He is sidelined after undergoing elbow surgery

Jim Mandelaro
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Each morning for the past six weeks, the slender
pitcher has followed the same routine.

Wake up early.

Run. Stretch. Play catch.

Then sit and watch.

"It has not been a lot of fun, but there's nothing I can do about it,''
Minnesota Twins left-hander Francisco Liriano said. "It's just the way it
is.''

The way it is almost seems unfair. Liriano is sidelined until at least
next season following "Tommy John elbow" surgery in November. That's where
a ligament in the elbow is replaced with one from somewhere else in the
body.

It took a surgeon to do what no major-league batter could: Stop Liriano.
He'll miss the entire 2007 season.

Red Wings fans caught Liriano on his way to the top. In 2005, he went 9-2
with a 1.78 ERA in 14 starts for Rochester, a season in which he led the
minors with 204 strikeouts and was named USA Today Minor League Player of
the Year. His home starts brought in walk-up ticket sales in the hundreds.

Last summer, the former Red Wing was the hottest pitcher in baseball,
combining with Cy Young Award-winning teammate Johan Santana to form an
incredibly potent 1-2 punch.

The Dominican Republic native began last season in the Twins' bullpen but
blossomed into a full-fledged star when he was moved into the rotation in
May.

How dominating was he? Consider:

# In 28 games (16 starts), he allowed only 89 hits in 121 innings.

# He struck out 144 batters and walked just 32.

# He posted a 12-3 record and 2.16 earned-run average, earning American
League All-Star honors along the way.

It seemed too good to be true, and it was.

On Aug. 1, he was scratched from the next day's scheduled start because of
forearm inflammation after a bullpen session. He pitched Aug. 7 but
allowed four runs in four innings at Detroit.

This time, he was placed on the disabled list, and pacemakers throughout
the Minneapolis area went on overdrive.

Liriano began a rehabilitation program, threw off the mound on Aug. 30 and
made a rehab start in a playoff game for the Red Wings on Sept. 9,
striking out four in three hitless innings against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

He seemed good as new, but he wasn't. Four days later, he started for the
Twins in an afternoon game against the Oakland A's and left the game in
the third inning with throbbing pain in his left elbow.

It would be the last time he would pitch — at least until 2008.

Liriano, still only 23, had plenty of company at the Twins'
spring-training complex in Fort Myers during the past six weeks.
Teammates, minor-leaguers, managers, coaches, instructors and fans flooded
the Lee County Sports Complex. He ran with his teammates, shagged fly
balls during batting practice.

There was an air of excitement, and the reality of his situation didn't
fully take hold.

But today, the Twins are in Minnesota, where they will open the 2007
season against the Baltimore Orioles. Hammond Stadium is empty, and
Liriano is left behind to ponder how he'll ever get through the next six
months without doing what he loves most.

He'll remain in Fort Myers and work out at the complex.

"It's going to be very hard,'' he said. "I think the hardest part will be
mentally. Physically, I am getting better all the time. But I have to
accept that this is not my year.''

Liriano has been playing catcher every other day and says it feels "like
it's my first time playing baseball.''

He wears a nylon sleeve over his left elbow. It protects the six-inch
scar. He won't be able to throw off a mound until this fall, and the hope
is that he'll be on the Hammond Stadium mound for the Twins next spring.

This isn't the first time an injury has sidelined Liriano for a long
stretch. While a minor-league pitcher with San Francisco, he missed
virtually the entire 2003 season with a strain in the left side of his
back.

"But that was different,'' he said. "I was a minor-leaguer. Nobody knew
me.''

Last year's success has whet his appetite for more. But that hunger will
have to wait at least another year, and while Tommy John surgery isn't the
death sentence it used to be for pitchers, nobody knows if Liriano will be
the incredible power pitcher he was in '06.

The Twins reportedly have talked about him changing his motion to ease the
stress on his arm.

"I don't really want to do that, but if they think it's best we will
see,'' he said. "I just want to pitch.''

He'll have to wait a year to do that. American League hitters will
appreciate the break.

April 2, 2007