Joe Mauer is back from injury and will be playing for the Twins for the first time this year. The Strib’s Jim Souhan gives him a sweet bouquet in a welcome back article today, in which he tells us to love Mauer for what he is, instead of the power hitter he is not. Particularly laughable is Souhan’s mention of Ted WIlliams and Joe DiMaggio, who, I seem to recall, actually tried to hit the ball over the fence now and then. But, according to Souhan, they didn’t fit in to their surroundings as well as Joe does.
Mauer is back
May 1 2009 — 7:25am
14 Reader Comments
7:48 am
Mauer really makes this lineup a lot better, so it’s nice to have him back. I just hope he’s here for the rest of the year and doesn’t have another injury.
9:31 am
I’d hate to be on either side of his contract renegotiation (well, I would take his agent’s 10%). Given his hometown homerism, potential value at his key postion and history of injuries, it seems it’s a lose-lose situation.
9:33 am
also, I haven’t really heard this addressed, but due to playing on turf in a dome, the twins have always stressed speed, fielding and OBP. Something tells me Target Field is going to be a launching pad and that they are going to be transitioning ISO more pop for the first few years.
9:38 am
Souhan’s use of the past tense in following sentence is absolutely blindly ridiculous:
“Early in his career, Mauer was too hesitant to play through aches and pains”
glad to see he’s gotten over that, Jim.
Have the announced the date for the “Joe Mauer Rose Colored Glasses Giveaway Day” at the dome this year?
9:43 am
g rote, a man after my own heart.
9:44 am
I like Mauer. He is uniquely gifted. But this article reads like a standing fellation.
1:35 pm
Hey, I’m all for being snotty. After all, I was in junior high, too. But maybe you should give it a rest. Wasn’t Souhan’s column titled something like “appreciate him for what he is not for what he’s not”? The easiest thing for a writer to do is be oppositional and call it clarity or truth-telling. Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar, and sometimes “snotty” is only “snotty.”
1:43 pm
I can’t wait to see him in action. Jose has been playing well. I’ve been wondering how real the shoulder pain in Redmond is. I’ll bet he is on the DL when Mauer is officially called up.
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1:46 pm
The Twins (in recent years) have never really gotten going until June. It is nice to have Joe back in the line-up, but the early struggles are nothing new.
2:08 pm
True. They have a seasonal bell curve of success. High in the middle, low at the beginning and end.
10:34 pm
Mauer showed you, Bartel! I think he’s juicing.
12:00 am
I planned it that way. Whenever I dis him, he hits one out. Of course, it was a leaker over the left field fence.
1:35 pm
last time I checked they all count for one run regardless of height & distance.
9:58 pm
Home Runs are vulgar.