Day Off in Baltimore

The Seattle Mariners got an off day on Monday in Baltimore. One thing for sure was nice I never heard about any rioting going on. . I am sure the Mariners enjoyed a day off before starting on a nine game road trip.

The first three games will be in Baltimore as you would know followed by three in Toronto and three in Tampa before coming home to face the Cleveland Indians.

Splitting the four games against the Boston Red Sox made the nine game home stand 6-3. I would love to see these nine games end with the same 6-3 at least. It would be great to win the first game in each series and split the other two would be fine.

The Baltimore Orioles record is just below that of the Mariners so it tells me they have a good shot. We can hope that Nelson Cruz do a really good job against his old team. I know that Orioles have some other changes on the team from last season though I am not sure what they are since do not follow them closely. One thing I do know that former Mariner Adam Jones is having a really good year. That is what I heard recently anyway.

My cousin Christy and her husband David visited for a couple hours on Monday on their way back to Canada from Arizona. In conversation I mentioned the Mariners would be playing in Toronto. He told me they had a really good chance because the Blue Jay’s pitching is terrible. He follows the American League East more than I do so he said that the Tampa Bay Rays were the best of the three teams. He keeps an eye on the Mariners as well.

With the Mariners having a day off and not seeing any transactions happening I checked on news going on in other parts of the world of sports. In the American League West the Angels and the Astros both lost which is really good news. The Astros lost to Oakland. It would be nice to see the A’s win a few against Astros and then go back to losing. We do not want to see a winning streak by the A’s. What they have going for them is their starting pitching but not much else. Oh their offense to some degree.

I am not really following the NBA playoffs. I only know that Lebron James and the Cavaliers finished off the Chicago Bulls. Also, the San Antonio Spurs are out as well I think? Also, not following the NHL playoffs either although there is speculation of building an arena in Seattle area to house a NHL team; supposedly if Seattle gets an expansion team the cost will be around $500 million for the fee.

In football on Monday news that the Seattle Seahawks will lose defensive tackle Jesse Williams out of University of Alabama via Australia. It is reported he has a type of kidney cancer so he will be out all 2015 season. We hope that he can return in 2016 but the best news he live at least a normal life removing the cancer.

Other news it was reported on Monday that the Ryan Tannehill quarterback of the Miami Dolphins signing a new contract for four years at $77 million that starts in 2017. Of course, that starts news again what the Seahawks will be paying Russell Wilson. There had been reports around $80 million for four years; however, with the Tannehill contract that will go up. The Seahawks are reported to paying $1.5 million on his remaining year into 2015 on his original rookie contract. On a new contract part of the whole thing will the Seahawks increase the salary for 2015 as well?  Currently the highest paying quarterback is reported to be Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers at $22 million per year. So I expect the Seahawks will have pay around that same amount. Also depends how much the Seahawks are willing to guarantee as well.

I know on sports radio in Seattle the talk is about either Dustin Ackley of the Mariners and Russell Wilson. I am sure there are those who worry about the Seahawks losing Wilson to free agency. Like several media reporters have said the fans do not have to worry about it. If there is a problem signing him in the next year they do have the option to make him a franchise player which is probably around the same amount he is asking for; however, it would not be guaranteed except on a yearly basis so if he got hurt or his performance was not as good as the last three years he would be out of pocket. We are not talking about defensive players chasing him. Ha Ha.

We can all hope that the Mariners will continue with good pitching and the offense to start in high gear. I am sure during this nine game road trip at some point Austin Jackson will be back after his rehab assignment. We can only guess who he will replace on the roster. I am sure we all have a favorite for him to replace. I am sure though Brad Miller will be in the lineup playing somewhere since he was just named player of the week. Anyway Go Mariners!