Friday, August 11, 2006

Blue Jays 5, Twins 0

A spotless start by Carlos Silva quickly transformed into another ugly outing last night. After pitching four hitless innings to start the game, Silva gave up a two-run homer to Bengie Molina in the fifth inning and was then tagged for three more runs in the seventh before being pulled.

The Twins had a chance to make a game out of it at one point. Down by two runs in the sixth inning, they put runners on second and third with one out for cleanup hitter Michael K-ddyer, at which point Cuddy predictably struck out. Justin Morneau followed this up with a feeble pop-out to Troy Glaus to end the Twins' only real threat of the game.

It was a disappointing loss, but then again, you can't win 'em all. I always hate to see the Twins get shut out, especially at home, but Jays' starter Ted Lilly pitched well. The more important news of the day had nothing to do with this game, but rather test results regarding the Twins' top rookie.

The results of the MRI on Francisco Liriano's elbow have been revealed... yet it's still tough to figure out what to make of his injury. It seems Liriano has no structural damage in his elbow, but rather what is described as "a mild chronic strain of his ulnar collateral ligament." It has also come to light that Liriano has soreness in his shoulder, which is potentially bad news. The Twins say they are "optimistic, but not totally confident" that Liriano will pitch again this season. Personally, I'd be very surprised if he did. With that said, I'll keep my fingers crossed because his return would give this team a huge boost.

For now, we will all have our eyes on another 22-year-old rookie. Matt Garza makes his major league debut tonight against A.J. Burnett.

No comments: