Chants of 'M-V-P' are well-deserved for Twins catcher

When Joe Mauer came to bat in the fifth inning on Friday night, a guy wearing a "Cuddyer" jersey stood up in the stands behind home plate and started chanting "M-V-P."

Before the game, a guy wearing a "Cuddyer" jersey did pretty much the same thing in the Twins clubhouse.

Asked how he would argue that Mauer should beat out Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter for the American League Most Valuable Player Award, Twins first baseman Michael Cuddyer said, "Pfffffft."

Excuse me?

"That's all you need to write, is 'Pfffffft,' " Cuddyer said. "I thought you were going to say, 'Mauer over Miguel Cabrera,' not 'Mauer over Jeter.' "

I would write an entire column arguing that Mauer is the MVP, but the paper wants me to fill my allotted 22 column inches, so I'll have to write about some other stuff, too. The Mauer argument just doesn't take very long.

The average Minnesota baseball fan seems paranoid that some kind of East Coast bias will push Jeter past Mauer for the award. This is silly, of course, because the MVP is voted on by two baseball writers in every American League city. Not only do the Yankees not have an advantage in this vote, they may suffer from an anti-Yankee bias among writers who feel that the Yankees would win without Jeter, or Mark Teixeira, or Mariano Rivera; that the depth of their roster diminishes the impact of any individual player.

Cuddyer then made the case for Mauer that any rational voter would make: Mauer leads the league in average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. He is likely to win the Gold Glove again. He is a unique performer at a vital and difficult position at which offensive excellence is rare.

He is having perhaps the greatest offensive season for a catcher in baseball history for a team that entered the last weekend of the season in contention, a team that, without him, would not have finished above .500.

The statistic OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) is overrated by statisticians, but it does offer a thumbnail view of offensive prowess. Mauer, of course, leads the league in OPS, at 1.035. Cabrera ranks third, well off the pace at .952. Teixiera is at .951. Jeter is at .874, a little better than Cuddyer.

Jeter shouldn't be in the conversation. Really, no one else should be. Mauer should and will win the MVP Award.

Which means that today will provide all manner of baseball drama, in the Twins' penultimate regularly scheduled game at the Metrodome.

During times like these, we should stop pretending we have any idea what might happen and enjoy the drama and oddity of pressurized baseball.

Delmon Young had never hit a grand slam. Not until Friday, in his first at-bat after he became the first player in big-league history to point into his own dugout and threaten to charge a teammate after getting hit by a pitch.

Thursday in Detroit, the Twins got mad at reliever Jose Mijares for throwing a purpose pitch to protect a teammate, and said nothing about Young wanting to beat up Mijares.

Asked Friday whether there were lingering effects of that incident, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire cracked: "Go ask Delmon. He's wearing it."

Friday, Young drove in five runs in the first two innings, the Twins survived the Royals, the White Sox thumped the Tigers, and Detroit's lead slipped to one game with two to play.