#-1: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -1). This is a very hard week to rank the teams. None of the three clubs really deserve the top spot, at all.
In the end, I have decided to give to U. of M. baseball nine. Yes, this is the team that went 1-3 this screening week. It is also the team that has lost three games in a row. And yes, those last two games happen to be in the Big Ten Tournament -- and since it's a double-elimination tournament, they are now out of the tournament. They are only on top this survey because that one win, on Friday night over Ohio St. (a game in which they were down 3-0 before scoring all four of their runs in the bottom of the sixth inning), gave them their first regular-season conference title in six seasons.
That may be the only thing thing this club can hang their baseball caps on since they fell flat on their faces by going 0-2 like a bitch in Omaha and leaving town before the Memorial Weekend even began. Looking around the bracketologies, which aren't much and haven't been updated since the weekend at least, the Gophers seemed to be safely in. Jim Shonerd of Baseball America, in fact, says the U. would be the 2-seed in what would be the Gainesville Regional against Florida, the writer's projected #1 overall seed. Could what theoretically be the 32nd-best team in the tourney slide all the way out of the postseason just because they failed to win a game in their conference tournament? Actually, since they ended their year losing three in a row and because the Big Ten is considered a mid-major conference at best ... I'm afraid the answer is yes.
But all of this means little to the team now. On Thursday, the same day the top seed was eliminated by Michigan, Todd Oakes, their Pitching Coach, finally succumbed to leukemia at the too-early age of 55. Memorial plans presumably will come soon, as will the team's selection to the NCAA Tournament.
#-2: Twins (Last Week: -2). The Twinks actually won a second game this screening week? I'm actually shocked; I thought only Wednesday's matinee vs. Kansas City (a game that, as it turns out, I did not go to because it was too rainy, and BTW, I'm shocked as shit that they were able to beat the World Series champs) was the only game they won, but they actually beat Toronto on Saturday as well. But I think I (and anyone else) should be forgiven, given that two really good teams nevertheless knocked around the Twins every which way, and at home, no less.
I still have no idea what exactly is the deal with this team, besides everything. Tyler Duffey is the first starting Pitcher on this damn club to actually win his second game. Striking out is on a record pace with this team, although I thought that sabermetrics dictates that striking out isn't a bad thing. And now I am very concerned with the big-league viability of Byron Buxton. So I have to admit that I should extol the virtues of one Joe Mauer, the only bright spot in this lineup. He's keeping his head above water when it comes to Batting Average, and he's the only one who's even decent in OPS. Yeah, he could be a hell of a lot better, but right now he's the only person in the lineup delivering good production and, just as important, doing so consistently. So, right now, I am glad that the squad hasn't traded him. I thought he was expendable last year because the youngsters had this situation handled. Now, they've proven that's the furthest from the truth. Thank Buddha, therefore, for the steady, introverted Mauer.
Road trip out west this week. At Seattle for the weekend for three games, then three at Oakland beginning Memorial Day, then they come back to Target Field for four games versus Tampa Bay starting on Thursday.
#-Infinity: Gopher softball (Last Week: 0). Wow. I didn't think a team supposedly this good would be so emphatically eliminated by the host and regional seed, in this case Washington. They were able to ping-pong from a first loss in the double-elim to the Huskies by beating North Dakota St. twice. But after losing to Washington 5-2 the first time, they were soundly whipped on their way to the end of the season by a score of 15-7. It was worse, sort of; they were trailing in the fifth inning by a score of 12-2. However, in embarrassing fashion, the Huskies were able to end the game an inning early. Look at that -- a ranked team throughout the season were eliminated via mercy rule. smh
Yeah, so the Goofs did get kind of screwed. But I didn't think Minnesota would exit so quietly even the face of such enormous odds. So, even though they had the best season in program history, their underclassmen look very promising and they arguably have the best Pitcher in the country ... well, maybe this team isn't as good as I thought. Sorry.
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