TWIB Notes

First off, the Pierre Page will be watching with interest tomorrow as Jose Canseco battles 7 foot 2, 330 lb, apparently lavender-haired superheavyweight Hong Man Choi in a Mixed Martial Arts fight. We may change our name to Hong Man Choi also.

Secondly, apologies to Albert Pujols and Han-Ram. Man-Ram, you are irrelevant. Johan, we miss you but sorry. The best player in all of baseball still resides in the Teflon-coated confines of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. His name? Joseph Patrick Mauer.

My 7th grade science teacher Phil Gustafson would tell you that in order for you to effectively prove or disprove something, you need data. (Then he would say "You're on the ball!") So some data:

The Mauerless Twins averaged 4.23 runs a game in April this year, while Mauer rested a sore lower back. Since his return to the ballclub May 1, they have averaged 6.1 runs a game. His personal statistics for that time (21 games):

.438 Batting Average, 10 HRs, 29 RBI, a .525 On-Base Percentage and a .875 Slugging Percentage. Thanks to my friends at Elias Sports Bureau, I found out that the last time a player had those types of numbers over his first 21 games in a season was 1954, a young lad named Willie Mays.

Last week, in order to create a work-around for the black hole of outs that had been the #2 spot in the batting order, Ron Gardenhire moved Mauer to the second spot, Justin Morneau to the third spot, Michael Cuddyer to the 4th spot, etc. The first game with the new lineup, the Twins scored twenty runs. In fact, in the four games since the switch, the Twins have scored 43 runs.

And as if that wasn't impressive enough, The Pierre Page has learned that Mauer plays catcher, and part of the reason why the Red Sox still pay Jason Varitek ungodly amounts of money is because of how well he handles their pitching staff. In this category too, Mr. Sideburns is doing quite well. The Twins staff, prior to May 1, had a team ERA of 5.26. Since May 1, the team ERA is 4.70.

All of which, taken together, adds up to one thing: this year, the AL MVP award could and should end up back in Minnesota, not belonging again to Justin Morneau, this time to his BFF, Joe Mauer.