Great Friday Night in Seattle

The Seattle Mariners and the Washington Huskies made Friday night worthwhile to see. The Mariners continue to be in the hunt for the wildcard. They beat the Oakland A’s 5-1 behind the hot hitting of Robinson Cano who hit two more home runs. He now has thirty-eight home runs to be only the fourth second baseman in major league baseball history to do so. Dozier of the Minnesota Twins has forty-two going into Saturday. So two guys in the same season out of four players is quite amazing; if Cano can continue his hot hitting along with the other players on the Mariners into the promise land he is worth every penny he earns.

At least to this point the Huskies game on Friday was the biggest college football game in Seattle for this season and for several that is for sure. The Huskies played the Stanford Cardinal and the winner would put themselves at the top of the north division in the Pac-12 conference. Stanford was ranked 7^th in the nation while the Huskies 10^th. Most media and fans alike considered the game as a toss-up not really knowing who would win. The Huskies ended up dominating the game being ahead 30-0 near the end of the 3^rd quarter when the Cardinal made a touchdown to make it 30-6. The Cardinal were not able to make the two point conversion. The Huskies had the ball most of the fourth quarter going more than six minutes before scoring a touchdown to put the game out of reach. They were able to get the ball back from the Cardinal to score another touchdown before the game ended making the final score 44-6.

Where the Huskies are in the national ratings after this weekend is anyone’s guess at this point; you would think that they should be at least 7^th replacing Stanford. They could go higher depending how the teams ahead of them do over the weekend. The Huskies offense was about equal with both running and receiving going over two hundred yards each. On the defensive side they were able to stop Christian McCaffrey the Cardinal outstanding all-purpose back and receiver. He was among the favorites for the Heisman Trophy. The Huskies made sure his name may be forgotten.

Another college game happens Saturday in Pullman when the Washington State Cougars host the Oregon Ducks. I expect that the Ducks are favored though they are not the team that they have been the last decade or so. It likely will be a high scoring affair since both teams are very good offensively and the Cougars at least are defensively challenged. The score may not indicate it however the winner likely will be the one who can stop the other deep in the fourth quarter.

The Mariners continue their way toward the Promise Land. They have two remaining games against the A’s in the season Saturday night and Sunday. If the Mariners can sweep the A’s they may have a chance to make the playoffs or be in a play in game having a tie on Sunday. Though the season ends on Sunday for the Mariners and most of the teams in the major leagues the Detroit Tigers may have to play the Cleveland Indians on Monday if it makes any difference in who gets into the playoffs. The Tigers and Indians had a game cancelled on Thursday because of rain so only would be played if it affects the standings. We hope that the Mariners have a big crowd Saturday night to root them on to stay alive. Go M’s.