#-1: Twins (Last Week: -2). Tough week to order, maybe the toughest week so far this year. Yes, it's only three entries, but not one of them rose above the other two, nor did any of them truly stink this week. So I'll give it to the Twins for winning their two series this week, going 2-1 each against a slumping Cleveland on the road and the Tampa Bay Rays at home. Nothing seems to be getting consistent, good or bad. One minute Scott Baker is taking a pounding and Justin Morneau is in a slump, next thing Francisco Liriano and Nick Blackburn give sterling performances and everybody is having a crack at the ball. The only player screaming at me is Jason Kubel, who may be following Morneau as a guy who has finally found his batter's eye. Also, even though 11-11 shouldn't cut it, it's keeping them in the A.L. Central. This week: Three at the Dome versus Kansas City, then another scheduling quirk where they play two two-game series during the work week (Detroit and Baltimore, both on the road).
#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -1). Swept Purdue at home this weekend, but lost at Siebert Field on Tuesday to St. Thomas of all teams, then bussed out to Brookings, South Dakota just to hear that they cancelled the game Wednesday because of rain. (Aside: If the NCAA was going to start a uniform start date for the season, and if they were going to move it back in the calendar year to late February, they should also do the smart thing and cut down on the number of games. These mid-week games are too slapdash to make any sense: You have a one-off against a team that may not be the caliber of opponent you usually face, and if you're in a geographic area that doesn't have Division I non-conference teams within driving distance, like in Minnesota, you're playing teams barely above NAIA -- such as St. Thomas. [Although the fact that the Tommies beat Minnesota is a reason to keep such an arrangement going.] What I would do is cut down the number of games played in the season, completey ban mid-week games, and make every team in top-flight college baseball play a four-game weekend series against in-conference opponents. That seems much more logical to me.) RHP Tom Buske was named Big Ten Co-Pitcher Of The Week, however they're still off the polls. Good news: Baseball America's latest "Bracketology" has the Gophers in the tourney -- and as a 2-seed in their regional! This week marks the last time they play in Minnesota this year, barring a ridiculous matchup for a super-regional: A weekend trio against Iowa, then a one-offer Tuesday against North Dakota State, all at Siebert.
#-3: Vikings (Re-Entry!). I don't want to go too overboard when the Vikes drafted WR Percy Harvin and RT Phil Loadholt. Those two positions were areas of prime need for the team, and talent-wise, they seemed to have taken the best ones available at the spots they were drafting. But for a team that spent at least a season to weed out all the players with character issues, and what with owner Zygi Wilf saying that there will be a culture of accountability with the team, getting a typical receiver diva/punk-ass who got busted for pot when he damn well knew he'd get tested for pot and a guy who has a D&D (drunk and disorderly) a DUI on his rap sheet may not be the best way to kick off your draft. For my money, I would've used my first-rounder on Michael Oher -- he's a guy who also plays on the offensive line, the safest and most projectionable position on a football team, and he was raised well by the (white) family who adopted him. And is it just me, or is Michael Oher's mom hot enough to fuck? Anyway, what I'm saying is Oher seems to be someone whom you won't need to worry about staying out late, and instead you drafted two guys who'd do just that with your first two picks. And now they're teammates -- along with Bryant McKinnie and, in the worst-case scenario where he falls off the wagon, Jared Allen. But who knows? If they keep their bullshit off the field, these two guys could be the final pieces to a Super Bowl team. We shall see. ...
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