Francisco Liriano to have Tommy John Surgery

By now you've probably heard that Francisco Liriano will have Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2007 season.

This sucks a lot, but I, and most Twins fans have been bracing for this ever since Liriano left the game against Oakland. They tried to just give Liriano rest, and hope that would solve the problems. However, after he experienced more troubles earlier this offseason, and then got another look, they figured Tommy John surgery was the best option.

So it is. If Liriano comes back strong and healthy in 2008, and is able to put the elbow problems behind him, well, this will be well worth the wait.

2006 Final Count for "The Sabean Special"

If you're not familiar with "The Sabean Special," you can click on this link. Basically, anytime Francisco Liriano or Boof Bonser started a game and got the win, combined with Joe Nathan recording the last outs of a game... that was a Sabean Special (created in the spirit of this blog). Anyway, here's the final tally and games where it occurred:

Francisco Liriano:
April 25 - Twins beat Royals 2-1
May 19 - Twins beat Brewers 7-1
May 26 - Twins beat Mariners 3-1
May 31 - Twins beat Angels 7-1
June 11 - Twins beat Orioles 4-0
June 16 - Twins beat Pirates 4-2
June 22 - Twins beat Astros 4-2
July 23 - Twins beat Indians 3-1

Liriano Count: 8

Boof Bonser:
June 24 - Twins beat Cuubs 4-0
September 4 - Twins beat Devil Rays 4-0
September 9 - Twins beat Tigers 2-1
September 25 - Twins beat Royals 8-1

Bonser Count: 4

Total "Sabean Special" Count: 12

And hopefully there will be many more to count next season and beyond!

is it really over?

6 months of Twins baseball. A 25-33 start, falling as many as 12.5 games back of the division lead, only to comeback and dramatically take the lead on the final day of the season. A batting champ, the probably Cy Young, and MVP candidates.

All erased in 3 games over the span of 3 games.

Did that really just happen? Can it really be over so quickly? What the heck happened?

I could talk at length about why the Twins lost this series, but I'll stick to this quick analysis, and stop with the negatives. Heck, there wasn't a whole lot of positives for the series. I don't understand how a team that won 96 games could look so bad. But I digress.

I'll just focus on what a fun and exciting season this was for the Twins. The aforementioned 96 wins and AL Central title. But that's just a small part of what made this the most fun season following the Twins of my life. What did I love about these Twins? Well, since you asked:

- Joe Mauer. What else needs to be said? The first catcher to lead the MLB in batting while playing Gold Glove caliber defense behind the plate. At age 23. It was a pleasure to watch Joe play baseball day in and day out.

- Another fantastic season for Johan Cytana. He got the pitching triple crown which all but locks up his 2nd Cy Young award. This should be his 3rd straight Cy Young, but voters are stupid.

- The electricity of Francisco Liriano. When he was on the mound, there was no one better in the MLB this year. Great fastball, great changeup, and an absolutely devastating slider. If he was healthy, things might have been a lot different. Come back healthy Francisco.

- Justin Morneau becoming the star everyone thought he'd be. Everyone knew the power was always there, but he became a very complete hitter, hitting to all fields. One of the most fun guys to watch hit the ball.

- The effort of Torii Hunter. Sure, he can make mistakes (see: Game 2). And he's lost a step defensively. And he can take some bad swings at the plate. But he gives it all whenever he's out there, and there's not much better about baseball than watching him play baseball. Friday may have been his last game in a Twins uniform... if that's the case, thanks for the memories Torii.

- Brad Radke. You can't say enough about this guy. Pitching with a torn labrum is bad enough, but he was also gutting it out with a stress fracture in his throwing shoulder. He couldn't do anything without pain, yet he was pitching great start after start, and truly left everything he had. Thank you Brad Radke, for a great season and a great career.

- Covering everything on Thank You Brian Sabean. I wrote about the Minnesota Twins almost every day for the last 4 months... which made me appreciate the good times more. I don't know if I'll be back next year with TYBS, but hopefully time permits it, because it was really a great experience.

