The popular opinion is that Terry Ryan didn't do enough to help the Twins at the trading deadline, and there is plenty of evidence to back that up.

But there is also this: A lot of Twins fans wanted Ryan to improve the current team in a more meaningful way without damaging the organization's long-term hopes. That amounts to wishful thinking, really (and I was even guilty of it). We shouldn't expect to have it both ways. Either we were OK with Ryan swinging for the fences or we were OK with him slow-playing his hand with a bigger payoff in mind.

One-sided There seemed to be plenty of blame on both sides of Sunday's Royals-Blue Jays brawl, but only Toronto received any punishment.

Lofty Add usatoday.com to the list of publications with a high opinion of the Vikings, predicting a 10-6 record and one playoff victory.