On this date in 1999, the Royals tore off a 10-run eighth inning en route to an 11-7 win over the Indians, according to Baseball-Reference. Kansas City's only homer in the barrage was a two-out solo shot by Johnny Damon, now of the Indians. On with the Central Links:
- The Twins will see "robust interest" in left-hander Francisco Liriano as the trade deadline nears, a club official tells Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com (Twitter link). Liriano has pitched better of late after a terrible start to the season, though his ERA sits at 5.30 and his SIERA at 4.10.
- The Cardinals' pursuits leading up to the trade deadline will largely be shaped by Chris Carpenter's attempt to return from a shoulder injury, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. GM John Mozeliak is targeting July 1 as a yardstick for Carpenter's progress, although the right-hander recently suffered a setback. The Redbirds plan to seek a starting pitcher.
- Indians pitcher Roberto Hernandez, formerly known as Fausto Carmona, likely won't have to serve an eight-week suspension similar to the one being served by the Marlins' Juan Carlos Oviedo for playing under a false identity, GM Chris Antonetti told reporters, including Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. Hernandez will probably be excused from the suspension because he restructured his contract this offseason.
Hopefully Liriano can keep it up til the deadline. He’s always been his own worst enemy and you worry that the smallest thing could send him back to where he was at the beginning of the season.
The Cardinals moving to the AL Central is news to me.
Edit: I appreciate the speedy fix. It’s nice to see an involved staff.
Only one comment and three likes before I caught this. Today is my lucky day.
To be fair, Dan, I was going to make a comment, but Scott beat me to it (and his was funnier anyway.)
I read the Morosi tweet and I was disappointed. I was hoping he elucidated further as to what exactly he meant by “Robust Insterest”. Unfortunately, he did not.
I barely know what robust means.
Liriano, Dempster, Garza, and Greinke should be on the Braves radar