So while the last 3 games were not exactly the storybook ending everyone was hoping for, it was an unbelievable and unforgettable season, and one I won't soon forget. From the division title to winning 96 games to getting back to the playoffs, it was just about everything I could ask for. And with a young team, we might be back here again next year.

Thanks for reading, thanks for letting me ramble, and see you in a few days. While it was a great year that I'll look back fondly on, it's still a tough pill to swallow being swept. So I'll mope for a few days, and start looking forward to next year, where I can only hope for half the excitement this year brought.

One of the worst days of the year

For two innings everything appeared to be right with the world. After 2 innings, Francisco Liriano had throw 22 pitches, gotten all 6 batters out, and had struck out 2 batter (both on nasty, nasty sliders), and it looked like he was back to his dominating self.

Then he threw a pitch in the dirt, stood bent at the waist, looking like his left arm was about to fall off, with what we later learned was left elbow pain.

Basically, the worst case scenario. Everything looks great, the rehab goes well, he gets in to start, and can't make it through 30 pitches. And let's just say that the list of pitchers that have had long, productive careers with recurring elbow pain is not a very long one. So not only will Liriano not be back this year, (PURE SPECULATION AHEAD), but I'm worried about next year. And his career. Because an elbow injury is a scary thing.

At the very least, the Twins could have picked him up and gotten the win. Matt Garza certainly gave them that opportunity, throwing 5 2/3 innings of relief and giving up just 1 run, a run he wouldn't have given up if the ump had made the correct call on a stolen base the pitch before. Instead, Dan Haren shut the Twins out over 8 innings, and Huston Street was able to get the save after that.

Then Freddy Garcia goes out and throw 7.2 perfect innings before allowing a hit, and the Sox crushed the Angels. 1.5 games ahead in the Wildcard. 2 games back of the division pending the Tigers game. 10-game roadtrip coming up. Liriano is officially done, and no one is sure yet about Radke.

We still have 1.5 game lead, but things looked a lot better yesterday.

:(

From the Star Tribune:

Francisco Liriano, Minnesota's rookie All-Star, is out indefinitely with what appears to be a left elbow injury.

---------------------------------------------

In a quiet postgame clubhouse, Liriano, 22, seemed on the verge of tears, and his voice crackled as he described the pain, pointing to the inside of the elbow this time, beneath the muscle and possibly in the joint.

---------------------------------------------

"I couldn't even throw the fastball, slider, changeup anything," Liriano said. "It bothered me every pitch I threw."

From the Twins website:

But it's not even close to the type of blow that the Twins could receive in the coming days if the news on starter Francisco Liriano is as bad as it appears to be.

Liriano pitched just four innings in the club's 9-3 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park on Monday night before being pulled due to pain near his left elbow that flared up again.

The Twins 22-year-old rookie phenom was skipped over for his last start, due to the inflammation that he had in his left forearm. An MRI revealed no structural damage to the arm and the thought was that 10 days of rest would solve the problem.

But this time, the pain returned in what Liriano deemed a different spot and it seems to be worse than before. It's something that has even caused Liriano to be a bit scared of what may be causing the pain.

"I am, because it really bothered me a lot and I don't know what it is," Liriano said of being more concerned than he was before. "I couldn't throw my fastball, changeup, slider -- it bothered me on every pitch I throw.

"It really bothers me because it's getting worse."

All we can do is hope for the best. :(

This was a nice surprise

So I'm just checking to see who's been checking this blog out, and I see there's a link here from SI.com, which was a nice surprise. So anyway, welcome to all of you coming over from there, comment, and I hope you enjoy it.

And if you're looking for any Liriano news, he's expected to make his next start either Sunday or Monday after learning that for the second straight month he's the AL Rookie of the Month. So he has that going for him, which is nice.

And that other guy we got in the trade, Joe Nathan? He's doing pretty well too, with a 1.60 ERA and 22 saves in 23 opportunities.

