DrNeau

That's how you take a hack, Joe!

Atta boy, Mauer!

Atta boy, Phil!

Nice! Two pop outs. Let's get out of this.

Darn it, Hughes. Let's go.

Shift schmift. Guy needs to swing the bat there. Ridiculous.

No way. He needs to have the mindset to score a run there. He keeps looking to pawn off the RBI opportunity to the guys behind him. Can't win like that.

2-2 game w/ a runner in scoring position... what the heck is Mauer thinking bunting there? He needs to be thinking of driving in a run. Honestly.

Understand, but sometimes the truth hurts, and any MLB player needs to be able to accept it - good or bad.

Good comment. I watch every game, and a simple observation is that Molitor rarely converses at all with the players. He stands on the dugout steps and chews his gum with a look that screams "how the hell did I get into this mess?". Nothing is clicking. I don't see any connection with him and the players. He can be very polarizing.

I feel bad for Molitor.

I'm guessing it was Dozier. He's on the bench, and there have been comments about both his attempting to pull outside pitches, and his failure to get down a bunt. Bremer is the biggest homer alive. He has made countless excuses on behalf of the players, only in effort to praise the home team and make the Twins sound more exciting to the fans. Anything he has said on the air has been GRACIOUS in comparison to what really should be reported in this town. These players have WAY too much control of what is being said about them. No more complaining about the media. These guys are LUCKY the media is not ripping them even harder!

Sure can't. It. Was. AWESOME!

Mauer has swung at the first pitch in both at bats tonight. This is truly unprecedented. I think someone had a little talk with him.

Weird play. LOL.

Suzuki with a nice rip.

Yes, the topic... which was about panicking, due to how poorly Mauer has been playing this season. Sure-fire way to distract those from the topic is to point out ad-hominem minutiae.

Mauer goes yard in his first AB tonight. LOVE IT. Swung at the first pitch. Nice to see him pull the trigger for once. Can he turn it around?

Thanks. Ahh... nothing like some good old straw man arguments and muddy water to support someone's position. Apparently my only reason for being here is to rip Mauer. Not true. I have ripped several players (Perkins, Mauer, Dozier, etc.), and with good reason. Any time I mention Mauer, though, I am attacked. * He is hitting .260, and is on pace for about 9 HR and 48 RBI. * He has made statements indicating he doesn't swing a bat until February. * He has made statements that suggest he puts off training for the upcoming season until spring training. * He has a concussion in late-August of 2013, then proceeds to report to spring training in 2014, 2015, and 2016 - reporting feeling "great. Sudenly, in 2016, he states he's been suffering from "blurred vision" for 2.5 years (which contradicts his reports of feeling great in consecutive springs). The team has confirmed he never reported the issue over the course of the entire 2.5 years. * Despite having declining bat speed, he refuses to swing at first-pitch fastballs. * Anything he pulls, he grounds right into the dirt. * He tried to bunt recently vs. the O's - in an extremely questionable situation: Bottom of 7, 3-3 tie, 1 out, runner on first (Santana). I just have no idea what he was thinking in that situation. The sad thing is, he is off-limits, in terms of being able to correct him. I wonder... how many years of poor performance will it take until it is acceptable for some constructive criticism in regards to Joe Mauer? 3? We're already at 2.25 years. How about 5? Will 5 years of poor performance be enough? Then will it be acceptable? This is what I think is funny. I'm beyond the point of trying to understand it. I just laugh now, because it makes absolutely zero sense. Of MLB 1B, Mauer is 33rd in RBI, and 35th in HR. There are pitchers with as many HR as Mauer. At some point, the team should formally demand that he make some easily-identifiable changes: training habits, approach at the plate, swing. Many teams demand that their players make adjustments, but in the case of Joe Mauer, I have never observed this, despite following the team incredibly closely for my entire life. Dozier is currently trying to pull every single pitch, and this needs to be corrected. However, the Twins' leash is longer than that of any team. That being the case, Dozier is also not corrected. Not long ago, Dozier did not run out a chopper back at the pitcher. The pitcher overthrew the 1B, forcing him to come way off of the bag in order to make the catch. By the time Dozier finally decided to run, the 1B had recovered, and was able to get the out by a step. This cost us a run in a close game. Also recently, Dozier caught a pop-up in short RF, then threw around-the-horn to Nunez, who was not even looking. We were down by several runs, and Dozier was standing there - laughing it up on the field, looking like a complete fool. At any level I played (Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, American Legion, college), this would have been grounds to pull the player off of the field - on the spot. I feel that accountability is an issue with this team, and I'm sorry if you don't like it, but it is my opinion that everything stems from Mauer. You cannot hold the entire squad accountable, yet give Mauer a pass. As it stands now, though Dozier did ride the pine a few games, he has been largely not held accountable. This team has created a culture of not having accountability. If Joe is not required to make adjustments, why should anyone else?

It's funny because, now that we are going on three years of this, we are now "raising the panic level".

If by "pitching around him" you mean "throwing it right down the pipe every single time he comes to the plate", then you're spot-on.

ESPN has Mauer's projections listed as follows: G: 158 AB: 565 HR: 8 RBI: 41 LOL. Wow. At what point will this become an issue to the team, that their starting 1B is on pace for approximately 40-something RBIs for the entire season?

It would be great if Mauer would start hitting. Then we wouldn't need to hear 1,000 different excuses as to why he is not hitting (like we have to now, since he is not hitting).

Bremer starting in with the "Mauer's not getting the calls he used to" stuff again.

What's going on with Mauer? I thought he felt "great". He's on pace for .262 / 10 / 50. Surely he can do better than that, right? Maybe two years from now, we'll find out what injury he suffered on May 2nd, 2016 (the beginning of and cause for his recent slump).