Joe Mauer's numbers -- .314/.415/.427 -- are improved this season over his injury-riddled 2011, although he's hit just three home runs. He'd been mostly healthy this year, too, playing in 60 of the Twins' first 65 games.
That is, until Sunday, when he injured his quad on a play involving the Brewers' Rickie Weeks at the plate. He hasn't played since, and might miss more time:
The Twins had hoped that Mauer, who had made solid progress before Thursday, would be able to catch in the bullpen as part of his recovery process.
"That didn't happen," Mauer said.
He said there's still swelling in the quad that he has to work out before he can do more on the field and get back in the lineup. So he missed the entire series in Pittsburgh and might miss a couple games in Cincinnati this weekend.
"It's not much better than yesterday," Mauer said. "I thought I'd be able to do a little bit more. It's real frustrating."
The article goes on to say that Mauer can't even pinch-hit, because the quad makes it impossible for him to run the bases, so the Twins would have to burn a pinch-runner if Mauer got on base. No word on whether this will require a DL stint, but it doesn't sound too good.
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