Pitching wins baseball games, especially in the postseason. It's not just a saying, it's a fact.
Think back to some of the dominant tandems like Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and, more recently, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson.
All of them had one thing in common: They helped their respective teams win a World Series.
A couple weeks ago, it looked like the names Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano could have been added to this illustrious list.
However, Liriano heard a loud pop in his throwing arm and keeled over in pain on the mound during the top half of the third inning against the Oakland Athletics. This was his first start back from the disabled list and with the decision to bring him back so quickly, the Minnesota Twins as an organization looked to have suffered a fatal blow.
They learned that not only would they have to shut Liriano down for the season, but they could have potentially lost a franchise player for at least a couple years.
Fortunately for Minnesota, Liriano did not suffer any further damage to his already injured arm.
This begs the question: Would the Twins have handled Johan II with more care if they played in a larger market and could generate a bigger payroll?
Seeing how the window of opportunity can shut on a smaller team in a split second, the Twins were forced to take a huge gamble on bringing Liriano back, which jeopardized his career in the process.
A team with a lot of money has more leverage, can make a move to bolster the rotation or look within the organization for an impact arm.
Unfortunately for the Twins, they have a payroll the size of a McDonalds.
Luckily for them, they have some pretty good young arms in their farm system. Rookies Boof Bonser, Matt Garza and Sean Baker have paid immediate dividends for the Twins.
Did I mention I really like the name Boof?
Instead of losing ground in their division, they are within a single game of the Detroit Tigers, who have been in first place since day one of the season.
Sure, the Twins are on the verge of making their fourth playoff appearance in five years, but they don't look as tough as they did before.
A postseason rotation of Bonser, Garza or Silva, and Santana won't strike any fear into their opponents. Other than Santana, none of them have ever showcased their talent at that level of play before.
Could you have imagined what it would have been like having to face Santana and Liriano twice each in an abbreviated series - or even a seven-game series, for that matter?
It would have been quite a chore to take even one of those games they started, let alone two. The Twins were holding all the right cards to win the hand, but instead of playing to the river, they folded prematurely.
My other question is why did their coaching staff bring Liriano along so slowly, and then just abandon that philosophy all of a sudden as the postseason crept closer?
Throughout most of the regular season, the San Cristobal native, after his move from the bullpen, was on a strict pitch count. He rarely went over 100 pitches and hardly ever went deep into a ball game. General manager Terry Ryan and manager Ron Gardenhire also said that they wished Liriano would cut back on his slider some and learn to spot his fastball more, to play off of the changeup. He hoped this would help strengthen his arm and avoid injury.
Dusty Baker, are you taking notes?
After moving from the bullpen and taking the place of the underwhelming Carlos Silva in the starting rotation, Liriano baffled opposing lineups from the get go and lit a fire under the struggling Twins.
His steady diet of 98-mph fastballs, an electric slider and a change-up that is Santana-esque helped him to a 12-3 record and a miniscule 2.19 ERA.
He was nearly a shoe-in for Rookie of the Year and even in the running for the Cy Young Award.-á-á
And oh yeah, the Twins could hit this year.
Minnesota's all too familiar early exit in the postseason never really had to do with their pitching, but untimely hitting. But this year, guys like Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer and Jason Bartlett have been automatic with runners in scoring position. They will have to hope this continues as they just might have to overpower their opponents and hope their bullpen can eat some innings.
All the ingredients were there for dominant postseason run.
They could have had possibly had one of the best one-two punches in baseball history and still could, but they will have to wait til next year.
Ryan M. Marsh is a sophomore journalism major and writes 'Ryan Knows All' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to Ryan at rmmarsh@bsu.edu.
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