"In the U.S. Cellular Field bullpen last month, Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson watched Francisco Liriano warm up for a start against the second-place Chicago White Sox and knew trouble could be on the way. When the left-hander jogged to the mound, Anderson warned manager Ron Gardenhire, "He's pretty excited about this game."

For six innings, Liriano's emotions played out in a string of mound visits so frequent that White Sox fans booed every time Joe Mauer popped up from his crouch and headed toward his pitcher. Even Gardenhire joked after the game: "Now everybody knows what we feel like when we play the Yankees and (Jorge) Posada is running out there all the time. We were kind of wondering what was going on ourselves."

Liriano loaded the bases twice in that game and missed an inning-ending double play on a comebacker by wasting precious time checking the runner at third. He gave up three runs in six innings but, thanks to nine runs of support, got the win. "