THE OPENER: We’re recovering well from the gloom that settled over us when the Timberwolves were smacked out of the NBA playoffs last week. The Lynx are blazing, Jhoan Duran’s pitches are smoking and we have no shortage of stuff to keep our attention. This week’s Sports Take has hockey moves, horses to play, a Minneapolis connection to some top NFL quarterbacks and 700 books from a genre I didn’t know existed until a few days ago. And there’s even more. So let’s go!
WILL THE LYNX EVER LOSE? The answer is yes, I’m pretty sure. But their 8-0 start continues to verify that the WNBA season should come down to another showdown between Minnesota and the New York Liberty — and that their regular-season games should bring as much fire to the basketball court as the five-game title series that the Liberty won to end last season. WHY? The Lynx are 8-0 while specializing in slow starts and inconsistent defense. Tuesday’s win over Phoenix was the first time the team played well for almost the full 40 minutes. Yes, the Lynx fell behind 23-14 in the first quarter, but it doesn’t count as a slow start when you go off on a 15-0 run to seize control. YES, I KNOW: The Lynx have won five of those games against the bottom four teams in the league. But from one game to the next, you can see problems addressed and improvements made. I think they’re well positioned for what’s ahead.
ROAD AHEAD: The Lynx could and should be 11-0 headed into their first “showdown game” — June 17 vs. Las Vegas at Target Center. That will also be the last of their five games in the Commissioner’s Cup in-season tournament, which the Lynx won last year. GIVE ME LIBERTY: You want grudge matches leading up to a postseason showdown? The Lynx and Liberty, who are also undefeated, are set to play four times in July and August — and there could be a fifth if they meet in the Cup title game on July 1. That includes a stretch from Aug. 10-19 when the Lynx have a run of three games, all against New York. SCHEDULE: https://fluence-media.co/4jHNAZv
POWER RANKINGS: The Lynx are No. 1 in the latest ESPN power rankings. The Liberty are No. 1, according to USA Today.
VERBATIM: “Minnesota beat Seattle, Phoenix and Golden State last week. Still, the Lynx are not impressed with how they have played.” — ESPN. “The Liberty currently lead the league in offensive and defensive rating, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, assists per game, blocks per game ― the list goes on New York isn't showing any signs of slowing down.” — USA Today.
LYNX READING: Via Beckett Harrison at Swish Appeal. VERBATIM: “Napheesa Collier is rightfully praised for a plethora of abilities, but perhaps her most under-appreciated skill is her evolution. For the last three seasons, it’s felt like surely we’re seeing the peak form of Phee. And every following year, she levels up. Through seven games this season, she’s forcing the hand of MVP voters. At a league-leading 25.1 points per game, she’s practically filling out the ballots herself. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/phee0605
TWINS WIN BIG, LOSE BIG: The Twins are getting the Athletics at just the right time on their schedule. Heading into Thursday game, the team formerly known as Oakland, had lost 19 of its last 20 games — and many of them badly. The Twins needed a respite series at the end of their only three-city road trip of the season, and before the schedule stiffens again. They also needed it after three games in Seattle that were filled with postseason-style drama. Only winning one of those shouldn’t be as big a deal as a weekend of solid baseball between teams that should be playing in October.
THE BIG LOSS: Via Phil Miller at Star Tribune. Pablo Lopez has a shoulder strain and the Twins aren’t expecting him back for two to three months. I’m going to bet on three months, which puts his return in September. If the current projection is optimistic at three months, then the Twins could be without Lopez for the rest of the season. It’s the same injury that knocked out Joe Ryan in August of last season. VERBATIM: “I hated it. I hated the idea yesterday, I hate it today. I’m going to hate every single second and day of it,” Lopez said. “I was hopeful, based on the things I felt, the way I was feeling this morning. I was like, ‘It feels more like soreness really than anything.’” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/lopez0605
SHARDS OF OPTIMISM: The Twins feel like they have more pitching depth than they did last season, when Ryan’s injury was followed by the collapse that took them from being solidly positioned for the playoffs to frustrated observers. IF AND ALSO IF: If depth becomes an issue, the Lopez injury is coming well before the MLB trade deadline. If the depth isn’t what they think, the Twins will have plenty of time before the MLB trade deadline to acquire starting pitching help — and the Pohlads will have a chance to show they have as much interest in winning as they do in trying to sell the team.
