#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1). Well, looky here again! While they dropped two-of-three midweek at home to Cleveland (the American League Central Division is just about a done deal for them), they won Sunday in Detroit to take the three-game series from Detroit, and they ended the screening week with a pair of wins vs. a very good Arizona Diamondbacks squad. Therefore, after another week, they remain tied with The Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Angels Of Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Of ... for ALWC2. They were left to their own devices, and they decided to fight, and fuck all of us. That's the kind of personal determination that gets people on your side.
This appear to be the week where Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton finally lived up to the standards (as shifting, even lowered, as they may be) the Twins organization wished for them. Sano remains a terror (albeit a dinged-up one) at the plate and has flashed some leather, too. Meanwhile, Buck may have figured out how to hit. And that speed -- goddamn, that speed:
Since the company Statcast figured out how to track every single movement of players on the field, we know that that inside-the-park Home Run is the fastest since 2015, at 13.85 seconds. That is fucking fast. This year I realized how important defense is to baseball. And I'm starting to realize that speed kills also, both on the basepaths as well as on the field. That ITPHR tied the game against Arizona at 3. The D-Backs scored their three runs first, and the Twins, with Buxton's help, answered with ten of their own. This is the wherewithal a team needs to truly become a dangerous, successful unit.
At the very least Target Field will host meaningful games in August and September. After going for the sweep today (Sunday), the Twins play a five-game series at the White Sox. (The second game is a make-up game for May 10's rainout. The first game will begin at 4:10, a couple hours after the eclipse [it's partial in Chicago]. They then travel to Toronto for three for the weekend. That's two downtrodden teams; it's a prime opportunity to solidify their contention for the postseason.
#-2: Gopher soccer (Re-Entry!). The U.'s pitch XI begin their 2017 season with a scoreless draw at Washington St. Friday, thus beginning the 2017-8 college sports season.
The side reached unprecedented heights last year by winning what constitutes the double in women's college soccer (claiming the regular season title and then the tournament that comes right after it). But despite getting one of the 16 national seeds for the NCAA Tournament and playing at home, they utterly failed their fans in losing in Penalty Kicks to a turtling N.C. St. squad. They lose so many of their best players, including Forward Simone Kolander and Goalie Tarah Hobbs. Who steps up, and how well they do in the departed Seniors' places, will determine whether Minnesota even sniffs the tourney this year.
They open the home portion of their schedule Monday night against North Dakota St. Next weekend they are in Iowa City, Ia., to start the Iowa Tournament; they play Friday against Notre Dame.
#-3: Lynx (Last Week: -2). While the Twins are ascending, the Jynx -- make no mistake -- are in a tailspin. Rebekkah will miss two weeks and maybe the rest of the regular season with a sprained ankle. With her and Lindsay Whalen out of the lineup, the Jynx suffered their first losing streak in god-knows-when when Crystal Langhorne laid in a bucket late in Wednesday's 62-61 loss in Seattle. It doesn't matter that they set records for scoring streak and margin of victory in immolating Indiana at the X Friday, 111-52. In fact, a score and effort like that, to me, is a desperate bullying tactic they put on the Fever to trick themselves into believing they are the dominating force they were in seasons past. They still are two games ahead of Los Angeles for home-court -- the Sparks defeated Minnesota last week, but then lost to New York for some reason -- but deep down this is an old and scared club that's on the brink of disaster.
The WNBA season is still on a finishing kick -- another three-game week. They are playing New York at Madison Square Garden right now (Sunday afternoon); they then host Phoenix Tuesday and travel to San Antonio Friday.
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