Author Archives: Andrew Long

by | April 26, 2010 · 10:10 am

Huskies to Play a Thursday Night Game

The Husky football team is on the verge of playing its spring football game this Friday night and this apparently won’t be the last time they on a weekday this year.  The school has announced that they are moving their final home game, against UCLA, to Thursday, November 18th.  The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.  This game has several implications:  It will be senior night (Jake Locker’s last home game), Rick Neuheisel’s return to Husky Stadium, and a possible bowl game on the line (we can hope).

I’m excited about this.  I see the downsides to it and I tend to be more of a traditionalist in that I like my football on Saturday, but there are some real positives to this.  Some of those are:

  • The program is on the up-swing and the more attention we get the better. 
  • If the team had some success throughout the season that means Jake Locker’s Heisman campaign is probably in full force.  With this game on national TV, everyone will get a chance to see what Jake can do.  This should only help his Heisman chances (unless he has a bad game).
  • The atmosphere should be fun.  Any game that’s on national TV usually has a little different atmosphere which adds to the excitement.  The crowd should be fired and that does help the team.
  • ESPN helps with recruiting.  Players want to play on the biggest stage and ESPN is that right now (as much as I don’t really think it should be).

I’m looking forward to this.  What do you think?

Andrew

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by | April 24, 2010 · 6:58 pm

Saturday Recap (Huskies and Mariners)

I didn’t make it to the scrimmage at Husky Stadium today and I didn’t feel like devoting a full post to the Mariners loss so I’ll just combine the two keep things brief. 

First, the Huskies.  It should come as no surprise that the freshman running back, Deontae Cooper, was the star of the day.  He has been the Huskies best running back the entire spring (Chris Polk is sitting out with a shoulder injury).  Today he rushed 114 yards and 2 touchdowns on 12 carries.  The backup running back job won’t be decided until the start of the season but Cooper has the early edge in my opinion.  His style is similar to Polk’s in that he’s a downhill runner. 

Locker had a decent day in ugly conditions.  The backups appeared to struggle but sometimes stats don’t tell the whole story. 

Jesse Callier, Nate Fellner, and Alameda Ta’amu sat out today.  Unfortunately, Callier may be out for the rest of the spring.  He also has impressed this spring.

Now, for the Mariners.  I was okay with last nights loss because they really didn’t deserve to win that game.  Today was a little different.  I don’t get to up and down with my emotions throughout a baseball season but today would have been a nice game to have.  The M’s fought back and, to their credit, got 2 runs off a pretty good pitcher, Jenks, in the 9th.  Then, Aardsma came in and showed why some people don’t want him to be our closer.  I think he threw more fastballs down the middle than Fister threw all game.  Granted, Aardsma throws harder than Fister but he doesn’t get a ton of movement and was facing major league hitters.  Just because you throw hard doesn’t mean you don’t have to locate your fastball.  He didn’t and he got beat.  I think he’ll be okay going forward and I’m not jumping ship yet but he scares me and will continue to scare me no matter how many saves he gets.

Hero:  Doug Fister.  Yep, he was fantastic again.  He needs to be in the rotation.  Right now he looks like Greg Maddux.  Seriously.  He’s throwing his fastball a ton and why not?  He’s putting his fastball exactly where he wants it and is getting some good left to right action on it.  Right now that’s a well above average pitch. 

Goat:  David Aardsma.  Read the paragraph above.  He was pretty awful.

  • After I called for Wak to move Lopez out of the clean-up spot the other night he’s done some good things.  I’m still not crazy about him there but at least he’s had a few decent at-bats.
  • The play where Byrnes kept the ball in the ball park caused a mix of emotions.  On one hand I’m thinking, dang it Byrnes , why didn’t you just catch it.  On the other hand, that was an incredible play just to reach the ball.  He was high on that fence and did save a run.  All in all, it was a good play but really weird.
  • I hope Milton Bradley comes back soon.
  • I saw Byrnes drop more F-bombs today than I’ve said in my life.  He’s annoying but at least he cares.  He did get screwed in the 9th inning when he beat out the throw to first but was called out.  That really wasn’t very close.
  • Don’t get too down about this.  There is another game tomorrow.  And Cliff Lee has a rehab start in Tacoma! Take the good with the bad, things are still looking up in Mariner country.
  • Casey Kotchman keeps hitting the ball hard.  That double in the 9th was smoked.