CONQUERING A CONCERN: Via Dan Hayes at The Athletic. Jhoan Duran has responded to concerns raised last season and before this one about diminishing velocity on his fastball. Writer Aaron Gleeman got ahead of the issue last summer when he wrote about Duran looking for answers in relation to his “missing velocity.” Answers appear to have been found, with Duran being named American League reliever of the month for May. He said a change is grip has substituted movement for missing miles per hour. VERBATIM: “The ball is moving really good. I throw a lot of fastballs right in the middle, and they’re hitting groundballs. In the past when I missed fastballs in the middle, it was a homer or a double.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/duran0605
THE NUMBERS: Duran is 4-1 with an 0.99 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings. Last year at this time, after missing the first month of the season with an injury, Duran had a 3.00 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 15 innings. Those numbers didn’t improve as the season progressed, which set up concerns about this season, including whether he would lose his role as main closer to Griffin Jax.
MORE NUMBERS: Wild Card race | MLB power rankings from ESPN
REUSSE ON MARSHALL: Via Patrick Reusse at Star Tribune. When a Minnesota sports legend dies, there is nobody better with their recollections than Reusse, and he showed it again this week with his column about Jim Marshall, the Vikings defensive end who died this week. VERBATIM: “Back in 1999, I was able to get an appointment with the Honorable Alan Page at the offices for the Minnesota Supreme Court. Marshall and Carl Eller, the other full-time members of the “Purple People Eaters” came along. At one point, I did ask if they could look at one another in the eyes and know that the opposing quarterback was in trouble. Page came quick with this answer. ‘I don’t know if you had to look at the other person’s eye. We made the assumption that the quarterback was in trouble.’ Jim Marshall — he came here in 1961, stayed on Met Stadium gridiron for 19 seasons, and lived here until Tuesday. READ THE REST: https://fluence-media.co/reusse0605
MARSHALL Q-AND-A: Via Columbus Dispatch. Marshall grew up in Columbus and played football for Ohio State before being taken in the fourth round of the 1960 NFL draft. READ IT: https://fluence-media.co/qanda0605
MEMORY: For a generation of NFL fans, video of Marshall’s wrong-way run in 1964 was burned into our brains the same way that Kirby Puckett’s Game 6 World Series home run or the Keenum-to-Diggs Minneapolis Miracle (more on that below) stays with younger folks. WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/wrongway0605
STAR TRIBUNE SPORTS SHAKEUP: Buyouts announced this week at the Star Tribune and other changes will result in a changes for the department. Several veterans — reporters and supervisors — are expected to leave and will receive up to 26 weeks of severance pay, an additional lump sum of $10,000 and health insurance for six months. This is coming at the same time as an overhaul of assignments, which will include college basketball writer Marcus Fuller moving to a beat covering recruiting and Gophers sports supervisor Joe Christensen, an engaging writer, reporting in-depth stories about high school sports. Vikings and high school sports have been identified by the Star Tribune as two “franchise” areas in which to increase subscriber growth. On the flip side, there are concerns — inside and outside the newsroom — about coverage of women’s sports. A Sports Take reader pointed out that the most recent story about the Minnesota Aurora soccer team is a game report from its opener two weeks ago — with no mentions of the next three games since for the undefeated side.
TRUTH: It shouldn’t matter what other Minnesota sports outlets do. The Star Tribune should be assumed to have the resources and expertise to do it better — or least as well. The buyouts were expected after a reorganization that’s included increased hiring in some areas and a contract extension with the newsroom’s union that included 4% scale raises. In math terms, it’s addition followed by subtraction.
FROST DEFENSE TAKES BIG HIT: Wednesday was the first day for the PWHL’s Vancouver and Seattle expansion teams to sign players who weren’t on the three-player protected list of the current six teams. The Frost took a huge hit, losing defensive players Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques to Vancouver. Both are among the three finalists for the PWHL’s Defender of the Year Award, which will be announced later this month in Ottawa. The Frost had protected stars Kendall Coyne Schofield, Lee Stecklein and Taylor Heise — and losing two players allowed them to add a fourth player, Britta Curl-Salemme, to their protected list.
