A Grip on Sports: A post-Easter candy hangover was not soothed by the M’s success – or Joel Dahmen’s late collapse

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The chocolate hangover better go away soon. Too many bunny ears, little eggs and the like yesterday. And too much wind in the Dominican Republic. Both led to a late-evening headache and a poor night’s sleep, despite another Mariner offensive eruption north of the border.

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• It’s not often I spend a Sunday enthralled by a secondary PGA golf tournament on the Golf Channel. If Clarkston’s Joel Dahmen had not been in the lead, there would have been no way I would have tuned in at all yesterday.

But I did, switching over during breaks from the final few innings of the Mariners’ game early on in the coverage and then locked in for most of the final few holes.

Ya, the superstitious part of me was yelling about that. After all, when I finally locked in, Dahmen, looking for his second PGA Tour win, was leading. And preceded to let the lead slip away.

Or blow away would be more like it.

The incessant wind off the ocean at the Corales Golf Course during Sunday’s Corales Puntacana Championship final round forced Dahmen into wearing a baseball cap instead of his signature bucket one. And his shot-making, spot on Thursday and Friday while setting a tournament scoring record, was nowhere to be found either. Gone with the wind, so to speak.

Dahmen had multiple chances to build an insurmountable lead in the final round. But approach shots wandered away just enough, putts were blown off course too often and he failed to cash his birdie chances. That left him with just a one-shot lead entering the “Devil’s Elbow,” the course’s satanic last three holes.

They were his hell, that’s for sure.

A missed 12-footer for par on 16. A missed 2-footer that lipped out on 17.

Tied with eventual winner Garrick Higgo, who was a group ahead, Dahmen’s approach on 18 was pushed left by the wind. His chip came up about 7 feet short. A playoff-forcing par putt didn’t have a chance.

Three consecutive bogies left Dahmen in second place.

• I turned on the golf with such high hopes, too. The optimism was built upon a foundation supplied by a Mariner offense that scored eight runs for the second consecutive day. And a Luis Castillo performance that seemed to prove no matter what the circumstances, an escape was possible.

Castillo wasn’t just hittable Sunday, he was in batting practice mode. The Blue Jays hit so many ropes off the veteran right-hander it seemed only a matter of time until they would knot up the game. But even though Castillo yielded up half the six-run lead the M’s built in the first two innings, he never imploded.

And got through a gutsy five.

A big part of his “success,” if that’s the right word, rested on Randy Arozarena’s shoulders. Or his glove, to be more precise. That’s where Andrés Giménez’s slicing fly ball with two outs and the bases loaded in the second inning ended up. Arozarena’s sliding, crashing catch saved Castillo’s life, so to speak, something the pitcher acknowledged after. And kept the M’s in a comfortable lead.

The bullpen, which has found its stride the last 12 games as Seattle has posted a 9-3 record, did the rest in the 8-3 victory. And the M’s headed to Boston having won their fourth consecutive series.

• A big part of the Mariners’ recent success can be attributed to Cal Raleigh’s torpedo bat. The catcher/day-game designated hitter hit another north-of-the-border home run Sunday (the 11th of his career), vaulting him into a tie for the American League lead with the A’s Tyler Soderstrom. They both have nine.

The next two names on the A.L. list? Mike Trout (eight) and Aaron Judge (seven). A blast from the past and this year’s seemingly certain-to-be A.L. MVP.

• Let’s check the A.L. West standings as Seattle enjoys its off day before starting a three-game series in Fenway Park.

At the top are the Texas Rangers, 13-9 but sporting a minus-14 run differential. The Rangers have been more lucky than good.

The Mariners sit a game back at 12-10, which just so happens to mean they are winning 54.5% of their games. But no jokes please. After all, Seattle is the only A.L. West team with a positive run differential (plus 5) and one of only four A.L. teams in that category.

Plus they are winning despite missing their leadoff hitter (Victor Robles), hardly playing the one guy who started the season hot (Jorge Polanco) and without their opening-day second baseman (Ryan Bliss). All have injuries. So does starting pitcher George Kirby, who still isn’t available.

Is it OK to say it could be worse? A lot worse? Or is that too optimistic?

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WSU: Jaylen Wells had an outstanding rookie year in the NBA. So good, in fact, the former Washington State standout is a finalist for the Rookie of the Year award. … This might be the best Cam Ward story we’ve read since he left Pullman after his two stellar seasons. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, before we get into that, we wanted to send you to John Canzano’s website for his Sunday column. John does a great job trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy that occurred Saturday morning. A collision on an Oregon highway that cost a community college softball team the lives of its head coach and a player. As someone who spent four seasons riding in or driving vans to and from college baseball games in Southern California, the circumstances of this tragedy hit too close to home. John did the same thing and he expresses his feelings about the loss. … OK, on to other things. It took rejection to power a Washington safety to where he is today. … Oregon State added a couple players from the portal over the weekend. … The Beavers’ new quarterback did well in Saturday’s final scrimmage. … Colorado’s spring practices are over too. … Utah enters the summer with improved NIL funding. … It’s official. Former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava has signed with UCLA. Though, honestly, there is nothing in his past, or in the NCAA’s rules, that stops him – or any of the Big Ten’s quarterbacks – from leaving if a better offer pops up before the season starts. … You better like heat before you decide to transfer to Arizona State. … Down the road in Tucson, Arizona spent a lot of time Saturday connecting with its fanbase. … In basketball news, it does not matter how successful a team is, everyone is impacted by the portal. 

Gonzaga: Don’t forget Theo Lawson has his WCC transfer tracker on the S-R website every day.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Idaho State has added players for their women’s and men’s basketball programs.

Indians: After three consecutive one-run losses, Spokane scored a handful of times, shut out the host Hillsboro Hops and ended up splitting the six-game series with Sunday’s 5-0 win. Dave Nichols has all the details.

Golf: We linked above Jim Meehan’s story on Dahmen’s Sunday. We also link it here.

Seahawks: We linked Bob Condotta’s story about the franchise’s poor offensive line history when it ran in the Times. And we link it again as it’s on the S-R’s website. … Thank goodness the draft start Thursday. We’re tired of linking mock ones. We want the real thing.

Mariners: Raleigh just loves Toronto. … A new member of the bullpen wasn’t always a pitcher. Even as a professional.

Kraken: We also linked this analysis of the Kraken season when it ran in the Times. And we link it again as it’s on the S-R’s website.

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• Easter is over. Spring college football practice is almost over as well. College basketball is only making news through the portal. When the NFL draft finishes Saturday, the somewhat dead period will only be awoken by the Chiefs’ playoff run, the Indians’ long regular season and the NBA and NHL playoffs. Being that our state’s NHL team didn’t even qualify and Adam Silver is still playing coy about the possibility of the Sonics ever returning, those sports are sort of an afterthought around here – and in this space. It’s almost time for me to start sleeping in a little. Until later …