Major League Championship Series

This year the major league championship series are going to be like no other in some time so I am sure more people besides the baseball fans like myself will be watching.

The American League championship will be starting tonight Oct. 16 and the National League tomorrow. Both series will be playing on the schedule tomorrow. The series between the Kansas City Royals and the Toronto Blue Jays will be quite interesting since the teams do not seem to like each other very well along with the fact Blue Jays are from Canada and have not been in the playoffs for some time. The Seattle Mariners now at fourteen years is the longest team in the major leagues not been in the playoffs. This really shows in recent times the change in which teams played in the playoffs. Of course, before the playoff system came into existence the Yankees, Dodgers, or Cardinals seem to be in the World Series almost every year.

If you go by experience the Kansas City Royals should be the team to beat in both the American League championships and the World Series. This year the San Francisco the winner of the World Series last year did not qualify for the playoffs. In recent years the Giants seem to win the World Series every other year. I am sure most people except their fans are glad the Yankees did not make it in this year after losing the wildcard game.

The Toronto Blue Jays have the better offense of the two American League teams but as we all know that in the playoffs usually the pitching beats the hitting. I think the Blue Jays have a little better pitching; however, I don’t follow either team that closely. I know only enough from when both teams faced the Mariners. If the games are close the Blue Jays may win because of their home run power. This is the same way the Mets beat the Dodgers in last night’s game.

So now to the national league championship that series will be quite interesting, and I am not sure if there is a sure favorite; I said at the beginning of the season that if the Cubs made it to the playoffs that Joe Madden should be named manager of the century, and I still stick to it. So under that theory the Cubs should go to World Series. If the Cubs win the World Series I now call Madden the greatest manager of all time. Remember Lou Piniella could not get the Cubs into the playoffs. This series should be exciting to watch for both cities. I am sure we will never have heard the loudness before like in baseball in both ball parks. I don’t know much about either team other than the Cubs do have Austin Jackson and Fernando Rodney; by the reasoning of Mariner fans the Cubs will win their first World Series in about one hundred years. The Cubs do have a young team so with Madden at the helm there is a possibility that the Cubs will win several World Series. Like I say he will be the greatest manager of all time.

Huskies vs Ducks

The University of Washington Huskies takes on the Oregon Ducks this Saturday in Seattle. The Huskies have lost to the Ducks eleven straight times, and this year looks like the right time to beat them since the Ducks have lost three games.

It will be a tough game for the Huskies since the Ducks will want to get a win very badly. Also, the Ducks need a win to be sure they are Bowl eligible. Last week the Huskies upset the USC Trojans in Los Angeles 17-12. It was not only a tough loss for the Trojans they ended up suspending first, and then firing Head Coach and former Huskie coach Steve Sarkisian. A very sad situation since Sarkisian apparently has a problem drinking and likely will go into rehab. We can only hope that he can get his life back into order. Never do we want anyone to live out a life that way even a coach that left Washington for USC.

The Huskies beating USC we see that they are up and coming team under the coaching of Chris Petersen who had a lot of success at Boise State. Though the Ducks seem to be on their way down this will be another big test for the young Husky team. At this point it is hard to know how the Huskies will do against the Ducks since they are a young team being made up of a lot of freshmen and sophomores. In fact the first and second strings there are twenty-five out of the forty-four players including freshmen starting quarterback Jake Browning. We can see that Browning has the ability to be an outstanding quarterback but like any freshman starting he will have his good times and bad times.

In other local sports news it looks like Marshawn Lynch will be back starting at running back for the Seattle Seahawks. He missed the last two games of injuries and played sparingly in the first three games. We can hope that we see the real Beast Mode against the Carolina Panthers. Speaking of the Panthers it is so weird to think that the Seahawks play them almost every year though they are not in the same division. I am sure the reason is that the Seahawk and Panthers play to about the same record each year.

The Washington State Cougars take on the Oregon State Beavers at home this Saturday after beating the Ducks in Eugene last week.  That game was amazing on the side of the Cougars because they were down by ten points with about five minutes remaining in the game. Because of the lead I decided to stop watching the game, and then I was surprised to learn the Cougars won in overtime. The Cougars should be favored over the Beavers this weekend since it is a home game and the Beavers are not that good of a team. Like the Huskies the Cougars have won three games so far. It should be another exciting Apple Cup in November.

The Seattle Mariners made news saying that they will be keeping the scouting staff and the assistant general manager Jeff Kingston who took over when Jack Z. was fired. General Manager Jerry Dipoto  is showing that he believes the problem has been with player development and not who the Mariners have drafted during the reign of Jack Z. We will continue to see what happens during the remaining of the off-season.

Anyway let’s go Seahawks, Huskies, and Cougars. We can hope all three win this weekend.

