Monday, April 14, 2008

Liriano's Return


Francisco Liriano pitched in a major-league game for the first time since 2006. His final pitching line wasn't pretty:
 IP     H     R     ER     BB     SO     HR     PIT
4.2 6 4 4 5 4 0 90

Liriano didn't have an outstanding spring training, and he didn't pitch well in two minor-league rehab outings. So really it shouldn't come as a big surprise that his first start in the majors was a little discouraging. The weather didn't help at all. It was very cold in Kansas City and Liriano said he couldn't feel his fingers. This guy is Dominican and he was rehabbing in Florida, not Minnesota. He will pitch in the Metrodome on Friday so we will see if the weather affected his performance at all.

His command and velocity were not good, not nearly where they were at pre-surgery. That is expected from someone who missed 18 months of action.

So yesterday Liriano only showed that his road back to where he was in 2006 could be a long one. The positive news of the day was that he is still healthy and he didn't haev any setbacks. His velocity was still MLB worthy, he was throwing at 90 MPH. It is too early to pass judgement on how Liriano will turn out to be after surgery, we will just see how he does in his next few games.

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