Twins 2, Orioles 0: Another near no-hitter
Posted on March 8th, 2009 – 1:51 PMBy Joe Christensen
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — For the second time in four games, the Twins carried a no-hit bid late into an exhibition game Sunday, with Francisco Liriano pitching four perfect innings and Joe Nathan retiring all three batters he faced, too.
On Thursday, the Netherlands spoiled the Twins’ no-hit bid with one out in the eighth inning. This time, prized Orioles catching prospect Matt Wieters broke up the no-hit bid with a single leading off the ninth inning against Bobby Keppel.
Carlos Gomez smashed a two-run homer in the sixth inning, and the Twins held on for a 2-0 victory at Fort Lauderdale Stadium.
Liriano notched five strikeouts, and Nathan notched two K’s in his first outing since the Feb. 25 spring opener. Nathan, who pulled out of the World Baseball Classic, said his right shoulder was fine.
“Everything went as good as it could,” Nathan said. “No discomfort at all. More importantly, I didn’t really think about it out there. I think we can probably put this behind us now and move forward and get into a little rhythm here.”
37 Responses to "Twins 2, Orioles 0: Another near no-hitter"
Liriano might win 16+ this year.
I don’t want to be one of the idiots that over hypes a 4 inning ST pitching performance……oh wait yes I do Liriano is going to win the Cy Young this year. Joe Nathan is going to save 50.
Even though this isn’t necessarily predictive of future results, I’d rather see Liriano pitch well than to labor.
Joe, any sense of what pitches he was using, and how often the slider was mixed in?
Ft. Lauderdale Stadium has to be the biggest DUMP in Florida.
WISH: Morneau’s Canadians get b-slapped by Italy and he is headed back to Ft. Myers ASAP….
Sounds like the pitchers are ready to go. This extra long Spring Training is terrible. I can’t believe we have another month left yet.
[…] Around the Majors – […]
If Liriano takes it easy and doesn’t try to blow the entire league away in the early months of the season, as he can and did during his first year, he will be the Cy Young winner and the Twin’s have a real shot at the Big One again.
Take it easy, Big Fella. We’re all holding our breath. Easy on the pedal. Save your best for August and later. Don’t even think about the all-star game, take the rest. Put the crush on starting in August. Don’t let the media affect your play.
DWade
I was at the game, The Franchise looked great. He mixed in all his pitches, the slider was totally handcuffing the righties, and the change was fooling them as well. The only thing that worried me is that his mechanics looked like they did 2 years ago, very sloppy, falling off the mound after release. Hope the elbow can hold up.
One other thing, I’m not sure Go-Go’s HR has come down yet…it was a BOMB!
Wow, the Twins are peaking.
Yes the Franchise should easily win 16 games and the Cy Young… if the Twins can find a way to have him face the Orioles 15-20 times.
It’s better than seeing him get rocked, for sure, but just like you don’t read too much in to a bad start early in ST, you certainly don’t go overboard the other way either.
Baker and Liriano make a better 1-2 punch than Santana and Radke. If Blackburn, Slowey and Perkins keep improving, this team can go far.
But I still believe that without Joe Nathan, this team would be average. Without those 40+ saves that Nathan provides, it will be tough to compete in the Central Division. Lets hope his arm really is feeling good.
The news is A-’Roid will have hip surgery & be out into May. Maybe he can have a doctor prescribe some steroids to help it heal faster…..Just like old times. 
Capcom, I personally think it is too early to make a comment like that. If Liriano was never hurt then I would agree.
However, if you add in Slowey you could argue this is as good a top 3 as we have had in a LONG time.
if you add in Slowey you could argue this is as good a top 3 as we have had in a LONG time.
maybe not as good as ‘91 (even though the potential is there) but better that any other team since…
Quote: “WISH: Morneau’s Canadians get b-slapped by Italy and he is headed back to Ft. Myers ASAP”
Also, it would keep Punto out of camp so we can continue to audition his replacements
It’s official: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/03/brewers-release.html
Looks like the Smith the Twins FO knew what they were doing when they pulled their offer at the 11th hour.
That Wieters is nottin but a punk.
HAVE FUN !!! GO TWINS !!!
thrylos,
What did you think about the Baker deal?
Regards,
Dragon,
I am probably in the minority thinking that this is pretty premature. On the other hand, the money is fine and if he ends up being a number 3 or 4 starter in the last couple of years before the option year, the Twins would have not committed too much. For me Baker is a twinner: he can really has a high ceiling but also a fairly low floor… I hope it is not Joe Mays all over again.
i was thinking joe mays, maybe a year early for the twins but good for baker. sets him up for life even if he gets hurt unless he has as many kids as spree.
be nice to get nicky back get this offense going again.
So, what were we going to pay Eric Gagne again?
And, what will Baker’s annual salary be with the club option?
Baker’s upside is Jim Perry, and his downside is Mike Smithson, isn’t that about right?
Baker=Radke
Baker’s upside is Jim Perry, and his downside is Mike Smithson, isn’t that about right?
I think that Smithson is about right for his downside. 2-3 more years of last year and then bombing. Or Tapani or Portugal (as far as former Twins’ pitchers go). His upside is probably Smoltz or Lowe or something like that. A bit higher than Perry (Cy Young and all)
Luke Hughes just hit a rocket bomb off of Oliver perez for the Aussies 2-0 lead over Mexico
Bye the Bye,
Luke Hughes Homered for OZ with Trent Ontjean on base in the top of the 1st. v. Mexico.
Regards,
“(Baker’s ceiling) higher than Perry (Cy Young and all)”
Hope you’re right, thrylos. Since slowey compares with Maddox, Liriano compares with Santana, and now Baker compares with Smoltz, let’s go crazy: Balckburn as Dave Boswell, Perkins as Jim Meritt?
let’s go crazy:
alright:
(but I don’t know about those two…)
I think that Perkins has Alan Anderson all over him (and that is not bad) and Blackburn is older that Boswell was when he played his last game in the majors (or close)… How about Mike Scott for him?
Jim Hughes?
better than Jim Hughes already
Couple suggestions: I see someone else say sign Pedro Martinez. I agree. He would be great in 7th and 8th innings. Also, the Mauer situation. Get Chris Coste from Philadephia. He and redman will get you through till Mauer is ready. Coste is great player who may not have spot this coming year with Philly.
Remember Blackburns performance in the Whitesox play in game? He can be tops in the league. Mature for his age.
Pedro has already said he wants to pitch in the National League. He is only going to pitch in a situation that fits his wants at this point in his career. He has said that over and over again.
Well yeah, but if you’re going to start limiting suggestions to players actually available AND willing to play for the Twins, you’re going to rule out about 90% of the comments around here.
Not that such would necessarily be a bad thing.
Nice to see Luke Hughes on mlb.com with his HR.
Hey Dragon! Were you the Twins fan I met last year at Camden Yards? I believe your wife and my sister went to school at Albert Einstein in Kensington.
Regardless….Go Twins!
Hi Driftwood,
Yes, “She who bosses us all!” went to Einstein.
I also had a Tax Prep office for 20 years in Kensington.
Already got tickets for the two May Orioles games.
Regards,
Thanks, Dragon!
I’ll see if there’s a way I can reach you…I won’t be able to make it back in May but have to keep track of the remaining Twins’ fans in Maryland! They’re even more rare here in Oregon….
