The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1).  The schedule coming out of the break is soft, so if the Twins were going to re-established themselves and try to put their Division away, it should start now.  So far, so good: A 5-2 screening Week, which began with a Sunday victory over the soon-to-be Bastard Oakland Athletics that completed a road sweep, continued with a four-Game split at Seattle, and ended with taking the first two tilts of a three-Game series at Target Field over the Chicago White Sox.

Last/Saturday night's 3-2 Win might be emblematic of how they'll need to win contests from here on out.  Christian Vazquez and Michael Taylor, the 8 and 9 hitters in the Lineup, managed back-to-back hits for the Game-tying and Game-winning Runs in the bottom of the Seventh Inning, and the Bullpen stepped in from the top of the Seventh to shut the door.  (Apparently Jhoan Duran is now the Closer because he came into the Game with entrance music and the Target Field lights going off in intricate choreography.  I thought Edwin Diaz has the "greatest" entrance music in Major League Baseball, but he's with the Mets, and the Mets are mediocre right now.)  The Rotation hasn't yet regressed to the mean, and in fact it's still leading the league in many, many categories.  Maybe the starters can hold up after all.

Don't look now, but Minnesota is now four Games above .500, although they're only two Games ahead of Cleveland, which also seems to have right themselves after being swept in Texas last weekend.  Minnesota will continue to feast, however, on the pushovers in baseball; after going for the sweep over the Pale Hose, they'll host the Mariners for three beginning Monday, then travel to Kansas City (fighting off the A's for Worst Record In MLB) for a trio starting Friday.

#-2: Lynx (Last Week: -3).  Started off their second half by losing in Atlanta by nine Tuesday, nipping Los Angeles by three at Target Center Thursday (thereby completing a four-Game season sweep), then getting housed by Las Vegas (also at home) last/Saturday night by 17.  At 10-13 they're proving they're not a great or even average team, but they only have the seventh-worst record in the league.  They're 2 1/2 Games better than the Sparks for ninth place.  They might not be able to help not getting into the playoffs, where they're sure to be swept in their First Round matchup.

I still believe they're better served missing out in the postseason entirely, and the upcoming part of the schedule will help them circle the drain again.  They host Washington Wednesday, then visit Eastern Conference-leading New York Friday.