Mauer wants return to catching every day

Joe Mauer went 2-for-4 in the Twins' 5-3 loss to Seattle on Sunday. The 26-year-old catcher is hitting .485 since recovering from his sore sacroiliac joint. He has hit safely in seven of the nine games he has played.

In those nine games, he has had 33 at-bats, 16 hits, scored seven runs, hit three home runs, has a slugging percentage .848 and an on-base percentage of .553.

He always has hit well against Seattle. For his career, he is hitting .413 with 35 runs scored, five home runs and 25 RBI. He had a good series against the Mariners, going 6-for-12.

"I feel good. I'm just trying to get my legs under me," Mauer said.

Asked if he has any pain after games, he said no.

Mauer said he'd like to catch every day like he did last year, when only one American League catcher and only three in all of the majors caught more innings (1,203) than Mauer. He earned his second AL batting title, after winning his first one in 2006.

"That's the plan," said Mauer, who was the designated hitter Sunday while Mike Redmond caught. "If he [manager Ron Gardenhire] doesn't want me catching, hopefully I DH instead of sit on the bench."

Bullpen fails During the six games before Sunday, the Twins bullpen had given up only three runs in 16.1 innings for a 1.65 ERA, allowing 13 hits and two walks and striking out 12. Their 37 walks issued were second lowest in the American League to Kansas City, which had allowed 33.

But Sunday the roof fell in after starter Nick Blackburn shut out the Mariners for seven innings and allowed only five hits, throwing 99 pitches. He left with a 2-0 lead.

Jose Mijares and Jesse Crain failed to hold the Mariners, combining to give up four runs in the eighth inning.

Gardenhire said he was disappointed in the pitching of Mijares and Crain. About Mijares, Gardenhire said, "He has done that too many times."

About Crain, he said, "Crain came in misfiring, himself. A very disappointing end to a ballgame.

"We need three outs to get to our closer, and we can't get three outs, that's really disappointing. [We] made some bad pitches."

Praises Blackburn Gardenhire sang the praises of Blackburn, who said he might have had his best stuff of the season.

"I was pretty sharp today," Blackburn said. "I was on top of everything, so that's going to help me out. Everything was below the knees, and that's what I'm aiming for. I didn't have to use too much off-speed, because everything was down. We got them to beat into the ground a lot. I felt pretty good out there. ... Nothing new. Just sticking with the same stuff."

Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson, commenting on Blackburn's performance, said: "He was outstanding today. Slowed himself down and threw the ball down in the strike zone and let the ball work for him. He did a wonderful job. That's promising to see the starters start doing that and get them on some kind of a roll."

Jottings Owner Glen Taylor has refused to talk any Timberwolves basketball these days, while the fans wait for the appointment of a new general manager, and that person selects either Kevin McHale to remain as coach or picks a new coach. It wouldn't shock a lot of people close to Taylor if he named Wolves assistant general manager Fred Hoiberg to the job. The word in NBA circles is that if it's an outsider, it will be Tom Penn, the assistant general manager for the Portland Trail Blazers.

A year ago most of the Gophers basketball recruits spent the summer here attending summer school and working out daily with the varsity players. The same thing is expected to happen this year. There might be three or four players who won't be around because they still have academic work to do to graduate.

Outfielder Denard Span hit better with the Twins last season (.294) than he did in the minor leagues. He isn't the first Twins outfielder to do that.

"A coach of mine in the minor leagues showed me Torii Hunter's stats, and I was amazed when he showed them to me. I was expecting to see, not .300 but .285 to .290 with 15 to 20 homers a season. When he showed me his stats, they were in the .260, maybe .270 range, and when I saw that it kind of amazed me because at the time he was an All-Star and Gold Glover and doing as well as he was doing. It was just amazing to see that he didn't hit .300 in the minor leagues but was a successful big leaguer."

The voting goes on for the All-Metrodome Twins baseball team that will be honored at the last home game of the season. The only three players on the current team who have a chance to make it are Mauer, first baseman Justin Morneau and closer Joe Nathan.

Alex Casilla, the second baseman the Twins sent down to Rochester, was 3-for-5 with two RBI in the Red Wings' 8-4 victory over Charlotte on Sunday. Casilla is 6-for-14 in his first three games with Rochester. Former Twin and Rochester Mayo star Michael Restovich, is hitting .235 with six home runs and 17 RBI for the White Sox farm club in Charlotte, N.C. ... Jack Hannahan, the former Gophers infielder, is hitting only .158 for the A's since being recalled from Sacramento.