Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 7-14-23.
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You didn’t need me Wednesday to tell you who won the All-Star Game. I was up before dawn for round 1 of dance nationals in Ames, Iowa. Headed down at 4 a.m. Sunday for round 2. Nine dances in two hours Sunday morning before 10. Sponsored by cold brew. Can’t say I’ve had better BBQ than Hickory Park - entrees around $14, too.
Attention East Metro subscribers - my other new favorite spot is Freyja Cafe in the hidden gem of downtown Afton. Open at 7 a.m. Wed-Sat, cold brew under $5, pastries from St. Croix Baking Company. It’s attached to the Historic Afton House Inn.
Only One American
Caroline Dolehide (women’s doubles) left in any semifinal matchup at Wimbledon.
Twins Start Post All-Star Run in Oakland Tonight
Seventy-one games left in the Twins’ regular season. Cleveland has 72 and is a half game up. I’d be shocked if either one of these teams pulled away, I’d expect lots of ebbs and flows and neither team to get up by more than three games over the final two and a half months.
The Twins have an incredible opportunity over the last 16 games of July however. That starts tonight at MLB worst Oakland. That 16-game stretch also includes seven against a very so-so Mariners team (much like the Twins), three against the next-to-last-place White Sox and three versus cellar-dwelling Kansas City.
No excuses. You’ve got the franchise’s best pitching staff in at least a decade. Had Sonny Gray and Pablo Lopez not gone to the All-Star Game, Rocco could have set up his rotation pretty good here too. Instead, Kenta Maeda goes in Oakland.
MLB Trade Deadline is August 1.
Loons Blow Out Dynamo in Pukki’s Debut
Loons players let it be known they were fed up with their own performance lately, and they put up or shut up in a 3-0 route of Houston on Wednesday. Teemu Pukki, whom the Loons brought over from Finland earlier this week, scored Minnesota’s second goal in the 20th minute.
Three goals is about a month’s worth for this Loons team. What do they have left for L.A. at Allianz Field on Saturday?
Lynx Beaten by 64 Total Points in Two Games Before All-Star Break
A week ago, I’d have said the Lynx didn’t want the All-Star Break to happen. But how fast things have turned around - it’s here at a perfect time now.
The Lynx followed five straight wins with a pair of stinkers, allowing more than 100 points twice at home, including a 107-67 shellacking to Dallas on Wednesday.
Minnesota plays again Tuesday in Atlanta. Despite their 9-11 mark, they’re in third place in the West, just two behind second place Dallas. No one’s catching 19-2 Las Vegas.
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