That’s it for today!  Thanks for reading.

Andrew

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by | April 22, 2010 · 6:29 pm

Huskies Practice Report – 4/22/2010

With a 4,000 word paper looming and little to report, this report will be very brief but I have a few notes. 

  • The team was in shells today (helmets, shoulder pads, and shorts).  There was still plenty of hitting.  In fact, Nate Fellner got in trouble for hitting too hard at one point.  After laying out Deontae Cooper in pass protection Nick Holt pulled him aside and told him that wasn’t quite necessary.  That guy can really hit and I’d be surprised if he wasn’t the starting free safety next year at this point.
  • The quarterbacks all seemed a little off through the first part of practice.  Even Jake was struggling at first but they all seemed to get going after a while.  They each had their moments.  Nick Montana has said to have a little bit of a weaker arm and I could see that a little bit today.  It’s nothing a little time in the weight room couldn’t fix.
  • To end the practice the starters went up against each other in a 2 minute drill, followed by the backups.  Then, they each had an overtime session.  The first team offense moved the ball down the field with ease but then was held up at the 10 yard line.  They did score in overtime.  The second team offense was stopped both times.
  • One of the plays of the day was made by Anthony Boyles in that 2 minute drill with the starters.  Jermaine Kearse had appeared to find a hole in the zone that was in the corner of the end zone.  Boyles raced back and jumped as high as he could to knock the ball away at the last second.  When Boyles is out there playing and not thinking it’s easy to see why he was rated so highly coming out of high school.  He is a great athlete.
  • James Johnson continues to come on strong to end this spring.  He’s had a very good last few practices.
  • Jesse Callier was out today and had brace going up one of his legs.  I don’t know how serious it is but hopefully he’s back by the spring game.
  • I imagine the Dawgs will do a good share of scrimmaging on Saturday.  Practice starts at 11 so come out and enjoy.

That’s all for today!  Thanks for reading!

Andrew

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by | April 22, 2010 · 1:26 pm

Summer is Coming

Spring is in full bloom.  I’ve always associated the season of spring with the word hope.  Spring hasn’t quite gotten us to the full-blown joy that summer brings but that joy is within reach.  The chill of winter has mostly passed but there’s still those cold days where we hope that the sun will come out tomorrow.  Things aren’t perfect but there’s enough evidence to make hoping for summer justifiable. 

It just so happens this is where we are right now in the Seattle sports scene.  A few weeks ago we were able to enjoy one of the best weeks sports has to offer; The Masters, college basketball’s championship, and Opening day in baseball.  But, this is a week where spring can turn to summer sports wise.  Hope could turn joy.  Cautious joy, but joy none the less.  The Mariners, Seahawks, and Huskies all have significant events starting today and lasting through next weekend.  If all goes well this city could be as excited about sports as we’ve seen in a long time.

Lets start with the Mariners because this is probably the most evident case of things turning golden quickly.  The M’s had an outstanding homestand and are now tied in first place.  You think things can’t get better?  Ladies and gentleman, meet Cliff Lee.  Next Friday, April 30th, the former cy young award winner will be making his Mariner debut.  This is the moment Mariner fans have been dreaming of since mid-December.  He’ll be thrown right into the fire against a pretty good Texas Rangers lineup.  Will he be as sharp as he was in the world series his first start?  Probably not, but this is still cause for celebration.  And if this isn’t enough to get someone excited, Felix pitches the next day.  Finally, what was billed as the best 1-2 punch in baseball is here. 

