#0: Twins (Last Week: -3). Sixes all around -- a perfect 6-0 week, and a full six-game lead in the A.L. Central over the White Sox. Therefore, for the first time in a long time, I'm elevating the top team in the WMNSS above negative numbers. It's deserved, especially since four of those wins were by a single run and because they swept the Texas Rangers, a probable playoff opponent, at Target Field.
What's gotten into Matt Tolbert? He's filling in for Danny Valencia, who himself is having a pretty good season in the majors, and has become a run-producing machine as the team's third baseman. On the potentially bad side, Matt Capps doesn't seem to be the shutdown closer the squad expected him to be when they got him. He's putting on runners at a rate rivaling that of Jon Rauch.
After some awesome home cooking, where they went 8-1, they go on the road the next week: at Cleveland this weekend, then at Comiskey against the Pale Hos during the week.
#-1: Gopher soccer (Re-Entry!). These guys started their season back on August 20, a full three Weekly Minnesota Sports Surveys go? Ah, shit, I'm sorry. I'll try and catch you guys up by saying -- Wow! Their first game was a 1-0 loss at Notre Dame, ranked at the time fourth in the country. But they have been undefeated since then, winning five in a row, including sweeping their opponents, UC-Santa Barbara and San Diego (which was ranked 14th), at home and winning their Minnesota Gold Classic Labor Weekend. The Gophs took two conference awards after the tournament: Midfielder Molly Rouse was named Big Ten Offensive Player Of The Week, and Goalkeeper Cat Parkhill Defensive.
For their efforts, the ballers cracked a poll for the first time all year, taking #23 in Soccer America. This week they go to Mid-American Conference territory, playing Bowling Green this (Friday) afternoon and Toledo Sunday at high noon Central time.
#-2: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -1). The team dropped their first set last Friday to Baylor, then dropped their first match of the year to Northern Iowa, but nevertheless they won two of their three matches at the Sports Pavilion last weekend to win the Diet Coke Classic. Libero Jessica Granquist is the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player Of The Week for her efforts in the tourney. Unfortunately, that loss to UNI dropped them even further down the AVCA Top 25 from eighth to twelth.
They should be able to go clean the whole weekend as they hit the road for the first time all season, to the Fat Capital Of The World, Durham, N.C., for the Duke Invitational. The face North Carolina Central, Delaware, and the most formidable opponent, the host Blue Devils. Should be a piece of cake. Should be.
#-3: Vikings (Re-Entry!). They had their chances, just like they did in the NFC Championship Game. But the Vikes had the NFL season opener slip through their hands all the same, 14-9.
There is a hell of a lot of things to worry about, even though they kept it close. The defense, which withstood the first drive onslaught, couldn't get New Orleans to give the ball back, especially at the end of the game by giving up big gains on the ground. Bryant McKinnie seems to have a bad finger and was carted off the field. Worst of all, Brett Favre not only looked old, he looked ... disinterested. The off-target throws, the overreliance on a few receivers and, thus, the nonverbal message of distrust towards the others ... this is a guy who doesn't seem fully committed to the cause yet. It may take another week, sure. But this team isn't getting any younger, and championship squads are able to find a way to win on the road against a good team like the Saints. And they didn't.
Next week: No game. In ten days they open the Metrodome portion of their schedule against Miami.
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