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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Remodeled Mariners believe
they can become a contender
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Jerry Dipoto was
thrilled by the results from his first
year in charge of the Seattle Mari-
ners, when they won 86 games and
were in contention for a playoff
berth until the final weekend of the
season.
And yet there were flaws. The
Mariners didn’t play the way Dipoto
expected or wanted. He wanted
more speed. More athleticism. More
reliance on defense and less on hit-
ting the home run.
So instead of just tinkering with
a roster that was on the cusp of the
playoffs, Dipoto embarked on the
second phase of Seattle’s makeover
this offseason, based around try-
ing to take advantage of the current
window with stars like Nelson Cruz,
Robinson Cano and Felix Hernandez
not getting any younger.
“We maintained what we think
AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
Seattle Mariners’ Mitch Haniger watches the flight of his double against
the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a spring training baseball
game in Peoria, Ariz., Saturday. The Mariners will still be a mostly veteran
team, but there are a few youngsters being counted on in key roles. Hani-
ger is at the top of the list as the primary option in right field.
are the good parts of our team and
this was kind of an inevitable real-
ity, more change, although I couldn’t
have told you it was going to be as
broad as it’s been,” Dipoto said.
Seattle will go into the season
facing mixed expectations. Some
believe they are contenders in the
AL West and have a real shot at end-
ing the longest playoff drought in
baseball as a possible wild card team
with an outside shot at the division
title. Others feel Cano, Cruz and
Hernandez are about to regress and
that the other moves made by the
Mariners won’t be able to make up
for a drop in production by Seattle’s
stars.
Whatever the answer, Seattle will
be an intriguing team because there
is so much uncertainty. Has all of
Dipoto’s tinkering — somewhere
around 40 trades since he arrived in
September 2015 — created a viable
winner or are the Mariners a collec-
tion of pieces that fail to solve the
puzzle?
“You see all the pieces that he
got and that tells you a lot about
a GM, that he wants to win. As a
player that’s what you want,” Cano
said.
SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Loggers drop
twinbill at
Heppner
The Daily Astorian
HEPPNER — Heppner over-
came a pair of big deficits to score
two victories over Knappa Thurs-
day, 16-15 and 10-9, in nonleague
softball doubleheader action.
The Loggers led 10-1 in Game
1, but lost the game in eight
innings.
Knappa starting pitcher Made-
lynn Weaver went down with an
early injury after sliding into a
base, and the Mustangs rallied.
Kaitlyn Truax led the Logger
offense, going 4-for-4 at the plate.
Paris Vanderburg was 3-for-3 and
Katie Denny was 2-for-4. Vander-
burg pitched and struck out nine
batters.
In Game 2, Knappa led 8-1,
but Heppner won with a big rally
in the bottom of the seventh.
Jaden Miethe was 2-for-3
with a triple, and Truax finished
2-for-2.
“We played good today, we
just have to learn to finish games,”
said Knappa coach James Nich-
ols, whose team hits the road
again Saturday for a doubleheader
at Santiam.
Joy Christian
Eagles defeat
Gulls, 13-0
The Daily Astorian
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The
Joy Christian Eagles of Glen-
dale, Ariz., built a quick 5-0 lead
after one inning, on their way to
a 13-0 win over Seaside in base-
ball action at the Coach Bob Invi-
tational in Arizona.
Joy Christian pitcher Anthony
Quattrocchi tossed the one-hit
shutout, striking out eight with
one walk. Dawson Blanchard had
the lone hit for the Gulls, who fin-
ish the tournament Friday against
a team from Ketchikan, Alaska.
The Eagles had 15 hits off four
Seaside pitchers and did not com-
mit an error in the field.
After five runs in the first, Joy
Christian scored six in the sec-
ond, highlighted by a Joey Mar-
tinez home run. Martinez was
4-for-4 with five RBIs and three
runs scored.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TODAY
Baseball — Warrenton at Amity, 1
p.m.
SATURDAY
Baseball — Willamina at Warrenton
(2), Noon; Knappa at Santiam (2), 1 p.m.
Softball — Knappa at Santiam (2), 1
p.m.
AP Photo/Steve Dykes
Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard celebrates as the Blazers take the lead late during the
fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets in Portland Thursday.
Lillard leads Trail Blazers
past the Rockets, 117-107
By ERIK GARCIA
GUNDERSEN
Associated Press
PORTLAND — The Portland
Trail Blazers are finishing the
regular season on a good note,
and the Houston Rockets are the
latest to be frustrated by them.
Damian Lillard had 31 points
and 11 assists, leading the Trail
Blazers past the Rockets 117-107
on Thursday night. Lillard is the
first player in franchise history to
score 30 points eight times in a
calendar month.
Jusuf Nurkic had a team-high
11 rebounds to go along with 19
points for the Trail Blazers, who
have a season-high five-game
winning streak and a 1 ½-game
lead over the Denver Nuggets for
the eighth seed in the Western
Conference.
UP NEXT: TRAIL BLAZERS
• Phoenix Suns (22-54) at Portland Trail Blazers (37-38)
• Saturday, 8 p.m. TV: FSAZ, CSNW
“They’ll be a handful in the
playoffs,” Rockets coach Mike
D’Antoni said of the Blazers.
James Harden finished with
30 points and eight rebounds
to lead the Rockets. Harden’s
3-pointer at the end of the first
quarter gave the Rockets 1,078
3s, an NBA single-season record.
Portland held a 96-85 lead
into the fourth, but Houston
made a run early in the quar-
ter. Trevor Ariza’s dunk tied the
game at 105 with 2:29 left, but
Nurkic’s post-up gave Portland
the lead right back with 2:05
remaining.