EXPANSION DRAFT RULES: Via Sound of Hockey. https://fluence-media.co/rules0605
BROSMER’S QURTERBACK GURU: Via Pat Borzi at MinnPost. Former Washburn High School backup QB Quincy Avery grew up in the Field neighborhood of south Minneapolis and has since become one of the leading private quarterback coaches in the country. He’s featured in “The Quincy Avery Effect,” which is showing on Hulu. Avery is the son of 1970s-era Gophers quarterback Wendell Avery and took a winding and stressful road to his current work. His first client was Joshua Dobbs, who had an entertaining five-game run with the Vikings two seasons ago. Max Brosmer, who signed with the Vikings as an undefeated free agent after finishing up at the U last season, started working with Avery in middle schooL VERBATIM: “I think Max could have a really long career in the NFL,” Avery said. “I never would have thought that’s where he was going to be, but he was really diligent about the work he was willing to put in. He was unrelenting in doing those things, and it’s really cool to see where he’s at today.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/qb0605
RAGNOW RETIRES: Via Associated Press. Frank Ragnow, the former Chanhassen High School star, is retiring after a seven-year NFL career with the Detroit Lions. Ragnow, 29, made the Pro Bowl four times as an offensive lineman in a career hampered by injuries. In 2021, after playing with a fracture in his throat, the Lions and Ragnow agreed to a four-year, $54 million contract extension. VERBATIM: “ ‘He’s one of the best centers I’ve ever had the privilege to play against,’ Vikings defensive lineman Harrison Phillips said. ‘I know that every time I had to play against him, I had to buckle my chinstrap extra tight and watch a lot of extra film.’ Phillips said his teammates on the Vikings’ offensive line would often ask him for tips about Ragnow’s technique because his fundamental blocking skills were so exceptional.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/frank0605
KNICKS HAVE A KAT PROBLEM? Via James L. Edwards III and Fred Katz at The Athletic. While the postseason attention about the New York Knicks loss in the Eastern Conference finals has focused on the firing of former Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau, there’s also been light shined on an issue familiar to Minnesota fans: The play of Karl-Anthony Towns. The Athletic’s report notes that the combination of megastars Towns and Jalen Brunson became less effective on offense as the season went on — and KAT’S defense was a concern. VERBATIM: “Publicly, Knicks players made veiled comments all season about poor communication causing their inconsistencies. Behind the scenes, they and coaches expressed frustration with Towns’ defensive habits — less concerned with his talent level and more with his process on that end. Too often, Towns executed incorrect coverages without communicating why he did it. After it became a theme, players worried Towns didn’t grasp the importance of the matter.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/kat0605
LOONS LOOK AHEAD. Via Jon Marthaler at Star Tribune. As a first-year coach for Minnesota United, Eric Ramsay said he wanted to talk about process more than results. In his second year, he’s pretty much telling us to forget about what he said back then as the Loons are off to their best start ever in MLS. Give Ramsay credit for admitting to looking at more one game at a time. VERBATIM: “I think it can be a really motivating factor for this group. I sort of find that we can get a response from the group talking about chunks of games, talking about fighting for our position in the table, to an extent. It’s almost like the elephant in the room that you might as well bring front and center.” WHY READ? In addition to Ramsay’s POV, Marthaler offers up a number of reasons why the team is well positioned at the midway point of the season — and wasted opportunities that could have vaulted them to the top of the standings. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/loons0605
LISTS (FOR BETTER OR WORSE): We’re in the midst of a “best-of-the-quarter-century” lists barrage. Some are better than others.
