Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 212
Being outscored by your opponents for the season, starting pitching’s lack of quality starts, and too much reliance on the bullpen were the reasons I was prepared to list why the Mariners' quick start can’t last. Then the series with the Houston Astros happened and it has changed the way I look at this team. I’m still not prepared to say they can win their division but after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers last night 4-3 the Mariners have gone 6-2 in their last eight games and are now in first place in the American League West. Before this...
The Mariners have started off the season going 5-4 through the first nine games. They have won series against the San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins. They lost a series to the Chicago White Sox, a team that several baseball analysts are picking to win the central division this year. An odd scheduling quirk has the Mariners playing their first American League West team on April 16. Most teams have already played teams within their division by this point in the season. Also, the Mariner’s schedule is backloaded, with twenty-five of the t...
After defeating UCLA in dramatic fashion in overtime to win 93-90, the #1 seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs advanced to the championship game against #1 seeded Baylor Bears. For Gonzaga, it was a chance to be the first undefeated basketball team since Indiana in forty-five years. For Baylor, it was the team’s first finals appearances in team history. Baylor won the jump ball, and on their opening possession, Mark Vital missed his first two shots but grabbed the offensive rebound on both before Davion Mitchell hit a jump shot for the first points of the g...
The PAC-12 continued its dominance this week in the NCAA tournament, with three teams advancing to the Elite Eight. USC, UCLA, and Oregon State each won their third games of the tournament. Only Oregon failed to advance, losing to USC 82-68. A great start allowed USC to get out to a big lead at the half 41-26. It was a lead that Oregon would cut to 69-60 in the second half but could get no closer. Normally a great three-point shooting team, the Ducks had a down day shooting 5-21, good for only 23.8%. USC made five more three-pointers, 10-17 for...
It is often difficult to determine how strong a conference is going into the national tournament. This year was especially difficult, with most teams limited to games inside their own conference. Based on the results so far, the PAC-12 conference was certainly underrated and under seeded for the tournament. Four of the five PAC-12 teams have advanced to the sweet sixteen-round. USC, Oregon, UCLA, and Oregon State. Overall, the PAC-12 is 9-1 in the NCAA tournament, with the only loss the Colorado Buffaloes dropping their second-round matchup...
Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, Oregon, and Oregon State were all selected to the NCAA Division I tournament this year. Due to COVID-19, the entire tournament will be played in Indiana across multiple locations in the state. If a team chooses not to participate or has an outbreak, there is a 48-hour window to name another team to take its place. Once the tournament begins, there will not be any replacements, and if any team cannot play for medical reasons, they will forfeit the game, and their opponent will advance to the next round. As long as...
Rumors have continued to swirl around whether or not Russell Wilson will be traded this offseason. One of the teams on Wilson’s trade list, the Dallas Cowboys, has just signed Dak Prescott to a four-year $160 million extension with a full no-trade clause. Unless both Wilson and Prescott agree to switch teams, the number of trade partners is down to the New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, and the Las Vegas Raiders. Let’s start with the Saints. From Russell Wilson’s standpoint, it’s easy to see the attraction here. The Saints are a great team, a...
The Mariners have signed free agent pitcher James Paxton to a one-year $8.5 million contract with bonuses that could push that up to a total of $10 million. The incentives are based on the number of starts that James Paxton makes in the upcoming season. He could receive up to an additional $750,000 should he start in a total of ten games and add up to another $750,000 should he start twenty-two games. Paxton slots into the top spot in the rotation and gives the Mariners something they haven't...
Mariners team President/CEO Kevin Mather resigned this Monday over comments he made during a Bellevue breakfast rotary club meeting on February 5th. Before today I couldn't have told you his name or the name of any other Major League Baseball President except for Randy Levine of the Yankees. The only reason Levine is known to me is from headlines he made a few years ago for belittling a player who lost a salary arbitration case against the Yankees. Baseball managers, general managers, and the...
Russell Wilson made news this week for comments he made on The Dan Patrick Show. He suggested he was getting sacked too often and implying the problem is with his offensive line. Wilson said, "I think that sometimes you hold onto it a little bit just because you're looking for that play and you find it, but also so many of those times it turns into touchdowns too. But you never want to be sacked that many times. Four hundred times basically is way too many - four hundred too many. So, I think th...
Mariners’ general manager, Jerry Dipoto, was asked several questions about the upcoming 2021 season in a recent interview via Zoom. When asked about whether or not the team’s finances this offseason would be affected by COVID-19, he responded, “Economically no….it had nothing to do for us with the revenues or economic issues that clubs may have experienced in 2020.” “We can set the goal of competing for a playoff spot,” Dipoto said about the goals for the upcoming season. He did note that he didn’t expect the team to be at the top of the Amer...
This year’s Super Bowl will be broadcast live on Sunday, February 7th at 6:30 E.T (3:30 p.m. local time), on CBS. The Kansas City Chiefs will travel to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers. This is the first time in Super Bowl history a team gets to play in their home stadium. Kansas City is the favored team but is still dealing with a few injuries going into the championship game. The Chief’s wide receiver, Sammy Watkins, is listed as questionable with a calf injury. Both wide receiver Dem...