Seahawks Third Loss

The Seattle Seahawks on Sunday lost their third game of the season all on the road to set the record at 2-3 coming home to face Carolina on Sunday.

The Panthers come into Seattle with an undefeated record of 4-0. This coming game is an important game for the Seahawks to win. Though the Seahawks usually play well at home this game is not a sure win especially after playing not so well at home the week before against the Detroit Lions and only winning the game with Kam Chancellor breaking off a catch near the goal by Charlie Johnson. In fact the ball was hit into the back of the end zone, and by the rules the Lions should have still had the ball. You could say the Seahawks should be 1-4.

Early in the fourth quarter the Seahawks had a 24-7 lead after a fumble recovery by Bobby Wagner who ran it in for a touchdown. At that point it looked like the Seahawks were sailing for an easy win; however, the Seahawks started acting like the Seattle Mariners bullpen where they could not hold the lead.

I have to admit I did not watch most of the game though I did listen to some of it on the radio. Now I wonder maybe I gave them bad luck, and I should not have listen or watched any of the game. The series right after the fumble recovery that gave the Seahawks the lead of 24-7 they were able to stop the Bengals; however, the Seahawks were unable to convert a third down and 4 so they punted the ball where the Bengals were able to run back the ball to the Seahawks 35. At that point I thought Oh No they are not going to blow it now. I went into my pharmacy for a few minutes let them know the score which was probably bad on my part. I was only a few minutes from home so I decided to wait and watch the remaining of the game at home; however, when I turned on the Television to my surprise the Seahawks were leading just 24-21, and the Bengals had the ball where they could actually take the lead. Of course, the Seahawks still had a chance because the Bengals tied the score with a field goal to go into overtime. When I turned on the Television I though back to the series when I arrived at the Pharmacy where the Seahawks should have gotten at a first down or at the very least stopped the Bengals on the punt return.

I did not watch or listen to the overtime hoping the Seahawks would recover and win the game. I had to go to a memorial service that started at 2 pm. Before I arrived at my destination I turned on the radio hearing the Seahawks had lost 27-24. All I could do is shake my head. I thought of the person whose memorial service I was going to who battled and died of cancer. The last thing he did was watch the Seahawks game on television winning against the Chicago Bears. He died the Tuesday after that game. This game I figured he must been rolling in his grave, or shaking his head in heaven whichever the case. Though it was tough in many respects to go to his memorial service it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable occasions in my life. I was able to see those who I grew up with and I had not seen in a long time. Some of whom I had not seen since high school. Like myself humor, music, and sports made up a big part of his life so there was a lot of music and humor in the service along with the mention of sports.

I know we put a lot of blame in the loss on different aspects of the team I still go back to the series and the punt return that I heard before going into the pharmacy. On the positive side we can look at the things in the first three quarters that lead the Seahawks to the 24-7 score. We can only hope they will work hard this week in practice, and recover to beat the Panthers this Sunday. Go Seahawks!

Lloyd being axed and more

It took a few extra days for the Mariners say good bye to manager Lloyd. I like the fact that Pinoto decided to Chris Woodward as well as Edgar Martinez. I was surprised that they let Andy Van Slyke go I thought he was a good outfielder’s coach. The possibility is that he was to old school as much as Lloyd.

I am looking forward to the hiring of the next manager, and the changes in the front office along with the minor leagues. We can see that many of the minor leaguers are not ready for prime time; however, I look forward to seeing more of Marte, and Brad Miller; they give the mariners the needed speed in the lineup. I do hope that Miller can be used as what is being termed super utility player. I would like to see him lead off when Marte is not in the lineup. At this point I would like Marte be rested against tough pitchers that may give him trouble. What I like about Marte being the leadoff hitter besides his speed is willing to take walks especially at the beginning of the game. There is nothing like a leadoff batter getting on base at the beginning to get things going. Also, I like having speed in the ninth hole so it may seem strange but I would have Miller batting there when he is playing except when replacing Marte. If Zunino is back catching I would place him in the eighth position.

Well it was nice to see both the Huskies and Cougars win on Thursday and Saturday against the two teams the fans here in Washington despise the most. I was unable to see the Huskies on Thursday since I was out most of the evening; however, I was so surprised and happy when I turned the TV on for the last 90 seconds of the game. I am not sure what happened yet on the Cougars game because when I turned off the television with about five minutes the Ducks looked like they had a safe lead. I will next time keep watching the Cougars game at the end.

