4) Mauer's superiority tends to show best in obscure, analytical stats, such as win shares.

One thing that has happened in the weeks since the votes were cast: At least some of the Twin Cities writers have started to grasp the subtle advantages of Mauer. First Joe Christensen filed this post on his Star Tribune blog on Oct. 10. Today LaVelle Neal III, in his blog, conceded that he got too wrapped up in RBI and put Mauer too low on his ballot.

This matters, because the writers share opinions. The voters who cover the Seattle Mariners, say, don't see the Twins all that often, and if the Twins beat writers tell them they think Morneau's the MVP pick from the Twins, that's bound to affect their rankings.

We all learn something new all the time, or at least we do if we're paying attention. There's a chance the metro writers are learning something that will show up in future MVP votes.

e-mail Edward Thoma