Joe Mauer went 1-for-3 on Thursday.

He has at least one hit in his last eight games at Target Field, hitting .423 in that time. He's hitting .424 at Target Field in his last 16 games with a .521 on-base percentage.

He's hitting .378 at Target Field this season. Entering last night's game, he ranked second in the AL and third in baseball in home average.

He's hit only two of his six home runs at home.

The dimensions of Target Field, with a deep leftfield fence, limit his power production.

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The Twins are 29-34, and I'm not sure how their record is even that good.

Their rotation hasn't been good enough. Their fielders lack range. They don't have speed to create runs. They have only one true home-run hitter on the team, Josh Willingham, and his 10 home runs are offset by the slump that has reduced his average to .214.

The bullpen has been the team's strength, but the bullpen tends to be most important for good teams that frequently attain leads.

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Wrote about closer Glen Perkins for the Friday paper. He's a Sabermetrician who doesn't think Sabermetrics properly appreciate the way a bullpen should be set up in real life.

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Ben Revere, who had four hits last night, is hitting ..319 in his last 35 games.

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I'll be on 1500ESPN at noon tomorrow, and on WJON in St. Cloud at 7:15 a.m.