Both Livan and Boofie pitched pretty good games against the hapless Royals (is this really the same team that swept the Tigers?). Cue-ball has three homeruns (one fewer than Torii Hunter), Carlos Gomez, Matt Tolbert and Denard Span continue to each play well. A lot of things are going well for the now 6-5, second-place Twins.But is bringing Francisco Liriano back in the cold afternoon Spring of Kansas City testing Minnesota's luck? Liriano, who had Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery in November 2006, is making his first Major League appearance this season. The 24-year-old left-hander will start today's game at Kaufman Stadium. According to the National Weather Service the weather in KC is a forecast of snow tapering off to a possible late afternoon high of 46 degrees (Fahrenheit, not Celsius). With Liriano's recovering arm, is it the best spot to put him back in the rotation? I'm worried Oli may be right with his pool on when Liriano first goes on the DL. Let's hope he doesn't, because if he can start putting in some real innings the team could continue some sort of hunt for the division.
Stats of the day
- Kansas City 6-5
- Twins 6-5
- Detroit 2-9 (worst record in MLB)
- Baltimore 7-4 (leading AL East)
- Livan Hernandez leads the Majors in wins at 3-0 W/L record, 2.57 ERA, 21 IP
- "El Duque" Orlando Hernandez, on DL all season so far
- Carlos Silva, Seattle, 3.27 ERA, 2-1 W/L record, 22 IP
- Dontrelle Willis, Detroit, 7.20 ERA, 0-0 record, 5 IP, 2 games started, injured knee
- David Ortiz, Boston, batting .070 (3-for-43)
- Derek Jeter, NY Yankees, batting .208 (5-for-24) and injured
- Torii Hunter, LA Angels of Calif., USA, batting .298 with 4 HR
- Johan Santana, NY Mets, 3.05 ERA, 1-2 W/L record, $23 million
- Jon Lester, Boston, 4.50 ERA, 1-2 W/L record, 1.77 WHIP
- Carlos Gomez, Twins, batting .292 (14-for-48), 0 HR, 3 RBI, 6 R, 5 SB
- Melky Cabrera, NY Yankees, batting .267 (8-for-30) with 2 HR and 5 RBI
- Phil Hughes, NY Yankees, 5.00 ERA, 1-0 W/L record, 1.78 WHIP, 6 SO
- Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston, batting .250 (5-for-20) with 1 HR, 3 RBI
- Coco Crisp, Boston, batting .296 (8-for-27) with 2 runs scored, 0 SB
- Adam Everett, Twins, batting .095 (2-for-21)
- Jason Bartlett, Tampa Bay, batting .171 (6-for-35)
- Matt Garza, Tampa Bay, 9.00 ERA, 0-0 (2 starts), on DL with sore shoulder
- Luis Castillo, NY Mets, batting .160 (4-for-25) with 1 SB
- Matt Tolbert, Twins, batting .455 (10-for-22) with 1 SB
- Nick Punto, Twins, batting .500 (3-for-6) with 1 SB
- Cristian Guzman, Washington, batting .321 (18-for-56) with .536 slugging percentage, 2 HR, and 6 RBI
- Luis Rivas, Pittsburgh (playing shortstop!), batting .241 (7-for-29) with 1 SB
- Boof Bonser, Twins, 2.84 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 30 pounds lighter
- Joe Mauer, Twins, .250 (10-for-40) with 5 SO, 2 BB and 5 RBI
- Pudge Rodriguez, Detroit, batting .195 (8-for-41) with 0 HR
- Alphonso Soriano, Cubs, Cubs, batting .176 (9-for-51) with 2 HR, 5 RBI, 11 SO
- 150 games left in the regular season