The same night that Lee returns on his white horse, the Dawgs will take the field at Husky Stadium.  Now, I know spring games aren’t going cause the excitement that upsetting USC brought but I truly think that after seeing this team play people will be buzzing about what could be next fall.  The freshman running backs, Nick Montana, the emergence of the secondary, Mason Foster, and Jake Locker will provide the Dawgs with higher expectations than they’ve had in years.  While a team has to fulfill expectations to be considered a success, high expectations is step is important for a program.  The fact that those expectations are coming back is enough to bring a smile to my face and after April 30th I think Husky fans will have plenty of smiles going around. 

By that same day we should know the fate of Terrance Jones and Terrance Ross.  Both of these guys are mega recruits that the Husky basketball team would love to have.  If these two commit the sky may be the limit for the Huskies next year.  The dawgpack will be partying in the streets of Montlake and the basketball team would move up 5 or 10 spots in the “way too early” preseason rankings.  The sun will be shining bright if Jones commits and if both commit then you might as well put on your swimming suit because it will be like we’re on a beach in July.

Then there’s the Seahawks.  Few sporting events bring the amount of hope that the draft brings.  Dan wrote about what he thinks the Hawks should do with their picks earlier today so I won’t get into that.  A franchise is built on young talent and today is the start fo Seattle rebuilding their franchise.  Unfortunately, this hope can’t translate to joy as soon as these other examples.  The NFL draft can be really hit and miss and it will take a few years to fully judge these players.  But that doesn’t take away from the hope there is in this day for the Seahawks.  The last few years have been absolutely awful and today may be the start of that changing. 

Yes, this could just be me getting excited about nothing too important (it wouldn’t be the first time).  But it’s hard not to feel a sense of excitement and hope about the next week. 

Meanwhile, Donald Butler, who just last year was an average linebacker playing for a terrible Husky defense, is sitting somewhere today waiting for a phone call that will tell him he’s going to receive money to play professional football for the first time in his life.  22 years of hard work will pay off for him today.  His hope will turn to joy.  His spring will turn to summer.  As I sit here looking out the window at a sunny day, I can’t help but feel that summer might come a little bit early this year.

Andrew

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by | April 21, 2010 · 9:46 pm

Game Recap – 4/21/2010

That went as expected.  I feel a little bit bad for Baltimore.  They really suck and probably won’t reach 10 wins for another month.  Seriously.  Thankfully, I’m a Mariners fan and it appears that the dark days like those are past us.  After starting the season with a 2-6 mark and causing concern throughout Mariner nation, the M’s have rattled off wins in 7 of their last 8 games and are only a 1/2 game out of first place. 

This game had two key parts that determined the outcome:  Felix Hernandez and the bottom of the 4th inning.  We’ll start with the latter.

Guti started the inning with an out but then the miraculous happened, Jose Lopez drew a walk!  When that happens I feel like something special is about to happen.  After Loafie walked, Kotchman singled and Sweeney popped out (more on Sweeney later).  Tui then hit a sharp single and Lopez stopped at third.  Rob Johnson hit a slow roller up the middle and somehow Tui beat the throw to second.  Then Jack Wilson cleared the bases with a double.  Bingo!  That’s all the runs the Mariners needed.  What’s even more weird is that all those RBI’s came from Hips and Hot-Hands Wilson.  I was beginning to believe that Jack Wilson was going to hit about .230 all year and I was okay with that because of his amazing defense.  All of a sudden, he has 4 doubles in 3 games.  I hope he can continue to hit at least somewhat. 

Once that bottom of the 4th happened the game was over.  Most 3 run games can be a little bit tense but not this one, I had no fear that the Mariners would lose this game and that is because of Felix Hernandez.  Felix didn’t appear to be very sharp early; leaving fastballs over the middle of the plate and not mixing in other pitches.  He gave up four hits in the first two innings and one unearned run.  But then, he got in one of those moods.  You know, the “Hey, I’m Felix and I’m better than you” mood.  His control got better and his other pitches became a part of the game plan.  He faced Adam Jones in the 6th and snapped off a 90 mph slider to strike him out.  In the 9th, he ended the game with nasty curveball that Reimold chased as it dove to the dirt.  After a few games in which Felix didn’t quite look like the king we saw last summer, he found his crown tonight and showed why he’s one of the best pitchers in the AL. 

