Author Archives: Andrew Long

by | May 11, 2011 · 1:55 pm

So Long, Milton

A few days ago the Mariners cut ties with Milton Bradley (he was DFA’d on Monday).  While some say that Bradley was too much of a cancer in the clubhouse, the reason Milton was let go was because of his performance on the field.

Bradley came to the Mariners a year and a half ago in a trade that involved Carlos Silva.  The move seemed brilliant at the time and gave fans even more hope that the Mariners could make a deep run in the playoffs.  Now, the move is far from glamorous.  Silva was released early in Spring Training this year and Bradley is now gone too.

The last year and a half with Bradley has been a roller coaster.  Except, this roller coasters had more sudden drop offs then normal, so it was filled with a few more lows than highs.  I don’t like roller coasters very much but I like Milton Bradley.  Milton didn’t hit like the Mariners had hoped he would and wasn’t the best outfielder (far from it, really).

Milton didn’t cause many problems here off the field, in comparison to everywhere else.  He flipped some fans in Texas the bird and left the team for a few weeks last year to seek some help last year.  This year he wore ear plugs and was ejected twice, not a huge disruption.

Milton isn’t really liked around baseball, but I thought he was going to find a niche here in Seattle.  He was away from the pressure and playing in a mellow media market.  He probably would have found a niche here if he would have been more productive.  Outside of the first week of the season though Milton couldn’t hit and that’s what cost him his job.

I’m going to miss Bradley for a few reasons.  He always had that potential of being good, and the Mariners offense isn’t good.  The Mariners offense doesn’t really have much potential to be good.  Milton gave a little hope in that light.

Far greater than that though, I’ll miss Milton’s antics on the field.  Bradley taught me that major league baseball is about entertainment more than anything else.  This goes for all sports.  Us as fans will say we tune in to watch a good game, and for some folks that is true, but more often than not we’re waiting for something to blow us away.  That can happen in a game with a no-hitter or some great other feat or it can happen as a sub-plot to the game, such as a brawl.

Kobe Bryant is one of my favorite basketball players (some of my fellow good guys probably threw up in their mouths at that statement) for the same reason that I love Milton.  When I watch Kobe, I’m entertained.  He’ll make an amazing jumper or he’ll taunt the fans (not as much anymore now that he’s matured some).  One of those things is considered pure in the game, one of them not, but they’re both entertainment.  Bradley generally did the thing that we’d consider not pure in the sports world, but it was entertainment.

I was as big of a Milton Bradley supporter as there is in this city and I will continue to be.  I hope he goes and finds help to fight his personal demons because for as entertaining as the man is, I’d rather see a man who is continually enjoying life.  We’ve seen flashes of him enjoying it, but maybe he can turn the corner.  Bradley didn’t serve us the purpose we’d hoped here in Seattle, but he left a mark on anyone who followed the team closely.  For better or worse, Milton Bradley won’t be forgotten here.

Andrew

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by | April 18, 2011 · 3:59 pm

Milton Monday

A couple of days ago a fan post came up on Lookout Landing entitled “Milton Bradley Appreciation Day.”   Naturally, I was drawn to the thread.  If you don’t have time to go look at it, the premise for the idea is that a few true Mariner fans are sick of Milton Bradley getting heckled and booed when playing at home.  Tonight they are planning to go and sit in left field and have a few Milton Bradley signs and jerseys on.  They will try to show support for this guy.  This isn’t a huge thing, but I’m fully in support of this idea.

Milton Bradley is one of my favorite baseball players.  It started last year when he was the guy who came over for Carlos Silva.  That was reason enough to like him.  Then, at the start of last year, Milton was booed vigorously in Oakland in the season opener.  Of course, Oakland fans boo everyone for some reason but the trend continued for Milton everywhere he went.  He was booed in Texas in the next series.  By the way, Milton had his best two years in the majors while in Oakland and Texas.

Bradley brought a different kind of baseball to Seattle.  I think a correct term would be “Angry Baseball.”  Yes, sometimes it set people off, but it was entertaining.  Sometimes we forget that baseball is entertainment, and on a team that was so boring, Milton added an edge.

