Liriano Looked good

[Stratosman]

Didn't get to watch much of the game but he looked good from what I saw, why did he only go 5 though? I suppose they didn't want to push him too much. Bye Bye Silva.

[buzzsaw]

They had him on a pitch count of no more than 70, he tossed 69. They plan on upping that number a bit next time.

[nofishfisherman]

He did get himself into a little trouble in a few innings. He put runners on first and second with no outs a few times but managed to get out of it all with only one run given up.

I have a feeling that Silva will be back in the rotation sooner or later. His problems were all mechanics which is fixable. Lohse on the other hand was just a mental case and thats much tougher to fix. We'll have to see how Bonser does tonight, maybe they won't need Silva even if he does figure out his mechanics.

[buzzsaw]

Good reading....

HOUSTON -- He huffed. He puffed. He staggered through an inning that seemed to last almost as long as Francisco Liriano's entire career.

But he was still Roger Clemens. And that was enough to fill every darned seat of Minute Maid Park. Which was the least a guy making close to $750,000 per trip to the mound could do.

So what will we remember -- say, in the year 2018 -- when we look back on Thursday, the night the Rocket staged the latest in his never-ending series of comebacks?

Heck, to be honest, we might not remember that Roger Clemens even pitched at all.

Just as we expected, you see, it could well have been the biggest game ever in the career of Thursday's starting pitcher.

Just as we didn't expect, however, the starting pitcher we're talking about wasn't the local living legend.

Turned out, this was Francisco Liriano's stage. He just needed the Rocket Man to make sure the spotlights were shining on it.

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Liriano, 22, kept the Astros' hitters off balance with an effective changeup.It may have been Clemens who popped the most flash bulbs, with a five-inning, two-run, work-in-progress-type performance -- in a game that ended Twins 4, Astros 2. But it was Liriano, baseball's official Next Huge Thing, who popped the nation's eyeballs.

He painted seven innings of unfair two-hit, zero-run, six-strikeout artistry, facing only one hitter over the minimum. Then he went and turned human on us in the eighth, tiring and allowing a two-run Jason Lane homer. Which hiked his ERA all the way up to 2.17.

So if the curious citizens of the U.S. of A. were wondering what all the Francisco Liriano buzz was about before, let's just say he solved that mystery Thursday. This will be known forever as the night Liriano inserted himself on the national radar screen.

"You're not going to get a bigger stage than that, without being in the playoffs," said Twins catcher Mike Redmond. "The whole country watching Roger Clemens' comeback -- and a 22-year-old kid went out there and outpitched him? I mean, that's impressive."

How impressive? Listen to this review -- from Clemens' catcher, Brad Ausmus.

"He might be as good of a lefty as I've ever faced," said Ausmus, a fellow who is now 14 seasons and more than 5,000 at-bats deep into his career.

Uh, hold on a second. As good of a lefty as he's EVER faced?

For the record, Brad Ausmus has stepped to the plate more than 1,300 times against left-handed pitchers in his time. So it's not as if he has hit only against Mike Bacsik and Eddie Oropesa. Now think again about that sentence you just read -- that this guy might be as good as any of them.

"Well, I've faced Randy (Johnson)," Ausmus said. "I don't want to say yet that he's better than Randy Johnson, because Randy has done so much. But his stuff is as good as any lefty I've ever seen."

Whew.

Now remember, this pitcher we're talking about is younger than Jessica Alba. He owns a mere 333 fewer wins and just 4,399 fewer career strikeouts than the man he was pitching against Thursday. And he's a guy who was making his debut eating Gerber's Squished Baby Food about the same time Clemens was making his debut in the big leagues, back in 1984.

But there Francisco Liriano was Thursday, carving his own little niche in a sport that always has room for another star.

"Hey, that's why they pitched him tonight," said Twins captain Torii Hunter. "That's why they went ahead and let him have the challenge of pitching against Roger. They could have bumped him back a day and let Johan (Santana) pitch. But they didn't, because they knew he could handle it."

OK, so they didn't exactly KNOW. But they suspected, said GM Terry Ryan, because every time they've nudged Liriano up into a higher league or a more visible role, he has only seemed to get better.

"He might be as good of a lefty as I've ever faced."

