The Mariners crashed to a 3-9 defeat in Game 4 today in Detroit.
Game 5— the deciding game— will start at 5:08 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday night in Seattle.
Wednesday/ a resounding defeat 😖
Tuesday/ Mariners 8-4 ⚾
There was a rain delay to the start of the game in Detroit.
Once the game started, though, the Mariners were the first to put several runs on the board. They held off a late attempt by the Tigers to come back in the 9th inning.
[Photo by Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times, caption from The Seattle Times]
Monday/ don’t stop believin’ 🌇
Just a small town girl
Livin’ in a lonely world
She took the midnight train going anywhere
Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train going anywhere
A singer in a smokey room
A smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on
Strangers waitin’
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searchin’ in the night
Streetlights, people
Livin’ just to find emotion
Hidin’ somewhere in the night
Workin’ hard to get my fill
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin’ anything to roll the dice
Just one more time
Some’ll win, some will lose
Some are born to sing the blues
Whoa, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on
Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlights, people
Livin’ just to find emotion
Hidin’, somewhere in the night
Don’t stop believin’
Hold on to that feeling
Streetlights, people
Don’t stop believin’
Hold on
Streetlights, people
Don’t stop believin’
Hold on to that feeling
Streetlights, people
– Lyrics from Don’t Stop Believin’, a song by Journey from their album Escape (1981)
Go Mariners!
The Mariners* are in Detroit for the third and fourth games (Tuesday night & Wednesday night) in the playoff series against the Detroit Tigers.
The Mariners and Tigers are drawn 1-1 in the series.
*Baseball team from Seattle that competes in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) West Division.
“The M’s,” named for Seattle’s nautical heritage, have never won a World Series. They have won the AL West Division four times and appeared in the playoffs in 2000, 2022, and now this year, 2025.
The graffiti on the ‘Stop Sign Ahead’ sign reads “Don’t Stop Believin’ “, likely a reference to the 1981 classic pop song with the same title, from Journey.
Thursday/ at the Japan Open 🇯🇵🎾
I should have stayed on in Tokyo for another week so that I could catch some of the action at the Japan Open ATP 500 men’s tennis tournament there.
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz (🇪🇸, 22) made his debut in Japan there, today.
He scared everybody with an ankle injury in the first set of his match, but recovered to beat Argentinian Sebastian Baez (🇦🇷, 24) by 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.
The structures on the left of the track are in Ariake Tennis no Mori Park with its center court Ariake Coliseum.
Look for the elevated Yurikamome Line on the left of the picture. The Ariake Tennis no Mori Park train station is towards the top right of the picture.
[Graphic from Olympic and Paralympic Games TOKYO2020 website]
Carlos is doing a Japanese bow as he greets the representative from Kinoshita Group (I couldn’t get his name). The man in the middle is the umpire of the match, Fergus Murphy from Dublin, Ireland.
[Still from TennisTV coverage of the match]
Saturday/ don’t be an entitled jerk 😲
From the New York Post by reporters Chris Harris, Bridget Reilly, Anna Young and Shane Galvin:
The “entitled” jerk who seemingly snatched a hat autographed by tennis star Kamil Majchrzak from a young boy at the US Open has been identified as a Polish millionaire. (My note: I edited out his name).
Majchrzak, fresh off his victory over ninth seed Karen Khachanov when the incident unfolded Thursday night, confirmed his identity to The Post on Saturday and said he was initially oblivious to the now-viral snafu.
“Obviously it was some kind of confusion,” the tennis pro said, adding that the millionaire sponsors his tennis federation in Poland.
Friday/ Labor Day weekend 😎
Happy Friday.
It’s Labor Day weekend here in the United States— the unofficial end of summer.
There was plenty of action on Day 6 of the US Open. Ben Stiller and Steve Carell were seen in the stands today.
Coqodaq is an upscale NYC restaurant that serves Korean-style fried chicken and champagne from a location in the lower bowl concourse of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Reportedly one of the most sought-after food items at this year’s Open, is their chicken nuggets garnished with caviar ($100).
P.S. Medvedev was fined $42,000 for his conduct in his first-round match on Sunday. (Should it not have been a much bigger fine?)
