Jim Souhan: Rare show of anger from Mauer, Hunter

The mild-mannered batting champ was seen throwing his catching gear and the outfielder nearly went after an ump.

By Jim Souhan, Star Tribune

Last update: July 3, 2007 - 11:07 PM

NEW YORK - Before Torii Hunter got thrown out of the game and charged at home plate umpire Ron Kulpa, and well before Twins manager Ron Gardenhire called a postgame team meeting and then criticized Kulpa to reporters, there was a more subtle -- and more surprising -- manifestation of Twins anger.

Joe Mauer -- the masked Gandhi -- got mad. Joe Cool made his personal contribution to global warming, throwing his catching gear into the dugout screen after the Twins' sixth-inning meltdown led to their third consecutive loss, an 8-0 decision Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

This marked Mauer's first career PDA (public display of anger). His friends and family members say we shouldn't view this as one of the signs of the Apocalypse.

When he was a kid, he once chased his brother into a bathroom. Finding himself locked out, he put his fist through the glass, cutting his arm enough that he had to miss a practice or two.

Justin Morneau, Mauer's roommate last year, said he didn't try to calm him down in the dugout Tuesday. "Guys who don't get mad very often, you leave them alone," Morneau said.

Had Morneau seen Mauer angry before? "He got mad at me once," Morneau said. "I took his Tahoe through a muddy field. I made foot-deep tire tracks. I took it through once and came back, and I was laughing, and then I took it back through the field again, and he got mad."

Did he throw something? "Nah," Morneau said. "He just kind of gave me that look that parents give you when you're a little kid. That disappointed look."

The Twins found plenty of reasons to vent Tuesday. After winning two in a row in Detroit to start what feels like a pivotal road trip, the Twins have dropped three in succession. They've scored one run in the past 30 innings, and that was on a groundout. Tuesday, they started the fourth inning with three walks and a single, yet failed to score because of a caught stealing and a double play.

Their starters are faltering in the middle innings, their bullpen is being exposed as shallow and their fielding has turned shoddy.

Compounding their ineptitude was the Twins' belief that home plate umpires Wally Bell and Kulpa have given them little chance against Roger Clemens and Chien-Ming Wang, although the Twins haven't played well enough to cite umpiring as the reason for their losses.

"What he told Torii at home plate on the pitch was wrong," Gardenhire said of Kulpa's exchange with Hunter.

Hunter complained about a pitch. Kulpa told him it was a "nasty slider." The Twins say it was a fastball.

Mauer was the last Twin to make it to his locker Tuesday night, and he was still steaming. Which, for Mauer, means he wore a slight frown.

"It was just a frustrating night," he said. "It was everything. Just mistakes. Just the way that we played. We didn't play very well."

Can anger be therapeutic? "If you're bothered by something and you don't let it out, it will eat at you," Mauer said.

Mauer said Gardenhire called a team meeting after the game. "I think we all know we're not playing the way we can," Mauer said. "We know we're a better baseball club than what we've shown the last two days."

Hunter felt it was his job to confront Kulpa after Kulpa barked at Nick Punto after another home-plate dispute. He was happy to hear that Mauer had shown some emotion.

"I like to see Joe Mauer get riled up," Hunter said. "It lets you know he's human. He's going to be the leader of this team someday, and you have to do that sometimes."

So Kulpa better watch out. If he makes a bad call tonight, Mauer might give him what Morneau calls "that look."

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon on AM-1500 KSTP. jsouhan@startribune.com

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