So thanks for stopping by, and go Twins! They start a 4-game series with the Royals in about an hour.

Letter to the baseball gods

Please tell me that Liriano being scratched from his start Wednesday is just a precautionary measure, and not the sign of a more serious problem, and that he'll be fine from hear on out. We need him, like, a lot.

Thanks,
twins15

Liriano excels, but Tigers win in 10

The first two runners Liriano faced scored against him, but that was all the Tigers could muster in 8 innings against Francisco. In all, Liriano went 8 strong, giving up 2 runs, and tying a career-best with 12 strikeouts. He allowed just 6 baserunners (3 hits allowed, 3 BB). If it weren't for one pitch he left up to Magglio Ordonez, it could have very well been 8 scoreless innings.

Instead, he left after 8 in a 2-2 ballgame, and the normally reliable Twins bullpen strugged through 2 innings, ultimately ending with Rincon giving up a run on a Craig Monroe base hit. Nothing was really hit solid all inning, and if anything would have gone right in the half-inning, Rincon would have got out of there unscathed. But he didn't, the Twins lose, and that's how baseball works.

Interesting to note how both of the times Detroit scored it started the same way - with a weak grounder past Castillo. Castillo can make some great plays at times, but sometimes I wonder about his range to his left. Sure, didn't look all that good last night. He did some really nice things offensively, but if he gets either of those, well, things are a lot different. Let's just say I agree that a younger Castillo may have made those plays.

But no use dwelling on that now. All around it was a very well-played game by both sides, which neither of them really making any big mistakes. Just a play here of there, and things could have changed. But that's baseball. Just frustrating becuase this is probably the game in the series that we were supposed to win, as even Tigers fans were a little surprised.

The other crappy thing about Friday night was that the White Sox managed to come back and win their game in the 9th, and the Yankees easily took care of the D-Rays. Which means the Twins lose a game on both. It's way too early to be thinking about any of that, but well, I'm human.

Today's matchup features the streaking Brad Radke (9-7, 4.74 ERA) vs. Nate Robertson (9-6, 3.70 ERA). This is a bigger game for the Twins than the Tigers, not only because of the standings, but because I believe Detroit has now won 8 of 10 against the Twins this year. I don't think the Twins will lose confidence or anything if they lose this game, but well, it'd be nice to have a shot at taking 2 of 3 from the best team in baseball with Johan Santana on the mound.

Once again, The Sabean Special

We got our 5th example of The Sabean Special as the Twins beat the Indians 3-1 on Sunday, to take 2 of 3 from Cleveland in the series.

Liriano was only able to go 5 innings, as his pitch count got up to 95 quickly, but he did strike out 10 batters while giving up 1 run, to put his ERA at 1.93. Pat Neshek came on after him, and his impressive run continued with 1.2 shutout innings in relief. Dennis Reyes pitched to 2 batters and struck out both of them, Juan Rincon got 2 batters out in the 8th, and then Joe Nathan finished the job in the 9th.

Nathan allowed a leadoff single in the 9th before getting Joe Inglett to fly out. After that, he had had enough, and struck out Ramon Vazquez and Grady Sizemore to end the game.

The Win for Liriano pushes his record to 12-2, while Joe Nathan picked up his 19th save. All in all, when you can take 2 of 3 on the road against a talented team, that's something I'll take anyday.

The Sabean Special Count: 5

Liriano outduels Kazmir

Francisco Liriano has already outdueled Roger Clemens this year. This time, it was his turn to outpitch Scott Kazmir, one of the top young pitchers in the MLB., which he did in the Twins 8-1 victory.

Ok, so he should have had the CG shutout, and would have had Terry Tiffee not committed a 9th inning error (is it too early to ask for Erubiel Durazo to replace Tiffee?), but 8 2/3 innings giving up only 3 hits and 1 unearned run, well, that's also swell. Liriano had some control problems in his last start, but there were no such problems on this night, as Liriano walked 0 batters and struck out 7. His MLB-leading ERA dropped down to 1.94, which is pretty good. As Aaron Gleeman writes, he is now 10-2 with a 1.58 ERA since he joined the rotation. For a very thorough and interesting analysis of how both pitchers were in this game, check out Seth Speaks.

