#-1: Swarm (Last Week: -4). They won their only game, an 11-9 defeat at home of lowly Philadelphia. Forward Ryan Benesch scored three goals, giving him 43 for the season, a franchise record. And it gives him the National Lacrosse League scoring title; his closest competitors completed their seasons last weekend. The Most Valuable Player award has to follow, right?
Best of all, Washington lost at home against Rochester later that evening. That means the Swarm and the Stealth are now tied for second place. More importantly, Minnesota has ousted Washington from the driver's seat. That means that if the Swarm wins tonight's game against Colorado at Xcel, they will host the Stealth in their playoff matchup. It'd be only their second home playoff game ever. If they lose, they go to Washington next week. I'm thinking about going to tonight's game.
#-2: Twins (Last Week: -2). A 3-3 week, with only the second-ever rainout in Target Field history to cap it. I told y'all we needed a retractable roof. We're paying $360 million for a new ballpark, and we can't foot another $100 million to make sure a baseball game gets played when we say it should be played? People are stupid most of the time. And they will not make up the game this series. What, players can't play two in April, even under cloudy, cold and rainy weather like this?
Pitching has gotten better, but the lineup hasn't. Morneau is starting for the first time in five games today against Cleveland, a game in progress. Mauer's still out, Delmon Young is hurt, and some people are recovering from the flu. It's a long season, but I don't get the feeling this will be the Twins' year. Maybe the fact that the largest margin of victory they've won by is 2 (twice, both coming this screening week) influences my pessimism. The Twins continue their homestand after their two games against Cleveland with a three-game sting versus Tampa Bay mid-week, then they start a weekend series at Kansas City Friday.
#-3: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -3). The Goofs are currently in ninth place in the Big Ten after an 0-2-2 week, the last "-2" being two postponements. The midweek tilt at Siebert Field against South Dakota St. and Friday's matchup at Indiana were both called off due to rain. That makes nine games altered by rain, four postponements and five cancellations. And the first game of what is now a doubleheader today is currently in a rain delay in the top of the sixth (tied at 2) because of lightning. I didn't know the NCAA had a rule where a game must be halted for 30 minutes upon the first sightning of lightning. Not a bad idea, come to think of it.
I was at the two losses at Target against Northwestern. The pitching wasn't bad, although they weren't clutch; the Wildcats were able to brings some runners in from scoring position both Saturday and Sunday. Conversely, Minnesota was virtually unable to string a rally together either game, especially on Sunday, which is incredibly frustrating.
I still like going to Target, even though it was cold and kind of raw both days, especially Saturday. If it were just as cloudy but 10 degrees warmer, so I wouldn't have to worry about catching a cold, that would be ideal for me to see a Gophers game in the big park; I would think it's great to take in a game, but since most people wouldn't think the same way, I wouldn't have to fight a crowd. By the way, Minnesota MR: I don't appreciate you guys not putting in a scorecard in Sunday's program.
They are in Indiana through a scheduled matinee tomorrow, then make up their game against SDSU as part of a home-and-home midweek (they play at Siebert Tuesday afternoon, then go to Brookings, S.D. to play Wednesday afternoon), then start a three-game set against Iowa at home. Plan on going to either the Saturday or Sunday game. Hopefully they would've won by then.
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