Don Sutton didn't make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first try in 1994, but he finally made it in on his fifth try in 1998. Sutton was the only person inducted that year, with six others on that year's ballot. Tony Perez, Ron Santo, Jim Rice, Gary Carter, Bruce Sutter, and Bert Blyleven would go on to be inducted themselves in later years. Except for his 1980 season when he led both leagues with an earned run average of 2.20, Sutton didn't have to have stand out seasons. Instead,...
Hank Aaron passed away on January 22nd at the age of eighty-six. He was named to the All-Star team all but two of his playing seasons, the first, which he won the rookie of the year award, and his last. He holds the major league records for runs batted (2,297) and total bases (6,856). Aaron’s WAR total is a staggering 143.1 placing him fifth on the career leaders list. Aaron’s career WAR total is greater than the WAR totals of Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. and Willie Stargell combined to put...
Tampa Bay travels to Green Bay this week to determine who will represent the NFC in this year's Super Bowl. During Aaron Rodgers' storied career, it's easy to forget that he has played in and won the Super Bowl just once. It was back in the 2010-2011 season when he defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25. Rodgers has only made it to the Conference Championship game four times, in 2010, 2016 2019, and 2020. Tom Brady is 9-4 in Conference Championship games and is 6-3 in the Super Bowl. The...
Due to the Seahawks upset last week, Green Bay will host the Rams instead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Los Angeles Rams had three key players injured last week. John Wolford is day to day with a neck injury, defensive tackle Aaron Donald is expected to play despite a rib injury, and Cooper Kupp should play with bursitis in his knee. Again, the question is, who will be the Rams starting quarterback. Will it be Jared Goff, recovering from recent thumb surgery, or John Wolford, who didn’t make i...
This week Seattle hosts the Los Angeles Rams in what will be their third matchup this season. Seattle lost the first game in Los Angeles 23-16 in a game that Russell Wilson had two interceptions and a fumble but no touchdowns. Seattle won the rematch in Seattle 20-9 behind Wilson’s two touchdowns, one throwing, one rushing. The biggest question coming into this game is who will be the starting quarterback for the Rams. Jared Goff or John Wolford? Jared Goff had surgery to stabilize a broken r... Full story
If it seems like I’ve been writing a lot of articles about Baseball Hall of Famers that we’ve lost this year, it’s because I have. Phil Niekro makes number seven; he passed this week at age 81. He got a late start on his baseball career. He couldn’t manage to stay at the major league level until he was 21 years old; however, he would go on to pitch 20 more years until the age of 48. He bounced between the majors and minors for so long due to control problems with the pitch that would eventua...
With last week’s win over the Rams, the Seahawks have won the NFC West and are guaranteed the #3 seed for the NFL playoffs. They can move up to the #2 seed with either a Saints or Packers loss this week or to the #1 seed if both teams lose their games this week. The NFL smartly groups the last games of the season into time-slots so teams won’t know the outcome of other games critical to their playoff chances. The Saints, Packers, and Seahawk games all start at the same time on Sunday. The Green Bay Packers game against the Chicago Bears wil...
With last week’s win over the Washington Football Team, the Seahawks have secured a place in the NFL Playoffs. Instead of going over this week’s matchup with the Rams, I thought I’d go through the various playoff scenarios for Seattle instead. The other teams to keep an eye on the next couple of weeks are the Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Rams, Arizona Cardinals, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Let’s start with the best case for Seattle. That would be clinching the #1 seed in the playoffs. For that to happen, Seattle has to... Full story
This week Seattle travels to Landover, Maryland, to play the Washington Football team. Washington is 6-7 for the year and is now in first place for the NFC East after winning their last four games. Seattle can clinch a playoff spot with one more victory during the regular season. While Seattle’s three remaining games are important for playoff seeding, this is a game the Seahawks could lose and still win their division by finishing off the season with wins against the Rams and 49ers. Starting q...
After an upset loss to the New York Giants last week, the Seahawks have dropped down to the fifth seed in the playoffs. If the Seahawks end the season as the fifth overall seed, they would have to travel to New York for a rematch against the Giants in the first round of the playoffs. The December 27th game in Seattle against the Rams will likely determine the NFC West division winner this season. This week the Seahawks host the New York Jets. The Jets are now 0-12 on the year after a...
Seattle’s win last week, coupled with San Francisco’s win over the Rams, put the Seahawks into first place in the NFC West. It also moved them up three positions into the second seed for the playoffs. Only the New Orleans Saints are ahead of them with a 9-2 record. Being the top seed in the playoffs is more important than in past years with the expanded playoffs in place this year. Since seven teams in each conference make the playoffs this year instead of six, it means only the top seed will ge...
The Seahawks win last week over the Cardinals and the Rams win over Tampa Bay gives both teams an identical 7-3 record with six games left to play. Seahawks fans may have been hoping for the Buccaneers to beat the Rams in the Monday Night Football game, but the result could ultimately help the Seahawks playoff seeding. As I mentioned last week, Seattle’s schedule is favorable for the next four games playing the Eagles, Giants, Jets, and Washington. After that, they have two remaining division games. One at home against the Rams could decide t...
What a difference a few weeks can make. The last time these teams met, Seattle was 5-0 and on top of the NFC West division. The Seahawks have gone 1-3 since, including the overtime loss to Arizona, and find themselves in a three-way tie with the Cardinals and Rams with a 6-3 record. Since Seattle has lost to both these teams, they currently would not hold the tiebreaker to determine a division title or wild-card spot. A loss in this game would start to complicate Seattle’s post-season ambitions....
