Positive Numbers: Gopher baseball (Last Week: 0). Well, damn. When I first saw the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball team this year, they were playing at U.S. Bank Stadium because, of course, they had to in order to play in non-inclement weather. It was the day where I saw all three games of the Sunday portion of the Dairy Queen Classic because, as I've said before, there are many, many worse ways you can spend a day on this Earth than at the ballpark. But after the nightcap, where the U. went meekly against UCLA, 6-1, I thought it would be another middling team -- not horrible, but not good enough to make noise. The NCAA Tournament was the goal, and I didn't know how realistic it was.
Consider this year's team a sign that ballclub can transform, and improve, over the course of a college baseball season. Because after rolling through the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha, Neb., this weekend, winning all of their games, they have proven themselves to be the best Gopher baseball squad in a long time. I've followed this team for years, and I don't really remember a team that's this good. Maybe, I guess, since 2000, which is the last time the U. hosted a Regional; and I don't know if this came as a surprise, but after all the games in Division I were played last (Sunday) night (I presume), the NCAA named its 16 Regional sites, and Siebert Field is one of them!
Everything clicked over the weekend. Going into this year I thought the lineup would be able to hit but the pitching would let the team down. Oh, I'm so glad I was wrong. The team allowed only seven Runs over their four games, four of them coming in a back-and-forth B1G Final Saturday vs. Purdue. Meanwhile, the Nine just raked, led by tournament Most Outstanding Player Jordan Kozicky. He was named to the All-Tournament Team along with DH Toby Hanson, 2B Luke Pettersen, RP Max Meyer and SP (and Conference Freshman Of The Year ... and Conference Pitcher Of The Year) Patrick Fredrickson, who made the All-Conference First Team with Meyer and SS Terrin Vavra. John Anderson was named B1G Coach Of The Year for the eighth time in his career. Minnesota cruised to its tenth tournament championship and became the first team since Indiana '14 to pull off the double (winning the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles).
Let me say this now: I think this season is already a success, regardless of what happens to this club from this point forward. It'll be a massive buzzkill if they lose this Regional. Particularly I'm wary of institutional disadvantages -- that is, Minnesota, as a Northern school, is ripe for an upset as a 1-seed vs. a Southern school, particularly if that school comes from the SEC or ACC. But I just saw the Minneapolis Regional tweet, and there is no Southern school. There are, however, two West Coast schools, 3-seed Gonzaga and 2-seed ... UCLA. Oh, shit. Beyond that, as the #14 overall Seed, they would be in line to go to #3 overall Seed Oregon St. in the Super Regional. If somehow the Beavers get upset and the Gophers win, they could very well host its first-ever Super Regional against the 2-seed in the Corvallis Regional: SEC school LSU.
Deep breaths. This is still The Best Minnesota Baseball Team in a long time, and possibly in this millennium. Go Gophers!
#0: United FC (Last Week: -1). In another game at home vs. a team bad enough that they should beat, the Loons this time did not disappoint. Despite a sluggish First Half, the duo of Superman (Christian Ramirez) and Batman (Miguel Ibarra) tallied to put away the very bad Montreal Impact Saturday, 2-0. Now this was the result (if not exactly the effort) I expected from these guys when they lost to San Jose. So in this strange long-ish homestand, where they played five-of-six at TCF Bank Stadium over the course of four weeks, MNUFC went 3-1-2, garnering ten points out of a possible 18 (15 if you throw out the only road game, the desultory 2-0 loss to LAFC). When you step back and look at it, that isn't bad. They are in a three-way tie for seventh in the Western Conference, but the squad is only a point behind Vancouver for the sixth and final playoff spot.
There is a World Cup-induced break after the Loons play Sunday. It'll be at Kansas City, still the best team in the West and the foe against which Minnesota registered its only draw over this homestand over the month.
#-1: Twins (Last Week: -2). After winning the season series at home versus Detroit earlier in the week, the Twinks have now lost four in a row, capped by a far-off-seeming sweep at Seattle, even though the margins of defeat were by 1, 1 and 2 Runs, respectively. Cleveland is leading the American League Central even though, as of press time, they are only a game above .500. The Twinks are now 21-27 overall, but they are only 3 1/2 Games behind Cleveland. This division, once again, sucks.
Meanwhile, let us bow our heads to the end, finally, of The Phil Hughes Era. After designating him for assignment, the ballcup managed to unload Hughes, along with the 74th pick in the MLB Draft coming next month and cash, to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Janigson Villalobos, a no-prospect Catcher. For the Twins, this move mainly was to offload Hughes's contract, even though they reportedly paid the Padres more than $14.5 million to offset the $26.4 million he is owed both this and next year. But it's interesting to note the common belief between the man who signed Hughes to this contract, former Twinks General Manager Terry Ryan, to another deposed GM, Chuck Fletcher of the Wild. Both GMs put faith in prospects they found and rewarded good seasons with long contracts with the thinking that those players will improve. And like with Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter, Hughes's one good season wasn't followed up with a great one, and so the long contract became an albatross around the team ... and eventually choked the GM. But at least with the Twins, they were able to trade their bad contract.
The club is in Kansas City for three beginning Memorial Night. They then begin yet another long homestand by playing four vs. division-leading Cleveland over the weekend.
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