Author Archives: Andrew Long

by | August 2, 2010 · 1:22 pm

Countdown to Camp: My Favorite Husky

We are only a week away from fall camp starting for the Huskies.  This is the most anticipated year of Husky football since the early  2000’s and the excitement will only grow as the season gets closer.  Because the Mariners are tough to watch, read, and write about it, I’m going to go into a countdown here on the blog and have a new topic each day.  John Berkowitz over at UW Dawg Pound covered some of these topics in a series he did a couple of weeks ago.  Go check his blog out, he does a great job. 

Today the topic, or question, is who is your favorite Husky of all time?  Post your answer and thoughts in the comments section.

Growing up a little later than the rest of the Good Guys, I missed out on the ‘golden years’ of Husky football.  Of course, they might have been a little young to remember the National Championship in ’91 but they caught way more of the winning season streak than I did.  With that being said, it wouldn’t surprise me if we all had the same favorite Husky, Marques Tuiasosopo. 

I was always a Husky fan growing up but Tui solidified a lifetime of fandom.  Tui made it cool for me to say, “Let’s run the option” in backyard football games with my friends.  I still do that.  Tui led the Huskies to an unforgettable season and Rose Bowl victory in 2000-2001.  Every game seemed to come down to the wire and it was Marques bringing us the victory.  First, it was Miami, then Oregon State, then Stanford.  The dramatic victories kept coming.  He also killed the Cougars 51-3 in his final Apple Cup.

I had a basketball game the day that Tui had his signature performance, a 300 yard passing, 200 yard rushing game.  I’m still upset about that. 

Tui was tough, a leader, and was poised.  He was everything you could want in a college quarterback.  Now, he’s back working as an assistant trainer at the U and it’s common to see him catching passes from the quarterbacks during drills.  I imagine he’ll move on to coach somewhere soon but maybe he’ll get to see Jake Locker deliver a season like he had first. 

Honorable Mention:

Reggie Williams- He’s had problems since he left but from his very first home game he amazed me.  He’s one of the best receivers I’ve seen live.

Corey Dillon-  The first Husky game I really remember being at was the game where Dillon went off on San Jose State in the first quarter.  I remember it pouring rain and him running, that’s about it.

Sonny Sixkiller- Before my time, but Sonny has always been one of my dad’s favorite Huskies and that has rubbed off on me the more I learn about Sixkiller.

Juan Garcia- He was from my hometown and was a true Husky.  He played through 6 of the worst years of Husky football ever, but he played hard.  He surpassed the NFL to stay for a 6th season and ended up getting hurt in the spring which kept him from getting close to his potential.  He played through the injury and gave his team all he could in an age where the rest of the team and coaching staff didn’t seem to care a whole lot.  He was never a star but he was a real Husky.

Jake Locker/Mason Foster- Their stories aren’t finished yet but they’ve made their way up my list.

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by | July 31, 2010 · 5:35 pm

Delmon Young

If you took Delmon Young’s 30 RBI’s from the month of July, he would end up 4th on the Mariners in season leaders in RBI’s. Jose Lopez and Guti have 42 RBI’s each. Casey Kotchman has 32 RBI’s.
Delmon Young drove in as many runs in July as the Mariners have scored in the last 9 games. The Mariners have only scored 35 runs in the last 13 games.
My goodness. In other news…. Sean White!

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by | July 30, 2010 · 10:46 am

Thoughts on Pac-10 Media Day

If you hadn’t heard, Pac-10 Media Day was yesterday which means the release of the media poll.  This is how the media picked (via Bob Condotta’s blog):

1, Oregon (15), 314
2, USC (12), 311
3, Oregon State (3), 262
4, Stanford (1), 233
5, Arizona (2), 222
6, Washington (1), 209
7, Cal, 175
8, UCLA (1), 134
9, Arizona State 81
10, Washington State 39

This is pretty close to what I expected.  Of course, these things don’t matter at all but it does mean that football season is getting a little bit closer.  In recent weeks I had talked myself into thinking that UW could win the Pac-10.  For reasons that I’ll save for another day, I still think they can but this poll gives me a little dose of reality.  Most of these writers know more about these teams than I do and they are more likely to pick it correctly than I am.  I’m sure the Good Guys will have Pac-10 predictions up as the season draws near so I’ll save mine for them.

