April player awards

I know this is very late as the month of May is almost over, but I thought better late than never. I will start with the Twins today and move down through the levels as I go. I hope you all enjoy and if anyone has any comments or questions you can either leave a comment in the comment box or shoot me an email at travis_aune@yahoo.com.

• Pitcher of the Month: Francisco Liriano- Francisco Liriano really stepped up his game in April. After going 5-13 with a 5.80 era in 24 starts. His problem was the fact that he fell behind 2-0, 3-1 just about every hitter and then would have to come back with a fastball and would get hit hard. So going into the season Liriano had a lot to prove as there were some who felt that his dominant days were behind him. He has proved that wrong this year by showing his dominant self once again. Liriano has showed his good fastball that he placing well, a good changeup and the dominant slider that he had in 2006 has returned. In April Liriano was utterly dominant in his 4 starts. In 4 starts Liriano went 3-0 with a miniscule 0.93 era. Liriano worked 29 innings and only gave up 3 earned runs and only 18 hits. The biggest difference was he shut down the walks as he only had 10 walks in 4 starts along with 27 strikeouts and held opponents to a .180 batting average. Liriano has struggled in May, but that can not take away from his awesome month of April.
• Others Considered: Jon Rauch, Brian Duensing

• Hitter of the Month: Justin Morneau- Justin Morneau was another guy who had a lot to prove after missing the last 5 weeks due a back injury. He followed that up with a terrible spring training so he needed a good start to the season and that is just what he got. In 75 at bats in the month of April he hit .347 with 5 homeruns and 17 rbi's along with 21 walks. For a stat line of .490/.640/1.130 that really showed how good of a power hitter that he can be. Morneau led the Twins in order to get a early lead i n the Central and has put up the numbers that would make him a mvp candidate. Morneau had a good year last year, but he has been even more impressive this year so it will be interesting to see if he can keep it up this summer.
• Others considered: Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer, Orlando Hudson