#-1: Swarm (Last Week: 0). Has this team ever won three in a row? They have now, after a 15-10 defeat of Philadelphia at the X Saturday night. They have won both games against the Wings, go above .500 for the season (8-7), and locked up the third seed in the Western Conference.
I think the five-goal win is the most impressive thing to take away from the game. The team may have been inspired by Defenseman Joe Wasson, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Saturday's game, coincidentally, was their annual fundraising effort against cancer.
The Swarm know that they will visit Colorado to begin the National Lacrosse League playoffs in two weeks. They also know that they will face the Mammoth next Saturday to end the regular season, this time at the Xcel Energy Center. This has the makings of a hell of a home-and-home.
(Oh, by the way, I brought the Swarm down a notch only because they clinched a playoff spot last week and thought they deserved a break from negative numbers. It's a one-time thing only, so I pushed them down to -1 this week, even though they still top the survey. Hey, if they make hay in the postseason they'll rise above -1.)
#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -1). Nothin' like home cookin'. On Sunday they finished a home sweep of Northwestern, then took both games of a midweek series against Nebraska-Omaha also at the Metrodome. This weekend they are at Michigan St., where Friday's opener was postponed and the teams split Saturday's doubleheader. So a 4-1 week with a 23-18 record overall and a 7-4 record in the B1G. They finish up against the Spartans, have a one-off at North Dakota St. Wednesday, then begin a series at home against Iowa.
#-3: Twins (Last Week: -2). I really, really thought the Twinks would go winless this screening week. I mean, they looked like shit against Texas, and then they had to go on the road to face the Yankees, who has this franchise by the balls, and Tampa.
So getting out 3-4 exceeds my wildest expectations. Sure they got swept by the Rangers; right now they're the best team in Major League Baseball. But MLB gave the club four games against the Yanks and they managed to split. They managed to split! Yes, it's only 2-2, but knowing how this squad pisses down their legs in the face of the Evil Empire, and with them coming off a 99-loss season, this actually is progress!
And by the way, thank God for Josh Willingham. He has hit in every single game so far this season, which might have surpassed Kirby Puckett as the Twin with the longest hitting streak to start a year. He is the steady offensive punch that the team used to be able to rely on Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau for. This free agent pick-up might represent a new way of approaching the game, a grit that oftentimes was missing from previous Twins regimes.
They come back home after finishing up with the Bay Rays Sunday. First it's the reeling Red Sox, then after Thursday off they host Kansas City. I should be working the Saturday game against those Royals.
#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). Did this team lose 11 in a row last year? In any year? The Woofie Dogs did that after dropping games at Indiana (did you know the Pacers are the team with the third-best record in the East???) and home to Memphis. But luckily we won't have to say how this team lost every single game for the rest of the season. Thank the hapless Detroit Pistons for that; on Thursday the team went to Auburn Hills and broke their losing streak with a 91-80 win. At least they can finish the season having faint memories of what it felt like to win.
And finish the season they soon will. This is the last week of the regular season. The Timberwolves have two games left, both at Target Center: Golden State this evening, Denver on Thursday to end the year. Wait, do they have four days off between games? I think this is the first time they have such a long break between contests. And of course it happens at the very end of the season.
#-5: Wild (Re-Entry!). The Mild don't reappear on the WMNSS because of anything they did. Nothing happened with this team, at least nothing important. I just wanted to put this club on because Nashville won their first-round playoff series over Detroit Friday. How does that relate to the Mild? Remember that the Mild and the Predators comprised the four teams (along with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Atlanta Thrashers, now known as the Winnipeg Jets v.2.0) of the Last Expansion in the NHL. It's been an underwhelming lot when it comes to playoff success -- no Stanley Cup wins, no Stanley Cup Finals appearances.
But the Wild did make the conference finals, and they so far are the only one of the four teams to accomplish that feat. They used to be the only one of the four to have one a postseason series period, but that was matched by Nashville last year. Now, the Predators have done the Mild one better: By defeating the Red Wings, they have advanced in the playoffs for the second straight year. Not only have the Mild not done that, they have only advanced in the playoffs once in franchise history altogether. That means, in my book, that the Nashville Predators have surpassed the Mild as The Best Latest Expansion Franchise. Again we're not talking about world-beaters here, but being the best of a sorry group was the only thing this organization had. And now it's gone.
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