Francisco Liriano No-Hitter: Is Minnesota Twins Lefty Back for Good?

Last night, Minnesota Twins left-hander Francisco Liriano tossed a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.  The Twins won, 1-0, as Liriano finished the job with 123 pitches thrown and shortstop Matt Tolbert snagged White Sox designated hitter Adam Dunn's line drive for the final out.

It was a big win for Liriano, who came into the game with a 1-4 record and a 9.13 ERA.  After last night's heroics, his ERA dropped to a slightly less embarrassing 6.61.  Sure enough, given his performance, people are wondering if the powerful lefty is indeed finding his stride.  I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for this right now, but believe me when I say it: Liriano's no-hitter isn't even 24 hours old and is already becoming overrated.

Let's take a look at the stat line for Liriano.  He threw the full complete game (duh!) and struck out only two batters.  I know he's only a few years removed from Tommy John surgery, but this is a man who struck out 201 batters in 191.2 innings last season.  He should have been blowing the anemic offense of the Chicago White Sox away with ease.

As was mentioned before, he threw 123 pitches.  Yet, let's analyze that count.  Of those 123, only 66 were thrown for strikes, and thus Liriano walked six batters.

Most importantly, it's not as though Liriano was facing a dangerous offense.  While the White Sox lineup does feature top hitters like Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn, the team as a whole is only batting .236 on the season.  That's ranked 20th in all of baseball.  On top of that, they currently hold the worst record in baseball at 11-20.

Still, a no-hitter is a no-hitter, and with that being said, is Francisco Liriano truly back?  Well, it's honestly too early to tell.  It was just one start and it will take a few more good performances to determine whether or not he has returned to his old form.

His next scheduled start, according to ESPN, is on Monday against the Boston Red Sox.  That team as a whole has been struggling, but has shown signs of life the past few weeks.  If Liriano can turn in a solid performance against them and teams he faces in the future, then his no-hitter will have some more credibility.

Until that happens, however, his no-hitter will just be a small bright spot on a 2011 seasonal resume that thus far has been an extreme disappointment.