Of course, things went downhill.  Milton had some issues last year that caused him to miss some time and then he came back and played okay (by Mariner standards).  His season was shortened by injuries and many believed that he had played his last game in a Mariner uniform.

This season he’s come back and has been one of the best Mariner hitters, granted that’s not saying much.  At the home opener, there were several fans behind who booed Milton every time he came up to bat.  I didn’t understand why and I don’t understand why Milton is treated so poorly at home that he has to wear earplugs.  What has he done to our city?  Nothing.

The same fans that boo Milton Bradley are the same ones who give Chone Figgins a nice round of applause when he steps to the plate.  In reality, Figgins has been worse on the field and worse to reporters around.  I know Milton has some problems but I think us, as fans, need to treat players fairly.  We shouldn’t boo someone on our team just because they’ve had a few problems and appear to be mad.

Without Milton, this team would have an even worse record than they do.  So, today is Milton Monday and I expect to have a few of these throughout the year.  We love you Milton and we’re glad you’re a Mariner.

Nice Milton.

Andrew

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by | April 6, 2011 · 3:56 pm

Thoughts After 6 Games

Sorry, I’ve been having laptop trouble for the last couple days and couldn’t get anything up on the blog.  While having my laptop trouble, the Mariners decided to not postpone their games for me to write about so I have a bit of catching up to do.

After the first six games of the Mariners season, I’ve come away somewhat impressed by the team.  Yes, they’re 2-4 and had a little bit of help in those 2 wins but the team has played pretty well considering the competition.  There are some major concerns, I’m looking at you bullpen, but there are also things to feel good about.

It doesn’t help that the Mariners have played 4 of their 6 games against southpaws.  The Mariners will fair better against righties this season but haven’t caught much of a break in terms of pitching match-ups this week.  One of the right-handers they faced won 18 games last year and the other one was a guy hitting 95 MPH after 5 innings after never making a start before.  Not a lot of breaks in there.

Along with the pitching match-ups, the Mariners had to face Texas the last 3 games.  Not surprisingly, they lost all three.  Texas looks like they could go 162-0 right now.  There’s no way they’ll stay this hot all season but they are certainly hitting on all cylinders and demolished Boston far worse than they did us.  Yes, we should have gotten one of the games in that series with our 3 best pitchers on the mound, but we just couldn’t quite turn the corner.

Bullet points after the jump. Continue reading →

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by | April 1, 2011 · 2:31 pm

Remembering Dave

Note:  Matthew touched on this in a quick little post last night, but I’d been working on a draft of this for a while so I decided to put it up anyway.  Make sure to check the Macklemore’s video Matthew posted that I’ve referenced in here.  I’ve held off on writing about Dave until now because when it happened, there were a slew of amazing posts around the blogosphere and today there aren’t as many.  That’s not to say people have forgotten, no Mariner fan has, but it’s not in the forefront as much.  But, on this Opening Day, I feel the loss is more evident than ever.

It was a little less than 5 months ago, now.  I remember getting a text from Dan and then feeling a bit of shock.  No one was ready for the loss of Dave Niehaus, especially us fans here in the Northwest.

Then, came the amazing support from a city who had lost a loved one.  There were masses outside of Safeco Field crying, leaving flowers and reminiscing about the legend.  A city became a family, and the family had just lost it’s dearest grandfather.  That’s what it felt like.  There were services and events held at Safeco Field to help fans through the grieving process.  The Mariners organization did a wonderful job in putting these things on for fans.

In the midst of all of this, a song by the rapper Macklemore was released.  I was skeptical when it first started popping up on blogs; I’m a music junkie and think songs that try to tie in sports usually turn out cheesy.  Once I finally got around to listening to it, I was proved dead wrong.  The song bought me to tears the first few times, and still gives me goose bumps to this day.

After while, it was time for pitchers and catchers to report to camp and the first Spring Training game rolled around.  I turned my car radio to 710 and couldn’t make it through 2 innings of the game.  It was the first of many tough stretches that this season will bring.  The performance on the field may be tough to watch at times, but it won’t compare to the loss we’ll feel in the radio booth.

