One Word For Minnesota's Weekend: Suckerpunch

It was a bad weekend to be a fan from Minnesota.

The Gophers did successfully double their win total from 2007, but beyond that, very little went right for the Twin Cities faithful.

Tavaris Jackson and Visanthe Shiancoe combined to gag away the Viking's first winnable game in Lambeau since Brad Childress and Ziggy Wilf took over the team, and the Detroit Tigers taught the Twins why having home run hitters is useful for a line up.

All in all, it was the Twins who caused fans more significant consternation.

Sure, losing to the Packers for the fifth straight time isn't a great way to start the season, but once the gall of seeing Aaron Rodgers make the Lambeau leap fades away (read: next sunday) the Vikings will just be one of the many 0-1 teams heading into week two.

The Twins, on the other hand, did real damage to themselves this weekend.

They lost two winnable games, at home, to a team they should have easily beaten. One game was lost when Dennys Reyes and Matt Guerrier served up back-to-back two run shots to fritter away another late-inning Twins' lead. The second loss cost the Twins a chance to regain some of the ground they've lost over the past few games.

Like the Vikings, it is important for the Twins to look ahead, to make up for errors of the weekend. While the Vikings (and their fans) can lick their wounds and prepare for week 10, when Aaron Rodgers makes his debut in the Dome, the Twins cannot wait.

From the moment the Royals take the field Tuesday night to the time their plane takes off on Thursday afternoon, the Twins must be most inhospitable hosts.

Anything less than a sweep of the Royals puts a lot of pressure on their upcoming roadtrip, but even more so on their last series with the White Sox.