[Live update reporting from The Athletic/ The New York Times, photo by Getty Images]
Monday/ a rough start to the US Open 🎾
On day one of the 2025 tournament, 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev provided a signal example by inciting the crowd to delay his match against France’s Benjamin Bonzi for six minutes — while he was down match point. A photographer walked onto the court between Bonzi’s first and second serves. Umpire Greg Allensworth ruled that Bonzi should get a first serve. Irate, Medvedev approached Allensworth’s chair, whipping up the crowd to boo and chant. After berating Allensworth, Medvedev returned to the baseline. Bonzi got ready to serve. The crowd didn’t stop.
– Matthew Futterman writing for The Athletic in the New York Times, saying that the Medvedev incident is a signal example of the complete absence of tennis etiquette at the US Open
What also happened— after Medvedev had lost the first-round match against Bonzi in five sets on Sunday— is that he smashed his racket on the court and against the bench that he sat on. Still enraged and not satisfied with the damage to it, he went on and smashed the broken frame for a few minutes more, to smithereens.
By the way: Medvedev was fined AUD 76,000 ($49,000) in this year’s Australian Open for smashing a tennis net camera in the first round, and for unsportsmanlike conduct in the second round.
He said “I’m getting a big enough fine. So if I speak I’m in big trouble, so I’m not going to speak”.
[Picture posted on The Athletic/ The New York Times]
Thursday/ on Lake Union 🚣♀️
I was near Lake Union for two appointments this morning and took these pictures.
Top to bottom—
Rowing lessons for kids near a flotilla of moored yachts;
Troublemakers (Canadian geese) on the docks;
Space Needle and Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI);
Incoming floatplane;
Departing floatplane— the last one of four in a row— but then the first to become airborne (in the center of the last picture).
Saturday/ a double bagel 🍩🍩
Poor Amanda Anisimova (age 23, 🇺🇸) suffered a ‘double bagel’ defeat against Iga Świątek (24, 🇵🇱) in today’s Wimbledon Women’s Singles final.
Anisimova struggled with her serve, and made way too many unforced errors. She skipped practice on Friday because of fatigue and felt pain in her right shoulder while warming up before the match.
From BBC.com/ sport:
The rarity of a 6-0 6-0 score line in a final underlines Swiatek’s dominance.
This is the first 6-0 6-0 win in a Grand Slam final since Steffi Graff (19, 🇩🇪) beat Natasha Zvereva (17) in just 34 minutes at the 1988 French Open.
It is the first time it has been done in a Wimbledon final in the Open era, which is when tennis became professional (1968).
In 1911, Dorothea Lambert Chambers (32, 🇬🇧) beat Dora Boothby (29, 🇬🇧) by the same score line— but that was in the challenge match era, where the defending champion played just once.
Sunday/ shot of the day 🎾
Day 7 at Wimbledon is done.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz (22, 🇪🇸) is still on track, with a great win today over Andrey Rublev (27): 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Alcaraz will play Cameron Norrie in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Norrie (29, 🇬🇧) is British, and was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
[‘Shot of the day’ by The Athletic from the New York Times]
Monday/ a sweltering day as Wimbledon starts 🥵
[Image from the official Wimbledon website]
*Yes, there is still croquet, played on three dedicated lawns, but they are converted into practice tennis courts during the championships.
Here are a few random notes for today:
– The hottest day ever recorded at the Wimbledon tennis tournament was July 1, 2015, with a temperature of 35.7 °C (96.3°F). This record was matched today on the first day of the 2025 tournament, Monday, June 30;
– Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (21, 🇫🇷) hit a serve that clocked in at 153 mph (246 km/h), the fastest ever recorded, anywhere;
– World No 733 Oliver Tarvet (21, 🇬🇧) won his first round match as a qualifier in the main draw. He must now spend most of his £99,000 winnings to retain his amateur status on the NCAA Tennis circuit (he plays college tennis at the University of San Diego and wants to continue doing that for another year or two);
– Tarvet will play Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday in the second round.
Alcaraz needed five sets today to eliminate Fabio Fognini (38, 🇮🇹) 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1. Fognini is retiring after this season and asked Alcaraz for his shirt after the match to give to his son Frederico (he got it; they are good friends);
– On No. 1 Court, Jiao Fonseca (18, 🇧🇷) became the first 18-year-old to reach the second round since a certain Carlos Alcaraz did it in 2021. Fonseca needed only three sets to get past Jacob Fearnley (23, 🇬🇧);
– Line judges have been a part of Wimbledon since the very first Championships in 1877, but this year the humans have been replaced with Hawk-Eye Live (a system of up to 18 cameras equipped with AI that analyzes footage from the cameras to determine if a ball is in or out).
