Nice Win Seahawks!

I have to admit that I did not watch the Seahawks game at all. I was doing a good deed helping my church youth group in selling Christmas trees. Half of the proceeds go the youth group while the other half help feed the hungry around the world so I find it a good cause. My job was to put the trees on the top of the vehicles or in the back in a truck. I did get the chance to hear some of the game while waiting out in the cold weather waiting for another customer to drive in.

I gather from the postgame show that Russell Wilson may have had his best game throwing the ball going 21 out of 30 with over three hundred yards. I know it was exciting because of how the game was going back and forward between the Seahawks and the Steelers. The Seahawks made some very key interceptions when they need to, and it helped that Doug Baldwin has first game ever scoring three touchdowns.

The main thing I did not like to listening to the game on the radio is that Steve Raible makes every play especially the big ones sound like the Seahawks have just scored a touchdown. Some of that is OK but every play is a bit ridiculous. On the other hand I guess he does make it somewhat interesting. Of course, Warren Moon comes on to agree with Raible as well. It is better than being mundane.  

The bad news or at least the tough news was hearing about tight Jimmy Graham being hurt in the fourth quarter and after the game hearing Coach Carroll saying that Graham was having surgery and would be lost for the season. Now it will be interesting to see who the Seahawks bring on board another tight end or receiver. On the receiving end Luke Willson is now the number one tight end target. He seems to continue getting better all the time so it will be nice to see how many catches he will get the rest of the season. We will miss you Graham and see you next season.

It is really nice to see the offense is started to roll even without the service of beast mode. We can hope that the offense will be in high gear when Marshawn Lynch returns hopefully for the playoffs.

I was surprised that the Steelers going into the game was being thought as a passing team. Over so many years the Steelers have been known as a running team like the Seahawks. I am sure down the road the Seahawks maybe known as a passing team as well. I doubt it will be under Peter Carroll but could be whoever replaces him down the road in a few years. The most important thing is that the team continues to win, and we know the defense is the main reason the Seahawks will continue to win.

You could say the rest of the season will be like the playoffs for the Seahawks because for them to get into the playoffs they will need to win almost every game. We can hope that they can be high gear so we can see the Seahawks play in their third Super Bowl in a row. I am not sure about you; however, I love to be spoiled by the Seahawks. Keep going guys.

Huskies Beat Up on Cougars

The University of Washington Huskies beat up on their in-state rival Washington State Cougars on black Friday in the Apple Cup 45-10. With the win the Huskies are now eligible for a bowl game. Likely it will not be a big time bowl; however, a bowl game is a bowl game and so it gives experience to the up and coming young Huskies.

I knew going into the Apple Cup the Huskies had a good chance in upsetting the Cougars when I heard that starting quarterback Luke Falk was not going to play because of a concussion in which he suffered in two straight games. Being a rival game anything goes especially when one of the top quarterbacks in the country is not playing.

Throughout the week I heard smack from Cougar students and alumni who thought they were a great team and take down the Huskies. In my mind the reason the Cougars had eight wins was because of Falk. He was one of those quarterbacks who only come around once every decade or so especially for a team like the Cougars. The Cougars have had good really quarterbacks over the years but only a couple that would be in the same category like Bledsoe. If the Cougars had an average quarterback or maybe a little better than average they may have only had six wins at maximum and more likely four wins. Falk made the players around him a lot better than they actually are.

I hope that Falk will be ready for the bowl game they end up going to. He will have about a month to get ready for a bowl game so he should be playing. We can only hope so because like I say only a quarterback like him comes to this area only so often. Though I am a Husky fan I hope that Falk recovers from the concussions that we do not see that in his future. I love to see him in action with the Cougars for the next two years, and beyond in the NFL. Bender who started for the Cougars looks like he is a good quarterback though he had a bad Apple Cup. I am sure he would start for many programs around the country, and who knows he could end up in the NFL as well. At least the Cougars have a capable backup. When you look at the Huskies quarterback situation neither of their backups are even close to Bender. It is no wonder that Jake Browning started this season as a true freshman. He has a promising college career ahead of him, and we hope though the Huskies can bring in a good capable backup next season.

With so many freshmen and sophomores that got in a lot of game experience this season the Huskies look like they are on a good run for several years. I hope that the Cougars almost match that so the Apple Cup would have great meaning every year. It would be really nice if the winner of the Apple Cup could represent the Northern Division in the Pac-12 championship. Not only that but maybe they could make the NCAA playoff once every four years or so. One thing we know for sure is that really good college football is coming back to this state. So whatever bowl games the Huskies and Cougars are in Go Teams!

Mariners Have a Busy Monday

The Seattle Mariners hired two coaches and signed a catcher to make it a busy first day of the week. Of course, this will be a short week because of Thanksgiving; however, the Mariners general manager could be busy right up to eating dinner on Thursday.

