Is it time to check out Liriano again?

Pioneer Press writer Kelsie Smith had an interesting story in today's paper regarding Francisco Liriano. Liriano, 24, appears back on track playing for the Rochester Red Wings, the Twins' Class AAA affiliate in the International League.

Liriano improved to 7-2 with a 3.53 ERA prior to the minor league all-star break. Those numbers are impressive, but even more so when you consider how terrible the lefty was when he was first sent down to Rochester.

In his last 10 games since May 26, Liriano has gone 7-0 with a 3.30 ERA, pitched 62 2/3 innings, allowed 53 hits and struck out 64. His WHIP is a very strong 1.03. Even more impressive (considering his recovery from Tommy John surgery) are his most recent outings. Liriano hasn't allowed an earned run since June 25 and in his last three starts he's amassed 20 innings pitched, 10 hits allowed, no earned runs, three walks and 24 strikeouts. Those are dominating numbers. No if's or but's.

According to Smith's article, Liriano and his agent are getting antsy to return to the big league club. There is some dischord between the agent and the general manager's office. I guess that's to be expected -- GM's don't typically like agents dictating their jobs or implying what they should do. Agents are working for the best of their clients. In this case, it's time for Billy Smith to do the right thing and get Liriano up to spend time with pitching coach Rick Anderson. It's time to see if there is promise in the once-dead arm.

The Twins are surprising the AL Central and doing well with their pitching as is, but come on: there's room for an arm like this in the rotation (or, gasp!, the bullpen).

Scott Baker (6-2, 3.47), Nick Blackburn (7-5, 3.65), Glen Perkins (6-2, 4.14) and Kevin Slowey (6-6, 4.26) are pitching amazingly well for such a young rotation. To fit Liriano, it would leave out the aging and sloth-like Livan Hernandez (9-6, 5.44) or force the Twins to go to what the Pioneer Press said Ron Gardenhire is contemplating: a six-man rotation.

There are other spots for Lirano: Boof (3-6, 6.50) doesn't look like he belongs any longer. Brian "Smallmouth" Bass (3-3, 5.31) and Craig Breslow (0-0, 2.18) are OK. Spaz Neshek is out for the season and a setup man more dominating that Matt GRRR (5-4, 3.35) is desirable. The Twins don't like the idea of the bullpen as much as Liriano's agent. Remember when a young lefty named Johan Santana complained he didn't belong in the bullpen back in 2002? He may have been right, but you can't argue with his output since then -- I don't think his ego was shattered.

If nothing else, Liriano's .200 career batting average is only 20 points lower than Mike Lamb's season average of .220. Maybe he can fill in as a left-handed pinch-hitter who flies out to right each time up. That is, until the Twins trade Hernandez in the next few weeks ...

Twins take 3 of 4 from Red Sox

Twins playing as well as they look
in those cool sleeveless jerseys
By Bullpen Catcher

Monday's win over the defending World Champions gave the Twins the series and legitimatizes their chances to challenge for a playoff berth this season. Livan Hernandez improved to an unbelievable 6-1 overall while several other Twins are showing similar look again stats. Joe Mauer is supposed to hit .333. Justin Morneau is supposed to hit around .282 and be on pace for 122 RBI (which is his current rate). Joe Nathan is supposed to be impressive and dominating (as he's been all season). But what the heck is with Adam Everett popping off a home run? How about Craig Monroe hitting .284 with four home runs? I'm not sure anyone thought someone named Tolbert would be hitting .274 or that Nick Blackburn would be so darn good already.

Spaz Neshek's injury will test the bullpen, but Jesse Crain seems to be recovering better from his arm problems of last year. Maybe Glen Perkins will stick around long enough to provide a solid left-handed starting slot for the Twins.

Either way, this team is overachieving and chugging along. I've said it all season, but if the Twins can just hang around .500 they've got a chance to get into the Wild Card standings leaders at the end of the season. With the Central so darn mediocre, who knows?

A final surprise: The Twins are currently playing better than the Yankees, Blue Jays, Indians, Tigers, Mariners, Phillies, Mets, Braves, Brewers, Dodgers, Rockies and Padres. [I won't mention that the Tampa Bay Rays have a better record than the Minnesotans, though.]

Boof's hot in the cold, but is a cold Liriano a good idea?

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

Liriano Photo from Minnesota Twins official website