Mariners stick it to Toronto

Well, well, well, turns out all that it took for the Mariners to sprout an offense was for me to leave the country for a couple of weeks.

As soon as my (more) significant other and I touched down in Hong Kong back on April 8, the Mariners began a nine-game stretch in which they went 7-2 and appeared downright formidable. They scored 49 runs in those nine games, which stood as a marked improvement over the 32 runs they plated in the first 10 games of the season.

We returned on Friday, which just so happened to be the day the Mariners began their three-game set in Toronto.

It started with a 3-1 loss in which the Mariners committed four (4) outs on the base paths. Now, someone more negative than myself might become distracted by this team’s continuing propensity to run itself out of innings. I, however, was much too self-centered to dwell on this fact.

I was too worried that my presence in the States was the problem. This concern was compounded on Saturday when the Mariners remained stuck on three runs through the end of ninth and into extra innings.

And then the floodgates opened. The Mariners scored five runs in the 12th, though, including a grand slam by Shrek … err … Rowdy Tellez, and that breakthrough was followed by another eight runs Sunday’s series finale.

Shrek Tellez homered in each of the three games in Toronto, and Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh was 4-for-12 batting with a double on Saturday, a homer on Sunday and four runs driven in over the weekend.

He was also responsible for my single two-picture series from the weekend.

Currently, Randy Arozarena is my favorite player to watch on this iteration of the Mariners, but Raleigh is closing fast. Very, very fast.

I’ve got a little bit more to add about Raleigh, but the NFL’s got a draft this week, the Seahawks have 10 choices with five of those currently situated among the first 100 selections and I’d like to share a picture from our final night in Hong Kong.

Seahawks (again) poised to pass on picking a QB

OK, I know that Seahawks GM John Schneider will insist that signing Drew Lock to a two-year contract — as Seattle did last week — doesn’t rule out the possibility the Seahawks will choose a quarterback, but we don’t really believe that do we?

In the 15 years that Schneider has run Seattle’s draft, there is no team that has spent less draft capital on the position than Seattle.

The Seahawks have chosen exactly two quarterbacks: Russell Wilson (3rd round, No. 75 overall in 2012) and Alex McGough (7th round, No. 220 in 2018).

Not only that, the Seahawks are one of exactly two teams that have not chosen a quarterback in any of the previous six drafts. The other is Kansas City.

Every year Schneider insists that he’s always open to drafting a quarterback and yet the Seahawks pretty much never do.

It absolutely baffles me for one reason: It seems that Schneider is pretty good at evaluating quarterbacks in the draft.

When he was working in Green Bay, he believed that Aaron Rodgers was the best player available in the 2005 draft. The 49ers chose Alex Smith No. 1 overall, becoming the first of a couple of dozen teams to pass on Rodgers, allowing him to slide all the way to the Packers.

Even after choosing Wilson in the third round, Schneider attended the pro days of both Mahomes and Josh Allen. Yet when it comes to acquiring players at that position, Schneider remains very much an advocate of the used-quarterback market.

Seattle’s currently got four quarterbacks on the roster, and while ESPN reported the Seahawks are willing to trade Sam Howell, I find it hard to believe that Seattle is actually going to

Another vacation pic? Sure. This is from a one-night cruise we took on Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.

Talking tough

On Saturday night in Toronto, Blue Jays starting pitcher Jose Berrios had something to say to Raleigh after the fourth inning. Raleigh – who had been on second base – was jogging down the third-base line toward the Mariners dugout when Berrios gestured toward him and said something.

This led to a bit of a back and forth, and because baseball is a sport where the players believes it’s important to demonstrate how ready they are to fight without actually fighting, the players from both teams – including the bullpens – were eventually on the field.

No punches were thrown. Best I can tell, there wasn’t even a half-hearted shove involved.

The issue: Berrios believed that once Raleigh reached second base, he was trying to signal to the batter which pitch was coming.

This is quite hilarious to me. First of all, I have no idea what “fight with us in the field” means. Stealing and/or relaying signs is not illegal unless you’re using digital or electronic tools to do it.

Secondly, Berrios neglected to mention that after all his tough talk, Raleigh came up in the following inning and swatted a two-run double.

I don’t know what it is about Raleigh that seems to bother the Blue Jays so much, but that team’s employees have developed something of a habit of popping off. Two years ago – after Raleigh homered twice off Toronto – Blue Jays manager John Schneider was asked why it was so tough to pitch to Raleigh.

Raleigh has homered 10 times in the 21 games he has played against Toronto. He is currently tied for major-league lead in home runs with nine.