I grew up listening to Mariners games.  We didn’t have cable TV, so aside from the occasional game on Fox and trips to my Grandma’s house, we were left listening on 1280 KIT Yakima.  In a lot of ways, Dave taught me about baseball along with my dad and brother.  He taught me about the legends and taught me that there was a flow to the game of baseball.  Later, I learned that there isn’t necessarily a flow to the game, but it was Dave who made the game flow smoothly with his words. Continue reading →

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by | March 30, 2011 · 8:17 pm

Spring Football

There’s too much going on and too little time lately.  With all the sporting events to cover over the last few weeks (Husky basketball, the most interesting tournament I can remember, Spring Training, and Husky football) you’d think the Good Guys would be posting up a storm.  Unfortunately, it’s been a busy time and we haven’t got to cover all that we’d like to.

Of course, baseball season starts tomorrow.  To be honest, I didn’t know who played tomorrow night until earlier this evening.  When people asked, I just said that it was the Yankees and the Red Sox.  To my surprise, there are 6 games tomorrow and the Yankees and Red Sox don’t play each other.  There couldn’t be a much better way for the season to start than with a Verlander vs. Sabathia match-up and that’s what we’ll see tomorrow.  I’ll have more on the Mariners tomorrow and hopefully we’ll get some predictions for the season up here soon.

Getting to the actual topic of this post, the Huskies started spring football practice yesterday.  As usual, Bob Condotta has all the information we could hope for over on his blog, but I’ll give you a quick few thoughts on the spring because I get excited for college football of any kind, even if it is just practice.

First for a bit of news:

  • Johri Fogerson was out practicing yesterday with the team.  He had been arrested for being in possession and was suspended indefinitely.  Sark said that he still could be suspended in the Fall for a game, depending on what happens in his trial.  His trial date is set for June.
  • One of the most prized recruits of the 2011 recruiting class, Austin Seferian-Jenkins is now in school and practicing.  He’s expected to compete right away for a starting position at tight end, which was a weak spot for the Huskies last year.  He’s the only true freshman that enrolled early.
  • Chris Polk has lost about 10 pounds and apparently feels faster.  I don’t actually know if this qualifies as news, and is one of those things that is reported because a player is popular and fans are starving for news.  But, hey!  If Chris Polk feels even better, then sweet deal!

Here’s a few things that I’ll be looking for over the course of spring practice:

  • Price vs. Montana – Of course, this is on the top of any Husky fan’s watch list.  Keith Price will be dueling with Nick Montana for the starting quarterback spot over the course of this Spring (and probably into Fall camp as well).  There’s no clear front-runner and if there is someone ahead in Sark’s mind, us fans sure won’t know.  I’ll be getting a feel for each of these guys games.  Montana is more of a drop-back passer, while Price is more of an athlete who will use his feet more.
  • The Tight-End Position – With ASJ now in school and Michael Hartvigson returning from injury, we should expect to see a giant upgrade at tight end.  These guys are both freshmen, but they’ve come into school highly rated and provide a huge talent upgrade.  It’ll be interesting to see what Sark does to utilize the tight end position this Spring.
  • The RS Freshmen Offensive Linemen – Last year, the Huskies red-shirted 5 offensive linemen and then named them all scout team players of the year.  I’m thinking at least one or two of them will emerge and challenge for a starting job.  Keep an eye on Ben Riva, he was reportedly working with the starters in the first practice.  This could mean nothing at all or he may be a step ahead in the coaches eyes.
  • Linebackers – The Huskies have to fill in two spots at the linebacker position with the graduation of Mason Foster and Victor Aiyewa.  These are giant shoes to fill and may be even harder to fill than Jake Locker’s gap.  There are a few injuries here during the Spring, so we won’t have a clear picture until Fall but keep an eye on JC transfer Thomas Tutogi who looks to fill Mason Foster’s role.

That’s all for now.  I’ll be hoping to make it to a few practices and will have recaps from those.  Also of note, it was UW Pro Day today at Dempsey and Jake Locker had a very good day.  It looks like his draft stock keeps improving and let’s hope so.

Thanks for reading!  Tomorrow is baseball!  Go baseball!

