Miguel Sano and Joe Mauer not in lineup on Saturday leads to plenty of reaction

A couple quick notes following the Twins 4-1 loss to Texas SANO UPDATE: Miguel Sano shook his head from left to right when I asked him after the game if he could take some swings tomorrow. It was Sano who said, "Not good," earlier in the day when we asked him about this hand. Sano, who didn't start after being plunked with a pitch on his left hand Friday, doesn't appear to be close to returning to the lineup. So far, all the X-Rays have some back negative, so they don't appear to be worried that something else is going on. But it's clear that Sano doesn't want to test it right now. MAUER NOT IN LINEUP: The optics weren't good. Joe Mauer received a scheduled day off on Saturday. Combined with Sano being injured, it left Paul Molitor to craft a funky lineup. I saw the twitter responses and in-game e-mails from outraged fans. It looks bad, no doubt. But consider a few things. One, if he really needed a day off, we are not in Joe Mauer's body. We don't know what he's feeling. He might really need a day off. Two, he's in a 2-for-12 mini-skid. FSN cameras caught him on the field early on Saturday, hitting off a tee with hitting coach James Rowson. I've never seen Mauer do that. Three. How much difference would Mauer had made? He's 0-for-12 against Cole Hamels. Four. If this is just regular maintenance, Mauer was going to be off either Saturday or Sunday (he's not playing a day game after a night game). Which one do you choose? The game against Hamels or the game against righthander Nick Martinez and his 5.07 ERA? I'm guessing this is what Paul Molitor looked at before deciding to leave Mauer out of tonight's lineup.