Sizzling Mauer back in swing of things

Despite all of his ailments, it appears Twins catcher Joe Mauer is back to his 2009 MVP form.

The cortisone shot he had in his right shoulder has no doubt helped Mauer. He was hitting .325 going into Wednesday night's game, fifth in the American League, and was again displaying his strong throwing arm behind the plate.

At the All-Star break, Mauer was hitting .293 with four home runs and 24 doubles. He had a slugging percentage of .424 and had grounded into 15 double plays.

Since the All-Star break, Mauer has been one of the hottest hitters in the American League. Since then through Tuesday, Mauer has a batting average of .435 (37-for-85) with 13 doubles, three home runs, 27 RBI and a slugging percentage of .694. He has hit into only two double plays during this span, with the Twins going 15-6.

Since July 3, Mauer hit safely in 23 of 28 games, batting .393 (44-for-112) with 14 doubles, four home runs. 28 RBI, 23 runs scored and 11 multi-hit games. He collected 25 hits in 46 times at bat (a .543 average) since July 26 at Kansas City.

Mauer went 2-for-4 with a double in Wednesday night's 6-1 loss to the White Sox.

Gophers to be better Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi has better-than-average football knowledge, having coached the sport for many years, and he believes Tim Brewster's team will be improved over last year. Maturi seldom misses a Gophers practice.

"Northern Illinois, a bowl team last year, a real good MAC team, and I'm familiar with them. And then you've got the Northwesterns and Penn States and Ohio States in the Big Ten and Iowa, let alone talk about Southern Cal.

All the games Maturi mentioned are at TCF Bank Stadium. He believes, despite the tough schedule, the Gophers will be competitive.

"What that means in terms of wins and losses remains to be seen," Maturi said. "Health is a factor and breaks are a factor. But I like the looks of the team, I like their effort in the offseason. And I love the staff. You and I have talked about that, I think it's the best staff that Tim Brewster has put together, and hopefully we can have some continuity with these guys because I do think the future is bright."

Could be sleeper Bill Noethlich hails from Doland, S.D. (population 297), where he played Nine-man football in high school and there were 12 students in his graduating class.

Eric Eidsness coached Noethlich at Division II Southwest State, but it was Eidsness' father, Lyle, a former St. Peter High School and Augustana coach who scouted and recruited Noethlich when Lyle was a Mustangs assistant.

"He's gigantic, I mean long reach, long arms, has some things to work on in terms of pass protection, but another smart guy, tough guy," Childress said. "... Whether he makes your team or he makes your practice squad, you've got to keep developing those guys. You can't coach them to be as big as he is."

Noethlich said he never dreamed of getting a shot to play in the NFL.

"It's something that when I was in South Dakota, I couldn't imagine being here, but I'm just trying to take advantage of everything," Noethlich said. "The speed of the game is obviously incredible compared to what I'm used to, especially at the D-II level and then also Nine-man football before that. But I'm just trying to work my tail off and do what I can.

"I played offensive guard in high school and nose tackle, so you know it was quite an adjustment. But we had a pretty solid team. Three of my [high school teammates] went to college with me and we all played together.

"I'm getting better day-to-day, for sure. But I've still got a lot to learn."

The Twins could have three hitters -- Mauer, Justin Morneau and Delmon Young -- finish the season in the top 10 in batting average in the American League for only the second time in the history of the franchise. All three would currently be in the top 10, but Morneau is short of plate appearances. Once he recovers from his concussion suffered July 7, he will make that up and qualify. In 1971, Tony Oliva won the batting title with a .337 average, Cesar Tovar finished fourth hitting .311 and Rod Carew was fifth with a .307 average.

Gophers assistant men's basketball coach Vince Taylor will be interviewed Sunday for the coaching opening at Illinois-Chicago.

Gophers golfer Donald Constable, who finished second to Texas Christian's Tom Hoge at last month's Minnesota State Amateur golf tournament, has qualified for the U.S. Amateur, which begins Aug. 23 at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash. Constable did so by shooting 138 for the top score at the qualifier Aug. 2 at Northland Country Club in Duluth. The other golfer to qualify in Duluth was New Mexico's Travis Ross, a former Crookston High School athlete. ... Ben Polland, a Bloomington Jefferson alum, also qualified for the field as the co-champion of the qualifier Thursday at Laurel (N.Y.) Links Country Club. Polland is a professional golf management major at Campbell University. ... Colorado State's Ryan Peterson of Eagan qualified last week by shooting a 140 at Dakota Dunes (S.D.) Country Club.

Ex-Twins pitcher and Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis was named Mariners pitching coach this week after manager Don Wakamatsu was fired. Willis, a member of the 1991 World Series champions, had been Seattle's minor league pitching coordinator.