Offensively... well, I can live with 8 runs. Justin Morneau continues to impress, with his 25th HR of the year. He's just the 7th guy since 1987 to do that for the Twins. He's also up to 78 RBI. Joe Mauer is also officially back on track, as he went 2/4 Tuesday with a couple RBI. After a slight dip in the BA, it's now back to .376.

The other big offense surprise this year has been Nick Punto, who has surprisingly been superb for the Twins. He kickstarted things with a triple in the first inning, had a sac fly later, and also had a 2-run single. All in all, 2/3 Tuesday to up the average to .311 to go along with a good OBP and solid defense at 3rd. Yeah, I'll take that. I think most Twins have about the same feeling as Twins Without Spin... as in, this was hard to see coming.

The one recurring theme in this point is that the young guys continue to produce, which is the biggest reason the Twins are back in the playoff race with at least some chance. Now at 5 straight wins, their record stands at 52-40, 9.5 games behind Detroit and 6 games behind the White Sox.

Hey, you never know!

Well, it was bound to happen

I suppose Liriano struggling in a start was bound to happen at some point. Thursday against Cleveland, it did. The culprits were mostly just Liriano himself having trouble finding the strike zone, and the Indians knocking a couple of balls out of the park against Liriano.

Liriano walked 3 men in 5 innings, but he also throw 40 balls (compared to 57 strikes) which really drove up the pitch count. He also gave up solo HR to Casey Blake, Jhonny Peralta, and Travis Hafner (the best hitter in the AL). By the time the smoke cleared, he had given up 5 runs (4 ER), and struck out 6 in his 5 innings of work, raising the ERA to 2.12 (which, if you're following along at home, is pretty darn good).

The Twins offense, despite valiant efforts later in the game, could not overcome this deficit. Cuddyer, Morneau, and Punto got some RBI, but the Twins couldn't muster quite enough big hits in the 6-4 loss.

One good thing coming out of this game is that Kyle Lohse pitched 2 shutout innings giving up only 1 hit, which should increase his trade value if any team out there is looking for any type of pitching. Sure, the ERA is over 7, but hopefully some team is really desparate! A million dollar arm and a ten cent head? Perhaps. But maybe that's enough for someone.

Twins face the Indians again Friday with Brad Radke taking the mound. Maybe the wily veteran can get the Twins off on another winning streak. Without Detroit winning again, something needs to happen soon if the Twins are to have any chance.

Twins Midseason Awards

Now that we just passed the All-Star Break, I figured now was a good time to do some Midseason Twins Awards. So let's have at it:

Twins MVP: Joe Mauer - Justin Morneau has been especially studly lately, but no one can top the job Mauer has done offensively and defensively in the first half. His batting AVG is tops in the Majors, his OBP is far and away best on the team, and he is 2nd behind only Morneau in SLG %. Defensively, he's been a rock behind the plate. What's not to like?

Twins Cy Young: Johan Santana - This is obviously up for much debate with the way that Liriano has pitched this year, but I'd still give it to Johan. Despite the ERA difference, I think the fact that Johan has pitched 43 more innings than Liriano (through no fault of Francisco) makes him more valuable. Add in the high K rate, and very good K/BB ratio, and I'll go with Johan.

Twins ROY: Francisco Liriano - Next.

Minor League Hitter First-Half MVP: Alex Romero - He has struggled mightily in the 20 games since he got called up to AAA, but he was hitting very well in AA to start the year. In AA he had hit a few HR, but was also hitting doubles, drawing walks, and was dangerous on the basepaths with 15 steals. At only 22, it's hopefully just a matter of time before he can start to hit better at AAA and eventually make it to the Big Show.

