I wonder if it’s becoming a psychological thing- if he thinks, “I can’t hit in September, so I’m doomed,” thereby stressing himself out and becoming even more prone to exhaustion and hitting slumps. All I know is, if Morneau hits in September like he does all season, the Twins WILL be in the postseason in 2009.

At least he is a damn good first baseman- which is more than I can say for Ryan Howard.

And I don’t think it has anything to do with Morneau’s eye being “calibrated” for good pitching and thus being someone unable to hit September callups. A) I don’t think he actually faces that many, and B) From what I’ve seen, pitchers seem to hang far fewer breaking balls against Morneau than against anyone else, and also seem to throw fewer strikes — and they do a great job of living on the outside corner and down out of the zone.

That indicates to me that pitchers are not afraid of Morneau, and that they’re not afraid of the guys hitting behind them. If they were afraid they’d be more likely to screw up. Instead, they execute perfectly against him.

And interesting insight on Ryan Howard- although I don’t know what it means for my “Justin Morneau is the MVP every year” stance. Maybe Justin is so accustomed to hitting good pitching that he gets a out of sync when facing unpredictable rookies? (More likely the rookies are told, “No matter what you do, don’t give Morneau anything to hit.”)