This Sunday morning at least here anyway the Seahawks will be without Marshawn Lynch once again. If you wish he could make a magical appearance he did not make the trip to Cincinnati. We can hope the offensive line will have some improvement over last week, or at the very least the Seahawks have plans to roll Wilson out of the pocket instead of being sacked so many times. We can hope that Rawls  get some success this week running the ball to help Wilson out as well. At least the Seahawks have a really good defense that should keep them in the game. It would be nice to get at least a couple turnovers, and that Lockett can put the Seahawks in good field position on kickoffs and punt returns. It would be great here if the Seahawks can win to sweep the weekend here for the three teams. Go Seahawks!

Mariners Need to Catch Up

During the off-season I am going to write what I think the Mariners will be looking at getting for this coming season, and the first position is catcher.

Looking at the rosters of the other 29 teams there are a few left handed and switch hitting catchers available. They are the type that the Mariners should go after especially if they plan to keep Mike Zunino.

I would really like the Mariners to have a left handed hitting catcher so he can play some first base and DH. The player can be at least a decent defensive catcher; however, primarily should be a hitter. In this way the Mariners can always install Zunino into the game defensive in the later innings.

I found that there is not a lot of left handed or switch hitting catchers available as far as free agency goes. New general manager Jerry Pinoto says that he prefers trading over free agency, and this is what it looks like at the catcher’s position. The two main free agency catchers are Matt Wieters  of the Baltimore Orioles and Alex Avila   of the Detroit Tigers . Both have come off subpar seasons; Matt Wieters played just over one hundred games while Avila was injured a good part of the season and played in 64 games with a batting average under two hundred. Wieters may resign with the Orioles; however, if he does not the Mariners would have to pay over ten million dollars a season for probably four years. The Mariners most likely won’t sign him to that much money because of how many players they are currently paying high, and resigning Iwakuma will cost them about the same as Wieters. Avila most likely is the better choice to sign because he likely won’t command as much money. There is a chance he may return to Detroit because his father is now the general manager of the Tigers. If the Mariners did sign him they likely will play him some at first base as well as DH. I would see him catching when the Mariners are facing a tough right handed pitcher.

Like I say the Mariners most likely will make a trade to get a left handed or switching catcher during the off-season. The mostly likely choice to partner in a trade would be the Chicago Cubs who currently are in the playoffs. In the wild card game that they beat the Pittsburgh Pirates they started two left hitting catchers Miguel Montero and Kyle Schwarber. Montero started at catcher while Schwarber in right field. There is a possibility they may stay that way in the future; however, if they did make a trade likely it would be Montero. Schwarber is a rookie catcher who has a lot of power in his bat. The Mariners or any other team would have to give up a lot to pry him away from the Cubs. Montero has been a starter for the Cubs but they may look at moving him along, and would not cost a team as much in value. In this case the Mariners likely would have to part ways with Zunino.

Another choice would be backup catcher, and switch hitter Dioner Navarro of the Toronto Blue Jays. He would be ideal since he can hit both ways. I am not sure if he has played any first base before; however, the Mariners could use him as the DH.

There are a few other catchers that could be available for trading. The Cincinnati Reds who need to make changes in their roster has four different catchers that bat either left handed or are switch hitters. So they could decide to be trade partners as well. Not sure which they are thinking of trading but would not take a lot for the Mariners take their hands off the Reds. None of them would replace Zunino as the regular catcher; however, may have some use as the backup catcher.

If you are looking for a veteran catcher my favorite would be Jarrod Saltalamacchia of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has always been a favorite of mine primarily because of his name; however, he is a good hitter with some power though not a good defensive catcher so he could be used some as a DH, and backup Zunino. The only thing is that he likely cost more than the Mariners are willing to pay unless the Diamondbacks would pay part of his salary.

All I have to say is good luck for the Mariners to find another catcher to help or replace Zunino. Next I will look at first base though likely Trumbo will be the starter unless the Mariners look to trade him. Go Mariners!

Not Your Normal Monday Night Seahawks!

October 5, 2015 was not the typical outstanding football game the Seattle Seahawks play on Monday night’s or on prime time.

Usually the Seahawks are really up for these games and play real well. The defense generally played a good game except at the last drive where they came up lucky with Kam Chancellor hitting the ball out of Charlie Johnson’s hand, and the ball being hit through the end zone. According the lead of officials the Seahawks should have been penalized, and the Lions should have had the ball inside the one yard line; however, we will take the luck on our side this time.

Though he had a few good scramble plays including the one in which led the Seahawks only touchdown Russell Wilson and the offensive line had a poor game at the very best. You think with the horrible offense that Wilson was playing baseball with the Seattle Mariners against the Houston Astros that is how bad the Seahawks offense is playing right now.

We can only hope that Marshawn Lynch can be back next week against the Cincinnati Bengals, and that Freddie Jackson will be OK as well. Whether Lynch is back or not I really think that the Seahawks plan going into next week’s game is for Wilson to roll out of the pocket, and throw short passes along with running the ball if needed to open up the running game, and the long passes. Right now Wilson is either getting too much pressure in the pocket or he is taking too much time to throw the ball. In this game I think we do have to give the Lions defensive backs credit for not allowing the receivers to get open especially deep; however, the offense has to try something different since what they are doing now is not working.

