#0: Gopher softball (Last Week: -4). I just assumed that the Minnesota softball program is a good one, and would naturally sit atop the Big Ten Conference for Years to come. So maybe I am being naive when I finally checked a softball poll and did not see the U. on it. Is something wrong?
That is why I give weight to a critical four-Game sweep this team pulled at Northwestern, which was ranked (in the twenties last Week, but still) over the weekend. It was a competitive series; the Gophers had to go ten Innings to beat the Wildcats in Friday's series opener and eight in the first Game of Sunday's Doubleheader. But sweep they did, and so the U. is now a healthy 19-5 on the Year, ranked (even though that may not be a great indicator of strength), and, at for this Week, both atop the WMNSS and above negative numbers.
Host Nebraska for four this weekend.
#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: 0). Last/Thursday evening they began their part in the 48-team NCAA Tournament (held in Omaha, Neb.) with a three-Set sweep of Georgia Tech, 19-21-18. It's funny to go on Twitter and see the athletic department's PR team put out a graphic for the club saying "We're Going to the Sweet Sixteen!" when it'd be more accurate to put "We Won One Tournament Game!" Come on, you're Minnesota -- you're supposed to make the Sweet Sixteen every Year.
And, by all rights, they should make it to the Elite Eight, too ... every Year, but this Year especially. That's because the squad's next opponent is not a Top 16 seed. One would think the third-seeded Gophers would face the #14 seed in the Regional Semifinals, which in this tournament is Utah. Was, actually: The Utes were upset (swept even) by Pittsburgh, 16-18-19. So I will assume that the Gophers take care of business against the Panthers and march on to a matchup in the Regional Final versus either sixth-Seeded Washington or 11th-Seeded Louisville.
Note that the tournament schedule gets real funky this screening Week. There isn't a time for the Game against Pitt, but it will be on Sunday. The Elite Eight contest is Monday. And if the U. makes it to the Final (as they should), the National Semifinal (possibly/probably against #2 Seed Kentucky) will take place Thursday.
#-2: Wild (Last Week: -3). The next three teams are the local pro teams playing right now, and they all won only one Game this screening Week. The Mild, however, remain in prime position to make the playoffs. The squad's lone win this screening Week, 5-2 at the X over The Bastard Winnipeg Jets Wednesday afternoon (the Game was moved to a weekday afternoon to avoid any curfew and/or potential unrest due to the Daunte Wright killing), helped tremendously; Arizona's fifth, and putting two more Points between them and the third-place Wild pads already overwhelming odds the Wild reach the postseason. That cushions the wake-up calls that a weekend sweep in St. Louis gave the club. Friday they lost 9-1, the most Goals the franchise has ever given up in a single Game. Then on Saturday, they give up the Game-tying Goal late in regulation and then lose in Overtime with two Seconds left. The Blues sit in fourth in the Western Division, and yet there is evidence to fear a potential Second-Round matchup with them.
This Week: Back-to-back home Games vs. San Jose, then two at the Coyotes.
#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: -6). A 121-117 win at Target Center over Chicago is the lone highlight in a Week where the Dogs lost at Boston in OT (after blowing a big lead) and then got blown out at home to Brooklyn and Milwaukee. But fuck that: The biggest news in my mind is that you can actually see Timberwolves Games on over-the-air TV!!! I was just idling looking at the Timberwolves schedule online when I noticed that tonight's/Friday night's home Game against Miami will be on Channel 23, aka The CW-Twin Cities! The team's first Game on that channel was the one at Philadelphia on the 3rd. I don't know what prompted this out-of-nowhere move -- was it the pandemic? Cord-cutting? The team and its perpetually losing ways? Whatever it is, it has been ages since regular season professional sports Games has been broadcast on free TV. MNUFC aired Games over broadcast in its first season in Major League Soccer. If you don't count soccer, well ... gosh, it's either be the Wild on Channel 5 or the Twins on Sundays, and that was a long, long time ago. I think this is a fantastic development. There are people who are starving for sports but simply don't have the money to cough up cable or satellite or even a streaming service (possibly because they don't own a computer or a phone). That has made sports exclusive and elitist. This is a move that hopefully puts a stop to that. (The Loons are putting several Matches on over-the-air this season as well.)
