A video making the rounds this morning shows Minnesota Twins catcher and All-American golden boy Joe Mauer allegedly tipping pitches from second base.
The YouTube video, diligently uploaded by “rolemodel2008,” features an at-bat by Twins outfielder Jason Kubel on Tuesday night againt the Detroit Tigers when Mauer was on second base. The uploader identifies the American League’s leading hitter’s repeated touching of his helmet as his pitch-tipping technique.
As one might expect, the Twins are laughing off the incident. In fact, Mauer’s longtime teammate Justin Morneau says that the catcher has not once tipped him off in their five years of play together.
I’ve been batting behind Joe for five years, Morneau said Thursday. I haven’t gotten a sign yet. I’m still waiting.
Kubel and Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire also said there’s nothing to this, hopefully putting what is a non-issue anyway to bed.
Anyone who has played the game knows that stealing the other team’s side is part of the game. Why else do catcher’s mix up their signals with a runner on second base. The risk exists, of course, of gettting caught and getting a high, hard one right in your kitchen.
In much more important news, the Tigers can clinch the AL Central title with a win this afternoon against Minnesota.
