Author: David Shama

Jake Mauer has suggested to his grandson Joe that he change positions, move from catcher to third base.  The conversation came up because of Joe’s inflammation in the sacroiliac joint and weeks of suffering that sidelined him during spring training.

No position is physically more demanding than catcher.  Crouching and contorting the body at different angles isn’t easy, particularly so for a big body like the 6-5 Mauer.  Then, too, Mauer has a history of ailments with the Twins that have kept the 25-year-old out of the lineup.  His All-Star career has been defined by two American League batting championships, but also physical problems like a quadriceps injury and the painful back that forced the Twins to place him on the 15 day disabled list last week.

Jake looks at Joe’s athleticism, including his strong arm, and sees a fit at third base. “He said, ‘Oh,Grandpa, if I can’t play catcher I don’t want to play baseball.’  I said, ‘You’re kidding me.’  He said, ‘That’s it.’ ”

Jake predicts Joe will return to the Twins by the third week of the season, after readying himself in the minors.  He said Joe hit the ball off a tee for the first time in a long while late last week.

Medicine prescribed by Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has lessened Joe’s pain and his flexibility has improved.  “It’s done a miracle for him,” Jake said.

Even last week Joe couldn’t run but that’s an improvement over what Jake saw in late February before his grandson went to Johns Hopkins to meet with doctors.  “He was just like an old man of 85, just shuffling along,” Jake said.   “I couldn’t believe it.”

Joe has been through physical aches and pain, but there’s additional hurt and that’s the emotional side of missing spring training and the start of the season.  “He’s going out of his mind,” Jake said.  “He’s a low key guy anyhow but he can’t believe that he can see all the ball players and he can’t do nothing about it.  He would like to join right in.  He said ‘Grandpa, it’s just murder with me.  It eats my inside out. …”

No one believes more in Joe, nor perhaps knows him better, than his grandfather who helped groom him even as a pre-schooler.  Jake was asked if Joe, who missed almost two months of the 2004 season and about one month in 2007, is injury prone. “I don’t know,” Jake said. “I really don’t know. …”

Former Twins Cy Young award winner Johan Santana, now starting his second season with the Mets, is the most valuable pitcher in major league baseball, according to Sports Illustrated.  In its baseball preview issue last week the magazine listed a PVR (Player Value Ranking) for big league players.  Francisco Liriano, who starts for the Twins tonight and is the hoped-for new Santana, has a PVR among pitchers of 55.

Among everyday Twins players, Justin Morneau (49) and Mauer (59) have the best PVR’s.

The Carol Fitzgerald Community Celebration will be Saturday at Martin Luther King Park in Minneapolis.  The event celebrates the life of the deceased wife of media personality Larry Fitzgerald Sr. and son Larry Jr.  Among those expected to attend the 1 to 4 p.m. event are NFL stars Larry Jr., Tommie Harris, Adrian Peterson and Jared Allen.

On Friday American Idol winner Jordin Sparks will perform for the Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund Benefit, an event to be held at the Metropolitan from 6 to 9 p.m.  For information on Friday and Saturday activities, call 612-305-2959.

The Minnesota Football Coaches Clinic last week had about 1,000 attendees including exhibitors and outstanding speakers like former Super Bowl coach Brian Billick.  Congratulations to clinic leaders Don Swanson, Ron Stolski, Jim Dotseth and Dave Nigon.

Billick could coach again in the NFL but is facing a trend where jobs go to assistants instead of former head coaches.  Billick, who was the Vikings offensive coordinator before being head coach of the 2001 Super Bowl champion Ravens, has vacationed at Lake Vermillion in northern Minnesota.

Here’s a guess as to Tubby Smith’s early season starting lineup next fall: forwards Damian Johnson and Trevor Mbwake, center Ralph Sampson III, and guards Lawrence Westbrook and Al Nolen.

St. Cloud Tech’s outstanding guard, Nate Wolters, has a scholarship offer from Colorado State, according to a prep basketball source.

The state’s prep Mr. Basketball winner will be announced on WCCO Radio tomorrow morning at 7:20 a.m.  Candidates are: Mike Bruesewitz, Henry Sibley; Raymond Cowels, Hopkins; Sam Dower, Osseo; Jordair Jett, St. Bernard’s and Royce White, Hopkins.

The Lynx will honor newly-acquired Kelly Miller on May 14 with a celebration in her hometown of Rochester, Minn.  “Kelly Miller Day” will be highlighted by a Miller appearance at her former high school, Rochester Mayo.

Miller, Noelle Quinn and their Russian Club, Spartak Moscow, have advanced to the EuroCup Finals.  The EuroLeague consists of the top women’s teams in the world and is the most-coveted championship in European basketball.

Lynx star Seimone Augustus recently led Istanbul-based Galatasaray to the EuroCup Championship Series.  In a victory against Dynamo Kursk, she scored 38 points while the Russian club had 39.

Former WCCO TV sportscaster Ralph Jon Fritz is retired and living in the Fort Myers area where he’s been playing golf or tennis every day.

After the completion of fall and winter NCAA Division III championships, nine MIAC schools rank in the top 100 of the Division III Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings. St. Thomas, 17^th nationally, is the MIAC leader with 381.50 points. Gustavus follows St. Thomas in 27th place with 337.50 points.  Other MIAC scools in the top 100 are: Carleton (29th place, 311.50 points), Saint John’s (56th, 162.00 points), Augsburg (61st, 154.00 points), Concordia-Moorhead (64th, 150.00 points), Saint Benedict (78th , 137.00 points), St. Olaf  (84th, 125.00 points), and Bethel (100th, 113.00 points).

Amherst (Mass.) leads the midseason, unofficial standings with 679 points.  Official standings are published following completion of the spring season.  More at www.nacda.com.