Many players are contributing to this winning streak, but the league singled out two: Seimone Augustus was named Player Of The Month for July, and Maya Moore was given Rookie Of The Months honors for the same month. And the thing is, neither of them were the sole reason they won the two games I saw at Target Center. This past-banishing good play starts from the down low -- Taj McWilliams-Franklin and Rebekkah Brunson have given the Lynx an oomph they had little of in the past -- but everybody seems to be contributing something positive. Also note that they blew the doors off the Mercury on Tuesday and got the game-winning score from the TMF in Thursday's win over the Silver Stars. Winning going away and winning in the clutch;that shows that this team can win any way. That's the mentality of a championship team. Now hopefully they won't collapse in the first round of the WNBA playoffs.
Go watch these ladies, Minnesota fans, if you want to see a winner. But don't go rushing out to the arena this week. They have a three-game road trip, at Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Chicago. Could they come back to the Bullseye winners of 11 in a row??
#-1: Vikings (Re-Entry!). The good news is is that the lockout was over as of several days ago. The bad news is Vikes fans get to see what shit team they're going to have this year.
Just look at this column of one writer's take of the 100 best free agents of this offseason. There are two Vikes players on this list. Both of them signed elsewhere, Sidney Rice (to Seattle) and Ray Edwards (to Atlanta). Not to say that they were our two best players; they both have serious drawbacks (injury issues for Rice, an inability to back up his promise that he'll break Michael Strahan's sack record for Edwards). But they didn't suck. And now they're gone.
Who did we sign instead? Remi Ayodele? More like Remi Ayodele-He-Hoo! (See what I did there? Clever, huh?) Oh, and we traded for Donovan McNabb, he of the mechanics and conditioning so bad Washington Head Coach Mike Shanahan benched him in favor of Rex Goddamn Grossman.
As bad as this team was, especially at the end of the season, we didn't have the churning of the roster that we have now. Largely due to the salary cap, but partly because the players the Vikes needed to come through for a Super Bowl season failed to pan out, the talent level this year compared to last is definitely questionable. Questionable enough that I forsee a major meltdown from this franchise, one eclipsing the 6-10 2010 record that cost Brad Childress his job. Seriously; look at this squad the way it's comprised now and convince me it can win five games. They sure as shit won't.
This is what we have to look forward to. Well, that and a late-season announcement Zygi Wilf has sold the team to some guy in L.A. Bye-bye, ViQueens!
#-2: Twins (Two Weeks Ago: -1). That's the bad thing about West Coast swings. They are out of sight, out of mind, because not only can you not see the team at home, the games don't end till after you go to bed.
Don't know if you've noticed, but during their current long road trip, the Twinks were, for all intents and purposes, eliminated from the playoffs.
They are 5-8 during the past two screening weeks, and 4-6 against the three American League West teams they visited. For a team that's now, what, ten games under .500, chopping records won't cut it. We're entering the second week in August, and they just got beat at home by Chicago. They have had recent trouble against A.L. Central teams. Are people really thinking they have a patented second-half surge in them?
What I've noticed the past couple games is the shitty infield defense. The past two games I've seen, like, five blown double play opportunities. Tsyoshi Nishioka's handling the ball like he's all thumbs, but how is Joe Mauer flubbing catches like that? If you can't catch an errant throw because your foot's on the bag, then just step off it and catch the fucking ball. Better a baserunner at first than one at second. But no, these Twins can't execute twin killings. And they're getting killed as a result.
They finish their series against the ChiSox, then host Boston for three (oh, fuck, that'll be fun to see them get their heads beaten in), then at Cleveland, who are finally good again.
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