WHO'S UP — Mighty Joe Mauer

Minnesota's rundown of the Detroit Tigers aside, the other news out of the Twin Cities is catcher Joe Mauer, a Minnesota native, probably winning a long overdue MVP award. Twice before Mauer has won a batting title and been unceremoniously nipped in the MVP voting. All it took for him to claim the trophy this season was perhaps the finest season ever by a catcher. Mauer took a .367 average with 28 homers and 95 RBIs into the weekend. He'll claim his third batting title — becoming the first catcher to win that many. No American League catcher had ever won one before he did, and only National Leaguer Ernie Lombardi had two (1938 and '42). Mauer is only the third catcher since 1901 to hit better than .350, have more than 20 homers and drive in more than 90 runs. Throw in his defense — he could win a second Gold Glove this season — and he outshines the other two.

CATCHER	Year	Team	Age	BA	SLG	HR	RBI	SB/CS	Errors
Joe Mauer	2009	Twins	26	0.367	0.593	28	95	53/19	3
Mike Piazza	1997	Dodgers	28	0.362	0.638	40	124	112/42	16
Bill Dickey	1936	Yankees	29	0.362	0.617	22	107	(not kept)	14

WHO'S DOWN — Blue Birds

As if being marooned in the American League East wasn't enough to make them molt, the perennial also-ran Toronto Blue Jays are starting to fray at the feathers. Earlier this season, Alex Rios was caught on tape snapping at fans (he was traded). In an attempt to keep up with the Yankees and Red Sox, they've land-locked their payroll with massive contracts (Vernon Wells is owed more than $100 million). A national Canadian paper called for GM J.P. Ricciardi to resign and called him "toxic." FOXSports.com reported a "mutiny" against the manager. "He's lost the entire team," an unidentified source said of Cito Gaston. "Things have gone on a downward spiral just throughout the year," Wells told reporters. Sure enough, Ricciardi was fired Saturday.


PUTTING A PRICE ON FAME

This past week, an armload of memorabilia from Lenny Dykstra's career was auctioned off, just a couple of months after the former New York Mets All-Star filed for bankruptcy. His were not the only personal belongings to hit the auction block in the past few months. The Cardinals organization just announced that it scored some items from Bob Gibson's personal collection in an auction. What memories are going for these days:

$120,000 — Gibson's 1968 NL MVP Award

$84,000 — Gibson's 1968 Cy Young Award, purchased by Cardinals ownership.

$105,000 — 1903 World Series program.

$56,000 — Dykstra's 1986 World Series championship ring.

$600 — The collection of pitcher William "Cannonball" Jackman, a Negro League great, won in an online auction last week. The collection includes 300 box scores, a cartoonist's portrait and an autographed picture, according to The Boston Globe.

Sources: Post-Dispatch research, wire reports.