Photo Credit: Drew Sellers/Sportspress Northwest

This is the third installment in a series of Mariners cross-promotional articles. Staff writer Patrick Leary along with Anthony Davis have started a new blog at http://wayoutnleftfield.blogspot.com/. They will be previewing each Mariners series throughout the season. Here, you can check out a portion of their work. To read the rest of each series preview, head over to their blog.

Wow. I'm actually writing a series preview about games that matter. This is awesome. Way Out's season preview will go up next week, when the season really gets underway across the country, but for now, the M's have two games that actually count, and they get to play the A's, the only team the 2011 Mariners looked consistently better than. The Mariners and Athletics clash on March 28 and 29 in a two game series in the Tokyo Dome. 

The Matchups

March 28: Felix Hernandez vs. Brandon McCarthy
Who? Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Brandon McCarthy, a journeyman starter who has never won ten games in a season, graced the cover of the analytics issue of ESPN the magazine back in January, posing with his really attractive model wife. "Chicks dig the ground ball" was the tag line on the cover. You know what else chicks dig Brandon? Cy Young awards. On paper, Felix should win this showdown most of the time. Even though Felix got rocked in his final start before the trip, he will be fine and pitch back to form. The A's will struggle to get hits against Felix, who will likely pitch deep into the game. McCarthy will need to match him for the A's to have any hope on "Opening Day."

March 29: Jason Vargas vs. Bartolo Colon
Bartolo Colon continues to mystify me. The very fact that this guy is still pitching is a miracle. He actually won a Cy Young in his heyday with Cleveland. But his pumpkin shape caught up to him, and he disappeared from baseball, before resurfacing in 2011 with the Yankees, who cut him after a few months with the occasional flash of brilliance. Jason Vargas is far more interesting, since he has two distinct pitching personas that can show up on any given Vargas. We'll refer to them as Dr. Jason and Mr. Vargas. Last start, Mr. Vargas showed up, as he didn't escape the first inning, while allowing eight runs in the process. The Mariners will need a whole lot more of Dr. Jason this season to play .500 ball. Both of these pitchers are volatile, and the winner of this game will be the team whose pitcher's good side shows up to the ballpark.

Last week’s battle between Seattle Prep and O’Dea could have been a preview of this year’s Metro Championship. In the first game the Panthers ended up blowing out the Irish 11-1 thanks to great pitching by Prep’s ace Jack Roger, and an explosive offensive attack led by Nick Pribble (2 hits and 2 RBI). The second game was a little different as O’Dea made a late comeback, cutting a five run defecit to one, but Prep was able to hold on and come out victorious, getting the season sweep.

In other Metro action last week, we learned that West Seattle is the real deal as they took care of a tough Bishop Blanchet team 7-1. Chief Sealth only lost to by seven to Eastside Catholic and sit at an impressive 6-2 record, but once they play Prep, O’Dea and West Seattle expect this team to struggle. Finally, Eastside Catholic is quietly making some noise as they are 4-1 and looking to move up in the rankings.

 
                                                                      Photo Credit: Otto Gruele Jr./Getty Images 

With a crowd of 38,304 chanting Seattleites, the Sounders marched into the Clink to face the Houston Dynamo.  Without star playmaker Mauro Rosales (out two weeks with a knee sprain), the stadium was tense with apprehension.  That nervousness was soon settled with a solid 2-0 victory to put Seattle atop the western conference.

The game started out with a slight stiffness as the Sounders tried to find a way through a defense oriented Houston squad.  Brad Evans was quoted by the Sounders postgame show saying that Houston “really packed it in the back and that is always a tough team to play.”  But soon enough, newfound hero David Estrada found a way through by rifling a shot off of a Houston defender for his fourth goal in two games in the 23^rd minute.

After Estrada’s breakthrough, the Sounders added to their tally by being rewarded with a penalty kick for a hand ball in the 27^th minute.  Brad Evans stepped up to take the shot and confidently placed it in the lower right of Houston’s goal.  The first half continued to manifest as a Seattle dominated game and as such, one might expect Seattle goalkeeper Michael Gspurning to lose his edge.  However, this was hardly the case as Gspurning asserted himself as rightful successor to Kasey Keller with a few fantastic saves.

                                                                   Photo Credit: Brandon Bleek/Prost Amerika


Time: 7:00 PM

TV: NBCSN

A strong start to the season last week for the Seattle Sounders, as a 3-1 win against Toronto brought the Sounders to a 3-1 record all time in season openers. Two weeks in to the season the Sounders play another strong team in the Houston Dynamo, winners of their first two games on the road. Each team has a different style of play, which should make for an interesting game between inter-conference rivals.

