- Pitching for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, Francisco Liriano earned his first win in professional baseball since July 23, 2006. This was by no means his best outing though. He surrendered a 3-run homer in the first inning and issued 4 walks over 6 innings pitched. It’s very encouraging to see 7 Ks in the boxscore, but he will have to bring down the walk totals before returning to the Majors. He is still ways off from returning to his dominant 2006 form. If he ever does regain his Cy Young caliber form, we probably won’t see it until 2009–That’s not saying that he won’t be useful at the Major League level this year, but unless the Twins are in dire need for pitching, they won’t rush him back to just yet.
- The Phillies–Reds series has seen its share of great pitching. Brett Myers took a no-hit bid into the 7th on Wednesday, only to be out-dueled by Edinson Volquez in a 2-0 contest. On Thursday, Cole Hamels pitched a complete game, 3-hit shutout to claim the rubber game of the series for Philadelphia.
- I’ve read a lot of chatter from fantasy experts and owners who are predicting a mid-season breakdown for Edinson Volquez. The reason: because he pitched winter ball. Out of curiosity, I looked up his stats in the Dominican Winter League to find that he only threw 8.2—that’s right, only 8.2 innings. Less than a complete game’s worth of work isn’t enough to scare me as a fantasy owner. This guy is the real deal. Look for him to continue to post high strikeout numbers for the rest of the season. But beware of his manager “Mark Prioring” him.
Mark·Pri·or 1
verb. Mark Priored, Mark Prioring
When Dusty Baker decides that a young pitcher’s work is not done until his pitch count exceeds 115, leading to serious and sometimes career threatening damage to the throwing arm. Synonym: to Kerry Wood
Example: Johnny Cueto will be Mark Priored until his arm falls off.
- Jose Contreras continues to roll as he toys with the lowly Kansas City Royals offense, while improving to 6-3 on the year. Contreras allowed one run and earned his 5th quality start of the season. Somehow he is only owned in 89% of ESPN fantasy leagues.
- Overshadowed by a couple of squabbles on and off the field, Jon Lester turned in another solid outing for the Bo-Sox. He surrendered one run, walked no one, and earned the win as the Sox completed the sweep of the Rays. Amazingly, Lester is only owned in 66% of ESPN fantasy leagues despite the fact that he already threw a no-hitter, and he will get solid run support from the Red Sox almost every time he takes the mound (even without David Ortiz).