Friday/ summer solstice 🌞
Happy Friday.
Happy Summer Solstice (here in the northern hemisphere).
The arrival of summer weather has been delayed by a few days here in Seattle, with cool and rainy weather expected this weekend.
The high today was only 62°F (17°C).
On the near side it’s a tennis court, officially, with no pickleball nets. We brought our own net, and it is set up and ready for play.
Over on the far side there is a pickleball lesson is in progress. I am marveling at the number of plastic baskets that the coach had brought to the court.
As far as I can tell there are 57.
Monday/ soccer, on golden stamps ⚽
Here is the latest page that I just added to my set of albums for South Africa.
This unusual sheet of stamps— round stamps on gold foil paper, for nine different countries, in one sheet— was issued in 2010 to celebrate the 2010 World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa.
P.S. In June and July of next year, six matches of the 2026 World Cup will be played right here in Seattle. The USA team features in one match, and I wondered if there would be any tickets left.
Yes, there are, at a very dear price.
Ticket reseller Stubhub offers tickets starting at $2,235, for seats in the stadium.
But hold on to your beer. Right there on the pitch, one ticket is offered for $892,803 and another for $1,116,003. ‘Can relist if plans change’ it says for these. Yes. Or if the stock market crashes and you go from billionaire to millionaire.
Sunday/ an epic final 🎾
“Difficult to accept now because I had lots of chances, but this is the good part of the sport ..
Also today it got me the sad part, no? But, you know, if you watch only the sad part, you’re never going to come back.”
– Jannik Sinner after his heart-breaking defeat against Alcaraz
Congratulations to Carlos Alcaraz for defending his 2024 French Open title successfully.
It was an epic match, that saw Alcaraz face down three match points in the fourth set: trailing 3-5 and 0-40 (on his serve).
But no, Alcaraz won three points in a row, won the game, went on to win the fourth set tie-breaker.
Fifth set goes to a 10 point tie-breaker, and Alcaraz plays flawlessly to run up a 7-0 lead. 7-2, 8-2, 9-2, 10-2. The championship is his.
The Rolex clock showed 5 hours 29 minutes when it was finally over.
Saturday/ French Open champ 🥂
Congratulations to Coco Gauff for winning the French Open.
It had been a decade since an American had won this title (Serena Williams, in 2015).
Simon Chambers writes for ESPN: Sabalenka went into the match as the favorite, having beaten Gauff in the Madrid Open final last month. But with the roof open and a strong wind gusting around Court Philippe Chatrier, clean ballstriking was almost impossible, the ball dying on the clay one minute and flashing through the court the next.
[Photo by Adam Pretty / Getty Images]
Tuesday/ the red clay of Roland Garros 🎾
The year’s toughest tennis tournament* is underway: the last of the clay court season, the French Open at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris.
There is a sensational new youngster on the men’s tennis scene (no, not Carlos Alcaraz)—João Fonseca from Brazil, all of 18 years old.
*It’s a Grand Slam tournament, so the 128-person draw requires the champion to win 7 times. The matches are best of 5 sets (best of 3 in non-Slam tournaments), and the clay makes the ball slower and bounce higher, so the rallies are longer.
Here he is serving, already a break up (fan with the Brazilian flag to his right).
Fonseca won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, against a formidable opponent, and by retrieving shots wide, wi-i-ide out left, or right, and the dropshots up front as well. He plays with the confidence and maturity of someone 10 years older, and whips the ball on his forearm with a lethal, loose, arm and shoulder.
The match was put on Court No 7, a side court. (Why?) So there was standing room only for the rabid fans, plus a line that snaked around the corner for those that still hoped to get in before the end of the match, to share in the excitement. After the match had ended, people started leaving, but others still made their way in, just to take a look.
[Still from TNT cable TV channel broadcast]
Sunday/ Carlos wins in Rome 🎾
Congrats to Carlos Alcaraz (22, 🇪🇸), winning the Italian Open today, against his old nemesis and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner (23, 🇮🇹).
The score was 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.
