The Kraken, Huskies Lose and Cougars Win

 Saturday night the Seattle Kraken lost
a disappointing game in Arizona against
the Coyotes 5-4. Always tough especially
when leading in the game. The Coyotes
scored three of their four goals in the
third period. So far the Kraken have
had trouble in the third period scoring
and giving up scores. They will be a
good team if they can get that straighten
out.

The Washington Huskies lost to the
Oregon Ducks 26-16 at home on
Saturday late afternoon. The Huskies

had a decent offense they would have

won the game. Carson Bruener was

able to intercept a pass in the first

three minutes of the game that led

to a Sean McGrew touchdown. 

The Ducks came back for a field goal,

however, the Huskies were able to

score a safety after a great punt by

Race Porter. The Oregon's offense

was as bad at the time. At the 8:03

mark of the second quarter Huskies

went on fourth down but stopped

by the /Ducks. Why they didn't

go for a field goal was bad coaching

decision. The game was downhill 

from there. 

The Ducks scored three touchdowns

before the Huskies scored a touchdown

in the 4th quarter.  The defense was

able to stop the Ducks to give them

a chance to tie the game at 24-16

with a touchdown and two-point

conversion though there was only

a little over two minutes remaining

in the game and they would have

to drive for 90 yards. Instead the

Huskies were unable to complete

a pass on three downs.

The thought would be the Huskies

go it on fourth down because the

only chance to tie instead decided

to punt. Not only a bad decision

the ball when hiked went over

the punter's head through the end

zone for a safety.  Just shows

how bad the Huskies offense

is right now and coaching decisions.

The Washington State Cougars were

the only bright spot in college football

in Washington in the Pac-12.

They beat Arizona State 34-21. The 

game was on the road in Arizona as

well. ASU started the season off well

but not so good lately. They do play

the Huskies next week so maybe 

saving grace unless the Huskies can

figure how to get out of their mess.

The Cougars had a great start having

two touchdowns in the first quarter.

They had two more in the second with

Sun Devils scoring as well putting the

Cougars up 28-7 at the half.  Neither

team scored in the third period. The

Sun Devils gave it a shot in the 4th

quarter scoring two touchdowns but

wasn't enough as the Cougars scored

six additional points on two field goals.

Sophomore quarterback Jayden de Laura

threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns.

He also scored a touchdown himself

running the ball in. The Cougars were

able to run for 166 yards on the ground.

The Cougars are one game behind the

Oregon Ducks who they play in Eugene

next Saturday. The Cougars win then 

they have a good chance on the north

division title  when finishing up the

next Friday against Arizona followed

by the Huskies in the Apple Cup on

that Friday. Other words they control

their own destiny. 

 

Washington at home against Oregon

Always a big game the Washington are at
home against the Oregon Ducks at 4 pm.

It is an important game for the Huskies.

They have a record of 4-4 and the Ducks

are 7-1. In the last 20 years the ranked

team has won this series so not good

for the Huskies. 

The Huskies win this game they will be

tied for first place in the Pac-12 north

division which is amazing the way they

have played most of the season.

Last week against Stanford the Huskies

won 20-13. They surprised the Cardinal

with 21 seconds scoring a touchdown

pass in the end zone. The Cardinal were

expecting the Huskies to setup a field goal

to put themselves up by one. The Huskies

had only four field goals on the day.

The Huskies will have to do better than

last week when it comes to offense 

expecting to win. They actually ran the

ball for over 200 yards something missing

most of the season. The problem was 

the Huskies couldn't get into the end zone

when the time was right.

The defense did a good job. Did the best

time against the run with Stanford having

less than a hundred yards in the game. 

Th Cardinal though threw the ball quite

often short which many ways was like

running the ball. Like most teams the

Huskies shut down the long pass. To

beat Oregon they will need to shut down

the passing and running game. 

The best chance for the Huskies is to 

keep the game close. In this rivalry 

you never know though as I said 

history has shown recently the high

ranked team wins. We hope for an

upset. Go Dawgs!

