Crazy Week for Seattle Sports Scene
Mariners, Sounders and Seahawks take time off to show support for Black Lives Matter
Teams Playing for Real
I would be remiss if I didn’t start this week’s update by talking about the role the Seattle teams played in the strike/boycott/protests this week. The Mariners were one of the first teams to decide they would not play their scheduled game against the Padres on Wednesday. The Mariners have the most black players on a MLB roster with 7 on the active roster and 10 on the 40-man roster. The team hasn’t spoken much since boycotting the game, but it was cool to see them wear Jackie Robinson’s #42 all weekend and one would expect them to continue being leaders in this area for MLB. The Sounders also decided not to play on Wednesday and have been very vocal on social media about their concern about what is going on in the world today. I would recommend checking out posts made by Adrian Hanauer, Stephen Frei, Cristian Roldan and Jordan Morris. The Seahawks decided to cancel practice on Saturday with Pete Carroll giving a rousing speech on what he believes needs to change. The speech is a real eye opener and should be listened to by people from all backgrounds (it can be found at the Seahawks Web site: https://www.seahawks.com/)
To see many of our teams take a leadership role in such a controversial, but important topic is cool to see. The real key will be to see these teams continue to push the envelope and make sure momentum isn’t lost. This can’t only be an issue when another innocent person dies; change needs to be implemented before that happens and our sports teams can play a role in helping that take place. They are off to a good start — hopefully it continues until we see the necessary changes made to how the police are trained and interact with black citizens.
Mariners
A strange week indeed for our baseball team as they went 3–3 despite being outscored 30–36 in a week that included the Mariners going on a one-game strike in support of promoting change after the death of Jacob Blake at the hands of police. The week saw the Mariners take 2 of 3 from the NL Wild Card leading Padres and then, having won 5 of its last 6, roll into the AL West cellar dwelling Angels to obviously lose 2 of 3 games.
- Hitting
Young teams are inconsistent; and that has been the story of the Mariners offense this season. The Mariners scored 23 runs in 3 games against the Padres, who have the 6th best ERA and 4th best WHIP in the NL and following it up by scoring only 7 runs against an Angels pitching staff that has the 12th worst ERA and 13th worst WHIP in the AL. Losing Evan White early in the week hurt as he was starting to swing a hot bat and it was great to see J.P. Crawford have a bounce back week after hitting only .160 with a .192 OBP the previous two weeks. However, Kyle Lewis and Kyle Seager really struggled this week after carrying the offense most of the season. Would be great to see some more consistency from the young guys to close out the last few weeks of the season.
- Pitching
Have I said the Mariners are inconsistent…? after strong performances last week Troy Williams and Justus Sheffield really struggled this week, but the team saw Justin Dunn and Nick Margevicius bounce back with strong performances. The bullpen, however, continues to be consistent; unfortunately it is consistently bad. Williams couldn’t close out a 7–3 game against the Padres, which would have given the Mariners 5 wins in a row; and then in the second game of the series against the Angels Aaron Fletcher and Zac Grotz each gave up 4 runs in just one inning while utility fielder Tim Lopes pitched the final inning giving up only 2 runs. The big thing to watch for the remainder of the season is how the young rotation comes together and grows — to give some hope for the 2021 season; and then pray Dipoto can find a bullpen arm or two in free agency.
Top players of the week:
- Position Player: J.P. Crawford: .381 BA, .458 OBP, 3 BBs, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, 6 RS
Nice to see Crawford bounce back after a few tough weeks in a row. Crawford also brought strong defense up the middle, so hard to argue against him being the best position player this week.
- Pitcher: Justin Dunn: 6 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 6 Ks, 4 BBs
Also, nice to see Dunn bounce back after a few tough starts. He is still walking too many batters but is also getting a lot of ground ball outs and nice to see 6 strikeouts. Let’s hope he can put together a few good starts in a row and build some momentum for the 2021 season.
Worst players of the week:
- Position Player: Kyle Seager 4–22, .217 OBP, 1 BB, 3 RBI, 3 RS, 6 K, 2 0-hit games
Seager has been a stalwart in the lineup all season, but really struggled this week, which happens in baseball. Not the best week for it to occur considering the trade deadline is Monday.
