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At least that’s what some in Seattle are asking as the Mariners return to Safeco Field on Friday night to face the Kansas City Royals in the opener of a nine-game homestand.

The Mariners have gone a surprising 29-14, taking hold of the American League’s second wild card without eight-time All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano, who was suspended 80 games by Major League Baseball in mid-May for using performance-enhancing drugs.

On that day, Mariners manager Scott Servais brought together his team and delivered a simple message.

“He just said, ‘We’re a good team. We can still do this,'” left-hander James Paxton told The Washington Post. “Losing Robbie was a blow to the team. But we knew at the time everyone would have to step up to fill the void. No one guy could replace Robinson Cano.”

The results have surprised even Servais.

“Quite frankly, I couldn’t have predicted we’d go on the run we did without having your three-hole, All-Star second baseman,” the manager told The Post.

After 10 straight games against the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, a span in which they went 3-7 Ethan Westbrooks Jersey , the Mariners swept a four-game series at the Baltimore Orioles, who are in last place in the American League East.

Next up are the Royals, the AL Central cellar-dwellers.

“We’re (20) games over .500 — that bad stretch (against the Red Sox and Yankees) didn’t do anything to our confidence,” the Mariners’ Dee Gordon told The Post earlier this week. “It’s just — sometimes you lose. Every team goes through a low stretch. We’ll be fine.”

Seattle designated hitter Nelson Cruz, the reigning AL Player of the Week, returned to the cleanup spot in the lineup Thursday after missing two games with lower back tightness. He went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs as the Mariners beat the Orioles 4-2 in 10 innings.

Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy (1-7, 5.09 ERA) is scheduled to start the series opener Friday against Mariners left-hander Marco Gonzales (7-5, 4.04).

Kennedy, who is winless in 14 starts since a 1-0 victory on April 7 at Cleveland, has allowed two or fewer runs in nine of his 16 starts this season. He’s 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA in four career starts against the Mariners.

Gonzales is 0-1 with a 12.79 ERA in two career starts against the Royals. He suffered a 10-0 defeat on April 9 at Kansas City Patrick DiMarco Jersey , allowing four runs and eight hits in 2 1/3 innings.

The Royals are coming off a 5-4 victory Wednesday at Milwaukee. It was the first time they’ve scored five runs since June 2. They’ll be seeking their first back-to-back wins since May 29-30.

“It’s not frustration,” Royals manager Ned Yost told MLB.com of his team’s month. “Well, that’s a lie. We’re all frustrated. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never seen an offensive drought like we’ve had all month long. It’s pretty puzzling. There’s no answer for it.”

Kansas City outfielder Jorge Bonifacio was recalled from Triple-A Omaha on Thursday. Bonifacio, who hit .255 with 17 home runs as a rookie last season, had been serving his own 80-game MLB suspension for a failed drug test.

The man convicted of manslaughter in the 2016 road rage shooting death of former NFL running back Joe McKnight was sentenced to 30 years in prison Thursday.

Ronald Gasser, 56, had faced up to 40 years in prison. Defense lawyers argued that Gasser fired in self-defense when McKnight walked up to his car following a 5-mile confrontation that began on a bridge spanning the Mississippi River in New Orleans and ended with gunfire in neighboring Jefferson Parish.

”Let this be a cautionary tale,” Judge Ellen Kovach said. McKnight’s death could have been avoided ”if either of the men had had the good sense, the courage and the wisdom to simply disengage.”

Sentencing followed emotional testimony from McKnight’s loved ones.

”That day, you didn’t have to do that Kasen Williams Jersey ,” McKnight’s mother, Jennifer McKnight, said while looking down at Gasser, who sat a few feet away at the defense table. She cried throughout her testimony and was escorted from the courtroom sobbing.

Witnesses at the trial said McKnight had been weaving in and out of traffic at high speed before the shooting. Prosecutors acknowledged to the jury that he was, in the words of Assistant District Attorney Seth Shute, ”driving like a jerk.” But they argued that Gasser escalated the conflict, following him down an exit that he would not ordinarily have taken moments before the shooting.

Shute acknowledged that McKnight had a hand on the open, passenger side window of Gasser’s car before he was shot. But he said physical evidence proved Gasser lied during extensive police questioning when he claimed McKnight lunged at him.

Michelle Quick, the mother of McKnight’s now 9-year-old son, described struggling to tell the child what had happened Cedric Ogbuehi Jersey , and trying to protect him from seeing internet video of McKnight on the ground at the shooting scene as people worked to save him.

Defense attorney Matthew Goetz, who is appealing the verdict, had argued for a lenient sentence, noting Gasser’s lack of a criminal record. A prosecutor argued that Gasser has shown no remorse.

McKnight had been a high school football hero at Louisiana’s John Curtis Christian School. He signed with the University of Southern California in 2006. In the NFL, he played three seasons for the New York Jets and one with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Gasser was indicted on a second-degree murder charge. The jury voted 10-2 in January for the lesser verdict of manslaughter.

Gasser did not leave the scene of the shooting and he was released for a time after being questioned. He is white and his release after the shooting of the black athlete sparked protests from some who said race was a factor.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, who has since retired, denied that race played any role and noted that a thorough investigation led to Gasser’s arrest and indictment. Prosecutors later recounted a painstaking investigation, including an extensive search for witnesses and physical evidence that eventually led to Gasser being charged.

The case in some ways echoed another New Orleans-area road rage shooting from 2016. Former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith was gunned down in that April incident. The shooter was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 25 years.

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