On Monday the Mariners announced they added former Mariner pitcher Mike Hampton as bullpen coach. I find it nice that the Mariners hired someone that the general manager is familiar with since Hampton was a pitching coach in the Angel’s minor league organization and he has a lot of pitching experience having a sixteen year career in the major leagues beginning with the Mariners. He pitched one year for the Mariners when he was traded to the Houston Astros for Eric Anthony in another terrible trade by the Mariners. Now after all these years he is back to the Mariners as bullpen coach. In a way it is a nice advantage because now the Mariners now have two pitching coaches in a way having already signed Mel Stottlemyre Jr as pitching coach. Stottlemyre is son of former Yankee great and Mariner pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Sr. Mel Jr wanted to be closer to his father who is battling cancer and he formerly was with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Also, the Mariners signed Chris Iannetta to a one year contract with an option for a second year. He was the starting catcher for the Angel’s last season so Dipoto is familiar with him and he had a disappointing 2015 season so the Mariners hope he can recover this coming season along with returning catcher Mike Zunino who was sent down to triple A Tacoma at the end of August and never returned when players were able to be called up in September. The signing of Iannetta allows the Mariners to have a veteran catcher and to allow Zunino to take his time to recover. How Zunino position works depends on how he does in spring training. It is possible that he could start the season in triple A. This allows the Mariners to have a veteran catcher who has major league starting catching experience instead of backups like the last two years who were disappointments as well. Yes I consider this an upgrade at the catching position for now.

The next work for the Mariners will be for the Mariners to acquire another outfielder with some athleticism and speed to play in right field. Most likely he will share time with Nelson Cruz in right field along with designated. Also, if this outfielder can play some centerfield to give new acquired centerfielder Leonys Martin from the Texas Rangers only a few days earlier some rest along with Cruz not having to play in the outfield every day.

I am sure we will see some work with the Mariners when it comes to improving their bullpen as well in the weeks ahead. So far it has been a good job by Dipoto improving the Mariners. Like we will say things are not completed yet. Go Mariners!

Seahawks Take on 49ers Again

The Seahawk Seahawks take on the San Francisco 49ers once again. This game is even more important than the first game the Seahawks faced the 49ers.

If the Seahawks really have any chance to make the playoffs they have to beat the 49ers. If the Seahawks lose this game today basically the season is over. The Seahawks would go to a record of 4-6 and they would have to win all the remaining games to make the playoffs. In an odd way they could lose two games and make the playoffs; however, the road back to the Super Bowl would be very difficult.

This week the 49ers look like a different time they had the first time the Seahawks met them. First of all quarterback Colin Kaepernick was benched and now is out for the season. He is now replaced by Blaine Gabbert who I am sure many of the Seahawk fans have not before or at least for a while unless they have watched a 49er game since the last game the Seahawks have played them.  

What we can hope from the Seahawks is that they look more like the team the last three years than the one we have seen most of this season. The defense has played steady most of the time except giving up big plays in the fourth quarter. We can hope the offense can run a game plan where the Seahawks get a lot of first down especially after being in on a third down. So far the Seahawks have been terrible on third downs especially on the opposition side of the field.  The Seahawks put the defense in a position where they have to be on the filed longer than they really should. We can hope that Marshawn Lynch can be healthy and run the ball well in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks will need to run the ball more than pass the ball like they did last week against the Arizona Cardinals.

In other local football in the college ranks the University of Washington Huskies beat up on the hapless Oregon Beavers Saturday night 52-7. I came home in about the middle of the first quarter after going to a funeral. I thought the Huskies would be ahead; however, I was surprised they were leading 14-0 and then scored two more touchdowns including a punt return to end the first quarter at 28-0 which turned out a team record against any Pac-12 team before. The Huskies went on to lead at half time 48-0.

The Huskies being good sports ran twenty-two running plays in completing the game. In fact they ran the ball on the final time of the game with a fourth down. They were in a position they could have kicked a field goal; however, being good sports they let the Beavers have the ball to run out the clock. I have seen many teams run up the score on the opposition that does not match up with them. In this case the Huskies not only showed good sportsmanship they allowed their back up players to play a good amount of the second half.  

The Washington State Cougars who have had a really good season and will play in a bowl game beat Colorado 27-3; however, they lost their starting quarterback Luke Falk in the third. It is hard to know right now if he will be able to face the Washington Huskies this coming Friday afternoon in the Apple Cup. This game will be more important to the Huskies than the Cougars since the have a record of 5-6 going into the game and must win to make sure they are bowl eligible. The Cougars will want to win the Apple Cup not only for bragging rights but put themselves in a higher bowl game.

Being a Husky fan though I have mixed emotions about it I prefer that Falk does play in the Apple Cup. The main reason is that I want the Huskies to win against the best Cougar team instead of one that might not be as good. In my mind the Cougars are the best with Falk and not much without him. We will see one way or another on Friday.

Anyway enjoy the Seahawks today and the Apple Cup on Friday. We can only hope things will come up good in both games. Oh yes have a great Thanksgiving

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.

Mariners Sign Frankie for I yr

This is the third time I am writing about Frankie Gutierrez on my blogs. I know I could have written him even more times than this since he is one of my favorite ballplayers on the Mariners along with many other fans.