Minor League Pitcher First-Half MVP: Kevin Slowey - His numbers in A were downright disgusting - 1.01 ERA, 11:1 K/BB ratio - before he got called up to New Britain. Now, in 3 starts, the ERA sits at 3.00, but that 17 strikeouts/1 BB suggests things are going just fine for the 22 year old.

Who are your picks?

It took an injury; but Liriano is in!

Ok, so he should have been in on the original picks for the All-Star game, or after the voting for the 32nd man when he got beat out by AJ Pierzynski, but as Twinkie Town says... better late than never!

As I wrote about on Saturday, Liriano currently leads the American League in simple pitching stats such as: Earned Run Average, Strikeouts per 9 Innings, and WHIP. So why was he left off? Only God knows, and maybe Ozzie. But that's not important right now.

The important thing is that because of Jose Contreras bowing out of the game, Francisco Liriano is officially an All-Star. It'll definitely be fun to see the young guy pitch in the big stage again, even if it means we'll have to wait a couple of days after the break to watch him start.

As you probably know, Liriano will be the third member of the Twins to make the All-Star team, joining Joe Mauer and Johan Santana. That's pretty good company.

This man is not an American League All-Star

Another start, another dominating performance for Francisco Liriano. This time, it comes in the best hitter's park in the American League, with Liriano dishing out 7 sterling innings, stirking out 8, and lowering his ERA to 1.83. With the win, he is now 10-1, becoming one of just 11 pitchers in the American League with double-digit wins, even though he hasn't been starting all year. As usual, let's go over some numbers:

AL ERA
1. Francisco Liriano - 1.83
2. Johan Santana - 2.76
3. John Lackey - 2.88
4. Justin Verlander - 3.01
5. Roy Halladay - 3.02

AL K/9
1. Francisco Liriano - 10.39
2. Scott Kazmir - 9.73
3. Johan Santana - 9.51
4. Felix Hernandez - 8.51
5. Ted Lilly - 8.41

AL WHIP
1. Francisco Liriano - 0.97
2. Johan Santana - 0.99
3. John Lackey - 1.02
4. Mike Mussina - 1.04
5. Roy Halladay - 1.05

Not too shabby.

Offensively, it wasn't a great day for the Twins, but they did pound out 14 hits. One of them was a solo HR by Torii Hunter, his 14th of the year. Jason Bartlett and Shannon Stewart got the rest of the RBI in the 4-0 victory.

In the rest of the division, the Sox lost again to Boston, putting Minnesota 8 games behind them for the wildcard. However, it appears the Tigers may never lose. They beat Seattle again, leaving the Twins still 11 games behind them at this point.

On the hill Sunday for the Twins will be Johan Cytana pitching against the always dangerous John Koronka! The Twins will look to head into the break into a high note, and maybe cut the lead down to 10.

AJ Pierzynski must be better than Francisco Liriano

Ok, obviously that's not how these things work (like, not at all), but still, this seems like some kind of joke.

As mentioned elsewhere, I would understand certainly if Travis Hafner got the final spot over Liriano - Hafner is after all the best hitter so far this year in the AL - but losing to Pierzynski sucks. I still like AJ, but there's no way he desevres this over Liriano (now, he should have just been on over Pudge... thanks fans!)

Liriano is, after all, 9-1 with a 1.99 ERA, and he's struck out 94 batters in 81.1 innings pitched. I've gone over that before. Let's look at Pierzynski's stats:

.325 AVG/.369 OBP/.454 SLG/6 HR and 29 RBI. As I said, not bad numbers by any means. But downright laughable when you compare them to Hafner. So let's do that, because everyone needs to laugh more.

Hafner's OBP is 92 points higher than AJ's, his slugging his 198 points higher than AJ's, and he has 19 more HR and 51 more RBI than Pierzynski. I mean, it's not even close.

But I suppose I just sound like a sore loser.

In a way though, this probably helps the Twins in the regular season, because it should allow Liriano to start the first game after the All-Star break, which he otherwise would not have been able to do (if he had pitched in the ASG). So he has that going for him, which is nice.

