THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Baseball grips us, even more so this week

Baseball is never far from our minds during any summer.

And it’s especially on our minds this week, with the All-Star Game in Seattle.

Sure, it wasn’t like the 2001 game at Safeco Field, where eight members of the eventual 116-win Mariners were picked to play in the Midsummer Classic.

Cal Ripken Jr. was voted in to start at third base for the American League in that game. But surely you remember Alex Rodriguez, who was voted in to start at shortstop and shortly after he was no longer Beloved in Seattle, switched positions with “The Iron Man” so Ripken could start at short — where he began his Hall of Fame career.

And who could forget Tommy Lasorda coaching third base in that game — memorably tumbling to the ground trying to avoid a broken piece of bat.

THIS YEAR, just three Mariners were named to the AL All-Star team, none of them as starters (four M’s alone started in the 2001 game).

Still, that didn't prevent the city of Seattle from putting on a show this week, blessed with beautiful weather, in a ballpark that still looks new, more than two decades later — showing off the landmarks, trotting out many of the greats from the past, bringing home a local (to here, anyway) star for the Futures Game, trying to entice Shohei Ohtani to "come to Seattle."

Job well done, Seattle.

Now back to reality.

Coming off a 90-win season in 2022 and the Mariners’ first playoff berth since that 2001 season, this year has to be a bit of a disappointment, even by lowly M’s standards, with Seattle spinning its wheels at a .506 (45-44) clip at the All-Star break.

In a baseball town with more of a winning tradition, a .500 record would lead to calls for anybody — the manager, the batboy, the broadcast crew — to be fired, anything to shake things up.

But in Seattle, the ever-optimistic M’s supporters feel the team is just one good winning streak away from being a playoff team.

Crazily, they’re right.

For much of the first half, Seattle trailed three of the four other teams in the AL West. But Texas is a month into a free fall, and the Angels appear to be suffering their yearly curse.

And we’re not even mentioning Oakland, whose ownership has simply stopped trying.

Unless the Rangers figure it out (don’t bet on it), that leaves the Astros, even despite their injuries, as the only team the M’s should have to worry about in their division.

Suddenly, with Seattle just six games back of Texas and four games behind Houston, the chances of the M’s making the playoffs don’t sound that far-fetched these days.

A LITTLE closer to home …

The Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen will host the class AA state tournament at Thorco Field in a couple of weeks. As the only two AA teams in North Idaho, the Lums and the Lewis-Clark Twins automatically qualify for state.

Before that, the class A Area A (district) tournament unfolds this weekend on the artificial turf of Memorial Field in Sandpoint.

The Northern Lakes Mountaineers, comprised of players from Lakeland and Timberlake high schools, were 21-9 heading into Wednesday’s regular season-ending doubleheader with Camas Prairie, and had won seven games in a row before losing in the championship game of a tournament in Missoula last weekend.

“We had to learn how to win, how to close out games,” Northern Lakes coach Bryce Johnson said of the winning streak.

CHECK THESE numbers.

15-0. 19-0. 17-0. 12-0. 13-0. 9-0.

Those were the winning scores of the Coeur d’Alene 12U baseball team, in its six pool play games at the Idaho Little League District 1 tournament.

Combined score: 85-0.

Coeur d’Alene will play Sandpoint in a best-of-3 series for the district title this weekend at Croffoot Park in Hayden. Games are Friday and Saturday, and Sunday if necessary. The winner advances to the best-of-3 state playoffs in Boise, against the 12U champion from District 2.

In pool play, Coeur d’Alene beat Sandpoint 12-0 last Friday.

The (younger) Boys of Summer will be in Hayden this weekend.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.