It’s time once again for MVP of Yesterday! The first MVP of Yesterday of 2016 is Francisco Liriano, who struck out 10 and gave up just three hits in six innings of work (although he did walk five), while also batting in a run!
Standings:
Francisco Liriano: 1
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Once, long ago, in the distant year of 2013, I went on a quest to write a crummy Haiku about every card I found in a potpourri of a value pack of baseball cards. It ended at number 18.
But, this morning, it returns. Now, I won’t be doing a “true” Haiku, but I will be doing the 5-7-5 format.
Oh Frank Liriano
On a faux-retro ball card
Fastball no-no Zoom
The Late Great Gary
On a non-MLB card
Who needs a logo
Bob Walk is stretching
Throwing the sphere that he is
Hopeful not his name
John with his helmet
In the field and at the plate
Rickey remembers
The Ghost of Rod Beck
Haunting the living Rod Beck
‘Tis Rod Beckception
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At 3 AM: The Catcher Was A Spy
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This post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page.
The MVP of Yesterday was Francisco Liriano, who went 8 innings, struck out 12, and gave up only two hits.
Standings, as always, after the jump:
Welcome to the MR. OCTOBER tracker of the Baseball Continuum. Here’s how it goes: instead of going by day, we’re going by game. Each game will have an MVP position player and an MVP pitcher. The amount of points given are as so: the MVPs of a Wild Card game get one point, MVPs of an LDS game get three points, MVPs of a LCS game get five points, and MVPs of World Series games get ten points. Points are doubled if it’s in a Game 5 in the LDS or Game 7 of the LCS or WS.
So, with that out of the way, here are the hitting and pitching MVPs of last night: Russell Martin (2 HRs) and Francisco Liriano (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 5 SO).
Standings:
PP (Position Player) Russell Martin- 1
P (Pitcher) Francisco Liriano- 1
Remember, folks, baseball players are not like normal people. When they get hurt, we find out all of the embarrassing details as of why.
If you had ruptured your spleen in a freak snow-shoveling accident, it would be known only to you, your doctor and maybe some family members that you would swear to secrecy. But if you are Carl Pavano, then Ken Rosenthal will tell the world about it.
Similarly, if you were to slip the bathroom and fracture your arm, it’s highly doubtful that it would be reported like it was when it happened to Francisco Liriano.
So, really, if you are a ballplayer, be warned that danger lurks everywhere. And if you aren’t a ballplayer, be glad that your stupid injuries aren’t revealed to the world.
It is done. Francisco Liriano is no longer a Minnesota Twin, traded to the White Sox for lefty starting prospect Pedro Hernandez and utility-man Eduardo Escobar. In some ways, the fact he got traded for such an uneven haul is fitting, because Liriano always something of an uneven pitcher. When he was on, he was one of the best pitchers in the game, when he wasn’t… he was one of the worst.
Acquired in a highway robbery trade with the Giants (who got A.J. Pierzynski in return… for one season) that also brought the Twins Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser, Liriano had a brief appearance in 2005. But it was his first full rookie year, in 2006, that was magnificent. He made an All-Star team, came in third for Rookie of the Year. He also had the first of many injuries. It would be the bane of his career.
He would never be the same again for any long stretch of time. He had his moments, including a no-hitter. However, in general, he was a case of what might have been. The same could be said for the Twins- who knows how different the past few years could have gone if they had a top-of-the-line power pitcher like Liriano had been in his early career. It’s possible, in fact, that they might not have even had gotten to this point to begin with, and would instead be worrying about whether they could keep Liriano when he hit free agency, not simply whether the haul they got for him was good or not (time will tell, but there are no obviously top-level prospects getting received).
So, thus ends the Liriano era. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… and it would have been a lot better if not for injuries.
The Baseball Continuum 