M’s beat the A’s 7-4, getting their runs on mammoth two-run homers by Gooters, Bill Hall, and Johjima, respectively, and then a very rare bases-loaded suicide squeeze by Gooters in the ninth. Snell was uninspiring (5 IP, 3 ER, and it’s against Oakland) but got the win.
Griffey says he wants to come back. Sort of. Read for yourself. (Hey, I’d like to play for the Mariners next year too–I can tickle really well I promise–but I don’t think they’re going to offer me a contract just to be nice.)
Seahawks demolished the Raiders. Final was 31-21, but only because of two late Raider TDs. The big story was Seahawks QB Mike Teel, the rookie out of Rutgers. Teel’s stats: 11-19, 148 yards, 2 TDs. Have we finally found a third-string QB decent enough to allow Seneca Wallace to play some receiver? If not now, when? Wallace is 29 years old now–he’s not getting any faster.
Storm lost, snapping a six-game winning streak. Lauren Jackson’s still sitting out with her back injury.
High school football started last night–here are scores . Puyallup beat Kennedy 21-19, that seems like a bit of an upset to be, and Kennedy was ranked #7 in 3A. Then again, Puyallup is 4A.
If you turned the Oregon/Boise St. game off in the middle of that dreadful second half, you missed Ducks starting RB LaGarrette Blount’s post-game meltdown. First he sucker punched trash-talking Boise St. DE Byron Hout, sending him to the blue carpet with a right jab. Then he got into a shoving match with a teammate. Then he nearly went Ron Artest on some Bronco fans in the end zone, but was restrained at the last minute by a phalanx of cops, teammates and UO football staff, who had to bearhug him all the way into the locker room. He’ll surely face a suspension — if not dismissal. Welcome to head coaching, Chip Kelly! Video of the melee is below.
Every Day Should Be Saturday’s take on Blount-sanity is hilarious.
The Oregonian’s John Canzano writes : “Blount must go. And when he does, keep your head up and your eyes on his fists.” Zing.
Blount’s punch will be the big news, but bigger might be that Ducks’ safety T.J. Ward left the game with an apparent ankle injury. Ward, a senior, was first-team preseason All Pac-10, and was the Ducks’ leading tackler last season. He wasn’t putting any weight on that leg as he left.
Also, of course, the fact that Oregon didn’t get a first down until the second half. It looked to me like the Broncos were trying to deceive Ducks QB Masoli into making the wrong reads in the spread option–keeping a DE home so he’d pitch it, but then sending the rest of the defense after the pitchee. I could be completely wrong, of course, it’s probably way more complicated than that.
Enough Oregon football. How about some Husky talk! From Bob Condotta’s blog: “After Thursday’s practice, Sarkisian .. showed off his passing skills during a fun exercise with … Marques Tuiasosopo. They stood near the 30-yard line and tried to hit the crossbar of the uprights with the football. It took Sark two tries before bouncing a high-arcing, tight spiral off the yellow bar. Tuiasosopo … also hit the bar.” Then Jake Locker tried the same exercise and threw the ball over the scoreboard and into Lake Washington. KIDDING! Jake, I love ya! (Keep those throws DOWN!)
High school football starts tonight. I’m in Montesano, I’m going to catch the big rivalry game between Montesano and Elma. The two towns are about ten miles apart, halfway between Olympia and the coast. It’s the 141st game between the two schools. I was walking around town yesterday afternoon and happened upon Montesano’s practice–it was awesome. Above the field there’s this parking lot, and about five dudes had parked their trucks there and were sitting in the cabs watching practice and talking fuh-ball. Then there were a bunch of dads (I assume) hanging out and watching Pop Warner practice. They are serious about football in Montesano.
If you want to check out some high-school ball, the Emerald City Kickoff Classic at Qwest on Saturday will be pretty good. The schedule with notes on each game, from the ECK website :
9:30 AM
2008 Northwest Conference 2A champion, Lynden will face 2008 Cascade Conference Archbishop Murphy in a 2A state semifinal rematch
12:00 PM
2008 Olympic/Western Cascade 3A champion Capital will face Metro 3A league perennial powerhouse O’Dea
3:00 PM
Big Nine 4A conference Kennewick vs. Narrows 4A league South Kitsap
5:30 PM
2008 Reigning 4A state champions Skyline takes on Oregon’s 2008 class 6A state semifinalist Jesuit
8:00 PM
2008 State 4A runner-up Issaquah will face 2008 Crown Division Bothell in an all KingCo League contest