Well now that I’m finally moved into my new place and have a little break from my own amateur baseball career, I can finally get back to talking about my favorite baseball team, and man, what a period of time to be gone from, which was pretty much the best month historically that a player at the catcher position has EVER had, from #7 Joe Mauer. (I only use the precursor ‘pretty much’ because I don’t have research in front of me to back up saying simply the BEST, but I’d bet money it is…)

His .414 Batting average led all Major Leaguers in the month of May and only Mark Teixeira of the Yankees was able to edge him in HR’s and RBI, 13 to 11, and 34 to 32, respectively. But Teixeira’s OPS was still a full .200 points less than Mauer’s, and he had 16 more plate appearances. (Mauer also led all MLB’ers in On Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage)

If your were to extrapolate Mauer’s numbers from May over a full season (I’ll put that at 146 games, his # played from last year), his totals would come out too:

57 HR’s and 166 RBI’s.

All that from a guy whose career highs are 13 homer’s and 85 RBI.

Incredible. We knew Mauer was good, but did you really see that coming?

I remember reading about how the other guys on the team would make fun of Mauer because he wouldn’t hit home runs, saying he’d have to grow into his body at some point. Well, I think he finally has, and we should embrace the ‘Mauer Power’ movement.

Minnesota Twins (25-27) vs. Cleveland Indians (22-30) Series Preview:

TUE: (0-1) David Huff-RK (L), 10.97 ERA. vs. (7-1) Kevin Slowey (R), 4.11 ERA.

WED: (2-6) Cliff Lee (L), 3.16 ERA. vs. (1-1) Anthony Swarzak-RK (R), 2.08 ERA.

THUR: (2-5) Fausto Carmona (R), 6.60 ERA. vs. (2-6) Scott Baker (R), 6.32 ERA.

Headlines:

-The Indians rosters has been hit hard by the injuries so far this season, and the latest and perhaps biggest loss, has been CF Grady Sizemore, who may have to have surgery.

-A look at the Cleveland Indians Farm System and potential injury callups.

-La Velle E. Neal III points out, that even with Joe Mauer’s hot start to the season, the Twins have a worse record so far in ‘09 with him than without him, due to uncharacteristic mistakes.

-Only 2 games below .500, a relatively soft June schedule gives Minnesota a chance to move up in the standings.

-Mauer wasn’t the only one in the lineup who smacked the ball around in May.

-Francisco Liriano’s 2-7 record in the starting rotation, is beginning to be questioned.