All three Games they won this screening Week were impressive. It seems more apparent that the defending champion Bastard Utah Starzz/San Antonio Silver Stars don't seem to have it this Year. Still, the Lynx won both ends of their home-and-home with the Aces, and decisively -- by 11 there Wednesday, by 13 here Friday. (Aside: A'ja Wilson is the W's best player. I was thinking for a while that she not only had the MVP sewed up, it would probably be unanimous. But Vegas has fallen behind Seattle and are now in fifth place in the league. Team record has a huge influence on MVP voting. If the Lynx get past the Sun [and presumptive candidate Alyssa Thomas], and if voters are divided on whether Breanna Stewart or Sabrina Ionescu deserves that award for New York, the team with the best record in the league, is it possible Napheesa Collier, who's been on a damn personal tear lately as well, can sneak in and claim it?)
Then, Saturday night, Caitlin Clark and The Indiana Fever came to town. I thought Minnesota was going to lose this Game; they played a squad they most likely got hyped up for just 24 hours before, and unfortunately, Iowa Hawkeyes fans were going to once again overrun the seats and turn it into a pro-Clark (if not pro-Fever) crowd. I didn't realize this statistic: Clark was 6-0 all-time playing in Target Center for both Iowa and Indiana. Welp, that fucking changed as the Lynx finally held home court and defeated the Fever by ten. Friday was also the night Maya Moore's jersey was retired. The Starting Five of Lindsay Whalen/Seimone Augustus/Moore/Rebekkah Brunson/Sylvia Fowles are now all up in the Target Center rafters. Good. Oh, and they clinched a playoff spot with that Win, too.
This Week: At Phoenix, at Dallas, home to Chicago.
#-2: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -2). So in a Match I thought about going to but didn't, the U. went across the Mississippi to St. Thomas and crushed the Tommies yesterday/Sunday afternoon, 4-1, on the strength of a Hat Trick from Lino Lakes native and Centennial alum, Forward Khyah Harper. The U. remains perfect over UST (3-0), and they've won the first two Games of their Year. Also encouraging is that they're scoring; Harper and teammate Caroline Birdsell (who braced last Week in the victory over Creighton) already have opened up their accounts, and I hope this signals more Goals for the program.
They now hit the road for the first time and go to Milwaukee to play the two top-flight programs that are located there. They play Wisconsin-Milwaukee Thursday, then Marquette Sunday afternoon.
#-3: Twins (Last Week: -3). Making Closer introductions a huge production, filled with the Closer's entrance song and the lights all coming down and flashing up, has become a thing in recent Years. Guess it started with Trevor Hoffman coming in to Padres Games with AC/DC's "Hells Bells," but I don't know if he had the lights and the lightboard and all that. Edwin Diaz of the Mets started the visual portion of the entrance, and I think the Twins have gone all-in with everything for Jhoan Duran.
The only thing me and my pessimist heart has always hated about this, and for the Closer, is what happens if the Closer blows the lead and/or the Game. All that build-up just to see him fuck up? It would be schadenfreude-alicious if I were rooting for the other team, but it would be cringe-inducing to get all hyped up to think, "Yeah, Duran's coming in! The Cardinals are done!" only to see him struggle like Matt Capps or Ron "Crash" Davis.
So that happened yesterday/Sunday afternoon in the heat of Target Center. Duran came in with the Twinks up in the top of the Ninth, 2-1, and he blew it. Now, it didn't help that a second runner got on via Fielder's Choice. But Closers close. Closers don't allow Lars Nootbaar to single to left-center field to plate the tying and go-ahead Runs.
To be fair to Duran again, that was only his second blown Save-turned-Loss of the season, although he came in in a tie Game back on the 18th and lost to The Bastard Washington Senators v.1.0. But this was symbolic of a rough Week for the Twinks, who lost series to both the Cardinals at home and on the road to Texas to go 2-4. It could have been worse, though: While they are now tied with Kansas City for second in the A. L. Central (and both teams are 4 1/2 Games ahead of Boston, so there's no danger yet that they'll miss the postseason), they are still only three Games behind falter Cleveland. They still can't erase that damn deficit.
The organization continues their World Series reminiscences as The Bastard Boston-via-Milwaukee Braves come in for three starting tonight/Monday night. They then host Toronto for a trio this weekend.
#-4: United FC (Re-Entry!). With the Loooooons getting bounced from The Leagues Cup and the Group Stage, they at least had the time to retool with reinforcements from the Transfer Window. And retool they did: They have brought in five players (one via trade) and shipped out One Of Us, Caden Clark (to Montreal, where he presumably will have the chance to play at his natural Wingback position). One of the problems (among many) this squad has is last of individual talent. There hasn't been anyone on MNUFC since Emanuel Reynoso was traded away that could break down one or two or even three players, no one where he didn't something on the way to scoring where you go, "Holy shit, did he just do that?!"
Thank goodness, then, for Kelvin Yeboah, a Ghanian from Genoa of Serie A. He was put in alongside Teemu Pukki as a Striker in Saturday night's Match at home vs. Seattle. Head Coach Eric Ramsay has already given him Penalty Kick responsibilities, and he slotted home his PK to tie it up in the First Half at 1. He then fought off a Sounders defender and, without even needing to settle the ball, chipped it over the Goalkeeper to tie the Match at 2.
Unfortunately, a bigger problem, Defense, was not addressed during this Transfer Window, even though they apparently tried to sign at least one guy. And the D remains leaky as Seattle made United FC their bitches again, losing, 3-2. (The sports analogy is: Sounders:Loons::Yankees:Twins.) Glad Minnesota was able to respond twice. And to be fair, the second and third Goals were more a product of Sounders individual virtuosity than a breakdown by the Looooooons Backline (although that's a reminder that this team still doesn't have much top-end talent; I checked the last 15 Minutes-plus of The Leagues Cup Final, where Columbus scored two Stoppage Time Goals to beat LAFC, and really, both clubs were going back and forth across the pitch like it was a basketball Game. That ball was whipping around like an atom in the Large Hadron Collider. Why can't MNUFC be like that?). But maybe better defenders would've been able to stop those Goals.
So these guys have now fallen out of the playoff picture, mired in 11th place, one Point behind Austin for 9th. I don't know how much time they needed to gel since they had about three Week where they could practice. But now time is getting short, and they have a winnable Match at San Jose Saturday to make themselves, and us, feel decent again.
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