Sure, they're gonna lost the Game versus the Heat. (By the way, after that Game they'll play at the Clippers and then in Sacramento for two back-to-back tilts.) But I get to see them get embarrassed on my TV screen!
#-4: Twins (Last Week: -2). Wow. This past Week compared to Opening Week is like night and day. Because the Twinks were one bloop Game-ender away from finishing this Week winless. I don't know what the fuck happened, but yesterday/Thursday afternoon's 4-3 victory broke a five-Game losing streak that encompassed the whole Week. And it's not as if they were playing the Dodgers. No, they were playing the moribund Mariners and the rebuilding Red Sox. And they were playing both at home. That makes this Week even more infuriating, and the main reason I parked these guys below the Woofs.
It looks as if the wheels have completely fallen off this ballclub. Nelson Cruz and Byron Buxton are hurt (again), and it appears the Offense has completely evaporated with them out of the lineup. Andrelton Simmons is now gone with COVID-19. The relief corps has cratered, already blowing several leads. And the Starting Pitching, overall the best part of this squad, has also blown a tire after supposedly firing on all cylinders. Kenta Maeda's dumb throw was critical in the Red Sox's 3-2 win in the front end of Wednesday's Doubleheader, and Jose Berrios simply didn't have it and let too many batters on base before being lifted with men in scoring position. The reliever (I don't know who it is, and I don't care) promptly gave up Runs.
Yesterday/Thursday's Game probably pisses me off the most, if only because I heard the really big development in the car, and this was the Game this Week the Twinks won. Minnesota was leading 3-0 in the eighth when Manager Rocco Baldelli, being ordered by the analytics gods and/or FalVine, lifted starter Michael Pineda -- well before he threw 100 Pitches, like he usually does. Taylor Rodgers comes in and quickly loads the bases. And then he gives up a Game-tying, three-Run Double down the Left Field line. It was Max Kepler that saved the Twinks' asses by winning the Game at the Bottom of the Ninth. But this slavish reflex of lifting a Starting Pitcher, even if he is throwing very well, has already fed the fanbase's worst fears of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by relying on a bullpen that is already overwhelmed and over their heads. And the outright refusal of even allowing a starter to pitch to 100, to let a good thing ride, to staying with the hot hand, to being flexible, is already eliciting anger from people who have already seen too many of these manifestations of sabermetrics blow up in their team's faces.
The Twinks, fresh off a 2-5 homestand, travel to Anaheim and Oakland.
#-5: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -5). As much of a dumpster fire the Twins have become in just a Week, they're a campfire compared to the state-engulfing wildfire that is the Gophers baseball team. Over the weekend they were swept at Iowa, and it wasn't close -- 7-1, 6-1 and, fucking egad, 18-0. They lost by a combined 31-2. And now they're 4-17 on the season. These guys aren't a major sport, but I think this is a majorly underreported story.
Host Michigan for three. Thought I could work this/Friday afternoon's contest, but I wasn't called, so I guess I'll just fuck ****e instead.
#-Infinity: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -1). Well, this program's season ended with a quiet thud. Unheralded Iowa, which upset Illinois (who was hosting this portion of "Regional Weekend") has continued its Cinderella season by ended the Golden Gophers' season Sunday afternoon, 2-0. And it got done early; the Hawkeyes scored what is the Game-winner 62 Seconds into the Match,, then tacked on an insurance Goal 373 Seconds later (that's 7:15 into the Match).
So this team wound up scoring only seven Goals this Year. Sure, that's only through 12 Matches (and one Match declared a No-Contest), but still. This season "counts," for sure, but if there is any season you just burn and forget ever happened, this one is easy to do.
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