Andrew

 

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by | March 20, 2011 · 3:45 pm

This has to be a Joke

The Huskies lost today to North Carolina, ending their season.  The referees were not the reason the Huskies lost the game, late game turnovers were the cause, but the reasoning the officials are giving for not putting more time back on the clock are ridiculous.  Via Percy Allen’s blog, we have these lovely quotes:

From the head official, Tracy Wolfson:

“I had a chance to speak with Doug Shows, who was the official during that last game between UNC and Washington, and he blew the whistle on the final shot,” she said. “He said that Lorenzo Romar did ask for verification, he then went to the table and the official of the clock who handled it said ‘he does not need to go to the monitor.’ They said that the call was right because it’s not when the ball hit the ground, but it’s when the whistle blows, and because of technology there is going to be an obvious lag.”

Then we have this follow up quote from the National Coordinator of men’s Basketball Officiating, John Adams:

ADAMS: “Officials may go to the monitor in that situation, by rule they are not forced to go to the monitor. Tracy had it right, the clock operator is supposed to stop the clock when the official signals the violation, which would have been watching the ball hit the floor, blowing your whistle, in other words recognize the play and have some human reaction time…We have all sorts of resources here in Atlanta and have reviewed this play a number of times, probably come down on the side of the fact that the referee blew the whistle right around the .8, .7 tenth of a second mark.

“We’ve reviewed this with the alternate. They felt that the officials got it exactly right on the court at the time they blew the whistle. I guess in retrospect I would feel like given the resources we had available and checking everybody and everything we had to check, I am not sure that even if we had gone to the monitor, which they certainly could have done, that the technology is good enough to try to figure out one tenth or two tenths of a second and trying to place when that whistle blew and when the clock should have stopped.”

Again, let me say that this didn’t really matter.  The Huskies had lost the game by this point and it would have taken a miracle.  But, I have a problem with these quotes.  Everything they say is technically correct but it is also inconsistent with hundreds of basketball games that I’ve watched over the past couple years.

First of all, the ball landed out-of-bounds between 1.1 and 1.2 seconds on the clock.  I believe if they had gone to the monitor they would have seen this clearly.  Yes, you aren’t supposed to go by that, you’re supposed to go by when the officials arm comes up, but I’ve watched too many games where this has happened when it’s judged on when the ball comes down.  Also, shouldn’t we go by what we know is exactly correct instead of a human delayed reaction?  If they went by this rule, the official technically could have let the clock run out without putting his arm up and said that they got the call correct because his arm was never raised.

Secondly, don’t they think this game is important enough to go to the monitors.  I understand that one guy was looking at it, but it’s not worth another look?  This game sent someone to the sweet 16 and ended another teams season.  I would have at least felt a little better if they stopped the game and took a look, even if they didn’t change anything.

Lastly, John Adams said that the technology might not be good enough to try to figure out a couple of tenths of a second.  I couldn’t disagree more.  I could tell by sitting on a couch, watching from 20 feet away on a 30-inch TV.  The CBS guys had no trouble figuring it out after one look.

I don’t know what I’m looking for with this post.  I know that it wouldn’t have changed much.  The Huskies season is over and it’s not the officials fault.  I just would have liked to hear the referees say they got it a little bit wrong, because everyone, excluding them, saw that they did.

More on the Huskies later, thanks for reading!

Andrew

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by | March 11, 2011 · 11:38 am

The Life of a Freshman

Yesterday, Terrance Ross was a surprise 5th starter for the Huskies.  It was an interesting, and turned out to be very smart, move by Romar.  He said it had to do with match-ups and I have no reason not to believe him.  Ross also injected some life into an offense that had lost it’s bite.

