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Excellence, but no exhilaration, by M&M Boys

The anchors in the middle of the Twins lineup dwelled on their missed chances, not awards.

By JIM SOUHAN, Star Tribune

Last update: October 1, 2008 - 12:46 AM

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TWINS BATTING TITLES

Joe Mauer won the 13th American League batting title by a Twins player since they came into existence in 1961:

Joe Mauer, 2008, .328

Joe Mauer, 2006, .347

Kirby Puckett, 1989, .339

Rod Carew, 1978, .333

Rod Carew, 1977, .388

Rod Carew, 1975, .359

Rod Carew, 1974, .364

Rod Carew, 1973, .350

Rod Carew, 1972, .318

Tony Oliva, 1971, .337

Rod Carew, 1969, .332

Tony Oliva, 1965, .321

Tony Oliva, 1964, .323

ROUGH FINISH FOR MORNEAU

Justin Morneau has been mentioned as an American League MVP candidate, but the Twins first baseman had a dismal stretch drive. His stats the final 11 games, including Tuesday night's tiebreaker loss at Chicago:

• 6-for-41 — .146 batting average

• 2 doubles, 0 triples, 0 homers

• RBI: 1

• Morneau's last home run of the season came Sept. 9, giving him a 19-game homerless streak.

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CHICAGO — The M&M Boys racked up a lot of K's on Tuesday.

Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, whose hitting excellence helped the Twins become one of the most surprising success stories in the American League, looked feeble at the plate in the one-game playoff with the White Sox on Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Field.

Each went 0-for-3. They combined for three strikeouts as the Twins lost 1-0 to end the season.

Mauer won the American League batting title, finishing with an average of .328, two points better than Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Mauer, a St. Paul native, is the only AL catcher to win a batting title, and he's done it twice in three years.

"It hurts pretty good right now," said Mauer, who avoided talking about the batting title as much as he could. "I'm a little disappointed, but I'm sure we'll look back and take a lot more positives out of it than what we're feeling right now."

Morneau finished the season in a 6-for-41 slump, perhaps damaging his chances to win his second AL Most Valuable Player Award in three years. Pedroia might be his primary competition for that award, as well.

After the game, Morneau sat at his locker, holding his forehead, while hitting coach Joe Vavra consoled him, Morneau's Canadian maple leaf tattoo shining like a fresh scar on his right shoulder.

"I was probably just trying to do too much," Morneau said. "I wish I could have taken some of the big hits in the middle of the season and moved them to the end."

Mauer played in a career-high 146 games. Morneau played in a career-high -- of course -- 163 games. Morneau finished with 129 RBI, second most in the AL to Josh Hamilton's 130 for Texas. But Morneau drove in just one run in his last 11 games.

Was he tired? "I don't know," he said, shrugging. "I think it's just one of those things where you're struggling, and you wind up swinging at pitches you should have taken and taking pitches you should have hit."

Morneau said his biggest regret was the Twins' 4-2 loss to the Royals on Saturday at the Metrodome. Morneau went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts and a double-play grounder with the bases loaded. He left six runners on base.

"It's going to be a long winter if we sit there and second-guess every mistake we made," he said. "It is a little frustrating. We had chances, we had opportunities, and when you have a chance to win the ballgame ...

"If I had one game I regret the most, it would be Kansas City on Saturday. Bases loaded with a chance to win the game ..."

His sentence trailed off softly, like his season.

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