Coming off their MLS Championship loss to the LA Galaxy, the Dynamo have started off with two 1-0 wins on the road. The Dynamo will start the season on a seven game road trip as their new stadium, BBVA Compass Stadium, is being built. The highlight of both games has been two shutouts and seven saves by veteran goalkeeper Tally Hall. Playing four seasons for the Dynamo, Hall just began starting at the end of the 2010 season. He is looking to make his second full year of starting even better. Highlighting the list of returning players for the Dynamo are Midfielders Brad Davis and Adam Moffat, to go along with Forward Brian Ching who all contributed 29 assists on an abysmal 2011 Dynamo offense. With the new blood and returning players the Dynamo are looking to make another playoff run this season.

Initial (Over)Reactions

C.J. Wilcox is great. Abdul Gaddy is great. Beating the Ducks is great. Dana Altman’s facial expressions and sideline rage are great. For those of you who didn’t watch the game and were not aware that all three of these things could be said in the same night, go to ESPN3 and watch the replay.

The Dawgs outlasted Oregon 90-86 in an intense, hostile atmosphere complimented by two rival teams battling for forty minutes (primarily on the offensive end). Oregon found themselves up 46-42 after the first twenty minutes due in large part to E.J. Singler’s 15 points, poor defense by the Dawgs and Washington missing open looks from the outside. The Duck’s ball movement exploited UW’s zone, which rotated slowly throughout the half. There was multiple times where it looked like UO was playing 5-4 on the offensive end.

Washington opened the second half playing man-to-man and used that, along with great point guard leadership from Abdul Gaddy, to build a 75-65 lead. The Ducks refused to let UW pull away and found themselves down 84-82 with 42 seconds left following threes by Garret Sim and Devoe Joseph. Sim proceeded to inexplicably foul C.J. Wilcox, who started his clutch end of game performance by knocking down both free throws. Tony Wroten grabbed a missed UO three and displayed some basketball IQ by quickly kicking it out to Wilcox, who was fouled and hit both free throws again. Wilcox finished his icing of the game by hitting two more free throws after a Duck put-back.

Woofs

Abdul Gaddy: Gaddy showed signs of where he was last season before his injury, driving hard and leading the Dawgs with 11 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds and just two turnovers. Abdul led the offensive charge, controlling the tempo and passing to the open man or driving himself when the opportunity arose. Last night was Gaddy’s best game of his career and looks to be a great launch pad for production next season. #Gaddyback.

The Three-Headed Monster: Ross, Wilcox and Wroten combined for 63 points and took turns taking over offensively. Terrance Ross continued his recent run of performing in the first half, picking up 12 of his 24 points before intermission while not being afraid to be aggressive. Tony Wroten finished with 22 points and 7 rebounds on 6-15 shooting (more importantly he was 10-14 from the line) and was, as always, able to finish around the rim with put backs. Wilcox had ice in his veins in the last 42 seconds, hitting all six of his free throws and finished with 17 points.

Ball Control: The Dawgs finished with 17 assists and only 8 turnovers. This was largely due to Gaddy’s 10 assists and 2 turnovers as well as Wroten only giving it up twice. Any time the Huskies finish with above a 2:1 A/T ratio should result in a W.

The Fans: Husky fans responded to Lorenzo Romar’s request for a packed house by doing just that on Tuesday night. Hec Ed was jam-packed and rocking the entire night. UW doesn’t win this game in Eugene.

                                                                 Photo Credit: Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press

This is the second installment in a series of cross-promotional aritcles on SeaTown Sports. Staff writers Patrick Leary and Anthony Davis have started a new blog, "Way Out in Left Field", dedicated to all things Mariners. This piece on Spring Training and many other articles can be found on their website http://wayoutnleftfield.blogspot.com. Check it out!

Since this is my first year not going to Spring Training in at least 14 years, I will try to point out things I have noticed that most people there probably have. My assertions are backed up by facts and sources I have in Peoria. Yeah, I have sources in Peoria that nobody else does. Also, Spring Training stats should be taken with a grain of salt, like a massive grain of salt because the level of competition varies greatly based on what inning it is.

Hisashi Iwakuma is an even bigger question mark than before
How do you get to be a bigger question mark than a Japanese import that was one of the best in Japan who then ran into shoulder problems? Well you pitch like crap. Iwakuma came to Seattle to bring some stability to a rotation that could (will) look drastically different in September. He has done the worst job of any of the four competing for the three rotation spots. But he also makes the most money and the team wants to see some returns from their investment, like with Chone Figgins. Carl Willis and Wedge have claimed that he has improved from start to start but the results are eerily, similarly bad. So, hopefully he figures it out because I really want to see the massive coverage ESPN rolls out when the Whirling Darvish comes to town and faces Iwakuma. (Good drinking game, whenever an analyst mispronounces a name, drink.) 

