Whether it’s other teams figuring out a better way to pitch to him, the physical drain of a long season or people asking for his time away from the field, Joe Mauer is hitting like a guy who was on the August 7 cover of Sports Illustrated.  Only the superstitious will claim the famed magazine has jinxed the All-Star catcher but Mauer was hitting .363 on August 7 and earlier this week his average had fallen to .346 including many games with one or no hits.  Before the All-Star game he was hitting .378. 

There’s talk that the way to pitch to Mauer, now struggling to maintain his American League batting lead against Derek Jeter, is throw fast balls inside and slower pitches outside.  Maybe that strategy is working at times because at 23 Mauer is still young, just in his second full season and learning to handle a long season while playing catcher, baseball’s most physically demanding position. 

Manager Ron Gardenhire talks about more days off from catching while the Twins chase a playoff position in the final weeks of the 162 game schedule.  Can Mauer, who was hitting .392 on July 1, finish the season in the .340’s?  “He’s done it for five months,” Gardenhire answered. “He’s got a great swing. He’s a good hitter. He’s going to be fine.”   

Torrii Hunter, who at 31 has several years of major league experience, was asked about bats becoming heavy in late August and September. “Not just for us,” Hunter said. “We’re talking about the whole major leagues.  Bats get heavy.   People go to the lighter bat. 

“Lots of teams get tired because they are out of it but we still have a chance of winning the division or wild card. …You can’t get tired (when you’re in contention).  Your body is physically tired but mentally you are not (tired). You’re pumping yourself up everyday.  Your adrenaline is your energy so that is what I try to build myself on.” 

Hunter talked to Mauer about the distractions Mauer faces as a home town hero and the possibility of becoming mentally tired.  “People are dragging him here, dragging him there,” Hunter said. “That takes a toll on him.  I talked to him not too long ago about saying no sometimes. He’s so nice of a guy he doesn’t say no.  Sometimes you have to, because it will mess up your routine.  And if you have a routine, your main goal is to play on the field.   

“You can kind of see that mentally there is something wrong there, and hopefully he doesn’t let it bother him. …Next thing you know you get out of your game.  You don’t come to early BP (batting practice). You don’t stretch like you usually do. Your routine is messed up because you’re doing something else. Hopefully these next couple of weeks he kind of tones everything down and focuses on the playoffs.”

The California team Minnesota plays in Berkeley on Saturday has a quarterback controversy.  After playing two quarterbacks against Tennessee last Saturday there was speculation as to who will start against the Gophers, but coach Jeff Tedford ended that talk yesterday when he told the San Jose Mercury News Nate Longshore will start.  

Longshore, a sophomore, was the starter in Cal’s 35-18 loss to Tennessee and before the season began he was mentioned as one of three or four players who might lead the Bears.  Longshore had a statistically poor day against the Volunteers throwing 20 times for only 85 yards and was relieved by senior Joseph Ayoob who threw 22 times for 187 yards including a touchdown pass,  and he also ran for a touchdown.

Former Viking quarterback Joe Kapp was Cal’s head coach from 1982-1986.   He lives near San Jose and follows the Bears.  He said the quarterback position is “well manned.”  Kapp also said the 6-5, 230-pound Longshore’s performance against the Volunteers should be judged with perspective because he had passes dropped by receivers and the vaunted Cal running attack (includes Heisman candidate Marshawn Lynch) faltered.  

Kapp guessed earlier in the week that Longshore will start against the Gophers. Longshore missed almost all of last season after being injured in the opening game. “The quarterback Longshore is very talented, big (and) strong,” Kapp said. ‘Whenever he stays healthy he competes.” 

Before the season started ESPN’s Lee Corso predicted Cal will win the national championship, and despite the surprising one-sided loss to Tennessee, Kapp said the Bears are a “very good football team.” Told of the national championship prediction, Kapp expressed surprise but acknowledged there has been a buzz about Cal football this summer. “Expectations were very high not only from the press but from the fans, the alumni (and) the team itself,” Kapp said. “You don’t accomplish good things unless you do have great expectations.” 

Brooks Bollinger, the Vikings new quarterback, makes an impression based on his career accomplishments, not on what he says about himself.  As a high school player from Grand Forks, North Dakota, the struggling University of Minnesota football program didn’t pursue him.  Wisconsin not only gave him a scholarship, the Badgers made him a four year starter.  Not a player with extraordinary physical abilities, Bollinger passed, ran and directed the offense so well the Badgers won 30 games, the most ever for a Badger quarterback.

While he had a great college career from a team standpoint, his personal performance didn’t create a lot of NFL expectations. Drafted sixth by the New York Jets in 2003, Bollinger played in just one game (in 2004) during his first two seasons in the NFL. Last season he started nine games for the Jets. 

It comes as a surprise to some people that Bollinger is still in the NFL, joining the Vikings in a trade with the Jets and hoping “to do whatever the organization needs me to do to win football games.”  That assignment is to prepare the best he can, probably become the No. 2 quarterback and grab his helmet if starter Brad Johnson can’t play. 

In the immediate days after joining the Vikings, Bollinger (not surprisingly) made a maximum effort to learn the Vikings offense.  He is a character guy, the type that would audition well for the all-American boy role with Wheaties.  Soft spoken and humble, Bollinger didn’t talk much about all the games he helped Wisconsin win and then said, “I think I accounted for some of the losses, too.”  

Viking coach Brad Childress recruited Bollinger when he was an assistant at Wisconsin.  “I am familiar with him,” Childress said. “I know how he is wired. He is a coach’s son. I talked to guys on the (Jets’) last staff. He’s notorious as a grinder.”