Maybe the biggest news of the day, as far as Husky fans are concerned, was the retirement of Alvin Logan.  Logan had a chance at being a starting linebacker on the team but suffered from knee problems that ended his career.  Watching him in the spring, I thought he was perfectly capable of doing a fine job at that spot.  With his retirement the job comes down to two people in my mind: Victor Aiyewa and Josh Shirley.  The coaches may say other players are in the mix but I think those are the ones to watch during camp.  We wish the best of luck to Alvin Logan as his life moves on.

A few more notes after the jump.  Continue reading →

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by | July 28, 2010 · 12:47 pm

.642

Last night the Mariners were shut out again.  Their offense has somehow gotten worse.  They are last, by a wide margin, in almost every offensive category.  This has been covered almost everywhere on the Mariners blogosphere but here’s one stat that really jumps out; the Mariner’s are OPSing .642.  The league average is.741.  Yeah, umm… Ouch.  Let’s take a look at the OPS from every position.  I’ll use any player who have gotten a good amount of time at the position.

DH-  Milton Bradley – .641.  Ken Griffey Jr.-  .454.   Mike Sweeney – .802.  Russell Branyan-  .833.

Milton Bradley hasn’t produced anywhere near what we hoped for.  Two years ago he led the league in OPS and now he’s 100 points below the league average.  Griffey was bad, we all know that.  Sweeney’s OPS is inflated by that little hot streak he went on for 2 weeks at the end of May.  Plus, he’s been hurt ever since.  Branyan leads this position and he’s barely played since getting here.  This position is in better shape than it was 2 months ago but that’s not enough to make up for the terrible OPS earlier this season.

1B – Casey Kotchman – .663.  Justin Smoak – .469

Wow, this is bad.  Kotchman has been hitting better lately and that saves this position a tiny bit.  Smoak will hit better but he’s taking his lumps right now. 

2B- Chone Figgins – .607

You don’t expect your second baseman to have a very high OPS.  Most teams hope for a little less than average with decent defense.  Of course, there are exceptions every year like Aaron Hill last year.  No one expects their 2nd baseman to have a .607 OPS.  Figgins has been painful this year.  Matthew jinxed it.

3B-  Jose Lopez-  .601

At least Lopez has braces.  Hopefully, we find a team that will trade for him.

SS-  Jack Wilson-  .604  Josh Wilson-  .655

The Mariners shortstops lead the infield in OPS.  When you have the two Wilsons leading anything in a hitting category, you know your team is in trouble.  It’s not like their OPS’s are good, their walk rates are pretty awful and they have no pop, but this tandem is better than anything else we’ve had besides the outfield.

LF-  Michael Saunders – .759!  Milton Bradley – .641 Ryan Langerhans – .713

Hey, there’s a bright spot!  Saunders is above average and his last month of baseball makes it seem as if he will be the starting left fielder come next year (knock on wood).  We already went over Milton Bradley.  Langerhans has a pretty small sample size and has put up what you’d expect from a 4th outfielder.  Sadly, what you’d expect from a 4th outfielder makes him one of the best hitters on the 2010 Mariners.

CF-  Franklin Gutierrez – .694

To be honest, Guti has been terrible except for the first two months of the season.  He’s not this bad and will pick it up but I’d rather have Saunders hitting in the 3 hole than Guti right now.  That’s saying something.

RF – Ichiro – .743

Ichiro is on a cold streak.  He’ll get out of it.  Really, don’t worry about him.  Even when he’s at his best he’s not a high-OPS machine, that’s not his job. 

C-  Rob Johnson – .579 

Saving the best for last.  There have been other catchers here but they’ve come and gone.  None of them have gotten a very good sample size.  (For the record, Josh Bard is at .641, Adam Moore is at .519, and Alfonzo is at .537).  Rob Johnson is terrible in every way possible.  I hate watching him hit.  When he gets a hit its on a hanging slider that he hits into left field.  Unless he’s facing Ben Sheets, that is the only hit he knows how to get.  Unfortunately for Hips, Ben Sheets is out for the rest of the year.

Of the players that have played a significant amount Michael Saunders leads the team in OPS.  That may give you a little hope in the future but it should probably just make you sick to your stomach instead.  Geoff Baker wrote the other day that Felix Hernandez could help the team with his bat.  He’s right. 