Vinnie Catricala is a really good hitter
The Seattle Times had a piece about how Catricala was a low profile recruit coming out of high school and then started dropping bombs in college (baseball reference to hitting home runs, not literally placing explosives); he has continued that trend this spring. He is hitting .286 with an OPS of .869, and he plays 3B. What? A hitting third baseman? I thought that was impossible. Indeed, it seems the massive drought of bats in the hot corner may be coming to an end with Catricala, Alex Liddi and Francisco Martinez coming through the system. This could create a logjam situation. Which is better than a drought, I guess. But look for Catricala to show up in September, and hopefully he is still dropping bombs.

Jesus Montero’s bat is as good as advertised
So yeah, Montero was supposed to be one of the best hitting prospects in the game according to many people. And he has not proved them wrong. He leads that team in RBI’s and has 2 home runs. He is hitting over . 300 and has an OPS of .936. Yay! A hitting catcher for the future! That’s awesome right? And apparently Michael Pineda is struggling for the Yankees. His fastball has dropped down to 91-92, which is pretty significant. I feel bad for the guy and hope he turns it around, but feel zero pity for the Yankees. Is this how all those teams who swindled Bavasi for all those years felt? No wonder they loved doing that to him.

Due to the “great” Seattle weather we experienced last week (sarcasm), many games were rained out, which is typical for early March. However we did see some action and some surprises. Chief Sealth is on a fast start already, having a 5-1 record so far. Yes I said the Seahawks are 5-1. These wins have come against weak opponents, so it is too soon to put them (Sealth) in the top 5. We will find out if Sealth is the real deal when they face Eastside Catholic on Monday.

O’Dea took down last year’s 3A State Champion, Bothell (4-3), in a great game. The Irish were lead by Connor Livingston (2 hits and 2 RBI) and Connor O’Brien (2 hits, 1 R). This win shows that the Metro League is a conference to watch out for this year.

After getting knocked out of the CONCACAF Champions League last week in Mexico, the Sounders were keen to make up the loss to what they knew would be a sell-out crowd at Century Link Field in the MLS home opener.  The Sounders did not disappoint the rave green faithful. Third year forward David Estrada dazzled as he scored a hat trick to give Toronto FC a 3-1 defeat and Seattle its first win of the 2012 season.

Seattle looked to be back into the swing of form displayed in the first leg of Champions League.  Newly crowned captain Mauro Rosales once again was the midfield maestro, darting about Toronto’s defense making dangerous passes that kept the Canadians’ blood pressure high.  The Sounders opened the scoring in the 17^th minute as Estrada dribbled about inside Toronto’s six-yard box evading two defenders and the keeper before tucking the ball in the back of the net.  Toronto nearly had an equalizer in the 28^th minute as Ryan Johnson put a header off the crossbar, but Seattle maintained the 1-0 lead going into the locker room at half time.

Photo Credit: IUSport.com

If you somehow haven’t heard yet, news broke around 2:30 on Sunday that the Seahawks have signed former Green Bay backup quarterback Matt Flynn to a contract that could be worth a total of $26 million with $10 million guaranteed.

My gut reaction: This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my 15 years of existence.

Finally, the Seahawks have an answer at quarterback. We’ve been toying with the idea that Peyton Manning could come to Seattle, but Flynn is obviously better. Even though I’ve only seen him play once, I know for a fact Flynn is the man who will bring Seattle its first Super Bowl. #Flynnsanity, here we go!

But eventually, I got past my obligatory “fan freaks out over free agent moment” and began to think like a normal person again. Flynn signing with the Seahawks brings up some serious questions: Is he honestly better than Tarvaris Jackson? Will he fit in with everyone else in the locker room? How much patience will the 12^th man have for him when he eventually messes up?

Those questions will be discussed on blogs just like this one for the next 5 months, but for now, Matt Flynn signing with Seattle is nothing but positives for a couple reasons.

Time: 7:00 PM

TV: KONG 6/16

First kick for the Sounders is finally upon us as the Seattle Sounders open up their 2012 MLS season against Toronto FC. Both teams are coming off of a week of CONCACAF games. While the Sounders came out with an embarrassing 7-3 aggregate loss to Santos Laguna, Toronto was able to shock LA and move onto the next round.

Toronto last season was abysmal finishing 8^th in the Eastern Conference. This offseason for Toronto has been a major overhaul of the whole team. They brought in many foreign players with proven track records, like defender Richard Eckersley and another defender Geovanny Caicedo. They also brought in some young talent that they are looking to develop, like midfielder Reggie Lambe and forward Joao Plata.

Over the past week Toronto defeated the MLS giant that is the LA Galaxy in the CONCACAF. While it is too early to tell it’s interesting to wonder whether it is because Toronto is that good, or is LA that bad this year? This may be accredited to Toronto’s new formation (3-6-1). This formation you are able to develop good midfield possession and gives you 10 back on defense and 10 on offense. While I’m not too familiar with this formation it seems that one of the keys to defeating this formation is fast transition and not letting Toronto get everyone back on defense. This could work with the Sounders style of play up front, as long as the streaky defense holds strong.