Kraken End Losing Streak

The Seattle Kraken ended their
two game losing streak in a big
way beating the Buffalo Sabres

5-2.

The Sabres are right in the middle

of the Atlantic Division now with

a 5-4-1 record. They have lost 

now three games in a row though.

The Kraken scored the only goal

in the first period. The Sabres 

came back to score two goals 

while the Kraken had one to

make it 2-2 after two periods.

It was a good third period for

the Kraken with three goals. 

The Kraken have had trouble

scoring in the third period well

as giving up goals to so this is

a good sign.

Jordan Eberle was the player

of the game he scored shortly

after the Sabres took a 2-1.

Eberle scored a second goal

within two minutes of the third

period and had a third one as 

well. Eberle is the first Kraken

to have a hat trick. 

The Kraken now go to Arizona

to take on the Coyotes on Saturday

night. They follow by going to 

Vegas once again to take on the

Golden Knights. They were the

team they lost to in their  first

ever in regular season. They lost

on October 12 4-3.

The Kraken now are 4-6-1. 

They are at the bottom of the

Pacific Division but with a win

over the Golden Knights they

would likely move up to the

middle of the division. Go Kraken!

Kikuchi Becomes Free Agent

On Wednesday Yusei Kikuchi decided
to decline his option as well as the one
the Mariners declined.

I guess he decided to go the free agent

route.  He did leave some good money

on the table though, however, I am sure

he didn't want to be where he wasn't

wanted in his mind anyway.

The first half of the season Kikuchi had

a fine season, the reason he made the

all-star team. His last start before the

all-star wasn't good and it was downhill

from there.

Kikuchi certainly has the talent he just

needs his head in the game all the time.

I wonder how hurt he was. 

Whether it was the Pandemic or the short

season of 2020 a lot of Mariners were

injured especially pitchers. Regardless I

think the Mariners need a better medical

program to keep the pitchers more healthy.

At least that is my opinion anyway.

Trades and free agency about to start. At

this point the Mariners will need to fill

two spots in the rotation whether it is

within the organization or going out 

picking up a pitcher.

Tyler Anderson who helped the Mariners

win 90 games will be a free agent as

well. I hope the Mariners find a way to

bring him back. Of course, we can't

forget James Paxton. What his health

is at and what risk to sign him too.

Look forward to the weeks ahead

to see what the Mariners do to improve

the ballclub. Go M's.

Haniger in right field

Mitch Haniger was the primary right
fielder for the Mariners in 2021. This
was after missing most of two seasons.
It was nice to see him healthy all season
long.

What is great about Mitch is he can 

be anywhere in the lineup. Most of the

season he batted second though was

moved to third in the order in September.

Basically he and Ty France switched

spots though Kyle Seager spent some

time batting third as well. 

Mitch was one of the reasons the 

Mariners won 90 games as he led

the team in home runs with 39 and

second in rbi's. 

In 2022 the outfield will likely get

crowded so how much he plays in

right field will be in question. Again

he will spend some time at dh as

he did in 2021. He usually was dh

once a week but could expand to

twice a week in 2022. This will

depend on whether Kyle Lewis

is healthy enough to play and

when Julio Rodriguez makes his

debut for the Mariners. It will be

really interesting if Rodriguez

starts the season in Seattle. The

Mariners will have Kelenic as

well.  

I hope if Lewis does play he is

in left field while Kelenic is in

center. If Rodriguez starts the 

season in Seattle we could see

Haniger twice a week at dh

with Lewis spending time at

dh as well. In that case Julio

would be in left and right field.

Whatever does happen we know

right field will be taken care of

really nicely. 

Now that the World Series is

over Friday should be when

teams are able to start trading.

It will be interesting to see

what Jerry Dipoto comes up

with. Also, next week will be

free agency and whether the

Mariners will sign someone

for the infield or not.  A trade

will give us a better idea what

happens in free agency. 

Who is in Center Field

The 2021 season Taylor Trammell
began in center field because rookie
of the year Kyle Lewis was on the
injured list. Trammell had a good
spring training, however, he couldn't
hit well during the time up with the
Mariners.