But still, it would have been nice to see another bright young star for the Twins playing in the Midseason Classic.

Wait.... 2 of 3 to the Royals?

Coming in, the Twins had lost 1 game in their previous 20. Coming out, they've lost 2 in 2 days.

So it is in the MLB, where momemtum can change at the drop of a hat. Instead of coasting into Texas sitting about 8 games back, they're 10 back of the Tigers and 8.5 back of the Sox, and up to some of their old tricks... poor pitching, inconsistent hitting.

That summed things up for the Twins in their 6-3 loss to the Royals. The Twins pitchers gave up 14 total hits, Radke could only go 5, and the bullpen gave up 3 runs (1 ER each for Crain, Reyes, and Rincon). Offensively, they grounded into 2 double plays, and only Luis Castillo and Jason Bartlett had multiple hit days, so they couldn't string anything together.

But enough about the game, becuase we don't really want to talk about that. The other big Twins news is that Boof Bonser was optioned down to Rochester, though his replacement has not been named yet. There are many options, as TBL's thinking Scott Baker, and Twinkie Town shows there is basically three options. But one thing is for sure... do not put Kyle Lohse in the rotation!!

The other big news for the Twins is that as of this writing, Francisco Liriano leads the balloting for the 32nd Man. Like the Nick & Nick Twins Blog, I'm optimistic about his chances because of all this attention from the media.

But it still needs to be said... VOTE FOR LIRIANO!

Twins will have the day off Thursday before heading to Texas for a 3-game set right before the break. Taking at least 2 of 3 is imperative, especially with Liriano on the hill Saturday and Johan on Sunday. Hopefully the luck will come back in the Twins favor!

Thank you sir may I have another?

Do I hear 10 wins in a row?! Yes, yes I do!

And just like that, in what seems like a blink of an eye, the Twins stand at 45-35, just 10 games behind Detroit for the division lead and 7.5 games behind the White Sox for the wildcard lead.

Francisco Liriano has set the bar pretty high for himself with in his first half season, but he had perhaps the best performance of his young career on Sunday, as he blanked the Brew Crew for 8 innings, giving up only 3 hits and striking out a career-high 12 in the Twins 8-0 victory. This brings his ERA down to a microscopic 1.99, and now that he has enough innings to qualify, this is the best in the Majors. Let's look at some lists here as far as AL pitching goes:

AL ERA Leaders
1) Francisco Liriano - MIN - 1.99
2) Johan Santana - MIN - 2.59
3) John Lackey - ANA - 3.12
4) Jeremy Bonderman - DET - 3.13
5) Nate Robertson - DET - 3.14

AL Strikeout Leaders
1) Johan Santana - MIN - 124
2) Scott Kazmir - TB - 108
3) Jeremy Bonderman - DET - 107
4) Mike Mussina - NYY - 104
5) Curt Schilling - BOS - 102
6) Francisco Liriano - MIN - 94
(Keep in mind Liriano has pitched at least about 20 innings less than anyone else on the list)

AL K/9 Leaders
1) Francisco Liriano - MIN - 10.40
2) Scott Kazmir - TB - 9.69
3) Johan Santana - MIN - 9.43
4) Jeremy Bonderman - DET - 8.68
5) Felix Hernandez - SEA - 8.54

Of course, he also leads the League in Opponents SLG and is up there in lots of other categories, so I could go on, but I think you get the point. Oh yeah, and he's 22. VOTE FOR LIRIANO!

As for the team in July, how about having the AL Player of the Month (Joe Mauer), the AL Pitcher of the Month (Johan Santana), and the AL Rookie of the Month (Francisco Liriano). Not bad for a team that's 10 games back.

The Twins now travel to Kansas City to start a 3-game set with the Royals and All-Star Mike Redman (*snicker*). In the first game, we'll have the aforementioned Johan Santana (9-4, 2.59) taking on Scott Elarton (3-9, 5.13). The Sox will take on Baltimore and the Tigers will travel to Oakland, so on paper the Twins have the best matchup, let's just hope they can continue this hot streak.