Kevin Millwood was weird.  I’ve watched Millwood pitch quite a bit and he’s never looked like that.  I’d have to do some research to be sure but his fastball used to have a little more velocity and didn’t run so much.  It seems as if he switched from a 4-seam fastball to a 2-seamer that had a little more run on it.  It ranged anywhere from 86-91 mph and came in on righties.  He threw his normal slider that was around 82 mph.  That’s a normal Millwood pitch and was pretty effective.  Then, he threw in this loopy breaking ball.  It was SLOW!  It came in at about 70 mph and had some major break to it.  You know what that repertoire looks a lot like?  Doug Fister.  No, seriously.  Matthew made this observation about halfway through the game and then I started to pay closer attention.  Fister threw in that loopy breaking ball on Monday and had some very good success with it.  So, in a week where Fister has been compared to everyone from Brad Radke to Carlos Silva, it seems like Millwood may have been trying to imitate Fister.

Hero/goat after the jump along with a few notes.  Continue reading →

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by | April 20, 2010 · 10:10 pm

Huskies Practice Report – 4/20/2010

I wasn’t able to make it to the Huskies practice today but here’s a link to Condotta’s report.  It sounds like they really mixed up the starters with the backups to promote competition. I’ll be back out there Thursday with a report.  They changed the time of Saturday’s practice to 11 am.  It will most likely be a scrimmage.  Hope to see you there!

Andrew

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by | April 19, 2010 · 1:56 pm

Royals Review Gets it Right!

This was exactly what I needed for a laugh on Monday.  Absolutely hilarious.  Royals and Peanuts Baseball Eerily Similar.  Enjoy!

Andrew

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by | April 18, 2010 · 6:22 pm

Game Recap – 4/18/2010

The thing about a 162 game season is that you can’t get too high or too low.  Things started out bleak at 2-6 and everyone was freaking out.  Then, the 4 game winning streak occurred and everyone was getting excited.  Both of these reactions were justifiable and somewhat expected but maybe a little bit over done.  The Mariners were not going to win the rest of their games and, while a sweep of the Tigers would have been nice, series wins are what this team needs to shoot for.  They have achieved that the last two series and things look promising since we’re playing Baltimore next.  All of that to say that today’s loss is not a big deal.  It’s pretty close to what we should have expected really.

Ian Snell was decent today.  Not bad, not good, but decent.  He allowed quite a few hitters to reach base but escaped trouble most of the time.  He made some really good pitches and showed the upside that people rave about.  Unfortunately, he showed his downside to: too many walks, too many hard hit balls, and an inability to get lefties out.  We can’t really make any conclusions on Snell because he was sick today and just returned from a death in the family.  Although he struggled at times, Snell was one batter away from not giving up any runs today.  That batter was Miguel Cabrera and there’s no shame in giving up a home run to him, he can really hit and proved it on that ball he launched into the upper deck.  The next two weeks are big for Snell if he wants to stay in the rotation but today gave us both sides of Snell and that means we can’t decide anything today.

As for the hitting…. Well, the Mariners proved that they still have trouble with young right-handers that are talented.  They hit some balls hard but couldn’t get anyone in.  Casey Kotchman hits righties pretty hard and definitely did that today.  There were some opportunities to score, the 8th inning was somewhat painful, but the same can be said for the Tigers offense.  In truth, the Mariners probably should have lost by more today. 

Our infield is really coming together.  Jose Lopez looks better and better at third.  He’s not Adrian Beltre but I think that he will have an above average UZR once the years done.  Chone Figgins is really quick at second.  The two double plays he turned on short hops today were very impressive.  Kotchman had another diving play today and is showing why a defensive first baseman is a good thing to have.

The best part about this loss is that we didn’t lose any ground in the AL West.  The schedule becomes pretty easy over the next few weeks while our rivals go up against some of the best teams in baseball.  This was a good series win against a fairly good team.

A few more thoughts after the jump.  Continue reading →

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