JustSON the Numbers: Joe Mauer

Even though getting Joe Mauer back from the disabled list has meant a lot of things to the Minnesota Twins, more victories so far hasn't been one of them. Since Mauer has returned to the Twins lineup Minnesota is 12-13 after starting out 11-11.

You can't place much blame on Mauer though. Since his return the Twins are scoring about 6.2 runs per game, compare that with the 4.2 they were scoring when he was out. Obviously since he is the catcher the pitching has suffered right? That would be false, since Mauer's return the Twins have given up 4.8 runs per game, when he was on the disabled list they were giving up 5.3 runs per game.


Mauer made his first appearance of the year on May 1st against Casey's Kansas City Royals. He went 2 for 3 with a double, home run and an RBI. The Twins won the game 7-5. Since that game Mauer hasn't slowed down, he is currently batting .429 with a .519 on base percentage. He has also contributed lots of power with 11 home runs and 31 RBI in just 84 at bats. If his home run total doesn't sound that amazing just remember that this is his 6th year in the Majors and he had only 44 career home runs before this season. Mauer is only 2 home runs shy of tying his single season high of 13 that he set during the 2006 season.

So far this season Mauer has played in 24 games. In 11 of those games he has collected 2 or more hits. Oh yeah and in two of the 24 games he didn't start and came in as a pinch hitter. In those two pinch hitting at bats he went 2 for 2.

I'm hoping for the Twins to get some sort of consistency and start winning some games to put some more pressure on the Royals, just not until Friday when they start a 3 game series against the Tampa Bay Rays in Florida.

Will the jinx continue tonight for Mauer against the Boston Red Sox? Anyone notice what happened to the San Diego Padres last night after I wrote about them and their 10 game winning streak?

If anyone has any requests for this column let us know. I don't discriminate, no matter the sport or the stat.

The good and bad of yesterday's sporting events

THE GOOD - The Red Sox showed some fight against the Tampa Bay Rays who drubbed them on Saturday, 14-5, and has pretty much owned them so far in this regular season. On Sunday, Jason Bay (surprise surprise!) doubled off the Green Monster in the bottom of the eighth to drive home Big Papi to take the 4-3 lead and then Papelbon shut to door on the Rays in the top of the ninth for his eighth save.

THE BAD - The Lakers, even with Yao Ming out, blew their game against the Houston Rockets, 99-87 in a game that Los Angeles came out looking flat and uninspired. WHERE WAS THE BLACK MAMBA? 15 points? Seriously Kobe? Thanks for ending my streak on ESPN's Streak for the Cash.

THE GOOD - Seattle beat the Twins 5-3 to get back to .500. And look at this, we have a Ken Griffey Jr. sighting as he hits his third (WOW!!!) homer of the season. I can just hear the FSN call now

"Griffey Homers on Mother's Day! My oh My! Have you seen anything so spectacular! This is amazing folks! Wow! A home run! By a Mariner! We haven't seen this in weeks! We actually have a highlight we can use! Maybe Angie Mentink will stop using low cut shirts to get ratings now that we have actual highlights!"

THE BAD - The Sounders FC tied the LA Galaxy. While it certainly isn't a loss, LA hasn't been fantastic this year and it would have been nice to get a win over this run-of-the-mill club. Next up FC Dallas - the worst team in the league. They better score enough goals to get fans a Chalupa.

THE GOOD - Glen Davis' game-winning shot over the Orlando Magic to tie up the playoff series 2-2 was fantastic and equally up there on the unintentional comedy scale.

Ask Celtic fans who they'd draw up a game-winning shot play for and I would guarantee you that only Davis' mother would have penciled in Big Baby into the equation. This led to him almost running into a 13-year old who had court side seats during the post-game celebration and the weirdest post game interview where he just didn't use sports cliches, he murder them, bagged them and spit them back up in what I would like to call the Mona Lisa of sports cliched interviews. It was like he was reading from a cue card held by Kevin Garnett.

Oh and Doc Rivers' celebration after Davis' shot pushed the unintentional comedy scale through the roof. I've never seen an NBA Coach immitate Mark Madsen until last night.

