Sunday marked the long anticipated return of Francisco Liriano to the Twins starting rotation. Liriano missed all of the 2007 season after having Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow in November of 2006, and it was evident on Sunday that he's not back to being the dominant force we all saw in that 2006 season.Francisco only lasted 4.2 innings on Sunday, allowing four runs on six hits and walking five while striking out four. Of course, in his first start back from such a procedure, you can't really look at the numbers as the deciding factor. The biggest difference between the Liriano of 2006 and the one we saw yesterday was the velocity of his fastball and it's location.
Whereas Liriano generally threw his fastball in the 94-96MPH range in 2006, he topped out at 91MPH on Sunday. Not exactly a surprise because really, he's still rehabbing his arm. I'm more concerned with his location right now, because his fastball was going anywhere but where he wanted it to on Sunday. Though I'm sure the 29 degree wind chill in Kansas City at times didn't do much to help matters.
It's important to remember that it generally takes two years for pitchers to fully recover from Tommy John surgery, so we shouldn't look too deeply into Francisco's performances last season. Forget yesterday's loss, forget his velocity, and forget his location for the moment. Sunday can only be considered a success for Liriano because he experienced no pain in his elbow, and was able to use his slider effectively. As long as he stays healthy this season, he can have an ERA of 7.71 all season, it will still be a success for Liriano and the Twins.
