Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING TAKEOUT NEWS: 4-3-23.

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Apr 3

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Happy Masters and Frozen Four week! Both get underway Thursday.

UConn against San Diego State for the NCAA title tonight. LSU clobbered Iowa for the women’s title yesterday in one of the worst officiated games you’ll ever see. Iowa wasn’t winning anyways, but it was atrocious.

UMD lost to Ashland in the DII women’s national championship game.

Twins 3-0

The Twins are one of three undefeated teams in all of baseball after sweeping the Royals. Minnesota became the 17th team in MLB history to win the season’s first two games via shutout, before beating KC 7-4 yesterday.

The good? How about starting pitching. Pablo Lopez scoreless for 5 ⅓ in the opener, Sonny Gray for five on Saturday and then Joe Ryan yielded just a run in six innings yesterday. The bullpen has been equally stellar, save for a scary ninth inning from Emilio Pagan yesterday. A four-run lead may not be enough for him in any situation, yet Rocco rolls him out there. Byron Buxton is batting .462 through three games, and his speed has been a factor. Joey Gallo hit two homers yesterday.

The bad? Hitting is usually slow during the cold month of April, but Max Kepler is 0-for-13 in the leadoff role. Correa is just 2-for-13, but if the Twins are 3-0, we shouldn’t complain.

The Twins are at the Marlins for three games (5:40 first pitch tonight) before their home opener Thursday against the Astros. Tyler Mahle gets the call on the mound tonight against old friend Luis Arraez.

Wild Gets Vegas Flu

It’s obviously no secret why Vegas has had one of the best home records in the NHL since entering the league. The Wild is the latest team to come down with the Vegas flu. After spending three nights in Sin City before finally playing a game, the Wild showed little fight in a 4-1 loss that was just their second regulation defeat in 22 games. Worst yet, the Wild lost heart-and-soul forward Mason Shaw to an injury, one eerily similar to one of his three previous ACL tears.

Kirill Kaprizov scheduled to start skating again “soon”, but that won’t help the Wild with tonight’s rematch against Vegas at The X. Filip Gustavsson is expected to start in net after Marc-Andre Fleury lost to his former mates Saturday. The Wild hasn’t beaten Vegas this season.

Just six games left for the Wild, which has just a one point lead over Colorado. The Avs have a game in hand. Fine if the Avs catch them really, because it would mean they couldn’t face each other in the first round. But Dallas is also only one point back. The Stars host the Predators tonight.

Wolves Suffer Unforgiveable Loss; 10th Seed or Missing Play-in Tourney Suddenly Possible

It may not be a popular opinion, but I think Chris Finch has to go as coach of the Timberwolves. This team has too much talent to be dealing with constant mediocrity - and both the last two weeks have been mediocre. After a run that put them in position to perhaps avoid the play-in tournament, the Wolves suffered a pair of bad losses, including an unforgivable 107-105 loss at home to bottom feeder Portland yesterday.

Yes, the Wolves are playing without big man Naz Reid. The flu has ravaged this team. But they’re the Blazers, and they were missing four starters. Minnesota entered the game, at home, as an 19.5-point favorite and limped across the finish line two point losers. Portland earned the biggest NBA upset in THIRTY years.

ANT, one of those fighting the flu, went for 37 and you couldn’t tell he wasn’t feeling well. The rest of them? Gross incompetence. With a chance to tie the game on the last possession, Kyle Anderson’s floating layup went over the backboard. With the season on the line, KAT attempted three shots in 25 minutes and was in foul trouble. The Wolves led in the third by double digits, and again couldn’t find the intestinal fortitude to seal the deal.

Now, the Wolves will probably still make the play-in round. They’re in ninth, a game up on OKC and 1.5 ahead of 11th place Dallas with three games to play. But, do you trust them to win any of their last three (at Brooklyn, at San Antonio, home against New Orleans). Remember, the ninth and 10th place teams play one game. Loser eliminated. The winner of that game then has to play either the seventh or eighth place loser just to take over the eighth seed and play Denver (more than likely).

A season that’s shown some promise is coming to a flaming halt. Rinse and repeat with this franchise.

Loons Beat Undefeated St. Louis to Stay Unbeaten

The Loons are one of three MLS teams without a loss, improving to 3-0-2 after beating previously undefeated expansion team St. Louis. This even though they’ve scored just six goals in five games.