday’s 10-3 win, sparked by Rodriguez and enlivened with a fifth-inning bench-clearing “discussion” amongst the two teams. … Andres Munoz is discovering he needs a different mindset as a closer. … If you were wondering about Noelvi Marte, the main prospect the Mariners sent to the Reds for Luis Castillo, he’s been called up to the big leagues.

Seahawks: Geno Smith played a couple series. And stayed healthy. That’s even better than the 22-14 final score, even if the host Hawks did win Saturday night’s preseason game against the Cowboys. … The offense was up and down, and there is a battle going on for the starting cornerback spots. … A few players were unable to play due to injuries.

Storm: Seattle will try to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Lynx.

Sounders: Seattle is back at home for its MLS matchup with Atlanta today.

World Cup: A year ago, the Spanish women’s national team was in disarray. Heck, six weeks before the World Cup began, it still was. Now it is, for the first time, World Cup champions. Spain won 1-0 in Australia over England.

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• Looked at our phone right now. The EPA’s air quality index number is 511. All we can think of is Steve Spurrier saying “5 and 11. Not too good …” when he was Washington’s NFL coach. If you’re thinking the same thing, we can be friends. Until later …