Andrew

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by | July 26, 2010 · 9:35 pm

Kavario Middleton and Josh Shirley

I’ve been gone for almost a week now and have missed out on some interesting things.  Some of those things included a Mariner scuffle that I don’t have any problem with.  Maybe they should do it more often because it’s the most entertaining thing the team has done this season.  Instead of writing a couple of paragraphs about something that has been covered too much already I thought I’d write about something that is actually exciting: Husky football.

Over the last week two big things have happened, a departure and an arrival.  Lets end on the good note.

Kavario Middleton was kicked off the team last week.  The news seemed to come all of a sudden, but I wasn’t too surprised by it.  In fact, I haven’t talked to anyone who was too surprised by the news.  Middleton was kicked off for breaking team rules.  I’ve heard rumors about him failing a drug test but I don’t really know if that was true.

Middleton came to Washington as a 5-star recruit who was supposed to make UW Tight End U again.  He had moments.  In his home debut against BYU, Middleton made a few nice plays as a true freshman.  He had the size to look like he belonged and he had the hands to become an amazing pass catcher. 

That never happened.  Instead Middleton didn’t care.  He never worked hard enough to become a good blocker.  He was supposed to be a star in the pro-style offense that Sark brought but that never happened.  Sure, he had flashes but so does Casey Kotchman and we all know Kotchman won’t work out.  At least, he won’t work out for the Mariners.  Middleton wouldn’t have worked out for the Huskies. 

I watched Kavario quite a bit this spring.  I saw Sark try to get teach him in every way possible.  He would pull him aside and try to teach him privately.  He would yell across the field to tell him to block.  He would praise him whenever he did something good but Middleton would still take plays off and that would show in the games.  I absolutely agree with Sark in letting him go.  Maybe he’ll figure it out somewhere else.  He has the talent and he’s young, I wish him the best.

Now on to the good news.  Josh Shirley is a Husky!  I followed recruiting pretty closely this year and Josh Shirley was the one guy I was really disappointed that we didn’t get.  If he had committed on signing day, Shirley might have been a bigger name than Sean Parker. 

He is exactly what the Huskies have been looking for.  A DE/LB with speed off the end.  He was a mad man in high school and played really well in the all-star games that followed.  He may be a little underweight right now but he is expected to play right away.

Yes, he got into some trouble down in Pasadena.  Or did he?  Maybe UCLA just jumped to conclusions.  Shirley, at the moment, has no charges against him.  He didn’t have to post bail.  Yes, he obviously did something wrong but at this point we don’t know if it was just being in the wrong place at the wrong time or something more.  We aren’t picking up a Jeremiah Masoli here.  He has no record and is regarded as a good kid from everyone I’ve heard.

This could be a great pick up for years to come.  Welcome Josh!

Andrew

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by | July 16, 2010 · 9:36 pm

Nicolas Cage and the Mariners

My friend decided today that he was going to have a Nicolas Cage marathon.  Being the ridiculous person I am, I thought it was a great idea.  Nicolas Cage is my least favorite actor.  This marathon could give me a new perspective on why he has taken that role in my life.  Truth to be told, I only made it through one movie before other things came up but that was enough time to make me think of a few Nic Cage and Seattle Mariner similarities.

  • Both Nicolas Cage and the Mariners do the same thing over and over again.  Nicolas Cage has acted the same role in about 20 different movies.  The Mariners have lost about 40 games in the same fashion this year.  They just don’t know anything different and couldn’t do anything different if they tried.
  • Both are amazingly mediocre and then have spurts of being terrible.  Lets look at the National Treasure movies.  There is not much wrong with those movies but then again, there isn’t much right with those movies.  You might watch it if it were on TV but have you ever heard anyone say the National Treasure movies were there favorite?  If you have, you should have hit that person.  The Mariners are very mediocre.  They keep games close and don’t get blown out all that often but they don’t possess the firepower to win many of those games.  Then, all of a sudden, Nic Cage makes Bangkok Dangerous.  That is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.  He’ll make a few more mediocre movies and then make The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.  I haven’t seen that but it has to be terrible, right?  The Mariners are mediocre, their pitching goes away and they’re terrible and the cycle repeats.
  • When Wak lets Sean White pitch for too long bad things happen and it’s disgusting.  When Nicolas Cage lets his hair grow too long he looks disgusting and bad movies happen.
  • Both make you fall asleep.  At least I know I’ve fallen asleep to both.
  • Last but not least, both make me somewhat happy.  Yes, I saved the cheesy one for last.  For some reason, watching Mr. Cage cracks me up.  He should take that as an insult but at least I’m enjoying myself when he’s on the screen.  He keeps me coming back to see how bad he’s gotten.  The Mariners keep me coming back too.  Whether it’s to watch Felix, see Smoak and Saunders develop, make fun of Rob Johnson, or see Ichiro being Ichiro, I don’t miss many games.  Sure, both make me feel sick at times but they also make me happy.