- Pitcher: Troy Williams: 1–1, 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 2 WP, 2 K, 5R, 5ER, 26.95 ERA
The top pitcher of the week is quickly becoming a jinx as every pitcher has followed it up with the worst pitcher of the week — and done so with really ugly numbers. Williams came on to close out the second game of the Padres series with a 7–3 lead, got the first two hitters out and then struggled to find the strike zone. Williams’ up-and-down season is representative of how this young Mariner team has performed all season long.
Transactions
· Traded DH Daniel Vogelbach to the Toronto Blue Jays for Player to be Named (shocking anyone thought enough of a guy barely hitting .100 to trade for him)
· Transferred LHP Taylor Guilbeau from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL (extremely disappointing as this means an end to the season of one of the only reliable bullpen arms)
· Transferred RHP Carl Edwards from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL (disappointing as he was pitching well and looking like a good trade bait piece, but is now done for the season)
· Recalled RHP Zac Grotz (a Mariner bullpen arm so nothing to be excited about here)
· Traded RHP Taijuan Walker to the Toronto Blue Jays for Player to be Named (Most disappointing move of the season; Walker had been resilient in his return from injuries and looked like he could have been a lead arm had the M’s signed hi to a longer-term deal. Need the TBD player to add value)
· Recalled 1B/OF Jose Marmolejos (hard to get excited about a 27-year-old career minor leaguer who wasn’t hitting .200 during his first stint at the big-league level this year)
· Placed RHP Matt Magill on 10-day IL (Magill has struggled since a strong start…. hopefully this shoulder strain is why)
· Transferred RHP Matt Magill from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL (Magill started off hot, but struggled late…. likely we have seen Magill in a M’s uniform for the last time)
· Optioned OF Braden Bishop and called up RHP Seth Frankoff (Bishop hasn’t shown he is ready for the majors in multiple callups, but how can you be excited about anyone in the bullpen the M’s call up?)
· Optioned RHP Zac Grotz and called up C Joe Hudson (sent down a bad relief pitcher to bring up a third catcher — who cares?)
Sounders
The Sounders were supposed to play 2 games this week but held a one-game strike on Wednesday so did not play at the Galaxy. Many of the players and coached voiced their feelings on social media and I would suggest checking out what Adrian Hanauer, Jordan Morris and Stephen Frei had to say — as it should make fans of the team proud.
The Sounders decided to play their game on Sunday against LAFC — marking the team’s first match at Century Link Field since March 7.
The Sounders got off to their typical slow start with Frei having to make a few good saves to keep the match tied early. Then against the run of play off a deflected pass Raul Ruidiaz struck one of the most majestic left-foot volley’s from about 25 yards out. I don’t think anyone of the field was expecting him to strike the ball and LAFC was simply stunned to be down 1–0.
Unfortunately, near the end of the first half Ruidiaz injured his left foot and was forced out of the match at halftime. With an extremely truncated schedule, thanks to Covid causing so many delayed games, even a minor injury could cause Ruidiaz to miss multiple games; and if Ruidiaz is forced out of multiple games it would be a major blow to the Sounders. If you don’t believe me check out the three goals he has scored in the past two games.
Jordan Morris didn’t take long to assure Sounder fans the team would still be able to put the ball in the back of the net without Ruidiaz. In the 48th minute, Loderio floated a perfect ball over the top of the last LAFC defender that Morris beat LAFC goalie Kenneth Vermeer to; dribbling around him just outside the penalty box and then knocking the ball into an empty net to put the Sounders ahead 2–0.
Less than two minutes later the Sounders broke out on a counter-attack, with Bruin flicking a ball onto Juao Paolo who played a perfect cross from the right-wing to an unmarked Morris who struck the ball with one-touch into the right upper V to put the Sounders ahead 3–0.
LAFC was able to get one back in the 60th minute with some sloppy marking by the Sounders. Frei made a few more strong saves in the final 10 minutes to keep the match a 2-score game.
The Sounders defense has looked much stronger since returning to MLS play from the MLS is Back Tournament — tied a lot to the strong play of centerbacks, Yeimar Gomez Andrade and Shane O’Neill. O’Neill has been the surprise as he was brought in for depth, but has been a stabilizing force with the young Xavier Arreaga struggling mightily during the start of the season and the MLS is back tournament. The Sounders have big expectations for Arreaga so it will be interesting to see how Schmetzer handles the situation. Schmetzer has traditionally shown he will play the hot hand regardless of how much money a player is making.
