Russell Wilson and the Pro Bowl

I am not sure how many fans are interested
in the Pro Bowl. As a player it is an hour to
be chosen whether you play or not.

I haven't watched many of the Pro Bowl's 

over the years. Most of the time I don't

even think about the game. The Pro Bowl

really isn't played like a regular football

game. It is all about how many points each

side can score.

Anyway, Russell Wilson was named too the

Pro Bowl to take Tom Brady's spot.

I am sure a lot of talk will still be whether

Wilson be back as the Seahawks qb in 2022.

We do know he has a no trade clause as well.

So, stay tuned and if you desire see Wilson

in the pro bowl. 

Huskie Win and more

The Washington Huskies beat Utah
Saturday afternoon at home, however,
it took two overtimes to do so.

The final was Washington 77 Utah 73

The Huskies are tied for 4th with

Oregon in the Pac-12. If they continue

on they may actually make the Pac-12

tournament which is a big surprise. 

Terrell Brown Jr Huskies and Pac-12

leading scorer had 30 points. He was

the reason the Huskies won having the

ball in his hands most of the time.

This was Utah's 10th straight loss though

they didn't play that way. Shows how

the Huskies played because in the past

they may have lost to a team on a long

losing streak.

The Washington State Cougars take on

Colorado at home on Sunday. They have

a 4-3 Pac-12 record. They had several

games cancelled because of covid. Those

games should be made up depending on

how the season goes. 

The Seattle Kraken were scheduled to

play the Islanders in New York, however,

the game was postponed because of a lot

of snow. The game is expected to be made

up on this coming Wednesday. They are

expected to play Sunday against the Rangers.

Have to see how it goes since New York

had more snow.

Still not sure whether the Mariners or major

league baseball will start spring training on

time or not. I really hope they iron things

out. Both sides should not be so selfish to

forget the fans that allow them to do well

in the first place.

The Seahawks as far as I know still haven't

named their defensive coordinator yet. It

is possible they are waiting for this weekend

of the playoffs be over. There will be a one

week break before the Super Bowl. 

Mariner Starting Pitching

We should be excited about the starting

pitching for the Seattle Mariners going
into the 2022 season.

Robbie Ray: The Seattle Mariners signed

just before the lockout as a free agency.

The 2021 Cy Young award winner will

be the Mariners ace. Ray was 13-7 with

Toronto with an era of 2.84 in 32 games.

He struck out 248 batters in 193 and 1/3

innings.  The Mariners had to replace

Yusei Kikuchi in the rotation and not a

better pitcher to do so. Like Kikuchi he

is a lefty as well.

Marco Gonzales: Another lefty will

probably start the season as the Mariners

number two starter. In 2021 he had a 

poor start 1-3 in April then missed the

month of May because of injury. In

June Marco had another mediocre

month pitching four games with a

0-1 record and an era of 4.66. In 

July another bad month though did

have a record of 2-1 in four starts

with an era of 6.41. August, we saw

the Marco of old where he had a

record of 3-0 with an era of 1.58 in

six starts. In September with the

Mariners looking toward the playoffs

possibility Marco had a record of 4-0

with an era of 3.90. Had one start in

October where the Mariners lost. 

In all Marco had a record of 10-6

with an era of 3.96. If we can see

a healthy Marco in 2022 should be

good for the Mariners.

Logan Gilbert: Former first round

pick in his rookie season. May end

up the second-best pitcher in the 

rotation by the end of the season. 

Depending on how the Mariners

decide how the rotation goes Gilbert

could pitch after Ray. Gilbert came

up in the middle of May. Along with

August they his worst two months.

If we see the pitcher of June, July

and September it will a very good

Gilbert we see. As you know rookies

do have their growing pains. I see

him being the Mariner second best

pitcher of the season.

Chris Flexen: He was the Mariners

best pitcher for the season after 

coming over from Korea in 2021.

The Mariners signed him as a free

agent after the season he had in

2020 in Korea. Flexen was durable

without missing a start for the 2021

season. Flexen had 31 starts with

a record of 14-6 and era of 3.61.

If Flexen even comes close to that

record again in 2022 the Mariners

should make the playoffs especially

if they have a better offensive team.

The Mariners should be going with

a five-man rotation. Hard to know

whether they will pick up another

starter or not. At this point candidates

are Matt Brash right-handed pitcher 

the Mariners picked up in a trade at

deadline in 2020 for reliever Taylor

Williams who was the teams closer

at the time. Brash began the season

at high level-A then made it up to

double-A Arkansas. Had the Mariners

not trying to make the playoffs Brash

may have pitched for them in September.

The Mariners are hoping he will be

the teams fifth starter. Other possibilities

are Justus Sheffield, Justin Dunn who 

both missed time with injuries along with

having poor seasons, and lefty Nick

Margevicius who was injured late April

and missed the rest of the season. Nick

started the season in the bullpen when

Dunn beat him out for the sixth spot. 

