#-1: Lynx (Last Week: -3). A home loss to Indiana where Seimone Augustus had a chance to tie the game with three free throws with eight seconds left but missed the first one and was thus forced to immediately foul, followed by a 30-point ass-kicking at Tulsa, by far the worst team in the WNBA. I could see Augustus, who's a native of Baton Rouge, La., being traded or asking to go to the Bastard Detroit Shock. Anyway, that win broke a two-game losing streak, which followed a five-game winning streak. They currently sit in second place in the Western Conference, just a game behind first place but only 1 1/2 games out of fifth place and out of a playoff spot.
And now they're playing ... no games? They don't play until the 9th??? Didn't they take a week off already? What kind of a fucked-up schedule is this?? I guess the WNBA knows when to schedule in order to maximize crowds, but two week-long breaks is ridiculous.
#-2: Twins (Last Week: -4). Just like the Jynx, a .500 screening week (3-3), but because they dug such a huge hole for themselves that they're in fourth place in the American League Central Division and 7 1/2 games out (?), I put them in the bottom. (Don't worry, Twinks fans; because the Lynx don't play next week, your team will get the top spot. The only spot too, but the top.)
They lost all their games, then won all their games. Maybe that 15-0 shit-kicking, where nothing went right and all the talk about Joe Mauer being a diva for not being willing to play first, was the kind of bottoming-out the team needed to get their heads in the season. Their following win broke theird third losing streak of six games or more.
But is it too late? La Velle E. Neal III had a buyers-or-sellers musing story Friday, and he says the next ten games before the All-Star Break will decide which the Twins are. But I think that the front office could decide at this point already. I haven't been able to find any statistics about the probability of making the playoffs when one is "x" games out of first place by "y" date. It's dire for a fourth-place team. But Tracy Ringolsby told me not too long ago that he has implicit trust that Manager Ron Gardenhire has the ability to rally this team together. Plus, the Tigers, White Sox and Indians don't have me believing they can run away with this division. Shit, they could be, like, 6 1/2 games out by next week and I still think they should buy, or at least stand pat.
We'll see. They finish up interleague play at home against the Bastard Seattle Pilots (got a ticket to Sunday's game, thank God; I tried going to the Dodgers game Tuesday, but even though I know tickets were available, scalpers were still asking for way above face value, and the Home Porch Tuesday ticket deal was either sold out or unavailable for the summer), then they finish one of their two longest homestands of the season with three against the Bay Rays, then start the final series of the first half at Chicago.
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