The win put the Sounders firmly in second place; just 2 points behind Kansas City FC with one less game played.
This week the Sounders will travel to play 5th place Real Salt Lake and then return home to play the Portland Timbers who will be looking for revenge after losing to the Sounders at home last week.
Teams Waiting to Play for Real
Seahawks
· After injuries to WRs Phillip Dorsett and John Ursua the team decided to bring back WR Paul Richardson. After 4 average seasons in Seattle the Washington Football Team signed Richardson to a big contract (5 yrs. $40M) prior to the 2018. After two injury plagued seasons the Washington Football Team decided to move on from Richardson. Richardson brings speed and size to the receiving core, but his injury history and performance make his return something difficult to get too excited about.
· Jacksonville Jaguars traded DE Yannick Ngakoue to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2021 second round draft pick and a 2022 fifth round conditional pick that could become a third-round pick based on performance. This removes another big pass rusher off the list of players the Seahawks were supposedly pursuing. It is unclear if Ngakoue would have played for the Seahawks under the current terms of his contract (he is expected to sign a new deal with the Vikings), but the low price paid by the Vikings makes it quite disappointing he didn’t end up a Seahawk. The Seahawks current defensive line lacks a game breaking pass rusher, which Ngakoue undoubtedly is. The only real viable option now is Jadeveon Clowney who remains unsigned, however, many consider Ngakoue more of a pass-rushing threat and it also remains unclear how motivated Clowney would be if the Seahawks brought him back at a much lower value than Clowney believes he deserves.
Husky Football
· Even with no games scheduled the Pac-12 found themselves with 2 teams in the AP Top 25 (Oregon #9 and USC #17)
· Second team All-Pac-12 LB Joe Tryon announced he will be foregoing his final 2 years of eligibility and will enter the 2021 NFL Draft. Tryon is currently the 40th ranked prospect according to ESPN and was expected to be a top defender for the Huskies after recording 41 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 8 sacks. This is the first major fallout to the program related to the Pac-12 delaying the start of the 2020 season.
· 6’6” 246 lbs. 2-star TE Jack Yary committed as a 2021 recruit. He joins fellow 4-star TE Mark Redmond from the 2020 class. The Huskies appear to be loaded at TE, which is interesting considering it hasn’t been a position the team has really utilized since Chris Petersen took over the reigns in 2014. Hopefully Jimmy Lake and new offensive coordinator John Donovan will do a better job of exploiting the skill at TE.
· Arizona Cardinals resign former Husky S Budda Baker making him reportedly the top paid safety in the NFL. The contract is being reported at 4-years $59M with a $10M signing bonus and $33M in guaranteed money. This could also impact the Seahawks as undoubtedly Jamal Adams will eventually expect to be the highest paid S.
Cougar Football
· In a surprising change, Senior Safety/Cornerback and team INT leader, Skyler Thomas removed his name from the transfer portal. Good news for a Cougar defense that lost a lot of depth. Hopefully, we get to see Thomas in the Spring and Fall of 2021.
· Former All-Pac-12 OL Andre Dillard tore his bicep in Philadelphia Eagle Training Camp and will miss the entire season. Dillard was expected to be a top lineman for the Eagles this season; and hopefully this type of injury in his second season isn’t too big of a setback.
· 6’3 3-star WR Joseph Manjack committed as a 2021 recruit. Manjack isn’t known for his speed, but 69 receptions for 1,246 yards and 15 TDs last season. Impressive numbers that should have Coug fans excited to see him in the spread offense.
Husky and Cougar Basketball
· Former University of Arizona Hall of Fame Basketball coach, Lute Olsen, passed away at age 85. Olsen was 780–280 over 35 seasons of coaching at Long Beach St., Iowa and Arizona. His most success came at Arizona where he was 589–187 where he made it to the NCAA tournament 24 times, Final Four twice, Championship game twice and won one National Championship. Olsen was able to come in and turn around a haphazard program and the program has never really been the same since his departure.