LIST PART 1. JUST ABOUT RIGHT: Via Steven Ruiz at the Ringer. My favorite list right now is the one where the Vikings place at No. 33 on The Ringer’s list of the 100 top sports moments — right between Appalachian State’s football upset of Michigan in 2007 and Leicester City winning the English Premier League in 2016. It’s the Minneapolis Miracle. VERBATIM: “I’m not a huge Joe Buck guy, but I have to give him credit for his call of the Minneapolis Miracle: he was ready for the moment and met it with an effective call that is still burned into my brain. . . . This wasn’t just a great call; it may have been a legacy-defining call for one of this generation’s most notable play-by-play announcers.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/miracle0605 FULL LIST: https://fluence-media.co/ringer0605
SIDENOTE: This call of the touchdown is better, even if you can’t understand one word of it. https://fluence-media.co/diggs0604
LIST PART 2: THIS ONE’S BAD: Via Tim Britton at The Athletic. Sometimes, I think The Athletic fills dead time by building lists, lists and more lists. Here’s a list of “MLB’s 25 Best Games of the 2000s.” What’s missing? How about Game 163 between the Twins and Tigers in 2009? You likely remember it for the Twins beating Detroit 6-5 in 4 hours, 37 minutes and 12 innings to make the postseason. A few of us remember it as the only win (and last MLB appearance) of Bobby Keppel’s career. The game was non-stop no brakes. HIGHLIGHTS: https://fluence-media.co/game163 FULL LIST: https://fluence-media.co/mlb0605
LIST PART 3: THIS ONE’S BETTER. Via Aaron Gleeman and Dan Hayes at the Athletic. Here’s the All-Quarter Century Minnesota Twins team. Can’t argue with much about this one, although I’d make a case for adding Duran as a second bullpen arm. Also includes a mostly forgotten fact about starting pitcher Ervin Santana. VERBATIM: “Santana’s inclusion on this list speaks volumes to how well the rest of his time in the Twin Cities went considering it all began with an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use in 2015, before he ever threw a pitch for the Twins.” LIST: https://fluence-media.co/toptwins0605
LIST PART 4: THIS ONE’S WEIRD. Via Goodreads. Did you know there’s a genre of romance novels about hockey? There’s an entire display shelf at the Target in Buffalo. Here’s a list of 702 titles. LIST: https://fluence-media.co/hockey0605
SMALL WORLD: Via Anya Armentrout on Substack. The Valkyries writer did a Q&A with Lynx announcer Sloane Martin when the Lynx played at Golden State last weekend. Martin, who played D-III basketball in New York, was coached on a high school AAU team in the mid-2000s by Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase. VERBATIM: “That was half my life ago, so let’s keep that in perspective. . . . She got us in the best shape of our lives. She wanted us to play the game the right way, to compete hard. And I'll just remember her being, you know, certainly tough to play for. But that’s what I wanted in terms of being challenged. So, it's no surprise to see her have this team that's really fighting.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/martin0605
AURORA STRIKES NIL DEAL: Via Minnesota Aurora. The women’s preprofessional soccer team is partnering with Northern Lights Collective to create NIL opportunities for players. The collective was founded by Ida Kane, former CFO of a software services company in California. Her daughter is Aurora goalkeeper Taylor Kane. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/aurora0605
WHY IS HE OUT THERE? If you’re thinking “that guy on the sidelines looks familiar” while watching an Edina boys’ lacrosse match, there’s a good chance you’re looking at former WCCO-AM morning host (and state tournament broadcaster) Dave Lee, whose son Andy is coach of the state-tournament bound Hornets. Lee is one of the team’s photographers. The state tournaments for boys and girls begin Tuesday in Eden Prairie and Chaska.
BETTING THE BELMONT: Via Jay Lietzau. Our Sports Take handicapping friend hit the Kentucky Derby and didn’t cash for the Preakness. Here’s how he sees Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown. WINNER: Baeza Is bred for this moment. A bay colt out of the brilliant mare Puca, who has produced the 2023 Kentucky Derby winner (Mage) and the 2024 Belmont Stakes winner (Dornoch). He will attempt to capture a Triple Crown race with his brothers for the third consecutive year. Ran phenomenally well in the Derby while breaking from the 19 post and racing wide throughout. CONTENDERS: Sovereignty has done little wrong in his career after capturing the Kentucky Derby and banking $3.6 million. His trainer, William Mott, was pointing to this race as soon as he crossed the finish line to win the Kentucky Derby. He may be athletic enough to overcome a slow pace. Journalism was a close second in Kentucky and conquered the Preakness while overcoming trouble entering the stretch. It can be questioned if we’ll see his best after his third race in five weeks. THE BETS: $30 win - Baeza. $15 exacta: Baeza first, Sovereignty second. $5 exacta: Baeza first, Journalism second. LIVE ODDS: https://fluence-media.co/odds0605
Thanks for reading. More fun and excitement next week.
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ESPN's guide to sports on about 250 channels and streaming services: https://fluence-media.co/3T4rYw4
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