I wonder how long the Seahawks will go with the way the offensive line is playing right now or make other new changes. It is possible Carroll and Cable figure they are on the learning curve and make take several weeks to get them playing good. I have an idea maybe the offensive line needs to hold on every play and see if they get caught or not. LOL. One thing for sure the line needs a lot of practice this week working on pass protection. When they get that down than work on run blocking. The Lions at times had an extra lineman in the game in place of the tight end on running plays. It did not really work for them; however, I wonder if the Seahawks need to do that on passing downs especially. I would put Jimmy Graham on the outside since he is not doing well at blocking and bring in additional lineman or tight end. I would use the fullback in some passing downs as well especially on third downs if Freddie Jackson is not available. I can only hope that the Seahawks think the same way I am. I guess we will see next week. Go Seahawks!

Is This It For M’s Lloyd

Today being the last day of major league baseball regular season I believe we should be hearing in a few hours or maybe a day or so what the fate of Seattle Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon.

In my mind it could go either way whether Lloyd will be retained or not. I think it is hard to know whether this season was Lloyd’s fault or not. Last year the Mariners won 87 games under Lloyd’s first year under the helm and now the Mariners win today they would have 76 wins which is a drop of eleven games. If the Mariners were at 87 wins this year they would be in a tie with the Texas Rangers going into the last game of the season.

Most everyone thought the Mariners would be in the playoffs coming out of spring training this year. Boy were we all wrong for sure. No one expected that everyone except Nelson Cruz in regular lineup would start off in such a horrible fashion. I am sure if Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager would have had a first half like they did in the second half the Mariners would have been closer to the 87 wins again. Of course, none of us thought the bullpen would have the very bad season they did especially after Charlie Furbush went down in July. The starting pitching had a poor start to the season but they did rebound in May and were OK the rest of the way.

How much of the poor season do we blame on Lloyd? It is hard to say but he still may take the fall since that is what happens to managers when a team has a bad season. We heard on several occasions Lloyd made us aware that the team should go on a run winning seven or eight games in a row, and we all know that did not happen at all. We had hope when they won four in a row; however, the team would go right back into the tank again. Was that the fault of the team or Lloyd’s? Again we know usually the manager takes the fall.

What I know is that the Mariners have the talent to be a real good team, or they would have not been picked by almost everyone to make the playoffs. I don’t think that no one expected the team to sink so low this season. In my opinion the team as a whole did not play a team is supposed to. We all know with the new general manager Jerry Dipoto coming in there will be changes going to happen. I believe the team has to change in attitude. The problem is not with the talent except maybe a few areas like say catcher, and the bullpen I believe it is with attitude. So is the attitude problem with the players or Lloyd or the combination. Another thing we do know and Dipoto addressed it when he was announced as the new general manger that this current team does not fit well playing in Safeco Field. So regardless of the problems we will be seeing players next season that will play well in Safeco Field.

It will be interesting to see who the new manager will be if Lloyd does not return.  I expect it will be a manager who will take advantage of playing in Safeco Field with a new attitude. When Pete Carroll and John Schneider came to Seattle to take over the Seahawks they made a lot of changes in the roster, and I hope the same thing happens with the Mariners. I am sure we will still see Felix, Cano, Cruz, and Seager still on the roster next season; however, everyone else could be up to going elsewhere. I am sure that some people will say the Mariners need to trade one of the four guys to get several players in return. I am not sure about Cruz but I am sure that Felix, Cano, and Seager all have no trade clauses. So the most likely candidate of the four to be traded would be Cruz. The Mariners do not have the investment in Cruz like they have in the other three. I am sure they could try trading Cano but I am sure the Mariners would have to eat some of his contract and I am not sure they are willing to do so. Felix likely would get the most in a trade; however, the history and the love he has for Seattle I would be shocked if he were traded. Seager being signed to a new contract before last season he likely won’t be traded either.

Most likely Marte will be the starter at shortstop next season so either or both Miller and Taylor could be traded but that likelihood would happen in a multiplayer trade. Neither them would get much in a single player trade. I can see the Mariners trading any of the other players on the roster. After today we will know more for sure, and the days ahead.

I don’t see any trades happening until after the World Series unless it is a multiplayer trade. I am sure we will see a few transactions in the days ahead. They would be likely players that would be released that Dipoto sees no value in, and the Mariners could not get anything for them. Those I see would probably be those who right now are in the Mariners’ bullpen.

So everyone enjoy the last game of the season, and look forward to the off-season. Go Mariners!