Bad blood in Texas, a fresh start in Seattle
This week is going to work a little bit different at “The Dang Apostrophe.” I arrived in Seattle on Monday, and will be attending the three days of the Seahawks’ mandatory minicamp for a freelance assignment. I’ve spent a lot of time this year thinking and writing about the Seahawks under Carroll, and at some point the past two months I’ve realized that several very significant moments in my life are linked in my mind to landmarks on the Seahawks’ timeline under Carroll. This is going to be about the first of those moments.
But first, we’ve got to get to the Mariners and the bad blood that spilled over (again) with the Astros.
That actually happened
The Mariners are hot.
I say that because they’ve won 7 of 10 games, including Monday’s series-opener in Houston, a place where Seattle had lost 26 of its last 30 games.
They were also hot after a ninth inning in which some guy named Hector Neris hit Ty France with a pitch with two outs. As France spoke with home plate umpire, making sure the umpire knew the pitch hit him, you could hear shouts emanating from the Astros dugout.
“The Astros dugout just exploded,” said Aaron Goldsmith on the TV call for Root Sports.
That prompted Scott Servais to explode. After he held out his hand, shouting at the Astros to “Relax!” In a not-so-relaxed fashion, Servais was one of the first Mariners out of the dugout rushing toward Houston’s players. It was the tamest version of a benches-clearing incident. What I like to call “angry milling.”
Julio Rodriguez then hit a home run off that guy Hector Neris, putting Seattle ahead 7-4.
Then the Neris guy threw a ball at Suarez’s head. He was ejected. So was Dusty Baker given the fact both teams had been warned.
Here’s another view if you want to know how big a chump the Neris guy is. Answer: pretty big.
Now, if you’re wondering where all this might generate from. I’ve got a pretty good idea. Last year, the Mariners erased a seven-run deficit against Houston, the comeback culminating with a grand slam by Dylan Moore. An Astros reliever then hit J.P. Crawford with a pitch. It wasn’t Neris, though. This other guy named Brooks Raley. Servais was furious, shouting from the dugout. Being a fairly proficient lip-reader, I believe Servais accused the Astros reliever of sucking bull spit thought it’s possible I’m two letters off.
Raley was ejected, and manager Dusty Baker was suspended a game. Baker and Servais were ejected on Monday. So your Mariners have won seven of 10 and it’s confirmed they have “bad blood” with the Astros. Man, I love bad blood in baseball.
Staring fresh with Pete Carroll
I threw a small fit the day Pete Carroll emerged as a candidate to be Seattle’s next head coach.
This is what I remember most clearly about Jan. 8, 2010. Not the moment I learned Jim Mora had been fired after a single season and three days after holding a post-mortem press conference summarize the season. Not the interview I conducted with Mora. I don’t even remember for certain how I first heard Carroll was the Seahawks’ target though I believe it was a story from ESPN’s Chris Mortenson.
I know all that stuff happened. I just don’t recall it. At least not as specifically as the phone conversation I had with my editor at The Seattle Times while I was parking my car at the grocery store (the Morgan Junction Thriftway in West Seattle if you must know).
“Which of the assistant coaches will you talk to?” the editor asked.
I didn’t know, but pointed out I had already talked to Mora. I expressed my opinion that this was more significant than my editor seemed to realize. I said I would try and contact the assistants, but I wasn’t sure how many would be willing to talk on the record. What I said wasn’t nearly as important as how I said it, though. I might have sighed. I acted aggrieved. I was petulant. I was a 10-year-old who was upset at simply being asked what homework I had.
“Look, Danny,” my editor said. “I’m just trying to figure out what you have so we can plan for the paper.”
That editor was an exceedingly patient and gentle boss. If he was exasperated, I understand why. If he was annoyed, he had every right to be. And that moment turned out to be the first of several turning points in my life that occurred in close proximity to Carroll and his team.
I’m bringing it up because the Seahawks have reached a turning point under Carroll with the trade of Wilson. I’m in town this week to watch the minicamp and work on a couple of stories, and it’s caused me to spend quite a bit of time thinking about how much of my professional life has been tied up with Carroll’s time in Seattle. Turns out there’s some personal history, too.
That brings me back to the that Friday when the Seahawks decided to start over, firing Mora and targeting Carroll because that day pushed me to a bit of a breaking point.