Northwest Sports: In the Morning

Lofa Tatupu's arrest for drunk driving came as a shock to fans and reporters who saw him as one of the good guys. Tatupu apologized late yesterday, saying "this will never happen again." (Though Kissing Suzy Kolber says he really should be apologizing for owning a Hyundai) Tacoma News Tribune has the police report [pdf]. "Tatupu's eyes were bloodshot/watery and his speech was noticably slurred." My own response is this pledge to drive drunk Seattle athletes home, a pledge now with three signatories. In the past few weeks, two of the supposed leaders of the Hawks defense, two who not long ago were given long-term contracts, have been arrested. This is not good.

In yet more depressing news, the first 1/4 of the Mariners' season ended last night with a four-error loss that left the team holding the worst record in baseball. Larry Stone of the Times says that the front office needs to look in the mirror, but also implicates himself for not seeing the collapse coming, while the stat-types did: "Kudos to them, most of whom come, it must be said, from a sabermetric bent, looking at the vast storehouse of numbers in nontraditional ways. And shame on me, who bought into the popular wisdom that last year's 88-win record plus this year's addition of Bedard equaled a championship run."

Derek Zumsteg of USS Mariner, one of those with a sabermetric bent, would be well within his rights to briefly change the name of the site to "USS I Told You So." Instead, he calmly breaks down what's gone wrong, ending with a plea to the M's ownership: "If you only listen to us once, just once, take this advice: the next time you’re looking to hire a general manager, at least interview smart people who disagree with you and weigh their approach and plans against what you’ve reaped from the strategy you’ve used for so long. Give them a fair shot, because they’ll win the job and win with the team if given the chance."

All this losing isn't doing much for clubhouse morale. Writes the P-I's John Hickey: "Aside from desperately needing to win games, the big challenge for the Mariners at this point is keeping the players from turning on each other. There have been several team meetings in recent days, and McLaren admitted the team is dealing with 'some issues.'"

With the present so dark, why not look to the future? Kirby Arnold of the Herald checks in with Phillipe Aumont, and finds that the M's are slowly stretching him out, having him throw just three innings every six days. The P-I's Jason Churchill finds that catching prospect Adam Moore, who had a breakout year in '07, is doing even better in '08.

Art Thiel with a well-reasoned argument against trading for Junior: "It's one thing to bring back Griffey as the final piece to a contending team. But the Mariners are apparently going to ask him at 38 to do what he already did once at 19 -- save the franchise."

In other news...
A Seattle connection in EPL, writes Ravi Ubha in the P-I: "Call it A tale of two Seattle keepers...Thanks to four wins in the past five games, Kasey Keller's Fulham escaped relegation on goal difference, edging out Marcus Hahnemann's Reading."

Jeff Green and Kevin Durant made the NBA All-Rookie team.

Sue Bird practiced with the Storm for the first time Tuesday.

The Husky women, whose roster has been depleted by defections, signed three players who can play in 2008.