I'm ashamed to admit I used to complain about Joe Mauer five years ago. I was an impressionable baseball fan, and I think I allowed the tough dudes of sports bitchery to get too far inside my head.

I picture those men, the constant whiners, as if constantly huddled under bleachers and punching each others' arms to emphasize every point.

I think I'm older and wiser now, and I appreciate Joe Mauer a great deal. He's very good in his bad years, and a precision hitting machine when he's at his best. He never loses composure. He proves his toughness in consistency spread over a long line, not in moments of fury too brief to amount to anything meaningful.

With his four hits and Anthony Swarzak's relief magic, the Twins have guaranteed a win in this series against the Angels and look to be finding a way back to .500 baseball.

For this year, I can learn to love .500 baseball.

- Axel