First of all, a toast to the last short WMNSS until next year. Next week Gopher soccer play games that count, then the week after that U. volleyball returns, then it's the Gopher football team and then, well, the sport season swells again. I'll have to spend a lot of Sundays in front of my new computer.
#-1: Twins (Last Week: -2). Well, looky here! As soon as I was ready to call this squad dead and buried, they almost run the table last week and thrust themselves back into the playoff picture. They salvaged a four-game series split in Dallas Sunday, sweep four games of a home-and-home series with Milwaukee, then crush the Tigers in Detroit Friday before getting clipped at the end of Saturday's match, 12-11. No matter; at the end of Friday's action, they were American League Wild Card 2, a half-game ahead of Seattle, Anaheim and Tampa Bay. They fell behind the Angels after Saturday, but as of press time they were leading Detroit, so they could get back into ALWC2 after today.
While the bullpen has improved greatly lately, the offense, which let them down in their recent swoon, showed some pop this week. With their starting pitching still shaky, it is nice to see the lineup generate some runs and give the arms some insurance when they take the mound every inning. You don't want to rely on outhitting the opposition, but this O had been absent for weeks at a time, and you can't reach the playoffs without some production.
Both Cleveland and Kansas City seem to be several games ahead of the Twins in the division, so the Wild Card route may be the only viable path to the postseason for them. After finishing up in Detroit right now, they come home for three vs. Cleveland beginning on Tuesday, then play a three-game series against a really good team in the National League, Arizona, starting on Friday.
#-2: Lynx (Last Week: -1). OK, I had no idea Lindsay Whalen's injury would send the Jynx into a tailspin. This was their first losing screening week in God-knows-when -- only an 81-72 victory in Atlanta Tuesday prevented this club from having their first three-game losing streak since, well, God-knows-when. But Indiana got a late-tip in to outlast Minnesota, 84-82 Sunday. Then on Friday, against the only opponent they need to worry about this year, the Los Angeles Sparks, they got their doors blown off -- at home, on the night they unveiled their new (shitty) logo -- 70-64.
Look, I thought that after Whalen's injury the Starting Five should take some minutes off. But not against LA Sparks. Those people, you need to teach them a lesson. But they didn't. And if we are supposed to take Head Coach Cheryl Reeve at her word when she said that her team is not taking games off the rest of the regular season, this means that L.A. beat the Jynx fair and square. Which means the time to fucking panic is now. I don't care that Minnesota is 2 1/2 games ahead of the Sparks; Los Angeles is the team to beat. The Jynx are pretenders until they prove to me otherwise.
I could go on further, but I am already so pissed off at this team that I would start to make even less sense than I usually do. This week: At Seattle Wednesday, home to Indiana Friday.
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