#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1). I do not think this was a good week for the local teams. I will put the Twins up in first place this week, and I suspect that they'll be #1 (well, #-1) so often that they might as well build a cabin at this spot. They currently are tied with Houston for best record in the American League. They are maintaining a gargantuan lead on Cleveland in the A. L. Central. And if you believe in the concept of Pythagorean expectation, where you use the number of Runs a team scores and allows to project how many wins that team should be winning at a certain point in a season, the Twins are actually outperforming it by one win.
Saying that, I'm a Minnesotan, and therefore I am a pessimist and reserve the right to be a pessimist. And I don't like what I see. I don't like that this club has gone 4-3 for a second week in a row. I don't like that in this maximum homestand they failed to sweep Seattle and Kansas City. (Yeah, I'm sounding like a Tiger Dad. What of it?) I don't like how Jose Berrios got outdueled by Rick Porcello in Boston's 2-0 win over the Twinks last/Monday night. And I don't like how many of the staff's Pitchers, Martin Perez but really most of the bullpen, are starting to get shaky. This squad has what seems like a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win a World Series. But unless the current players straighten up and fly right, or if FalVine and the Pohlads start trading for players that will help then get a championship this year, I and other Twinks fans should temper our expectations. They might not even reach the World Series. They might go one-and-done in the playoffs. Fuck, they might not even win the division. The season remains long, and as anyone who believed the Golden State Warriors were going to march to another NBA title can tell you, anything can happen.
They finish their three-Game series with the Red Sox, then strike back out on the road for a four-Game set in Kansas City.
#-2: Lynx (Last Week: -3). My God, what in the hell is happening to the Lynx? This club is now on a four-Game losing streak after losing in New York and dropping back-to-back home contests vs. Connecticut and Las Vegas. The defeat to The Bastard San Antonio Silver Stars is particularly galling: The team was outscored in the back half of the Fourth Quarter 16-3 to lose, 80-75. The losses of Lindsay Whalen, Maya Moore and Jessica Shepard are now biting this team, hard.
And it is sad, really, to see the current state of the franchise. My friend ushers at Target Center, and he is estimating that, at most, crowds of 5,000 are watching games. I find that shocking, especially with the recent track record of success this organization has finally earned. And that goes to show how, well, unfair teams that are not The Big Three -- and especially women's teams -- have it in the local sports landscape. The Lynx scratched and crawled from laughingstock status to win four WNBA titles, and then they still earned only a begrudging admiration after enough people were nagged by the angels of their better nature to root for a club from a "minor sport." But as soon as they go back to sucking, they are completely written off as a joke again. (I have to admit that much of the time I do all of this.) Sadly, a women's team simply does not have the margin of error, the benefit of the doubt, the permanent and inherent interest from the fanbase. It is always better to be criticized than ignored because when you're being criticized, it shows people still care. And I don't know if people care about the Lynx anymore.
Oh. Now that they're on a losing streak and things appear to be bleak, I'll start calling them the "Jynx" again. But hey, at least I'm showing I still care.
They last played Sunday. The squad's next game is Saturday, at home versus the Liberty. Maybe an entire week off will do these players some good.
#-3: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!). So two wrestlers are in the hoosegow for an allegation of sexual assault. One of them is Dylan Martinez, and I don't know who he is, so I don't care about him. But the other I've heard of: Gable Steveson, the Heavyweight who was #1 for a good part of last season and is the best rassler this program has had in some time. Yes, he tailed off at the end there and wound up with nothing noteworthy, but still, he is far and away the best player on this team.
Or was. If what the police are saying is true, well, he's fucked. But even if he is somehow cleared, Steveson -- and by extension the U. -- will have a black cloud hanging over them until Steveson moves on. Furthermore, this allegation stirs up echoes, albeit untidy ones, of the drug scandal that eventually doomed the fate of J Robinson. Regardless, for a program that used to be the best in top-flight college wrestling, this is another dubious marker on its fall from grace.
Saying that, I'm a Minnesotan, and therefore I am a pessimist and reserve the right to be a pessimist. And I don't like what I see. I don't like that this club has gone 4-3 for a second week in a row. I don't like that in this maximum homestand they failed to sweep Seattle and Kansas City. (Yeah, I'm sounding like a Tiger Dad. What of it?) I don't like how Jose Berrios got outdueled by Rick Porcello in Boston's 2-0 win over the Twinks last/Monday night. And I don't like how many of the staff's Pitchers, Martin Perez but really most of the bullpen, are starting to get shaky. This squad has what seems like a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win a World Series. But unless the current players straighten up and fly right, or if FalVine and the Pohlads start trading for players that will help then get a championship this year, I and other Twinks fans should temper our expectations. They might not even reach the World Series. They might go one-and-done in the playoffs. Fuck, they might not even win the division. The season remains long, and as anyone who believed the Golden State Warriors were going to march to another NBA title can tell you, anything can happen.
They finish their three-Game series with the Red Sox, then strike back out on the road for a four-Game set in Kansas City.
#-2: Lynx (Last Week: -3). My God, what in the hell is happening to the Lynx? This club is now on a four-Game losing streak after losing in New York and dropping back-to-back home contests vs. Connecticut and Las Vegas. The defeat to The Bastard San Antonio Silver Stars is particularly galling: The team was outscored in the back half of the Fourth Quarter 16-3 to lose, 80-75. The losses of Lindsay Whalen, Maya Moore and Jessica Shepard are now biting this team, hard.
And it is sad, really, to see the current state of the franchise. My friend ushers at Target Center, and he is estimating that, at most, crowds of 5,000 are watching games. I find that shocking, especially with the recent track record of success this organization has finally earned. And that goes to show how, well, unfair teams that are not The Big Three -- and especially women's teams -- have it in the local sports landscape. The Lynx scratched and crawled from laughingstock status to win four WNBA titles, and then they still earned only a begrudging admiration after enough people were nagged by the angels of their better nature to root for a club from a "minor sport." But as soon as they go back to sucking, they are completely written off as a joke again. (I have to admit that much of the time I do all of this.) Sadly, a women's team simply does not have the margin of error, the benefit of the doubt, the permanent and inherent interest from the fanbase. It is always better to be criticized than ignored because when you're being criticized, it shows people still care. And I don't know if people care about the Lynx anymore.
Oh. Now that they're on a losing streak and things appear to be bleak, I'll start calling them the "Jynx" again. But hey, at least I'm showing I still care.
They last played Sunday. The squad's next game is Saturday, at home versus the Liberty. Maybe an entire week off will do these players some good.
#-3: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!). So two wrestlers are in the hoosegow for an allegation of sexual assault. One of them is Dylan Martinez, and I don't know who he is, so I don't care about him. But the other I've heard of: Gable Steveson, the Heavyweight who was #1 for a good part of last season and is the best rassler this program has had in some time. Yes, he tailed off at the end there and wound up with nothing noteworthy, but still, he is far and away the best player on this team.
Or was. If what the police are saying is true, well, he's fucked. But even if he is somehow cleared, Steveson -- and by extension the U. -- will have a black cloud hanging over them until Steveson moves on. Furthermore, this allegation stirs up echoes, albeit untidy ones, of the drug scandal that eventually doomed the fate of J Robinson. Regardless, for a program that used to be the best in top-flight college wrestling, this is another dubious marker on its fall from grace.
No comments:
Post a Comment