Staying healthy allows Mauer to demonstrate his hitting skill

Joe Mauer is having a great season, maybe even better than when he won the batting title in 2006. He drove in two key runs Wednesday in the Twins' 7-0 victory over the Tigers at the Metrodome.

A year ago on July 1, Mauer was hitting .302 with 30 RBI. After Wednesday's game, he is hitting an American League-leading .326, with three homers and 36 RBI.

Twins batting coach Joe Vavra says the reason Mauer is doing better this year is that he is healthy.

"He's got his legs underneath him," Vavra said. "When you're complete, everything's the same. Basically he's got the same swing. That's the whole difference. He feels good about himself health-wise, and takes it right up to the plate."

If the critics have any complaint, they say Mauer doesn't hit many home runs. But Vavra looks for Mauer to improve in that department.

"Well, he's starting to get that feeling of getting an extension and getting the barrel [of the bat] out in front of the plate a little bit more," Vavra said. "We've had about four or five games in a row where he was getting great extension and putting the ball in the seats, and then he didn't get pitches inside. [Pitchers] stayed more away and now he's getting a couple more pitches in. When he gets them in, and he starts recognizing and looking for it, he starts getting extension."

Vavra said Mauer shouldn't try to pull the ball for power all the time, only when he gets the right pitch.

"He's a special hitter," Vavra said. "He stays inside the ball real well and uses the whole ballpark. So can he go and just strictly pull and try to put the ball in the seats? Sure, but you'd lose a lot of his effectiveness of staying inside the ball and going the other way."

Bonser adjusts Boof Bonser, who was moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen, retired the Tigers in order in the ninth inning Wednesday. He said he is getting adjusted to his new role.

"So far I'm doing all right," said Bonser, who had trouble getting out of the first inning as a starter. "The first few times it was tough, but I think I'm getting used to it. You have to hurry up and get loose faster than you would as a starter.

"As a reliever, you've got to focus on your two best pitches instead of being a starter and focusing on all your pitches. So that's what I've been doing right now. Yeah, I'd like to be a starter, but the way these other starters have been going right now, it looks like I'm probably in the pen for a little bit."

Jottings Twins General Manager Bill Smith said the team passed up standout Chaska pitcher Brad Hand and instead drafted University of Miami pitcher Carlos Gutierrez, who had Tommy John surgery, because the future of college pitchers is a bit easier to predict. Hand was drafted by the Florida Marlins after Gutierrez was taken.

"We've had great luck drafting college pitchers, including Matt Garza, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins and Nick Blackburn among others," Smith said. The Twins have 13 of their top 15 draft choices signed. Two players who are not expected to sign are Gophers outfielder Matt Nohelty and Holy Angels third baseman/pitcher Joe Loftus, who will enroll at Vanderbilt.

Fields Inc., the company which recently installed an upgraded naturally playing surface at Green Bay's Lambeau Field, has been selected to install the field in the new Twins ballpark. ... The Twins are expecting to draw more than 130,000 fans for the four-game series with the White Sox on July 28-31.

The word is that the Timberwolves never would have traded the 34th pick in the draft to Miami had the Pistons not taken Indiana's D.J. White with the 29th pick in the first round. The Wolves were very high on the 6-9 power forward and would have drafted him with their 34th pick if he was still available.

New Timberwolves swingman Mike Miller, who is from Mitchell, S.D., was asked if he gave any consideration to playing for Clem Haskins at Minnesota coming out of high school.

"They [the Gophers] were on me pretty good, it was just one of those things where I wanted to be part of the Florida Gators and what coach [Billy] Donovan was doing," Miller said. "My freshman year we went to the Sweet 16, and my sophomore year we got beat by Michigan State in the national championship game." Miller recently made a $1 million gift to a new hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Timberwolves General Manager Jim Stack said there isn't any chance of buying out the three-year contract of second-round draft choice Nikola Pekovic of Serbia, a 6-11 center. "He's making this year 1.5 million euros, net, which translates into about $2.8 [million] to $3 million," Stack said. "The [U.S.] dollar is just so weak right now in the European market, and these kids get paid net money, so they don't have to pay taxes on their money. This kid will be a more mature professional, we won't have to wait on his development. He is already a player right now. He's averaging 19 points a game, shooting 65 percent in the Euro League, which is the top league in all of Europe."

Mark Madsen sent a message to the Wolves right after they acquired Jason Collins in the draft-day trade with Memphis. "'I just want you guys to know you've got one of the nicest guys that you're ever going to have," Madsen said about his former Stanford teammate. ... Brian Cardinal, the other veteran player coming to the Wolves in the Memphis trade, was a real pain to the Gophers when he played at Purdue.

Vinny Cerrato, vice president of the Redskins, was talking with ex-Gophers football coach Glen Mason about former Gophers defensive lineman Anthony Montgomery, who earned a starting position with the team last year. "I never could figure Montgomery out," Mason said. "He played ordinary during the season and then during the bowl games, he was one of the best players on the field. I asked him why but he didn't have an answer."

Former Gopher and St. Paul native Reid Mahon was 0-0 with a 3.07 ERA when he was called up from Mobile and promoted to Arizona's Class AAA Tucson farm team.

Horton's Gym in Duluth, the home of boxers Zach Walters (23-2), Andy Kolle (17-1), and Gary Eyer (4-0) and others, was damaged by a recent fire. According to proprietor Chuck Horton, all the athletic equipment in the building is a total loss. ... Osseo boxer Caleb Truax defeated Thomas Rittenbaugh of Las Vegas in Lemoore, Calif., on Thursday. Truax improved to 7-0 with the unanimous decision.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast twice a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com