A Grip on Sports: The weekend’s sports lineup isn’t hotter than a match head but it’s pretty good for the summertime

A GRIP ON SPORTS • For some odd reason we have the song “Summer in the City” playing in the back of our head. Maybe it’s because we watched another of those Die Hard sequels recently. Or maybe it’s because it hit 90 degrees in these parts yesterday. Either way, another summer weekend is in store.

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• And how should we spend it? Our suggestion is to enjoy the great weather while you can. At least if the Inland Northwest is your home. Weekends like this are offset by those in December and January, when the snow piles high, limiting your choices. In early July, the possibilities are endless.

Heck, even nothing at all can be a great choice when the sun is shining.

If, however, you feel the need to feel your waking hours with sports, we can suggest a couple of alternatives.

The first is to head to Avista Stadium one of the three days before work begins again Monday morning. The Indians are hosting Everett, the M’s High-A farm club and that means Harry Ford is in town. You know, the next big thing. Whether he’ll be another Mike Zunino or Danny Hultzen remains to be seen, but he can be seen these days drawing walks from the Spokane pitching staff.

(If you are wondering what that last line means, you obviously didn’t check out the box score from Thursday night. Ford, who hits third for the Aquasox, walked five times in Everett’s 12-10 victory.)

The next three games may be the last shot as seeing Ford play in Spokane, though the Aquasox return to town in late August. By then, however, he might be in Arkansas. Or Tacoma.

• If you insist on sitting in front of the TV, so be it. What is there to watch?  

How about what is quite possibly a season-defining trip to Houston for Everett’s parent club? The All-Star Game dominates next week for the Mariners’ franchise but after that traveling circus leaves town, decisions will have to be made.

And the next three days in Texas might just determine how Jerry Dipoto makes them.

The Astros aren’t what they have been. No, we don’t just mean leaders in the American League West – Houston is 49-39, two games behind Texas in the standings – but a feared team, offensively and defensively. Off-season defections, injuries and miss-steps have taken the Astros down a notch, but at home against the M’s, they have been a juggernaut. George Kirby’s excellent start last night allowed the Mariners to open the four-gamer series with a 5-1 victory, only the M’s eighth win in Houston since 2019.

Having split its first 86 games, Seattle sits four games out of the last wild card spot. The trade deadline looms at the end of the month. Try to win with what you have, try to add or sell some pieces? A plan needs to be in place long before July 31. And decisions must be made.

You can watch tonight (5:10, Root), Saturday (4:15, Fox 28) and Sunday 11:10 a.m., Root) and make your own assessment.

Otherwise, there is golf – Pebble Beach looks as beautiful as ever, though the scores posted in the U.S. Women’s Open were anything but – and tennis – Wimbledon is behind schedule, which seems par for that London venue these days. The golf is on NBC over the weekend (noon starts both days) while ESPN and its big brother, ABC, is all over the tennis.

There is also international soccer – the U.S. plays Canada in the Gold Cup (4:30 on FS1) – on Sunday and the Storm visiting New York in WNBA action on Saturday (11 a.m., ESPN).

Plus, there is the usual NASCAR races, with the Quaker State 400 running under the lights Sunday (4 p.m. start on USA).

But remember, if none of that interests you, there are choices. Heck, you can either watch the Tour de France (6 a.m. Saturday and 7:05 a.m. Sunday on Peacock) or pull your bike off the garage rack and ride around in the year’s best weather. Your choice.

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WSU: Around the Pac-12 and the nation, once again Oregon’s men are looking for another assistant basketball coach. … Stanford has a new football staff and a new outlook. … Utah doesn’t want to change a thing. … Big recruiting news from Arizona. The Wildcats have attracted their first five-star recruit, a hometown pass rusher that just about everyone wanted.

Gonzaga: If you love heat (or the Heat, Miami variety), then you might want to be in Las Vegas over the next week or so. The temperature will easily clear 100 degrees and a large contingent of Zags will be trying to catch fire in the NBA’s biggest summer league. Theo Lawson delves into that in this story, also covering WSU and EWU players who will be appearing. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Santa Clara’s Brandin Podziemski is learning quickly what the NBA is all about.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Idaho State is building a new-look football roster with a new philosophy.

Boxing: There will be another Brick West boxing tournament this Saturday at the brewery’s downtown location, starting at 3 p.m. Charlotte McKinley has a preview of the second annual event, focusing on Musheer Foree, who came to Spokane looking for a new life and found it through boxing.

Indians: The winning streak against Everett is over, though Spokane did rally from a large deficit only to fall just a bit short. Dave Nichols has the coverage of the 12-10 loss at Avista Stadium.

Kraken: Kailer Yamamoto may miss Edmonton but he’s certainly happy he was able to bounce back by signing with Seattle.

Mariners: Kirby turned in another all-star worthy performance last night as the M’s offense was keyed by Eugenio Suarez. … Felix Hernandez is back in Seattle for the festivities and he spoke with Larry Stone atop the Space Needle. … The baseball draft is this weekend and Seattle has three first-round picks. … A Mariner pitcher found his calling in the bullpen. … We can pass along more Seattle All-Star player rankings. And a story on the 2001 game. … Finally, we pass along a trivia quiz about the game.

Storm: The road trip got off to a rocky start in Connecticut. Then Seattle lost the game to the Sun.

Golf: If you want to know how the PGA and LIV worked out their differences, this story explains it. And delves into the why.

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• We love Spokane in the summertime. But it doesn’t always return the emotion. In fact, way too often we have to leave as duty calls. It’s happening again. You shouldn’t notice much of a difference, as we take our laptop and fill up your summer mornings with blather and linkage. (That might be a good name for a law firm, actually.) We’ll be here for you as often as we can. Until later …