When Lewis did return Trammell

moved over to left field until being

sent down because lack of production

at the plate. Lewis ended up playing

in 36 games before being injured

again and going on the injured list

the rest of the season. Had Lewis

been on the team the whole season

the Mariners he most likely had

more home runs as he had 5 home

runs during those 36 games. The

Mariners sputtered at the plate

for the rest of the season although

they won 90 games.

Mariners top prospect Jarred Kelenic

came up when Trammell was having

issues at the plate. He played left

field until Lewis went on the injured

list. He to struggled at the plate early

on hitting under .100 when the 

Mariners sent him back down to 

triple-A for a short period. Though

he struggled for a while after return

he did continue getting better.

September Kelenic had a batting

average of around .250 which gave

him a total of average of .181. He

had a total of 14 home runs in 93

games. Also, Kelenic had 377 plate

appearances so should show him

good going into 2022. A lot of

fans questioned his defense in

center field. I thought he did fine.

The problem was lack communication

with the other outfielders especially

Mitch Haniger who often went after 

balls that should have been for

Kelenic. Though he is a veteran

Haniger should have known better.

The question is who will be in 

center field in 2022. Will Kyle

Lewis be there if he is healthy

enough to start the season or

Kelenic.  I would prefer Kelenic

because of Lewis knees he would

be better in left or right field.

Most likely Lewis will do some

dh as well as Haniger. I would say

at least twice a week for Lewis 

and Haniger at least once. This

would leave dh role to other

players like Luis Torrens. This

will allow other players to rest

from the field as well.

Though the Mariners have depth

in the outfield the question is 

should the Mariners go out and

pick up a center fielder as well.

If so Kelenic move to left field

with an occasion in right field.

The Mariners will have a log jam

though when Julio Rodriguez

joins the team whether out of

spring training or in late April

or in May. 

The Mariners will have five

outfielders at that point who

will need playing time. They

will have  Lewis, Rodriguez,

Kelenic, Haniger and the fifth

guy. This would mean someone

would have to sit at this point

in every game. So would the

Mariners have to trade someone

at that point. I guess we could

say that is a good problem to

have. 

The World Series will end either

Tuesday or Wednesday night. So

trades can start happening like

three days after the World Series

then free agent signings a few 

days later. It will be interesting

to see what trader Jerry Dipoto

will do. In fact Jerry could have

a trade or two already set up 

when day one comes to trade.

Look forward to see. Go M's.

I believe the trading deadline

in the NFL ends on Tuesday

so we will see whether the

Seahawks pick up a player or 

more. If so we will have it

right here. A good time as

the Seahawks have a bye

week as well. Go Hawks!

Seahawks beat Jaguars big time

Going into Sunday's game it was
hard to know how both teams would
play. The Seahawks were favored
by a field goal. Final Seahawks 31
Jaguars 7.

The game might have been the best

one the Seahawks have played all

season long. The Jaguars didn't 

score their touchdown until less

than two minutes remaining. 

Exciting part Travis Homer 

returned the kick off return

after Jaguars touchdown for

a touchdown as well. 

You wonder whether Trevor

Lawrence has an arm left over

after the game. He completed

32 of 54 passes for 238 yards

one touchdown and one interception.

With that many throws it is

amazing Lawrence only had

one interception.

I know the Seahawks haven't had

a strong pass defense but to throw

the ball that many times sounds 

crazy.

Geno Smith had his best day 

throwing the ball. He was almost

perfect completing 20 of 24 passes

for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

DK Metcalf had the two outstanding

touchdowns. He had only six catches

on the day.  The Jaguars had a hard

time keeping up with Tyler Lockett

who had 12 catches for 142 yards.

The only thing they did right was

keeping Lockett out of the end zone.

Oh yes Geno Smith ran in for a td

as well.

The Seahawks ran the ball about as

even as passing as they had 25 attempts.

Alex Collins led the way with 10

carries for 44 yards. Rashaad Penny

carried the ball seven times however

only had seven yards as well. 

The Seahawks have a bye week 

next week before taking on the

Green Bay Packers. Go Hawks!