FanHouse Joe Mauer

...for Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins for simultaneously being the Magic Johnson and the Larry Bird of professional baseball. He puts up insane numbers (especially for a catcher, which is a talking point I'm sure you need more information about), he plays fair even when he doesn't have to, and he reminds us that the Average White Guy still has something to contribute to popular sports.

The Dugout is also thankful for those of you who are still figuring out that we moved to Back Porch. A big shout out to all of our returning fans, including David from the Hanger Orthopedic Group! What's up, Dave! This morning's Dugout is after the jump.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer was a nearly unanimous selection for 2009 American League MVP by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, receiving 27 of 28 first-place votes to win the award in a landslide Monday.

He beat out Yankee teammates Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter, who finished second and third, respectively, to win the award for the first time in his career. Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who finished fourth in the voting, was the only other player to receive a first-place vote.

Mauer hit .365 to win the batting title for the second straight season and third time in his career, matching the total number of batting titles won by all other catchers in major league history. Babe Phelps is the only backstop in major league history to qualify for a batting title and hit for a higher average, hitting .367 for the 1936 Brooklyn Dodgers.

But Mauer's triumph is complete. In addition to winning the batting title, he also led the American League in on-base percentage, slugging and OPS, a feat never accomplished by a catcher before.

Major League Baseball announced the winners of its prestigious awards this week; now, FanHouse is following suit. We voted on winners in five categories (MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Draft Day Bargain, Draft Day Bust), the results of which are revealed below. Remember, this awards show deals strictly in fantasy baseball. I'll also throw in a few awards I'm personally doling out for performances that made the 2009 season what it was.

MLB awards season continued on Thursday afternoon as the league announced the winners of the 2009 Silver Sluggers, which go to the players voted the best hitters at their position in each league. The award is voted on by managers and coaches from throughout the league who are allowed to vote for anybody that's not on their team.

While there are some familiar faces on the list in each league, there are also some that aren't so familiar. Find out who's adding some hardware to their trophy case after the jump.

The Minnesota Twins didn't wait very long after being knocked out of the 2009 playoffs to begin working on their 2010 team. They made a trade that not only alleviated the surplus of outfielders on their roster but also may have filled the shortstop position for years to come when they sent Carlos Gomez to the Milwaukee Brewers for J.J. Hardy.

While that trade could turn out to be a key move for the Twins and their future, it's not the only task the team has on its plate as they prepare for life in a new stadium next season. At the top of the list of things general manager Bill Smith should be working on right now is signing catcher Joe Mauer to a contract extension, and depending on who you ask, Smith may have already started doing just that.

Long considered one of the worst defensive shortstops in baseball by those in sabermetric circles, Derek Jeter won the fourth Gold Glove of his career on Tuesday, proving that no matter what statistically-oriented folks think of Jeter's glovework, he enjoys a good defensive reputation among those within the game.

Joining Jeter on the AL Gold Glove team is Yankees teammate Mark Teixeira, who was recognized for the third time, as well as outfielders Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners) and Torii Hunter (Angels), who both won the award for the ninth time.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Phil Cuzzi, the umpire who missed a call down the left-field line that helped cost the Twins their game Friday night at Yankee Stadium, was fired as a minor league umpire in 1993.

According to a June 1999 story by The Associated Press, Cuzzi was working at a hotel bar in July 1999 when he approached National League president Len Coleman and asked for a chance to get back into umpiring.

Coleman allowed Cuzzi to work his way back from the low minors, and Cuzzi was one of 25 new umpires hired in 1999 as a response to mass resignations that were part of a failed labor ploy.

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Crew chief Tim Tschida admitted that left field umpire Phil Cuzzi blew a key call in the 11th inning of the Twins' Game 2 loss to the Yankees.

In the half-inning before New York's Mark Teixeira scraped his walk-off home run over the left-field wall, Twins catcher Joe Mauer sent a bloop down the line that deflected off of left fielder Melky Cabrera's glove and then bounced in fair territory. Either way, the ball was fair. Only Cuzzi ruled that it wasn't, stripping a leadoff double from the Twins' MVP candidate.

"[He] saw the ball as foul, called what he saw," Tschida said. "Afterwards, like any close play, we went in and we looked at it and it's a clear indication that an incorrect decision was rendered."

NEW YORK -- It was bound to happen, probably sooner before later. The Minnesota Twins couldn't keep flying high on adrenaline and spunk, could they? This was a mismatch of gargantuan proportions, the mighty uber-rich Yankees against a sweet little team from the Midwest that barely squeaked into the playoffs at the very last second. The Twins couldn't possibly continue to rock and shock the baseball world, could they?

Not on this night, no. Not with CC Sabathia, the Yankees ace, rested and frothing at the chance to prove he can indeed carry the sport's wealthiest, most stacked club all the way to the finish line. Not with Derek Jeter, Captain America, eager to prove last season's postseason absence was an embarrassing, once-in-his-lifetime fluke.

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