#0: Gopher softball (Last Week: -1). Let us begin this WMNSS by giving some overdue praise to the softball team. They are in the middle of a 12-game winning streak after sweeping both halves of a Wednesday Doubleheader at Cowles vs. Wisconsin (both of which ended via Mercy Rule), and then -- and I have to say, this is extremely impressive -- not only sweeping Purdue, not only sweeping Purdue on the road, but not allowing a run in all three games this weekend. The total score for the series was 20-0, and you can say that Friday's 9-0, five-Inning beatdown set the tone. One phenomenal performance to point out: Amber Fiser tossed a Perfect Game vs. the Boilermakers on Friday, needing only 45 Pitches in a 9-0, Five-Inning ass-kicking. For that, she was named Big Ten Pitcher Of The Week for the third-straight week.
The only thing tempering my enthusiasm for this club is its record. The Gophers are a blistering 15-3 in the Big Ten, but only 17-11 out of conference play. That disparity, or contradiction, gives me bad flashbacks to last year, where they were arguably the best team at the end of the regular season but didn't even get a Regional, and in turn rewarded the NCAA's assessment that they weren't that good by losing to Alabama. I'm not quite sure that these players will even make the NCAA Tournament, as unbelievable as that sounds. But they are doing the one thing they need to do, and that is win.
This, believe it or not, is the last week of the regular season for the U. (I don't believe it because spring has just sprung.) They play a DH vs. North Dakota St. tomorrow/Tuesday, then play three against Penn St. All five games are at home; I think I'll try and catch Sunday's finale.
#-1: United FC (Last Week: -5). I really don't think I've seen two separate Games on the same day. I did see a Tripleheader of college baseball games a month ago at Das Bank v.2.0, but that was in the same venue. Going from Target Field to Das Bank v.1.0 to see a baseball game and then a soccer match? I don't think so. But the fact that both of my teams won is fantastic. I was hoping for a split and expecting a pair of losses, but the best possible outcome actually happened!
Yeah, the Loons won, despite Ethan Finlay matching Kevin Molino for ACL tears that have ended his season as well. (Could it be the FieldTurf at TCF Bank Stadium?) A depleted, chemistry-less side took to the field against a Houston Dynamo team that isn't great but, because of the opposition, would roll over them. And once again, the Loons' Backline made a hash out of an oncoming Dynamo rush and resulted in a yet another Goal conceded early in the match.
But thank Buddha for Miguel Ibarra! His cross to Darwin Quintero in the box induced a handball, which Quintero deposited on the Penalty Kick to tie the game. And in the Second Half, Ibarra's cross in front of the net plinked off of either Ibson's or the defender's foot and to the far post for the game-winner. I'm shocked as shit that MNUFC won, 2-1, but they were able to break their losing streak at four.
Two bad things, however. First, Christian Ramirez had to be subbed out in the First Half because of a hamstring pull. His status is uncertain. (Once again I ask, could it be the FieldTurf at TCF Bank Stadium?) Second is something that chaps my hide. Sports Illustrated writers Grant Wahl and Brian Straus puts out an annual Major League Soccer Ambition Rankings report. The Loons come in 15th out of 23 clubs -- but that assessment comes with no input from the organization itself, because they were the only franchise in MLS that refused to answer the reporters' questionnaire -- several times, according to Wahl and Straus. Now why in the hell would you refuse to answer some good journalists' fair questions? You think you're too good for them? That really chaps my hide. I hate that as a man who studied journalism and hopes to one day get back into it, and I hate that as a season-ticketholder who has a stake in the future of this franchise. I think I'm entitled to some transparency, and I think the reporters deserved some answers. I do not like this.
#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -2). Sports fans who want a local club to root for -- besides the Lynx, who started Training Camp yesterday and won't be covered by the WMNSS because they won the WNBA championship last year and won't need me pestering the shit out of them for at least one year -- should look to the Gopher Male Nine. They are moving up the Top 25 polls -- 22nd in Baseball America, 20 in D1Baseball.com -- after tripling up South Dakota St., 6-2, at Siebert on Wednesday and then taking two-of-three at Ohio St. over the weekend. It could have -- should have -- been a sweep. On Sunday's finale the U. was leading 5-3 heading into the Ninth Inning. But the Buckeyes scored three to pull out the victory. The last two Runs were scored when OSU's Dillon Dingler ran into Gophers First Baseman Cole McDevitt, popping the ball (which was thrown from between the mound and Home Plate) out of McDevitt's glove. Those Runs were scored on an Error by McDevitt.