The incredible scoring machine that is the Boston Red Sox

Boston broke an 84-year old American League record yesterday as twelve batters scored for them in a single inning and I didn't even realize it. I got home from work, threw up the ol' gamecast from ESPN since the only baseball games they show on TV around these parts are Mariners games (who already lost) and saw that the Sox we're sitting pretty with a 6-2 lead over the Cleveland Indians.

Then I ran errands around the house, came back in and saw that it was now 13-2 after Jason Bay smacked a three-run home. Oh swell, pack this one up and take it home. The former Gonzaga player has a knack for homering with men on and he certainly did it here. Shut the door on this one.

Then the phone rang...

Me: Hello
Dylan Kitzan: Did you just see what happened?
Me: Yeah, Bay just hit a three-run homer.
Dylan: Yeah, but I mean, do you know what's been happening?
Me: (Thinking something terrible had happened like Tim Wakefield had been carried off by a helicopter after a line drive shattered his face - when in reality he did great, pitching six innings, giving up two runs and improving to 4-1 on the season.) No... what happened?
Dylan: (About to slap me through the phone) They've scored 12 runs in an inning. That's a record.
Me: Oh. (Scrolls down the Gamecast play log which reveals a plethora of hits from guys like Rocco Baldelli, Jeff Bailey and George Kottaras) Oh geez. (Keeps scrolling down the sixth-inning Gamecast) Oh wow.

Boston ended up winnings 13-3 (boy, what a roaring comeback by the Indians!). Now moving into a three-game series with Tampa Bay, this was a nice momentum game before they host the Rays at Fenway Park. This team has had the Red Sox number so far in this early season and frankly, they scare me a whole lot more than the Yankees do.

Sitting just one game behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East, the Sox could find themselves atop the division very quickly. That is, if they can figure out a way to stop Tampa Bay from dinking them to death.

Wonderful Washburn

Here's a stat line that 9-5 Mariners fans should be ecstatic about...

Jarrod Washburn (3-0)... 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 SO

Oh and they beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 4-2 tonight at Safeco Field. Which is fine by my watch because it helps the Red Sox, who had their game postponed today.

How about this baseball season?

Who's ready for some thrilling suicide squeeze plays and sacrifice flies for the 2008 Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium? I know I am!

Ladies and Gentlemen, take a good look at that photo above because that's exactly where baseball is headed. No, Ty Cobb isn't getting cloned and resurrected (as much as he would like it) but get ready for another "Dead Ball" era.

Has anyone taken a gander at the 2008 Home Run Derby roster? They'd better bring the walls in.

To the infield. And make Ryan Howard bat with just one arm.

I'm not sure exactly how it happened but home runs and general offense in baseball seem down. I'm sure there's something behind it... hmmmm, cough steroids cough... like the weather or something.

How else do you explain the Tampa Bay Rays being so good? It's because they've been the only clean team in baseball for the past ten years and now apparently they've also been the best clean team in baseball for the past ten years as well.

SOLD to Dr. Pepper

Yes, the Tampa Bay Rays are on top of the power rankings. Yes they are winning. And yes, many sports writers are saying they are for real.

But remember. This is Major League Baseball. They play about a billion games.

The season isn't half over, so there is a lot that can happen. Sure, maybe come October I'll be writing about how good the Rays are, but we will see.


A cat fish in Berlin, Germany choked to death after trying to eat a soccer ball in the locks of a Bavarian canal.

The cat was 6 1/2 feet long and was found floating on the surface with the ball in its mouth.

That is a big fish!


A bride auctioned off a chance to be a bridesmaid and Dr. Pepper won.

Kelly Gray put the idea up on Ebay with a starting bid of 1 cent.

They decided that, not only would the winner get the chance to be in Kelly's wedding, they'd also receive a dress and shoes, as well as an invitation, plus one, to the reception. If a man happened to be the winner, they'd supply the tuxedo.

Dr. Pepper Snapple won at $5,700 but then increase to $10,000.

Along with providing the beverages for the April 19, 2009 wedding, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group will choose Kelly's bridesmaid. When asked who they'd like to fill the role, Gray and her bridesmaids agreed, Ellen DeGeneres would make a perfect choice. A smiling Gray explained, DeGeneres "would dance and have fun...I could see her dancing down the aisle."

Yeah, I am so down with doing this.