Francisco Liriano's 2nd start

Before anybody jumps to any conclusions when they see Liriano's line today keep in mind its his 3rd and 4th innings in 18 months. Granted he wasnt great today in 2+ innings today he gave up 4 hits and 3 runs with 2 walks and 1 strikeout. However, i believe its going to be a work in progress with him all year. I truly believe if your going to get him your going to get him in the first half of the season. I think by the end of the year he will be the same lights out pitcher he was in '06, but if you think he is going to be dominant right away your fooling yourself. Right now he is a #4 or 5 pitcher and just let him improve and improve because by the end of the season the patience will be rewarded and the man they call the Franchise will be back the way we remember him.

Wednesday, March 12th

Today an interesting occurance happened when Gardy announced that Jason Pridie is out of the running for the starting cf job. I was really surprised by that because i thought he was having a decent spring. The battle now goes to Span vs Gomez which should be very interesting considering neither one is really hitting very good this spring with gomez only hitting .167 and Span .273. I think this could last until the last few days of spring training. I think Gomez is going to get the nod but i dont have alot of confidence in it with the way he has been hitting and his lack of effort at times.
Today in Fort Myers The Twins battle the Red Sox in the final battle for the Mayor's cup each team has won 2 games and this is the deciding game. Francisco Liriano gets his second start today vs Clay Buchholz. This is an important start for Liriano as he is trying to get a good feel for his slider and try to get his velocity up a bit. This should be a marquee pitching matchup for years to come because each has a very bright future in baseball. For the first time this spring the Twins have their regular lineup in and thats good news for Carlos Gomez. He gets the start today and if it means what i think it means i think he's in the lead to be the starting centerfielder on opening day.
Another announcement out of Twins camp is Livan Hernandez is more than likely going to be the starter on opening night. I dont have a problem with it because why put more pressure on the young guys when he has made 8 opening day starts and he understands the pressure. The big thing is after the first start every pitcher pitches every 5 days so there really is not an order. Lets get excited Twins fans because situations are being settled and we are getting closer and closer to opening day.