And for the record, the Twins finish with a 16-2 record in interleague play. That's a nice little boost!

Those kids can play a little bit, no?

For the record:

Joe Mauer - 23 years old
Francisco Liriano - 22 years old

As Timbuk 3 would say, the future's so bright I gotta wear shades.

Liriano, again, was brilliant. He only threw 86 pitches (and much props to Gardy for not putting him in for another inning in a 7-run game - save all the innings you can), but he went 7 innings, striking out, and giving up only 2 solo HR (5 hits total). As with his last start, an outing like this actually raised his ERA all the way up to 2.21. By the way, if my calculations are correct, he has a very good chance by after his next start to have enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, where he would have a huge lead as of today.

As for the Joe Mauer, who's becoming kind of a big deal, was 5/5 on the day, or 9/10 the last 2 games in case you haven't been paying attention. His batting average is all the way up to .389, leading at least one guy to start to ask, 'What if?' Meanwhile, he's moved up to 3rd place on the AL All-Star voting for Catchers, behind only Jason Varitek and Ivan Rodriguez. It's worth mentioning that Joe has been better in every facet of the game than these two players. In other words, VOTE FOR JOE MAUER.

By the way, very nice article on Yahoo! about Joe Mauer, which you should read if you have a chance.

The Twins go for another sweep on Wednesday as they send Johan Cytana to the mound to take on Odalis Perez in the battle of the lefties. Johan currently sits at 8-4 with a 2.75 ERA, while Odalis is 4-2 with a 6.33 ERA. Twins would seem to have the advantage on paper, but we all know these games aren't played on paper but by the little men in our TV sets. Hopefully they little men in Twins uniforms continue their torrid pace!

Francisco Liriano outpitches one of the top 3 pitchers of all-time

Ok, so it was Clemens first game back from his "retirement." But how many times am I going to get the chance to write that headline?

Anyway, it's all true. In the 4-2 Twins win, Liriano dazzled for 8 innings, giving up only a 2-run HR to Jason Lane in the 8th. Meanwhile, 'The Rocket' was only about to go 5 innings (but threw 100 pitches), and gave up 2 runs in the 3rd, as he got saddled for the loss. Joe Nathan came on in the 9th to finish the game for The Sabean Special.

You know, if it wasn't evident before, it is now: Liriano really needs a nickname. And I think I've finally got it. Considering the focus on this game - which was pretty darn high for a regular season game in the middle of the year - with Clemens return, Liriano's first game on national TV, etc. and the fact that Liriano absolutely did not disappoint, I'm calling him "The Iceman." That's with all due respect to George Gervin.

There you have it - Francisco Liriano = The Iceman.

Look at the confidence he already brings the team. As Batgirl wrote, despite the circumstances, was there any doubt in Twins fans minds who was going to win this game? Not for me. Maybe he's already got unreasonable expectations, but I think The Iceman can handle them all. Oh yes, he's that good.

Maybe my favorite stat of the night was the fact that despite pitching 8 innings and giving up 2 runs, Francisco's ERA actually rose to 2.17. I think we can forgive him for that.

Introducing... The Sabean Special

I got to thinking, and in the spirit of this blog, I found that it is only appropriate that we have a simple nickname for a certain situation - When Francisco Liriano or Boof Bonser starts the game and gets the win, and then Joe Nathan comes on to finish the game.

Hence The Sabean Special.

By my count, it's happened three times so far this year:

5/26 - Liriano pitched 5 shutout innings, Joe Nathan finishes it off with a perfect 9th. Twins beat the Mariners 3-1.
6/16 - Liriano pitched 7 innings, giving up 2 runs and striking out 11. Nathan pitches another perfect 9th for the save. Twins beat the Pirates 4-2.
6/22 - Liriano pitches 8 innings, giving up only 2 run on 4 hits, and Nathan pitches a scoreless 9th. Twins beat the Astros 4-2.

So let's start it now:

"The Sabean Special" Count: 3