In a move that Ron Gardenhire hopes will jump start our offense, it appears that Gardy will put Joe Mauer second in the batting order once he returns for the homestand that starts this Friday.  Over the past few years, it has been no secret that Joe is able to get on base.  Over the past two years Joe’s OBP is .429 and .446.  His career OBP is .402. 

Gardy has been hesitant to put Joe second in the order.  The unofficial rule of thumb is states that the best batter on the team should bat third.  The problem is that most batting orders don’t have a black hole called Punto or Cirillo batting right before.  Now that Joe should finally crack the lineup this is a perfect time to make a change.  Gardy seems ready to do whatever necessary to jumpstart the club.  Currently the Twins are sitting at 28-29 and look nothing like the team that they were last year.  The piranhas have lost their appetite and the only hitters to show up this year are Morneau, Cuddy and Hunter.  The new order will now look like this:

Castillo/Mauer/Cuddyer/Morneau/Hunter/Kubel/DH/Bartlett/Punto

The fans, the media and the analysts have been clamoring for this move for quite some time.  Moving Joe will allow Castillo and Mauer to likely be on base prior to having the big sticks step to the plate.  Personally I think that this change will give the Twins something that they have rarely had all year…..  Early inning leads. 

Let’s hope for the best and thank God that today is the last day of our West Coast death trip.  Bring on the National League!