A belated Happy Father’s Day to Mike Trout, who is Seattle’s Daddy yet again.

Look, I’ve always loved baseball players with fishy last names. Kevin Bass, 1980s outfielder with Houston. Tim Salmon of the Angels. One-time Mariners’ prospect Mike Carp. But any attempt to make a play on words with regard to Mike Trout was beaten out of me this weekend, though, along with pretty much any small white sphere thrown in his direction. In five games, he hit four home runs to finish the absolute bludgeoning the Mariners suffered during an 11-game home stand.

1. Seattle lost four of five to the Angels, bringing their record to 3-8 in this homestand.

2. Everyone remains employed — as of now — but stay tuned. Seattle is off today before playing in Oakland on Tuesday.

3. The Mariners are 3-29 when they score three runs or fewer, but the most telling part of the stat is not the winning percentage, but the number of games.

Read more: The Mariners would kill for a case of the runs (for paid subscribers)

Governing by public opinion

The NFL is thinking about suspending Deshaun Watson for a year. That particular trial balloon was floated Friday in the Washington Post.

1. A source from Watson’s side of the case told reporter Mark Maske the NFL would seek a year-long suspension of the quarterback, who was traded to the Browns this offseason.

2. An NFL source cautioned Maske against specifying the length of the suspension, saying “significant” is the best term.

3. Watson is being sued by 24 women who allege Watson of sexually inappropriate behavior ranging from lewd and coercive behavior to unwanted touching. Two women accuse him of sexual assault.

If there’s one thing the NFL has incorporated into its disciplinary process over the past 10 years, it’s an attempt to try and gauge the winds of popular opinion on any prospective discpline to see just how outraged the public will be. It’s a cover-your-butt approach that shows what the league really cares about in these cases, and it’s not justice. It’s public reaction.

No Phil-ter

No one has any illusions about why Phil Mickelson and 16 other pro golfers competed for LIV Golf earlier this month despite the threat of suspension from the PGA Tour. Cash. Lots of it.

Mickelson himself is reported to have been paid $200 million to do business with a golf promotion that is financially backed by the ruling regime in Saudi Arabia. Mickelson failed to make the cut in the U.S. Open, finishing +11 over the first two rounds in Masschusetts and ending a five-day period of intense scrutiny that started with his press conference Monday.

I wrote about the grilling he took — and how he could have been singed more efficiently — for Barrett Sports Media.

New York strikes back

On Saturday, I had one of those nights that can only happen in New York as my wife and I left our apartment just after 5 p.m. and somehow wound up watching James Bond perform Shakespeare. At some point along the way, the city decided to fight back, however, and I wrote a quick personal essay about our evening.

Please note the man in the lower left-hand corner of the photo below.