He's Baaaaaack

The best hitting catcher of all time (just try and argue this one) makes his return tomorrow to the Twins lineup and it couldn't come at a better time. The Twins did fine treading the April waters finishing .500 at 11-11 but to say that Joey Baseball wasn't missed would be stupid. Because I missed him, and Sam missed him more.

Placing Mauer back into his 3 hole makes the Twins lineup deadly. Lets take a look at the two lineups:

Pre Mauer:
Denard Span
2nd baseman (Harris/Casilla)
Justin Morneau
Jason Kubel
Michael Cuddyer
Joe Crede
Delmon Young
Jose Morales
Nick Punto

Not a bad lineup and Morales has been more then impressive as he is batting well over .330 right now (side note: This goes out to Mike Redmond... I love you, but you must retire and go into coaching, now. With Mauer coming off the DL and Morales playing very well you are the odd man out. You don't want to go to the Minors do you? I suggest that you say that you are more hurt then you are so you can still be apart of the team (60 day DL) but you do not take up a roster spot. Sorry).

Post Mauer:
Denard Span
2nd baseman (Harris/Casilla)
Joe Mauer
Justin Morneau
Jason Kubel
Joe Crede
Delmon Young
Michael Cuddyer
Nick Punto

Wow, now that is a big league lineup. Anytime you can have a guy like Michael Cuddyer or even Delmon Young batting 8 for you, you are in good shape. The Twins have struggled with scoring runs as they have only scored 10+ twice this year. The Twins are however undefeated in 1 run games, not sure what that means but good for us and them.

It will take Mauer some time to get back into hitting singles up the middle but in the meantime watch out for 6-4-3's. Hopefully this team can catch fire in the summer months but for right now I like where the Twins are at. Liriano does not have a win yet and yet they are still .500. April is always the tough month to get through but once it is over you start to see the separation of good and bad teams. Sorry KC, this is not your year.

-Andy