Ross has had an interesting finish to his season.  After last week, I thought he would transfer after the season but after last nights start, I have no idea.  Here are his stat lines over the last 9 games before last night:

@ Oregon – 26 min, 12 pts, 2 reb. (4-10 from the field)
vs. Cal – 21 min, 11 pts, 4 reb, 6 assists (5-8 from the field)
vs. Stanford – 22 min, 4 pts, 6 reb, 3 assists (2-6 from the field)
@ ASU – 24 min, 2 pts, 1 reb, 2 assists (o-5 from the field)
@ Arizona – 15 min, 5 pts, 1 reb, 2 assists (1-4 from the field)
@ Seattle – 16 min, 13 pts, 3 reb, 2 assists (3-5 from the field)
vs. WSU – 13 min, 0 pts, 3 reb, 0 assists (0-5 from the field)
vs. UCLA – 4 min, 0 pts, 0 reb, o assists (0-1 from the field)
vs. USC – Did not play, but was available.

And here’s last night’s line:

vs. WSU – 29 min, 17 pts, 1 reb, 1 assist (6-11 from the field)

As you can see, Terrance Ross had made 1 shot from the field in his last 5 Pac-10 games before last night.  Then, he made 6.  Seeing inconsistency from a freshman is nothing new, and C.J. Wilcox would have similar inconsistency.  Looking over these numbers shows you how successful Ross can be.  Lets hope we get the good Ross through the rest of the season.

Andrew

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by | March 11, 2011 · 12:52 am

Welcome Back, Dawgs

It looked bleak.  The Huskies were down by as much as 13 in the first half, and ended the half being down by 8.  If it weren’t for surprise starter, Terrance Ross, and his 13 first-half points, the game very well could have been over by halftime.

While sitting on the couch, waiting for the second half, I couldn’t help but think about what could have been.  This was the team who was supposed to finish Pac-10 play at 16-2 and earn a 3 or 4 seed in the NCAA tournament.  At halftime, they were a team who was going to be one-and-done in the Pac-10 tournament and then would be one-and-done in the NCAA Tournament, assuming they’d make it that far.

Then, the Dawgs got their bite back.  They played the best 2 minutes of Husky basketball that we’ve seen in at least a month, and possibly all season.  The Huskies brought a blitz to open up the second half, and when the blitz was finally stopped by a Ken Bone timeout, our Dawgs were up by 2 instead of down by 8.  Welcome back, Huskies.

But, then it wasn’t over.  There was still 17:40 left in the game and the Huskies were playing an inspired Wazzu team that had brought their very best against the Huskies all season long.  Still, even if the Huskies had lost the game, we knew that the team that had looked so strong at points was still there.  The Dawgs proved that in the first 2 minutes of the second half.

The Cougars settled down and held a lead for the next 10 minutes or so.  Klay Thompson was unstoppable.  Every time he touched the ball, it felt like the Huskies had suffered a defeat.  He played an incredible game.  Not to mention, Faisal Aden hitting some incredible shots too.  I don’t know how he made some of those fade-away jumpers.  I’d never seen him shoot like that before.  The last person to go for over 40 points against the Huskies (Thompson finished with 43), was Adam Morrison.  It’s quite interesting that the Huskies have won both of those games.

With Klay going off, the Huskies needed offense and they got it from their leader.  Isaiah Thomas had been questioned over the last 2 weeks, and he’d be the first to admit his game was off.  His double-doubles of a couple months ago were lost memories and he hadn’t made a jump shot in what seemed like 3 weeks.  This week, he vowed to play better and he sure did.  Tonight he finished with 21 points, 11 assists and 3 steals.

I’ve heard many people say that this team doesn’t have the leadership that prior UW teams have had.  I disagree with this thought because of I.T.  In my mind, Thomas was the heart and soul of last years team and he is on this year’s team also.  Tonight he put his best foot forward and was a vocal leader for the Huskies throughout the entire night.  Not to mention, he played the entire game.  He had more passion than I’ve seen and was as focused as I’ve ever seen.  What an amazing effort and performance.

So, are the Huskies back?  We don’t know, and it would be completely foolish to say they were at this point.  But, in the second half tonight, the Dawgs were back.  This was the frantic team we had grown accustomed to .  The team with so many offensive weapons.  The team with suffocating, turnover-forcing defense.  The team that ran the pick-and-roll to perfection down the stretch.  I don’t know if it’ll last through tomorrow but, if nothing else, at least we got to see it one more time.  At halftime, I didn’t think that would happen.

(A few more thoughts after the jump)

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