Here’s Matthew Futterman writing for The Athletic:
In one sense, this was one of the most predictable outcomes of the season. Sinner entered the tournament coming off a three-month anti-doping ban. Alcaraz, the Roland Garros champion who grew up on the red clay of Spain, had won the Monte Carlo Masters, reached the final in Barcelona, and then taken the Madrid Open off to nurse an injury. He came to Rome ready and rested, while Sinner arrived understandably not match tough enough to live with the player with whom he has split the last five Grand Slams.
Still, over the past 10 days, Sinner had played some of the most scintillating tennis of his life in front of an Italian crowd that wrapped him in their arms and powered him to a frightening level. He met the newly elected Pope Leo XIV one day. The next, he played what was statistically the best match of this season and the last on the ATP Tour, in annihilating Casper Ruud 6-0, 6-1.
[Posted on X @alcarchive]
Alcaraz uses a semi-western grip, which is a popular grip on both the men’s and women’s tours— but one which I was not taught as a junior tennis player.
We used the “greet the tennis racket” grip (the continental grip), which is a fundamental grip also used for serves, volleys, and overheads.
[All stills made from a video clip by the TennisTV streaming channel]
Wednesday/ tennis in Marrakech 🎾
The clay court season (April to June) in men’s tennis has started with ATP 250 tournaments (smaller tournaments) this week in Houston, Texas, in Bucharest, Romania, and in Marrakech, Morocco.
Here is Nuno Borges (28, 🇵🇹) being interviewed after beating the Belgian Raphaël Collignon (23, 🇧🇪) in a closely fought match on the red clay in Marrakech. It ended in a third set tie-break in which Borges iced out Collignon 7-0, though.
Afterwards the announcer addressed the remaining spectators in French.
A bit of history [from Wikipedia]: The French conquest of Morocco began with the French Republic occupying the city of Oujda on 29 March 1907. The French launched campaigns against the Sultanate of Morocco which culminated in the signing of the Treaty of Fes and establishment of the French Protectorate in Morocco on 30 March 1912.
There is a 1977 song by Mike Batt, The Ride to Agadir, from the album Schizophonia, about the Rif War— an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by France in 1924) and the Berber (Amazigh) tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco.
I must have played The Ride to Agadir a hundred times or more, while driving in my car in the late 80s and early 90s.
Lyrics: The Ride to Agadir
We rode in the morning
Casablanca to the west
On the Atlas mountain foothills leading down to Marrakesh
For Mohammed and Morocco
We had taken up our guns
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
In the dry winds of summer
We were sharpening the blades
We were riding to act upon the promise we had made
With the fist and the dagger
With the rifle and the lance
We will suffer no intrusion from the infidels of France
We will suffer no intrusion from the infidels of France
We could wait no more
In the burning sands on the ride to Agadir
Like the dogs of war
For the future of this land on the ride to Agadir
Though they were waiting
And they were fifty to our ten
They were easily outnumbered by a smaller force of men
As the darkness was falling
They were soon to realize
We were going to relieve them of their godforsaken lives
We were going to relieve them of their godforsaken lives
We could wait no more
In the burning sands on the ride to Agadir
Like the dogs of war
For the future of this land on the ride to Agadir
We rode in the morning
Casablanca to the west
On the Atlas mountain foothills leading down to Marrakesh
For Mohammed and Morocco
We had taken up our guns
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
Friday/ tennis in the desert 🎾
Happy Friday.
I’m watching tennis from the Indian Wells Open/ BNP Paribas Open.
World No 1 Jannik Sinner (23, 🇮🇹) is not playing— he is serving out a controversial 3-month suspension from tennis for a failed doping test (it’s complicated).
On top of that, the men’s tournament has lost its top seeded player today. Dutch No 1 Tallon Griekspoor (28, 🇳🇱) took out Alexander Zverev (27, 🇩🇪) 4-6 7-6 7-6.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz (21, 🇪🇸 ) will play his first match tomorrow.
Dark horse and still-at-it Novak Djokovic (37, 🇷🇸) is back and is probably the other favorite to win this year.
Monday/ a break in the bluster 🌬️
It was a blustery, rainy day here in the city (high 53°F/ 12°C), but there was a bit of quiet at 5 o’clock, which allowed me to go for a walk.
The French Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf saw Huron tribesmen play the game during 1637 in present-day Ontario. He called it la crosse, “the stick” in French. The name seems to be originated from the French term for field hockey, le jeu de la crosse.
[Source: Wikipedia. The picture is titled ‘Ball Players’ and the artist is George Catlin]