Be that as it may, the Gophers are still looking pretty good in reaching the NCAA Tournament. But this is a big week -- well, besides hosting Concordia-St. Paul tomorrow/Tuesday. The second-place Gophers take on the top team in the B1G, Indiana, for a three-game series at Siebert starting on Friday. Who could really help them is Pitcher Patrick Fredrickson; after pitching eight Innings to give Minnesota a 2-1 win on Saturday, he was named conference Freshman Of The Week for the third time this year.
#-3: Twins (Last Week: -4). Oh, you fuckers are doing it again. This club has yo-yoed from above .500 to 100 losses to reaching the Play-In Game in three years, but I didn't think they would go back in the toilet again. But that's where they might be going after dropping six-of-seven this screening week. They won only on Saturday, which, luckily for me, was the game I decided to go to. (I was downtown after watching soccer and there were a couple other things I wanted to do downtown and I was going to the United match afterward and if I saw this it would justify me not going to the bank and then to government center to get my tabs that day and thus using my credit card and being charged an extra four bucks to get them Thursday, there!) But after taking their annual wedgie from the Yankees in the Bronx (got swept all four matches), they dropped two-of-three from by far The Worst Team In Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds, which won their first series of the season. Now they are not the worst team in baseball; the Twinks are, despite Saturday's victory breaking an eight-game losing streak.
There's just nothing. Pitching sucks. Bullpen really sucks; Fernando Rodney completed getting swept by serving up a three-Run Game-ender Thursday, and he put two on in the Ninth via Walks before finally inducing a pair of pop-outs to get the Save Saturday. And the lineup ain't hitting because Miguel Sano's still out and Byron Buxton has a hairline fracture in one of his toes. Look, it's a long season and we're technically not even in May yet. But it'd be nice if they found some mojo.
They have just begun a three-game series versus Toronto. They then go to Comiskey for four against the White Sox.
#-Infinity: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). Yeah, the dancing thoughts in my head that these Woofie Dogs would make their firsr-round series versus Houston an actual series was ridiculous. The Rockets scored 50 points in the first half of Game 4 last Monday ... then scored 50 in the Third Quarter to let everybody know what's up in that game and that series. It was a similar story in Game 5, in that the game was close in the First Half, but Houston blew it wide open to start the second. And that, my friends, was that.
As I said at the start of the season, reaching the playoffs was the goal. The Timberwolves accomplished that. And with ostensibly young pieces Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, the window for contending, at least in theory, is opening (by contrast, the playoff window for the Wild is closing, fast, and that means that the winter should be ruled on the hardwood for the foreseeable future). But the horizon looks cloudy and mighty low, to be honest with you. There are teams that have assembled the NBA version of the Avengers (Golden State, Houston). More notably, there are teams that no one gave a thought to winning the title this year that have legitimate chances to win, such as Boston, Toronto and, gulp, even Utah. (Aside: We all thought it would be the Warriors over Cleveland in this year's finals. This year should prove that no one knows what the future will bring. And on top of that, this year should prove that even with "Superteams," the NBA is quite capable of forming great teams in the season and thus surprising fans who despise predestined outcomes.)
But there is a pessimism that this squad, as currently constructed and coached, is nowhere close to contending. The Timberwolves are a contradiction: A young team out of step with the times. Not only are they shit on defense, but in a league where the three is the main (if not only) weapon of choice, these guys don't shoot threes and can't defend threes. Their chemistry before Jimmy Butler got hurt banked them enough wins for them to squeak into the postseason, but now you have to worry about extending his contract. And to be frank, neither Big KAT nor Big Wig broke through this year. You can say it's a chemistry issue -- maybe they deferred to Butler too much -- but you can also blame Tom Thibodeau for running those two, plus Jeff Teague and Taj Gibson, into the ground ... and, possibly, shortening their still-nascent careers.
You can be disappointed over what could have been. Remember, these guys were going to be the 3-seed about a month before the season was over. A five-game crash-and-burn lends credence to the thinking that this team could go south again, and it sure doesn't make them the next great superpower in the NBA. So what's next? Sign Butler? Get a long-distance shooter? Trade Wiggins? Dump Thibs? These are serious questions, and unfortunately, they're not being asked from a perspective of, "Oh, if we just do this, we'll win the title next year!" but instead it's one of, "How do we compete next year?" Those two perspectives bring different levels of enthusiasm for the future of this ballclub.
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