Mauer, Gomez in helmet-breaking moods

It’s about time somebody joined the Larry Bowa crusad…oh, damn.

An 0-for-12 streak has lowered Mauer’s average to .250, and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Mauer broke his helmet in frustration after one of his at-bats Saturday.

“He’s pretty calm, but he’s been a little fired up the past couple days,” Gardenhire said. “It doesn’t happen very much; he’s a pretty good hitter. He’s not getting pitches right now to do anything good.”

He wasn’t the only player who broke a helmet this weekend; Carlos Gomez did, too, Gardenhire said. The center fielder is mired in an 0-for-11 slump.

“I’m going to have the old calm-down-on-the-helmet meeting,” Gardenhire said. “It’s not the helmet’s fault. It’s that head inside the helmet.”