Joe Mauer isn’t the only MVP on this team as Justin Morneau has one in his trophy case too. Morneau is on fire with the bat right now for the Twins. He has played in 19 games for the Twins this season and he is 25 of 68 (.368 avg, 1.158 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 4 homers and 15 RBIs. The scary thing for opposing pitchers has to be the fact that Morneau has been picky as he has walked 20 times this season while only whiffing 11 times. The sky is the limit for Morneau as he is hitting behind Joe Mauer and ahead of Michael Cuddyer giving him a lot of protection in the batting order.

The Twins have placed veteran 3B Nick Punto on the 15-day disabled list with a strained groin. He has played in 9 games this season for the Twins and he is 7 for 26 (.269 avg, .709 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 RBI and 2 stolen bases. The Twins are going to have Punto’s hip checked out too as he is going to miss quite some time. Punto will be replaced in the starting lineup by Brendan Harris. Harris has played in 14 games for the Twins so far this season and he is 6 for 33 (.182 avg, .620 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 1 homer and 4 RBIs. Despite Harris’ slow start he is a much better hitter than Punto and he will show that soon getting regular at bats. The Twins have recalled 2B/3B Luke Hughes to replace Punto on the active roster. Hughes played in 12 games in AAA-ball this season and he was 12 for 45 (.267 avg, .771 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 5 RBIs and 1 stolen base. I don’t look for him to get too much P.T. for the Twins while he is up.

Joe Mauer has started this season were he left off in his 2009 American League MVP season.  Mauer won the MVP last season depite missing 24 games, finishing the season with a .365 BA, 28 HRs, 96 RBIs, .444 OBP, and .587 SLG.  He also snagged himself the Gold Glove Award for being the best defensive catcher in the American League.  Well, early this season Mauer’s numbers are looking very similar, with a .347 BA (17/49), 1 HR, 10 RBIs, .441 OBP, and .510 SLG through 14 games thus far.  He also has no errors and no past balls defensively behind the plate, while also throwing out 4/10 base-stealers.  Mauer is one of the main reasons the Twins won last year’s AL Central Division, and he is once again one of the main reasons they are winning it so far this season with a 10-4 record.  If Mauer stays healthy and continues to put up these kind of numbers, he will likely be the AL MVP once again.  He is starting to put together an amazing career, with a .327 career BA, 73 HRs, 407 RBIs, 428 Rs, .409 OBP, and .484 SLG.  If he can continue to play close to this level for the remainder of his career, he will be in the discussion for best catcher of all time.

The Twins are sitting atop the A.L. Central with a 9-4 record which has them 1.5 games ahead of the Tigers. The Twins have outscored the opposition 69-47 this season as they are hitting the ball well and pitching great as a team. That should not change at all this week with the Indians coming to Minnesota for three games and then they travel to K.C. this coming weekend for three games against the Royals. It should be another good week for the Twins.

26-year old lefty starting pitcher Francisco Liriano looks like he might be all the way back for the Twins. Liriano is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP in his first two starts of the season. He has only given up 8 hits in 13 innings while whiffing 11 batters as his stuff seems all the way back. Liriano’s control has been the only issue so far this season as he has walked 7 batters this year. Look for the Twins to try to get Liriano to throw more strikes and trust the defense. He has the highest upside of any of the Twins’ starters so they need him to stay focused like he is right now.