Do I owe the Wild an apology? Uh, partially. I did bury these guys after Game 4, and with contempt. What I said in last week's WMNSS about them was very harsh. In my defense, they looked absolutely awful, lost and fated to defeat this time last Week. They were shut out in their last five Periods of play, and they got swept, at home, to give the Las Vegas Golden Knights a 3-1 series lead. They showed no fight, and it seemed a fait accompli that they would be gone by the weekend.
Well, look at them now, look at them now. This was the fight I and many of the club's fans wanted to see from them. Many of us doubted they had it in them, so in that sense, these guys proved us wrong. That doesn't logically mean we owe them an apology, but proving us wrong should be more than enough for the Wild.
How did the fortunes turn? Who knows. It's hockey. In Game 5 they erupted for three Goals and the defense and Goaltender Cam Talbot preserved the lead. In Game 6 the Wild broke open the up-till-then scoreless contest in the Third, the Game-winner sparked by Zach Parise, who has either rehabilitated his reputation or has proven everyone wrong (depending on your loyalty toward him), chipping the puck out of the Minnesota Defensive Zone off the boards and onto Kevin Fiala's stick, which he then slid in the Offensive Zone to Ryan Hartman, who deposited it past the now-vulnerable Marc-Andre Fleury. The hit on Wild nemesis Alex Tuch by the high-risk/high-reward Matt Dumba was also a pleasing move by the fans. But the Knight's challenge on a Goal that was waved off upon referee review, then upheld as a no-Goal upon official review from Toronto, gave the Wild a pivotal Power Play. And Fiala scored from deep to get that insurance Goal. The often-criticized Nick Bjugstad backhanded one past Fleury with more than four Minutes left to give Minnesota a 3-0 win and tie the series at three apiece.
I am heartened that, well, the squad has finally shown some heart. Will I be OK if they lose Game 7 in Vegas tomorrow/Friday night? Probably not. But once cooler heads prevail, I hope to be, well, OK with the team's effort. But let's not get ahead of ourselves -- the Wild's got momentum! And the Golden Knights must be on their heels not knowing what the hell has happened! The Bastard Quebec Nordiques await for Game 1, which will be Sunday night. Maybe the Wild packed two changes of clothes and set up plans to zip right from Sin City to the Mile High City!!!
#-2: Twins (Last Week: -5). A 5-1 screening Week. Does this mean the Twinks are back? No, absolutely not. But they have to start winning Games, period. And even if the opposition aren't world-beaters -- Cleveland is bobbing around .500, The Bastard St. Louis Browns are the worst team in the majors -- any chance for this ballclub to mount a comeback into a postseason spot has to come from knocking off teams that, at least on paper before the season began, are decisively worse than the Twins. They still have a long way to go, but notching back-to-back series Wins is a start.
Want to recognize two players on the squad. Similarly to the Wild, I buried Miguel Sano and thought that he needed to be traded. But even on the team's relative upswing lately, their offense has yet to awaken as a whole, but specifically, Sano has been a fuckin' beast. Goddamn, finally he's back to where he once was. In fact, he still largely is taking the team's offense on his back. Meanwhile, I heard this statistic on The Common Man Progrum yesterday/Thursday: Of all the Starting Pitchers in franchise history (minimum "n" number of Games), as of press time, the SP with the best winning percentage is ... Michael Pineda, who overcame an early Home Run to get the Win in Wednesday's 3-2 victory (those three Runs came on a three-Run Home Run by ... Miguel Sano). Not many of his Wins feel like the dominating type; by contrast, the Pitcher who currently sits second is Johan Santana, and he is The Last Great Twins Pitcher. But numbers don't lie.
They are home versus the Royals for the weekend, go out to Baltimore to begin a three-Game set beginning Memorial Day, then travel to Kansas City for a four-Game series starting on Thursday.
#-3: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -7). Speaking of stats, here's one that the U. athletic department site gave in its notes for the last weekend of the regular season for the Golden Gophers, a pod setup where they will play Penn St. Friday and Saturday afternoon, then the host Purdue Boilermakers Saturday evening and Sunday: Besides three who left and six who joined, the players who were on the club last Year are on the squad this Year. Last Year's (interrupted) season wasn't great; they finished 8-10. But that is miles better than the 5-29 this season's edition is currently sporting. After taking a cursory scroll through the team's Wikipedia page, it looks to be The Worst Season In Golden Gopher Baseball History.
They lost three-of-four at Siebert vs. the Boilers over the weekend. They got the shit kicked out of them Friday, 12-5, and Saturday, 17-4. And yet, somehow, they were able to snap a 16-Game losing streak in Sunday's series finale by plating three in the Bottom of the Ninth Inning to beat Purdue, 9-8. Do not tell me the Boilermakers tried this Game. A Boilers Pitcher named Landon Weins took the Loss, and a fellow Right-Handed Pitcher named Ricky Castro gave up the Game-Winning Hit, and these two are not scrubs nor Freshmen; this squad relied on both Pitchers. They can control batters as bad as Minnesota is. No, they allowed the Goofers to win because it was Minnesota's final Game at home and was thus Senior Day. You cannot convince me otherwise.
Post-mortem to come next Week.
#-Infinity: Gopher softball (Last Week: -1). Well, it's over for the U. softballers, and while it's disappointing they were eliminated in the Regionals, I can't feel like it was a failure or anything.
I said in last Week's survey that the team had to beat Fresno St. in their first Regional Game last Friday to have a chance. Welp, that didn't happen; they got shut out by the Bulldogs, 3-0. (That hurt doubly because the Gophers were the home team, meaning they were ostensibly the "second seed" in this Los Angeles Regional.) But turns out I was wrong. Saturday evening they pushed Long Beach St. to the end of their season, drubbing the Zots, 11-0. That night they exacted revenge by bumping off Fresno St., 6-3. And so the biggest mountain to climb lay ahead of them: Take two from the hosts, UCLA, who were also the overall #2 Seed in the NCAA Tournament. And they lost that Game and thus had their season end Sunday evening to the Bruins. But it was close: 2-1, with First Baseman Megan Dray getting Minnesota on the board first in the Bottom of the Second Inning (the U. was the home team in this Game as well) on a Homer to Left-Center. One hit did Minnesota in; in the top of the Fourth, UCLA's Kinsley Washington singled home the tying and winning Runs. Rachel Garcia came in in the Second and hurled shutout ball for the victory for UCLA, running her record to 16-0. Amber Fiser ... did not pitch this Game. At all. Instead, in this Elimination Game, Autumn Pease went the distance, striking out seven but taking the loss; her record finishes at 12-3.
This team may be in some transition for next Year. Ace Fiser (who lost the first FSU Game, beat the Beach, and got the Save in the second FSU Game) is a Senior; so is super-slugging Infielder Makenna Partain. Pease, a Junior, probably steps into Fiser's role next Year as the team warhorse; fellow Junior Natalie DenHartog (she's One Of Us; Hopkins) will have to lead the Offense. Who will step up in a roster that currently seems 50/50 between under- and upperclassmen?
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