Allen Crabbe sealed the win
with steal on Harden, taking it
coast-to-coast to give the Blaz-
ers a 113-105 lead with 1:12 left.
Harden had three turnovers in
the fourth quarter.
After recording 13 turnovers
or more in four straight games,
the Blazers have had 12 or fewer
in the past two games.
“We’ve been really in tune
with every possession,” Blaz-
ers coach Terry Stotts said of his
team’s low turnover total in the
past two games. “Consistency in
the first half of the season was a
challenge. I think we are valu-
ing each possession at both ends
much better.”
NC hopes ‘bathroom bill’ deal saves NCAA events
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — Basket-
ball-mad North Carolina is hoping its
move to roll back its “bathroom bill”
will help it avoid another costly hit
when the NCAA selects four years
of championship sites for a variety of
sports.
College athletics’ governing body
has said that it is deciding on locations
for tournaments through the spring of
2022 and that it wouldn’t award any
to North Carolina if the law known as
House Bill 2 was still on the books.
On Thursday, amid the mounting
pressure, North Carolina’s Repub-
lican-controlled legislature voted to
undo HB2, and Democratic Gov.
Roy Cooper signed the measure into
law. But it wasn’t clear if that would
satisfy the NCAA, which made no
immediate decision on North Caroli-
na’s fate.
NCAA President Mark Emmert
said the association would review the
legislation before making a decision
in the coming days. He told reporters
at a news conference that the NCAA
Board of Governors will hold discus-
sions to determine whether the new
legislation “is a sufficient change in
the law for the board to feel comfort-
able going back to North Carolina.”
But he added: “I’m personally
very pleased that they have a bill to
debate and discuss.”
While lawmakers repealed the
much-criticized provision that said
transgender people must use the pub-
lic bathrooms that correspond to the
sex on their birth certificate, activ-
ists complained that the new law still
denies gay and transgender people cer-
tain protections from discrimination.
BASEBALL 2017
New digs
in Atlanta,
eggs on hot
dogs in KC
By BEN WALKER
Associated Press
NEW YORK — When Chris
Archer throws the first pitch of
the 2017 Major League Baseball
season on Sunday, he’ll unleash
all sorts of possibilities.
Can MVP Kris Bryant and the
World Series champion Chicago
Cubs repeat? Will home runs stay
on the upswing? Heck, will Ryan
Howard ever play again?
A look at what’s ahead,
including new digs in Atlanta,
fried eggs on hot dogs in Kansas
City and a true throwback date in
Florida:
OPENING DAY: The fun
starts this weekend with a trio
of tilts, beginning when Archer
and Tampa Bay host the Yankees.
Next, a neat matchup as Madison
Bumgarner and the Giants take
on Zack Greinke and Arizona.
Followed by a Sunday night spe-
cial as Jon Lester and those Cubs
visit rival St. Louis.
Beyond that, a unique event
on June 10 at Tropicana Field:
A’s-Rays in the majors’ first
scheduled single-admission dou-
bleheader since 2011. The last
day of the season? That would be
Nov. 1, if the Fall Classic again
goes to Game 7.
SWITCHING SIDES: Lefty
ace Chris Sale got traded from the
White Sox to the Red Sox, slug-
ger Edwin Encarnacion joined
the AL champion Indians and
Carlos Beltran signed with Hous-
ton. Other top names who wound
up in new jerseys included Dex-
ter Fowler (Cards), popular and
portly pitcher Bartolo Colon
(Braves) and NL homer champ
Chris Carter (Yankees).
SO LONG: Fenway Park
won’t look the same without Big
Papi — David Ortiz retired, done
at 41 despite hitting .315 with
38 home runs and 127 RBIs for
Boston.
Dodger games won’t sound
the same without Vin Scully —
for decades, from Ebbets Field to
Chavez Ravine, fans would tune
in from their seats for his dulcet
tones. This will be the first Dodg-
ers opener since 1950 without
him in the broadcast booth. At 89,
he doesn’t plan to listen, saying,
“I’ll probably have things to do.”
Also gone is Turner Field
after just 20 seasons in Atlanta.
The Braves open 41,000-seat
SunTrust Park in the suburbs on
April 14, hoping the city’s noto-
rious traffic snarls don’t cause
too much trouble. The next new
MLB stadium is set for Texas in
2020.
OUCH!: Tigers star J.D. Mar-
tinez, Rockies newcomer Ian
Desmond and Mets lefty Steven
Matz got injured during spring
training and are out for a while.
Red Sox ace David Price,
Cleveland second baseman Jason
Kipnis, Yankees shortstop Didi
Gregorius and Baltimore starter
Chris Tillman also are banged
up. The disabled list is down to
10 days, instead of the previous
15-day stint.
Mets closer Jeurys Familia is
out 15 games, suspended under
MLB’s domestic violence policy.
THEY ALL COUNT: No
one really liked that the All-Star
Game determined who got home-
field advantage in the World
Series. And now, it doesn’t.
Under baseball’s new labor deal,
the pennant winner with the best
regular-season records gets to
host Game 1.
This year’s summer show-
case is July 11 at Marlins Park in
Miami.
MENU MADNESS: Hungry
for more? Check out the rookie
items at the concession stands.
The Sunrise Dog at Kauffman
Stadium in KC features a hot dog
topped with fried eggs, bacon,
cheddar cheese and gravy. Or try
the crab doughnut holes at PNC
Park in Pittsburgh. And don’t for-
get dessert — apple pie nachos at
Coors Field in Denver.
A tasty season on deck, no
doubt.