Nick had three starts after taking over

for James Paxton after he was injured

in his first start of the season. 

Next up when tackling the Mariners

will be the bullpen. The reason the

Mariners had a successful 2021 season.

They could even be better this season.

Go M's. 

Huskies and Kraken Win

The Washington  Huskies  beat Colorado 

Buffaloes at home Thursday night 60-58.

Colorado  led by one at half time but the 

Huskies were able to  hold on to win. This 

was after being blown out by Oregon last

weekend.

Terrell  Brown  Jr continues to lead in

scoring having 26 points. Emmitt  Mathews 

Jr had 15 points.  He led the Huskies with 

11 rebounds as well.

The Huskies  need to  get more scoring out 

of the other players as they combined for 

19 points. The Huskies are tied with Oregon 

in 5th place in Pac-12 conference at 5-3.

The Ducks lost to Colorado on Tuesday 82-78.

The UCLA  Bruins are on top of  conference 

beating  Arizona 75-59 on Tuesday. They followed 

beating California 81-57 Thursday and play 

Stanford on Saturday.

The Seattle Kraken beat Pittsburgh Penguins 

2-1 in overtime.  Neither teams scored the first 

two periods before getting  a  goal each in the

third period.  The Kraken began a four game 

road trip. They face the  New York  Islanders

on Saturday followed by the NY Rangers on

Sundays.  The road trip  ends Tuesday night

against the Bruins in Boston. Next home game

next Wednesday  against  Arizona  Coyotes.

 Go Kraken!

Mariners Catching

As major league baseball and the players union
are still negotiating which is a good sign anyway
we will look at the Mariners catching position.

I expect Cal Raleigh will be the everyday catcher.

The backup catcher will be either Tom Murphy

or Luis Torrens who will play elsewhere as well.

We hope like Kelenic Raleigh will have a good second

season after getting used to the majors.

Coming into spring training he will have more

knowledge of the pitchers along with the opposing

hitters so his offense should pick up.

At this point Tom Murphy would be the backup

going in against left-handed pitchers how Raleigh

is doing. There is a possibility the Mariners may

trade either Murphy or Torrens. 

Offensively catcher was the weakest spot last

season on the roster. It would be nice if Murphy

or Torrens could pick up their offense along 

with better defense as well. At this point Raleigh

is the best defensive catcher as well.

The Mariners could look at picking up someone

else to backup Raleigh too. The Mariners have

to give Raleigh the chance to see if he is the

catcher for the long term or not.  

Next time up on the Mariners will look at

the starting pitching.  In the weeks ahead

especially if spring training does start on 

time or even not I will look at individual

players.  Go M's. 

Huskies Land LB

The Washington  Huskies  needed

to get a linebacker with  experience 

after a  couple  of transfers. I expect

they will look for recruits to add on.

The Huskies  have now transfer 

Cameron Bright who comes over

from University of Pittsburgh. 

Bright played four years at Pittsburgh 

and was a captain. We will learn 

more about him. 

I hope he is good  at stopping the

run where the Huskies have lacked

the last several years. 

Kraken Win Huskies Lose

The Seattle Kraken have now won four
out of their last five games after losing
nine straight. On Sunday they beat the
Florida Panthers the team with the best
record in the NHL 5-3 on the Kraken's
home ice. We hope this leads to having
a good season.

The Panthers scored in the first period

which had been the Kraken's downfall

all season having to find a way to get

back into the game. The second period

the Kraken scored three goals while

the Panthers had two. Third period

which has been the Kraken's downfall

as well they actually shut out the Panthers

2-0. Way to go Kraken.

The Huskies who have had trouble with

the Ducks since Mike Hopkins became

head coach lost again this time 84-56.

Hopkins still wasn't on the side lines

because of Covid. He may be back when

the Huskies return home on Thursday.

The Huskies had a terrible first half

scoring only 13 points while the Ducks

had their way going for 48 points. The

Huskies did have a good second half

scoring 43 points but as you can imagine

not enough to overcome a disaster first

half.

Terrell Brown Jr led the Huskies in

scoring with 14. Way below his high

average and Emmitt Mathews Jr who

is putting in a good season for Washington

had 12 points.

The Huskies play Colorado at home on

Thursday who they lost on the road earlier

in January followed Utah who they beat.

News came out Aaron Dumas running

back at New Mexico State is transferring

to Washington. Dumas had a big game

against Fresno State during the 2021 season

though they lost. Huskies head coach Kalen

DeBoer obviously didn't forget at Dumas.

The Huskies are looking Dumas to bring

experience to the running game and he

was three years of eligibility as well. Now

see if he can run against Pac-12 teams. 

Go Dawgs!