In week 10 the Twins lost a series in Seattle and won a home series against Baltimore for a record of 3-3. After a week of no offense, the Twins bats began to show some life by scoring a total of 36 runs through the 6 games. The offense was led by two grand slams from Michael Cuddyer, 3 homers from Justin Morneau and of course the hitting tear that Joe Mauer has been on the past month.

Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano have provided a strong 1-2 punch and Brad Radke has improved greatly in his last three starts, although the Twins are still struggling to get quality starts from the other two spots in the rotation. A big blow last week was the loss of Matt Guerrier to a broken thumb which has created a hole in what had been a strong bullpen. Now, more than ever, the starters need to step up and carry the load for the pitching staff.

Last week’s player of the week should come as no surprise, but other’s deserve some mention too.

Honorable Mention

• Michael Cuddyer: Cuddyer hit two grand slams last week, and amazingly the Twins lost both games. He hit an 8th inning slam to tie the game on Wednesday before the Twins went on to lose in the 11th. He also hit a grand slam on Saturday night to cut the Orioles 8-0 lead in half, but the Twins weren’t able to score enough to overcome the big hole that Silva and Lohse created.
• Justin Morneau: Morneau’s 5 RBI’s led the Twins to a 7-5 victory on Friday night against baltimore. He hit a 3-run homer in the 4th and a 12th inning walk-off homer in the 12th inning. For the week, Morneau was 8-20 with 3 HRs and 9 RBIs.
• Francisco Liriano: Liriano allowed just 1 hit through 7 inning on Sunday as he had hit best game of his season. He combined with Rincon and Nathan to shut out the Orioles and set up a 4-0 victory. Liriano also had a quality start, but took the loss against Felix Hernandez and the Mariners on Tuesday night.
• Juan Rincon: Rincon pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings in relief during the week. He has been exceptional all season, even after his off-season surgery raised early questions on how reliable he’d be this year. He currently has a 1.71 ERA and has pitched in tight situations all season long, including pitching the 8th and 9th innings in Wednesday’s 11 inning loss.

Player of the Week: Joe Mauer

You may be wondering if there’ll ever be another player, besides Mauer, named player of the week. With as great as he’s been, I’m wondering the same thing. Last week Mauer was an astonishing 15/24 at the plate with 6 walks. He also set (or tied, some say) a Major League record by reaching base 4 times in 5 straight games. After an “off-day” at the plate on Sunday, Mauer still sits atop the league (by 20 points) in batting with an average of .386.

Regardless of whether or not the Twins start to play better in the final part of the season, Twins fans have something to be excited about. While Joe Mauer likely won’t finish the season anywhere near .386, we nonetheless have the best hitting catcher in baseball and he’s a top-notch defensive catcher as well. We also have Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano to watch every 4th of 5th day.