Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout entered his team’s three-game series in Seattle mired in a 2-for-19 slump with no extra-base hits [url=http://www.chargersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-kyzir-white-jersey]http://www.chargersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-kyzir-white-jersey[/url] , no RBIs and seven strikeouts in his previous five games.

Consider that mini-slump a thing of the past.

Trout has homered twice in each of the first two games of the series heading into the finale Wednesday afternoon. That has boosted his major league-leading total to 23 for the season.

He also made a leaping catch at the wall in right-center field Tuesday night to rob the Mariners‘ Nelson Cruz of extra bases.

“They have a pretty good player on their team and you saw that again tonight,” Mariners manager Scott Servais deadpanned. “Mr. Trout is giving me and our pitching coach (headaches). He’s really tough to pitch to. Some of the pitches (Tuesday) were where you want to throw them.”

An injury nearly interrupted Trout’s power surge.

After homering in the first inning Monday, Trout fouled a ball off his left shin in his next at-bat. X-rays proved negative and he remained in the game to hit another ball over the wall at Safeco Field.

“It’s all right. Sore,” Trout told MLB.com after Monday’s game. “We got precautionary X-rays, but there wasn’t a break or anything like that, so that’s always good news. It just hit me in a good spot, missed the (shin) guard. It happens. Obviously, it’s going to be sore once the adrenaline from the game stops. It just went numb for a little bit. Just got to monitor it, keep icing it and get the swelling out.”

Remarkably, Trout’s four homers over the past two nights haven’t translated into victories.

Cruz homered twice Monday as the Mariners won the opener 5-3, and Mitch Haniger and Ryon Healy both hit homers in Tuesday’s 6-3 victory for the home team.

“We’re not swinging the bats as a team,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “It puts our pitchers under a lot of pressure to make pitches. And any mistakes we had (Tuesday) they hit out of the park. Give those guys some credit, but one guy can’t carry you. Mike is swinging the bat very well, but we need some other guys to step up.”

The task of keeping Trout in the ballpark on Wednesday falls to Mariners left-hander Marco Gonzales (7-3, 3.28 ERA), who has allowed just three earned runs over his past five starts.

Gonzales doesn’t have a decision in three career starts against Los Angeles with a 4.40 ERA. He pitched six innings against the Angels on May 5, allowing four runs on nine hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in a game the Mariners won 9-8 in 11 innings.

The Angels will counter with right-hander Garrett Richards (4-4, 3.26), who hasn’t won since beating the Mariners 5-0 on May 4 when he allowed just four hits in 6 2/3 innings with one walk and eight strikeouts.

Since then, Richards is 0-3 despite giving up no more than three earned runs in any of his six starts.

Richards is 6-4 with a 2.91 ERA in 19 career appearances against the Mariners [url=http://www.dolphinsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-kalen-ballage-jersey]http://www.dolphinsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-kalen-ballage-jersey[/url] , including 11 starts.

The countdown to the Patrick Mahomes II era in Kansas City began the moment the Chiefs traded up to select the strong-armed quarterback in the first round of last year’s draft.

Officially, it is down to about six weeks.

Practically, it has already reached zero.

The Chiefs agreed to trade veteran quarterback Alex Smith to the Washington Redskins late Monday, a deal that will become official with the start of the new league year on March 14. In doing so, the Chiefs made a bold statement that they’re ready for Mahomes, a prolific passer during his college days at Texas Tech, to assume the starting job for the foreseeable future.

Mahomes dazzled coach Andy Reid and his staff during training camp, making the kinds of downfield throws that Smith could never accomplish. And when he made his regular-season debut in Week 17, when the Chiefs were already assured of the AFC West title and the No. 4 seed in the playoffs, he not only played well but returned in the fourth quarter to lead the winning drive against the Broncos.

It was the kind of performance – and the kind of moxie – that made Reid draw comparisons to another of his prot锟絞锟絪 from his days with the Packers: Brett Favre.

Those are big shoes to fill. Then again, so are the ones Smith is leaving behind.

For all the angst he caused fans by going 1-4 in the playoffs, Smith succeeded in stabilizing a franchise that had been turning over quarterbacks for years. He went 50-26 as a starter and made a couple of Pro Bowl appearances, setting a slew of franchise records in the process.

”Alex, you are the definition of a true leader and your professionalism helped me grow as a player,” Chiefs offensive guard Laurence Duvernay-Tardif said in a statement posted to Twitter.

”Can’t say enough about the type of friend and teammate Alex Smith has been since getting to Kansas City,” Chiefs fullback Anthony Sherman said, adding ”the Sherman family will miss the Smith family.”

Yet the Chiefs knew they were going to move on from Smith in part because of the hefty price tag that came with the final year of his contract. And his strong performance last season made Smith a hot commodity with at least five teams along with the Redskins.

That bidding war, even this early in the offseason, drove up the Chiefs’ asking price.

They wound up solving more than one problem in the trade with Washington: The Chiefs, drained of draft picks by previous trades [url=http://www.dolphinsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-durham-smythe-jersey]http://www.dolphinsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-durham-smythe-jersey[/url] , got a third-round choice in April; they acquired Kendall Fuller, one of the league’s top slot cornerbacks and a potential starter on the outside opposite Marcus Peters; and they freed up nearly $16 million in salary cap space to make additional moves in free agency.

Kansas City now has a pick in the second round and two in the third, along with selections in the later rounds, which could be used to address other pressing issues on defense.

Fuller certainly addressed one of them. He was a first-round talent who dropped to the third round coming out of Virginia Tech because of injury concerns, yet has played to a first-round grade – and stayed healthy – during his first two seasons with in the league. Scot McCloughan, the former Redskins general manager who drafted him in 2016, said on Twitter shortly after news of the trade broke: ”I would never have traded Kendall. He can play inside and outside, he’s high character, young and a football player.”

He’s also a bargain. Fuller will count $647,500 against the salary cap in 2018 and $750,000 the next season, giving the Chiefs a starting-caliber cornerback at a discount rate.

The Chiefs are expected to free up additional cap space by restructuring or moving on from some of their veterans, such as linebackers Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson. That in turn gives them some financial flexibility to sign some of their young stars to long-term deals – Peters and wide receiver Tyreek Hill, for example – or pursue help for their shortcomings in free agency.

They could still use help in the defensive backfield, linebacker and pass rush remains an issue, the offensive line needs additional depth and the wide receiver corps could use another target.

Now that the Chiefs have found a trade partner for Smith, the work in those areas begins.

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