Can Joe Mauer and Jim Thome come through?
Mauer and Thome, by far the Twins’ biggest threats in the lineup, both missed a slew of games once the team had clinched a playoff spot. Mauer had tweaked his knee, while Thome was out with a bad back. According to Will Carroll at Baseball Prospectus, Mauer should be fine to play. Carroll is more noncommittal about Thome, and while the Twins are saying he’s fine, it doesn’t seem like it’d be a shocker if the 40-year-old slugger were to have further issues, having logged only five at bats in the season’s last eleven games. Another issue: Both are left-handed batters who hit significantly worse against left-handed pitchers than they do against righties. With CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte starting for the Yanks, that’s a big problem, especially given that other Twins lineup staples like Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer are having relatively down years. Is Orlando Hudson going to play himself out of the lineup for a second-straight October? Hudson didn’t have any announced injury issues, bu
