Oh No No He Didn't (sorry)

(Reuters) - Minnesota left-hander Francisco Liriano pitched the first no-hitter of the Major League Baseball season on Tuesday to give the Twins a 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.

Excuse me?

You must mean Francisco Rodriguez. No, wait, he's a closer. 

Ben Francisco? I think he plays left field, so probably not. 

Fransisco Pizzaro, maybe?


What I'm saying is: this is surprising. Shocking. Flabbergastastic.

There's no one in the Twins rotation, in most of the league in all honesty, that I would expect a no no from less than Liriano. Not just because he's having a particularly rough time of it lately (9.13 ERA going into tonight, all speculation that Slowey might replace him come Monday), but more so because... well, I'm not sure I've ever seen this guy throw a complete game. Somewhere around the 6th or 7th he's usually huffing and puffing like he chased a chicken up eight flights of stairs, his pitches are up, and flying over fences. I don't think I've seen him go over 100 pitches since the Bush Administration.


I'm not saying Liriano is back to old form and everything is fine now... 6 walks, 2 strikeouts, only one run, and all that. Tonight might have been about as ugly as a no hitter can look -- but, really, a no hitter is never ugly; some are just prettier than others, like Baldwin brothers.


Anyway, this is stunning. And this is awesome. A beautiful achievement for Frankie and gleeful surprise for the rest of us. Hopefully, this is also somewhat of momentum- and a luck-changer (or at least the perception of a luck-changer, which, in the mad and glorious head game of baseball, can be as much of a real luck/momentum-changer as an offering to Jobu.

So, maybe it wasn't Billy or Alec Baldwin. Maybe it's crazy Stephen or bloated, old Daniel-- but I bet we'll still take it. 

Yay. Balls (and strikes) forever.
-christine.

P.S., Liriano owes some homies a cerveza or two... Danny Valencia for that super sexy defensive showstopper, Morneau for great digs, and Jim Joyce for making it impossible for any first base ump to ever give a close call to the runner when a no no is in play.