I really did hope like most that Jerry Dipoto and the Mariners would resign Gutierrez to another contract. He had an outstanding second half of the season with the Mariners primarily playing left field against left handed pitchers.

How many hitters batted .295 with 15 home runs and 35 runs batted in a limited role in 59 games. He had total plate appearances of 189 and is home runs averaged every 12.76. So you see if he had twice as many appearances 378 he would have had 30 home runs and be second on the Mariners team in home runs to Nelson Cruz.

I am sure we wouldn’t see those numbers next year for the Mariners; however, he can play in one hundred games for the Mariners that would be very nice. We can only hope that Frankie can keep healthy enough to play in a hundred games to share either left or right field with Seth Smith. I am sure we won’t see him in center field again; however, whatever accomplishment he can do for the Mariners it will be great for the team.

Now the Mariners need to do is go out and get at least a center fielder plus a right fielder. I am sure we will see Nelson Cruz occasionally in right field; however, the plus for the Mariners will be for him to play more at designated hitter this coming season.

There are several outfielders the Mariners are looking into acquiring in trade or free agency. Most likely they will through a trade instead of free agency. I am sure we will see this take place in the next few days or weeks.

In other local sports news the University of Washington Men’s basketball team starts playing Friday night against the Texas Longhorns. At this point it is hard to say how good the team will be since they have seven freshmen on the roster and Andrew Andrews is the only senior who is returning to start.

The Seahawks may have cornerback Jeremy Lane and receiver Paul Richardson back on the roster this coming Sunday again the Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks certainly could use both of them in the lineup on special teams and backups.

We can really hope the Seahawks will have a much better second half of the season otherwise they won’t make the playoffs. On the bright side the Seahawks always play better in the second half of the season under Carroll.

So let’s go Seahawks and Mariners!

Mariners Sign Third Base Coach

On Tuesday November 10 the Seattle Mariners officially signed third base coach Manny Acta.

I don’t have much familiarity with Acta though I do know that he managed the Washington Nationals and the Cleveland Indians along with being a third base coach before that. Also, I know that general manager Dipoto has worked with him along with Scott Servais. In fact Servais and Acta played and coached together before so very familiar with each other.

I read that President and general manager Daniels of the Texas Rangers said that the Mariners are already an improved team because of discipline that Dipoto and Servais bring over to the Mariners and I am sure that Acta fits right in with their thinking and doing things as well. The major improvement the Mariners need to make over last season is running the bases. The team was very bad at it including several blunders by veteran infielder Robinson Cano who even walked off the bases a couple times without knowing how many outs were at the time. We would expect that out of rookies; however, several veterans besides Cano did the same thing. I am sure the time Servais spends speaking with Cano and Nelson Cruz during his trip to the Dominican Republic will be talking to set an example to the younger players by not making so many mental errors. I am sure Cano had some errors because of his injuries last year but it does not excuse those mental errors. I am sure we will see a better Cano the first half of the season next year like he had the second half of this last season. Also, the Mariners need to see a better first half out of Kyle Seager as well along with Mark Trumbo.

I believe the discipline that we hope to find during spring training will allow the Mariners to start off well in April. Over the last several years the Mariners have started out poorly to say the least in April. This will need to work for the pitchers as well. They need to come out of spring training as good fighting machine. If the Mariners can have a .500 record or a little over in April it certainly will be an improvement what they have had these last few years.

Along with better decisions running the bases we hope to have more aggressive running as well like more first to third, and getting home from third too. I see a major discipline is for the batters to improve on hitting with runners in scoring position and getting runs home from third with at least a sacrifice fly. Another improvement the Mariners need to do so this can be accomplished is to have fewer strike outs by the batters especially those in the bottom of the batting order.

I am sorry Chris Woodward who did a fine job as first base and infielder coach did not decide to return to the Mariners. I hope the Mariners will find some place to use him in the organization. He did a great job with the young infielders and Kyle Seager. We can only hope that the Mariners can find a veteran coach who has worked with infielders. One possibility would be to promote Tacoma Rainier Manager Pat Listach who is a former major league coach and infielder. Also the Mariners will be looking to add a bullpen coach to the mix as well. It would be nice to find someone who is familiar to the Mariners or at the very least has worked with Servais as well.

This week is the General Manager meetings and we hope that Jerry Dipoto can pull of another trade or transaction. I am sure he is looking to add an athletic outfielder to the mix to either play one of the corner positions or center field. The Mariners could use one that has some power along with being athletic; however, there is not many of them out there without costing an arm and a leg. Most likely the Mariners will get an outfielder who can hit with speed.

It will be interesting to see what follows in the next several weeks when it comes to improve the roster. I would not be surprised that the Mariners will have a large turnover especially in the bullpen. I hope the Mariners will have one of the corner outfield positions being shared by Seth Smith and Franklin Gutierrez. Of course, they have to resign Gutierrez since he is a free agent. So Dipoto give us a surprise or to this roster. Go Mariners!