#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1). In yet another runaway, the Twinkies win both of their series and go 4-2 for the week. (I have a feeling they're going to be on top of the WMNSS till Labor Day, at least). It helps, though, that they beat Kansas City and Cleveland, the two dregs of the A.L. Central. One thing I'm noticing, however: They lost the last game of both series, and it wasn't even close. This is a high-powered, locked-in lineup, and so far they have received great to sterling pitching. Do they feel so confident that they think they can take the foot off the pedal on getaway day and just sacrifice the last game? Maybe they need to pace themselves, but I don't like to see them taking games off; the best teams show no mercy. They are in the middle of facing division opponents 18 straight games; this week they're at the Royals and Detroit.
#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -2). Is Northwestern supposed to be any good? Because the Gophs lost two of three to them this weekend in Evanston, Ill. And then they lost to South Dakota St. in Brookings, S.D., on Tuesday. It's their third one-run game of the week, but they lost two of them. And that means they have gone down in 4 of their last 5 and 6 of their last 8. No tournament for you; are these guys too young? They're back at the Metrodome this weekend for a series against Indiana, then play at North Dakota St. Wednesday. I plan on attending Saturday evening's game; I wonder what the turnout will be, assuming it won't be raining (and thus discouraging people to go to the game)?
#-3: Swarm (Last Week: -3). I unfortunately did make it to Saturday night's game against Philadelphia. It was an entertaining game. The bad news is they lost in overtime, 13-12. And they didn't seal the deal; they had a two-goal lead after scoring a shorthanded goal, but the Wings outscored the Swarm 3-1 to send it into OT. The good news, however, is that the team trailing them, the Colorado Mammoth, lost the night before to the Boston Blazers, 9-7 (at home, by the way) to give the Swarm the fourth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. I guess you can't just reject the berth, even though you're 5-10 and have lost five in a row.
I didn't know that, unlike the Timberwolves, there are players on the leaderboard of several stategories. Callum Crawford and Aaron Wilson are 3rd and 4th in the points board. That's a hell of a 1-2 punch ... for a team that is 5-10 and have lost five in a row. They finish the regular season at the X Saturday night against the Orlando Titans, who have sewn up the Eastern Conference title and can sew up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with a victory. By the way, they would play at either Washington or Edmonton for the first round of the playoffs; both the Stealth and Rush can earn home-field throughout if things break the right way.
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