Is This One of those Years in Seattle Sports?

Last night with the Seahawks losing to the Arizona Cardinals in a critical game in Seattle 39-32 making their record 4-5 I wonder if this year is one of those in Seattle; it sort of started the Seahawks losing the Super Bowl in February in the last minute of the game.

The Mariners never really got off to a start that most people figured would get them to the World Series or for the very least the playoffs. Now they have a new general manager in Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais for 2016. Jack Z was fired in August and Lloyd McClendon was not retained by Dipoto so he was fired which was not a surprise.

The Seattle Sounders started the first half of the season in good fashion than ended the season just barely making the playoffs to then lose in the second round of the playoffs.

Both the Sounders and Mariners are both looking at turnovers of their rosters before next season. The only difference of the two teams is that the Sounders are retaining their coach and management while they bring in new players. The Mariners are retaining a few management members and only one coach in Edgar Martinez. We will have to see if the Seahawks can improve the rest of the season. Though there is no threat in John Schneider or Pete Carroll losing their positions a shakeup of the roster could happen if they continue on losing. Even if the Seahawks have a winning but don’t make the playoffs turnover of the roster will happen. Most likely the roster change will happen on the offensive side of the ball especially on the offensive line.

We can only hope the Seahawks will turn things around in a real hurry to salvage the season. If so it will likely be the best coaching job done by Carroll. I am not sure why on Sunday night that the Seahawks passed the ball more than they ran the ball which is supposed to be the strength of the offense. Marshawn Lynch was questionable going into the game so it could have been the problem since he carried the ball only eight times.

On the passing side Russell Wilson had one interception and completed less than 50 percent of the passes going 14 out of 32. This is lower than his average per game which usually is around seventy percent. The only thing I could think is that with two weeks to plan for playing the Arizona Cardinals that the Seahawks would be more successful passing the ball which seems ridiculous. Next Sunday the Seahawks take on the San Francisco 49ers once again this time in Seattle. The Seahawks should respond by beating the 49ers. The next two games will be against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Seattle and then going on the road to play the Minnesota Vikings. Both of the games the Seahawks could lose unless they play much better than Sunday. They should get back to the running game.

While writing this the Mariners have made a trade with the Texas Rangers picking up centerfielder Leonys Martin and right-handed pitcher Anthony Bass for right-handed pitcher Tom Wihelmsen and outfielder James Jones. According to general manager Jerry Dipoto Anthony Bass will primarily be used in the bullpen that can pitch multiple innings and could be used as a spot starter. This means the Mariners will be looking elsewhere for a closer which could include Joaquin Benoit who the Mariners picked up last week from the San Diego Padres and Carson Smith. James Jones who was included in the trade spent last season all season until call up in September at Triple-A Tacoma. The righting was on the wall that he would not be back. The Mariners primarily used him as pinch runner and defensive replacement in September. It would have been his position as a fifth outfielder at best if he made the team next season.

Look forward to more changes on the Mariners along with the Sounders along with seeing where the Seahawks go from here over the next three weeks. We can hope they can win these next three games that would leave their record at 7-5.