-- Astros catcher Brad Ausmus"You know, about a year ago, he was still pitching in Double-A," Ryan said. "And he wasn't really dominating that league. But when he got called up to pitch at the next level (in Triple-A), and when he got picked to be the starting pitcher in the Futures Game, that's when he started to take the next step."

Almost any situation is easier to handle, of course, when you can throw a baseball 96 miles an hour. And when you can mix that flameball up with a cliff-diving slider that Boston's Mike Lowell recently described as "invisible." And when you can also toss in a changeup that seems to shift itself into reverse about 18 inches before home plate.

But when you can do that on a night when the largest crowd in Minute Maid Park history (43,769) has another plot line in mind -- that's what separates the future Cy Youngs from the pack. And if Francisco Liriano gave the appearance of not being particularly terrified to be in that spot, it's because he wasn't.

The awesome challenge of facing Roger Clemens? He "didn't think about it," he said.

The thunderclaps pulsating out of the seats? He "didn't pay any attention to the crowd," he said.

The nerves that had to raise a few sweat beads underneath his cap? "I don't really get nervous," said Francisco Liriano.

Then again, after watching him, you could see why. It's the hitters who ought to be nervous, because it's a miracle they ever get a hit.

"The reason he's so good," Ausmus said, "is that his arm action on all his pitches is almost identical. There's not much difference in the rotation of the ball between any of his pitches. Which makes it very difficult to tell what pitch is coming at you."

[rundrave]

its nice to see the Twins get some ink in the papers and press, and playing well on the big stage in front of the entire country.

they may not be in first place, but I was proud to be a Twins fan last night!

lets hope another streak started again last night

one other note, I was forced to watch the game in NON-HDTV as it was blacked out here? ESPNHD and FSNHD both had the game on, but the screen was blank.....was that the same for you guys as well?

[mnwild]

It was blacked out here locally on ESPN, they had ESPN news on while the game was on FSN. I would of much rather wathced the game on ESPN to hear what the announcers had to say about Liriano during the game, but I am sure it was all Roger this Roger that.

[Spinner1]

ESPN announcers were very impressed with Liriano. As expected, it was Roger's party though. If Liriano wins a couple three hundred games he'll get the attention. If was sure good to see the Twins stifle the Clemens hype though.

[Maximum12]

No less than Peter Gammons - does anyone not want that man's job? - compared the Santana/Liriano combo with the Randy Johnson/Curt Schilling combo. While I think that may be a little premature for a guy with a half-dozen major league starts, that's a stratospheric compliment!

I'm not sure Liriano could have been any better to this point.

[Mudcutter]

Correct me if I'am wrong,,, but didn't we get Lirano,Nathan and BOOF from the Giants for AJ??? Unreal trade. The Twins are one if the not the best in the majors at scouting talent. Everybody's got one or more that got away-- the Twins is BIG PAPI!!

OH well, I live with Nathan,Lirano, and BOOF for AJ any day!!!!

Muddy

[NAPAFISH]

The reason he's so good," Ausmus said, "is that his arm action on all his pitches is almost identical. There's not much difference in the rotation of the ball between any of his pitches. Which makes it very difficult to tell what pitch is coming at you."

This seems to be the same story with Johan

[buzzsaw]

You are correct sir, as well as the fact that he can whip the ball up there pretty good. I'm taking my three year old son to his first ballgame tonight and lucky us... it's Liriano vs the fabled LA Dodgers. Hope it's a good game, I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

[Stratosman]

Have fun, should be a good one to watch buzzy. I'll be watchin on the tele.

[buzzsaw]

What a great game, my son had more junk food than ever before. and I took a bunch of pics, albeit from a fair ways away. I missed a foul ball down the right field line because I had my big arse camera in my hands and the guy right behind me had good hands. Liriano was solid, Mauer was unbelievable and in the end we blew out the division leading Dodgers again.... sing along... oyo como va!! Santana goes at noon today! SWEEP!

[Stratosman]

CCO will be tuned in and cranked today!

[First Ice-Mike]

If Contreras wasn't having such a great run Liriano would be the Cy Young winner this year. If Contreras slows down Liriano and Santana could go one-two in the Cy Young voting. It would be pretty cool if Liriano and Santana shared a co-Cy-Young Award. Liriano's stuff in just plain disgusting!!

FI

[SledNeck]

Liriano ROY.

and thats a call.