I’m going to go watch The Wicker Man now.  Have a good weekend everyone.

Andrew

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by | July 14, 2010 · 5:35 pm

Who’s More Interesting, Rainiers or Mariners?

As Joe already posted today, Dustin Ackley has been promoted to triple-A Tacoma.  This is a move that most people saw coming at some point.  After a very slow start, Ackley has put up numbers that are close to what the experts expected.  He will only be playing second base for the Rainiers, which is good news as they push his development forward.

I’ve never followed the Mariners farm system until the last couple years.  Sure, I knew who the most promising prospects are but I didn’t know much else.  That changed this year.  This is partially because the Mariners are so disappointing and partially because the Mariners farm system has suddenly become interesting again.  It’s become so interesting that, with this recent Ackley call-up, it’s hard for me to choose which team I’d rather go watch.

I thought I’d take a closer look at this by going through both teams position by position (Matthew’s series preview style).  I’ll pick the starter who I find more interesting.  This doesn’t mean I think they’re better, it just means that I’d rather watch them.  This may be because of the potential they have.  Here we go:

Catcher:  Mariners: Rob Johnson/Josh Bard.  Rainiers:  Adam Moore.  To tell you the truth, I don’t want to watch any of these guys.  If you’ve read anything I’ve posted on here, you should know my hate of Rob Johnson.  Josh Bard is fine but he definitely isn’t the future.  Adam Moore is the future at this position but after his terrible first half with the M’s (before getting injured) left a bad taste in my mouth.  He has put up good numbers in Tacoma and his ability to hit with power to the opposite field is enough to give him the edge here.  Plus, he can catch which is more than Rob Johnson can say.

1st Base:  Mariners:  Justin Smoak.  Rainiers:  Mike Carp/Brad Nelson.  Justin Smoak is awesome and has more potential than almost anyone in this organization.  If anyone says that Mike Carp or Brad Nelson are more interesting or exciting than Justin Smoak then you probably shouldn’t be talking to them.  Mike Carp might be average someday and Nelson might be an okay pinch-hitter in the bigs.  Justin Smoak could be a star.

The rest of the positions after the jump.  Continue reading →

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by | July 13, 2010 · 2:00 pm

Felix Gets Snubbed

I’ve been sitting around today listening to pre-game coverage of the all-star game.  I keep seeing the rosters pop up on the ESPN tracker and one name is missing, it’s Felix Hernandez.  Needless to say, I’m a little biased but let me go on.  Felix was initially left off of the roster when it came out and that didn’t seem that weird.  Cliff Lee had clearly been the Mariners’ best pitcher and Felix did have a few rough spots through the first month or two.  The King said it wasn’t a big deal that he was left off the squad but his true fans know otherwise.  Felix loves the personal stuff.  Yes, he wants to see his team win more than anything but he also wants to pick up all the awards and accolades possible along the way.  After Felix was left off the team, and right before, he’s gone on a tear.  Quite similar to last years season Felix has become absolutely dominant.  He’s thrown 3 complete games in his last 4 starts and his ERA has dropped below 3.00.

Two pitchers were added to the AL team the day after Felix’s complete game against the Yankees on Saturday.  For some reason, Girardi picked two guys other than Felix.  He said it was because Felix had thrown 126 pitches the night before and wasn’t added because of that.  His quote made it seem like he was doing the Mariners some big favor by not adding him to the team.  Yes, Felix has thrown too many pitches this year and probably needs a little break here but I don’t think it’s right to leave someone off the team because he threw too many pitches.  You could at least invite him and let him soak in the experience.  He could earn the all-star incentives that are most likely in his contract.  He could get his well-deserved cheer from the crowd.  He could show that the Mariners have one of the best young pitchers in baseball.  Instead he’s left to watch it.

Is this a big deal?  No, not really.  The all-star game isn’t the most exciting thing even if “this time it matters.”  But I keep hearing how the NL has a better pitching staff with more dominating names and I can’t help but think that wouldn’t be so true if the king would have been there.

Andrew

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