#-1: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -2). In a significant -- and, I think, should be rare -- upset, the Gophs take the top spot on the strength of their 3-1 week. Sadly for me, I attended their one loss, a frustrating 7-2 defeat where at one point they were retired 13 at-bats in a row and, more dispiriting, didn't get a single hit after the second inning. It actually was a mighty feat for their opponent, Indiana -- until I saw that they were blown out the other two games in their series, 14-0 and 10-0. I'm even more pissed off that I went to the one loss now. (I thought college baseball had a mercy rule?) And they broke a two-game losing streak to middling schools in midweek games, beating North Dakota St. at Fargo, 11-6, Wednesday.
Fairly exciting week coming up. Did you know that Iowa is the only bigtime name school in the state that furnishes a baseball program? Yeah, with Iowa St. discontinuing theirs early in the decade and Northern Iowa shutting theirs down after last season, if you want to be a baseball player and stay in Iowa, you'll have to be a Hawkeye. Anyway, the Gophers play at Iowa this weekend. And then they go to the Big 12 and play a pair with Kansas St. Tuesday and Wednesday.
#-2: Twins (Last Week: -1). A .500 week (3-3) which featured their first series loss (this one just finished to Detroit), and their first back-to-back defeats of the season, the last team in Major League Baseball to do so. Plus, they have lost three of their last four. I smell a regression! Scott Baker isn't stepping as the potential ace the Twins still believe he could be. Only because I have him on my fantasy team, what the hell happened to Jason Kubel? Finally, it seems like they're nursing some injuries, in particular Justin Morneau. Hopefully they'll get these dings and tweaks out of the way now instead of September and October.
This week they finish their jaunt through the A.L. Central, visiting Cleveland this weekend and hosting the Tigers midweek before beginning a set with Baltimore.
#-3: Vikings (Re-Entry!). Hmmm. ... They needed a cornerback, and they drafted one in Chris Cook. But there were at least four CB's rated better than him. Could they have moved up to get, say, Kyle Wilson, or even Devin McCourty? Toby Gerhart as a complement to Adrian Peterson was done for one reason only: Fumbles. In 710 carries and catches, he has fumbled 10 times. That's what the draft's for. Can't give it a grade, but I think it was good.
#-4: Swarm (Last Week: -3). Well, you can't go into a postseason on more of a cold streak than the local box lacrosse club. They lost to the Orlando Titans last Saturday at the X, 12-11. That gave the Titans the Eastern Conference, and the Swarm a six-game losing skid. They went completely winless (0-5) in April. But, does it count that the four losses at home were all by a single goal? No? Nope, didn't think so.
Saturday night they're in Everett, Wash. to play the Washington Stealth, the team with the best record in the National Lacrosse League and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. If they win this one ... well, it'll be a fluke and I'll have to see what the Swarm do next. I wish them luck anyway.
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