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SEATTLE -- The Houston Astros continue to have the Seattle Mariners number, so much so that they might consider changing their area code to 206.Houston extended its winning streak over Seattle to five with a 7-3 win on Friday night. Since 2014, the Astros hold a 13-10 record at Safeco Field, which is quickly becoming their favorite road ballpark.George Springer and Jose Altuve have been particularly successful at Safeco, and the duo combined for two hits and three runs Friday.We didnt start the year like we wanted, and thats why people are surprised by how well were playing now, Altuve said. This is the team youre going to see every day. Were going to play hard.The Mariners (45-45) will try to end the skid against Houston during a rare Saturday afternoon game. It marks the first time this season that Seattle will play a home game on a Saturday afternoon.The Mariners plan on starting veteran Hisashi Iwakuma, who is currently the only right-hander in the Seattle rotation.Iwakuma will be flanked by left-handed starters James Paxton, Wade LeBlanc, Wade Miley and Mike Montgomery for one more trip through the rotation, but help could be on the way.Seattle ace Felix Hernandez made a successful rehab start at Triple-A Tacoma on Friday and could be close to returning to the rotation. Wednesdays game against the Chicago White Sox -- another afternoon tilt -- seems like the target date for Hernandezs return after hes spent the good part of eight weeks on the disabled list.Im ready to go, Hernandez told reporters after his outing in Tacoma. ... Ill be back (on Wednesday), for sure.The Astros (49-41) send young right-hander Lance McCullers to the mound.McCullers has already beaten the Mariners once this season. He allowed just one run over seven innings in a 2-1 win over Seattle at Houston a few days before the All-Star Break.The Astros swept Seattle in a three-game series at Houston and have taken full control of second place in the American League West. The Mariners led the division for most of April and May but fell behind the Rangers in early June. Two weeks ago, Houston moved past Seattle and now holds a four-game lead over the Mariners. Texas leads the Astros by 4 1/2.Seattles Iwakuma has an 0-4 record and 7.50 ERA over his past five starts against the Astros. He is 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA against Houston this season.Seattle is likely to play the game without shortstop Ketel Marte, who injured his ankle sliding into third base Friday night. Marte is listed as day-to-day, but Mariners manager Scott Servais said he would probably sit out Saturdays game while utility man Shawn OMalley got the start.Marte is hitting .273 this season and has settled in as the leadoff hitter since veteran outfielder Norichika Aoki got sent to the minors late last month.Zack Cozart Jersey . The nimble-footed quarterback got his wish, dashing through the snow and a weary defence all the way into the NCAA record book. Mike Trout Angels Jersey . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good. http://www.baseballangelslockroom.com/andrew-heaney-angels-jersey/ . "Hes going to have hip surgery on Jan. 7, and hell be expected to rehabilitate for four to six months beyond that," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Friday in an interview. Jonathan Lucroy Jersey . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round. Andrelton Simmons Jersey . Hazard cut in from the left and scored with a swerving right-footed shot for ninth goal of the season, which proved to be enough for the victory despite Chelseas forwards again lacking a cutting edge up front.Editors note: The 2016-17 college basketball season will be the Year of the Freshmen,?featuring what could be the best class weve ever seen. Over the next two weeks we will get familiar with the best of the best, examining who they are and where each of the top 10 prospects in the 2016 ESPN 100 came from.Read more: No. 10: Dukes Frank Jackson | No. 9: Kentuckys Malik Monk No. 8: Michigan States Miles Bridges | No. 7: Washingtons Markelle Fultz No. 6: Kentuckys DeAaron Fox | No. 5: Kentuckys Bam Adebayo No. 4: UCLAs Lonzo Ball | No. 3: Dukes Jayson Tatum No. 2: Kansas Josh Jackson | No. 1: Dukes Harry GilesSEATTLE -- His story says Jordan.His play screams LeBron.And when his playing career is all over, Washingtons Markelle Fultz wants to be in a category all his own. Not just listed among the all-time greats, but above them.My mindset is different from a lot of people, Fultz said. You ask people their goal and theyll say to make it to the NBA. My goal isnt just to make it there, its to be the best that ever played.Its not an outrageous vision to the 6-foot-4 native of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. He knows how far he has come in only three short years when, as a 10th-grader at perennial prep powerhouse DeMatha High School, he did not make the varsity roster. Now hes being projected as potentially a top-three pick in the 2017 NBA draft if he decides to bolt college after one season.His fast rise isnt the absurd piece in all of this. Fultz says its crazy the way people react to him now. It seems with every new interview theres a new way to critique a guy who has yet to play a college game.People go from why dont I smile, to the JV story, to just the way I play is awkward, Fultz said. Its been kind of weird, but Im used to it now.Ah, the JV story. Like Michael Jordan, Fultz didnt make varsity as a sophomore and ended up playing on the junior varsity team. He already has grown tired of having that story regurgitated time and again, but finally accepted that its going to be the story for the rest of my life.Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, for one, loves that story. Without it, this could have been an entirely different story for the Huskies. Had Fultz made varsity as a sophomore, theres a good chance a school closer to home would have noticed him first and Romar never would have been able to pry him from the East Coast.Instead, associate head coach Raphael Chillious arrived early to scout a varsity game when he noticed Fultz playing junior varsity. He played nearly every position on the floor and always seemed to make the play that was needed at the time.I called Lorenzo and told him, Coach, youre going to call me crazy, but this kid is 5-foot-9. If he grows hes going to be a NBA All-Star -- not a NBA player, an All-Star, Chillious said.Fultz did grow between his sophomore and junior years, prompting Romar to have the same giddy reaction the first time he saw Fultz play in person. Romar called Chillious and asked if they were being Punkd. Washington was the only major Division I school watching Fultz play, but it was clear to the Huskies that he was going to be a special talent.Fultz played everything from point guard to power forward, which is why many schools who ended up recruiting him late in the process viewed him as a wing.I thought, I dont care who has not offered him or what anybody says -- call him a 2 or a 3 -- that kid is an NBA point guard, Romar said. The way he moved, the feel he had. And, that game, I dont think he was playing hard. You could just see it.Everyone sees it now.What they didnt see is how all the small details worked together to get him to this point.Ebony Fultz, his mother, said she didnt have aa grandiose plan of grooming her son into an NBA player when she first sought out a basketball trainer when he was around 7.dddddddddddd She started taking to Keith Williams, a former high school classmate who taught basketball fundamentals to kids as young as 5.Her plan was simply to get Markelle involved in something he enjoyed to occupy his time. She wanted him active.The only thing she knew for sure is that she didnt want him to play football. She viewed it as too dangerous, although there was that one season she relented and Fultz played on the offensive line for the team at the Marlboro Boys & Girls Club. He dreamed of being a running back, but the coachs son got all the carries.She also enrolled him in karate classes, where he worked his way up to a green belt. He learned a lot of things he hopes to never use, stuff like if somebody tried to stab me, I could get a knife out of their hands.What stayed with him from karate was the self-discipline he learned, which ironically led him to stop the pursuit of a black belt. He wanted his focus, and all of his free time, to go toward basketball, so he left karate behind as he went to high school.Fultz always showed Williams he had a will to work hard. When he broke his right wrist playing on Williams 15-and-under AAU team, Fultz showed up the next day at the gym shooting and dribbling with his left hand. Williams helped Fultz cultivate his competitiveness.We definitely paid attention to rankings, and yeah we did kind of target guys, Williams said. We were playing in one tournament and a guy called me from Charlotte and was like, Hey, you want to play against the Atlanta Celtics? And I was like, Yeah. They got Kobi Simmons [who this season is a freshman at Arizona] on that team, they got another kid thats ranked really high. ... And so, yeah, we did target those kids.Now Seattle is a target for NBA scouts. Fultz has made the must-see list, as many teams have already been through to see him practice. What theyve learned is that Fultz is still holding on to that 10th-grade version of himself. He still views himself as an unknown entity just trying to make a name.That approach has endeared him to his Huskies teammates.Sophomore guard David Crisp was one of Fultzs hosts when he came on his official visit. As Fultz catapulted in the rankings before arriving on campus, Crisp expected a different person to arrive as well.When he came I knew they were saying this kid is going to be one-and-done, and when it got closer to him getting here I saw stuff [about Fultz] moving up, like he might be top five or the No. 1 pick, Crisp said. I was like, man he might be kinda cocky. Hes like really the opposite.Romar has held Fultz out from several early practices to rest him. When Fultz is on the sideline, its not unusual to see him filling water cups during breaks as if he were a team manager.He doesnt have that part of him that says, Im Markelle Fultz, who are you? Chillious said. That doesnt exist.Thats why Fultz has no desire to talk about the NBA right now. Hes just trying to lead the Huskies back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011. Hes afraid that if he stops to think about the future, hell get passed by in the process by someone who was like him in the 10th grade.I want to make sure that Im not the one that lets up, because I know that some people let up that I passed now, I outworked them, Fultz said. I want to make sure that Im always working. Im trying to get in front of everybody so far ahead that theres no way they can catch me. ' ' '