Postgame: Mauer expects Gibson back soon

A couple of extra items from the Twins' four-month-long sweep by the Mets, completed Monday:

-- Joe Mauer didn't know Kyle Gibson had been sent down to the minors when he discussed the rookie on Monday, but he didn't sound very surprised, either. Disappointed, yes; surprised, no.

"He's a great guy. He prepares, he works hard. He just hasn't had a lot of success," Mauer said. "Knowing him, he's going to go down there and work on some things, and we'll see him again soon."

It wasn't hard to diagnose the problem against the Mets, though, when Gibson gave up 10 hits and got just 11 outs. "He just wasn't very consistent today," said Mauer, who caught eight of Gibson's 10 starts. "I know he's frustrated. We just fell behind too many counts. They got ahead, and hit some good pitches."

He did like one pitching performance, though. Anthony Swarzak "is getting overlooked a lot," Mauer said. "The last couple of years, I think he comes in there and does a great job. He takes the ball every day, and today he did the same thing. Attacking hitters and giving us a chance to win."

-- Monday's loss, in a makeup of an April 14 game postponed by snowy conditions, completed a three-game sweep by the Mets, albeit over four months time. New York outscored the Twins 26-8 in the three games. It also brought to a close the Twins' interleague schedule for 2013, with the Twins going 8-12, having lost their final four games. The Twins still have a 165-137 all-time record in interleague play, sixth best in the majors, but it's the fourth straight year they failed to post a winning record.

-- The Twins left after the game for Detroit, and they visit Cleveland this weekend, the third stop in those cities this year. Manager Ron Gardenhire says he understands the unbalanced schedule, but he doesn't like it.

-- Today's attendance was announced as 30,913, but that was clearly the number of tickets sold for the April 14 game, and not the number in half-full Target Field today. The crowd was actually pretty good, I thought, for a Monday afternoon game, but I wonder -- would there have been more people in the stands if it hadn't have snowed back in April, than were here today for the makeup? Can't complain about the extra 60 degrees, though.

-- After watching Aaron Hicks' battles in April, it was interesting to watch Mets catcher Travis d'Arnaud, the top prospect they acquired from Toronto in the R.A. Dickey trade, at the plate today. It's just his third big-league game, but d'Arnaud is now 0-for-7, and he struck out twice and left three runners on base. Hicks collected his first hit in his third game, but then went two more weeks without another one, so d'Arnaud shouldn't feel much pressure yet. He's also walked five times, so he must be relaxed at the plate.

Hicks, by the way, is eligible to come off the minor-league disabled list on Tuesday, and assistant general manager Rob Antony said he's ready to, that his sore heel has healed.