Friday’s series opener against the Royals in the Metrodome marks the return of the franchise’s prodigal son to the playing field, as uber-Twin Joe Mauer makes his 2009 debut.

When asked what the plan was for Mauer in his first game, coach Ron Gardenhire gave a one word response that signified in a subtle way what his mere presence means to this team: ‘Catch’ he said, almost dumbfounded.

No hesitation, no concern, no second-guessing in his voice, and why should there be?

In the past few seasons, without Joe available, the Twins have been a very mediocre team, if that. Without him, they have a win percentage closer to .400 than .500, and with him are easily above .500. You want to talk about a single player helping a team win games? Mauer is the definition of that.

What he brings to the table is a consistency that is unmatched in all of Major League Baseball and he provides instant stability to an offense that has used a different lineup in almost all of their games in the young season.

The 2 through 9 spots in the lineup have been in flux for the entire schedule as Gardy played outfield and infield musical chairs to try and get what he thought was the best lineup for that day on the field.

The results:

-Team Batting Avg 0f .262, 18th in the league.
-93 runs scored, 23rd in the league.
-16 HR’s and only 68 Walks, 25th and 26th in the league respectively.

Those are just a few of the #’s, but they give you an idea of difference in this team compared to 2008 when they led the league in Batting avg. with runners in scoring position by a large margin and scored 829 total runs, good for 4th in all of the MLB.

All with Joe Mauer batting 3rd in the lineup.

Mauer also plays one of the most important positions on the field, calling games for the pitcher’s who always give some of the credit for their great performances to him. He also has thrown out 42% of basestealers over his career, a significant improvement for a team that has been lacking severely in that category with Mike Redmond and Jose Morales sharing the catching duties.

What will Mauer’s re-insertion provide for the Twins this year? That remains to be seen.

But if the track record is any indication, the inconsistency in the lineup that has hindered the team’s offensive production will at least be somewhat alleviated, and the 2009 Twins are finally back at full strength.

Royals @ Twins Series Preview

FRI: (0-3) Sidney Ponson (R), 5.79 ERA. vs. (3-0) Kevin Slowey (R), 4.44 ERA.

SAT: (2-0) Brian Bannister (R), 0.69 ERA. vs. (1-2) Glen Perkins (L), 2.48 ERA.

SUN: (1-2) Gil Meche (R), 3.77 ERA. vs. (0-3) Scott Baker (R), 9.82 ERA.

-The Twins miss this years early version of Cliff Lee in Royals pitcher Zack Grienke, who went nearly 40 innings of work to start this season before giving up his first earned run. The Royals also enter this series in 1st place in the AL Central for the first time in perhaps 20 some odd years(though not by much).

Headlines:

-If you hadn’t noticed, the Royals have the best pitcher in baseball right now, Zack Grienke, who luckily for the Twins, will not start a game in this series.

-With their history of losing, it’s surprising to some that KC is currently 1st in the muddled AL Central.

-Royals 2009 Statistics.

-The Star Tribune’s Joe Christensen and Jim Souhan give their take’s on the return of Joe Mauer.