Jason Kubel

Sometimes, the difference is one moment - or in the case of the game between the Twins and White Sox last night, Jason Kubel hitting a solo home run in the 4th inning off of Edwin Jackson. Jackson had a really good game... 6 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. Francisco Liriano had a better game. He also had 2 strikeouts, but he went 9 straight zeroes on runs and hits. While he let up a base on balls for every hit that Edwin Jackson had, he still gets the no no and the win while Jackson takes the loss.
In the end, it's the first of the year, and so we continue the decade of the pitcher (even if the Angels dynamic duo just got beaten up on by the Red Sox - the only team that they can tame; well, really, they own the Angels).
And on this rainy Wednesday morning, Liriano is now 2-4 with a 6.61 ERA. His ERA prior to this game was 9.13. His ERA hasn't been better than 7.40 ALL SEASON! In fact, he was so bad, I got rid of him from my fantasy team after 2 games. Sure, last year, he was great again (I turned down a trade to ship him out), something we talked about on this site already, but last year is last year.
At one point, the Yankees drooled over him and thought about getting him. As Phil Hughes turned into mystery arm problem man (0-1, 13.94, and 3Ks in 3 games), things looked really problematic in da Bronx. Then, Bartolo Colon came along and made everything better (2-1, 3.00, and 38 whiffs), which means that he is having a year that made fans remember his Cy Young year (2005). So whether or not the Yankees want him with CC putting 14 batters on base in 7 innings and blowing the game last night to the Tigers remains to be seen, but as long as Ivan Nova isn't great, it's a possibility - unless Freddy Garcia continues to think it's the first half of the decade as well.
Nevertheless, when a player has one good game in a year (albeit a great game), it tends to make all the things that haven't gone well (or at least close to expected) better and leave a permanent highlight as it will be forever immortalized in Cooperstown. That said, it might not be enough to keep a career going (see Len Barker), but yeah... there is upside to being traded or signed to a team that is investing in long since dead players (see Mark Prior) AND that means that said players can end up in the playoffs deep into October (as opposed to getting bounced in the first round because your reliever (uh, former closer) sucks to begin with (and more so after the injury).
So here's to the moment of greatness. Now, let's carry it through to resurrect the rest of the Twins season.

Armando Galarraga

Is it any wonder that the man who was so "classy" in pitching a perfect game that got botched by a poor officiating call is now designated for assignment? Sure, he has upside. He pitched a perfect game, but so did Len Barker, the author of a 1981 perfect game against Toronto (3-0). But what else did he do? At least Dallas Braden mouthed off at A-Rod and his blue lipped world of Madonna obsession for daring to cross his pitching mound.
Now, Brad Penny's aging and injured self is on the team and he's been solid for years and years - when he's healthy. Armando really didn't contribute after that game. He got his Corvette and people hailed him the perfect sportsman, but being a great competitor doesn't win games, and Galarraga's final record was 4-9 with a 4.49 ERA. Take out the gem, and where does that leave him? Should we really feel so sad for the Venezuelan pitcher who had his 15 minutes of fame and will forever be #21 with an asterisk on our list of perfect games?
So if another team chooses to give him another chance, so be it. It's just that from August 20th to the end of the season, Armando never won again. Sure, there were a fair bit of no decisions and there were 2 hard luck decisions (2-1 losses to Baltimore and Kansas City), but still. Baseball is baseball. Ubaldo Jimenez will tell you that you can win some of those decisions and lose some. I'm sure his 19 win season last year hurts even more because he can't take a hurting to the Rockies who should be sued for lack of support worse than any deadbeat dad, but that's the game. Having 5 tough luck losses after his 15th win (3 runs or less allowed including a 1-0 loss to the New York Mets) really says it all, but look at the first part of the season (1 hard luck loss and almost all of his wins were close - there was never a blow out - his team did just enough or he got the shutout victory). It's like the glory days of Pedro Martinez all over again for Ubaldo, but with Armando, he's just not the pitcher that the other 2 guys are.
That said, this is baseball, and we believe in second chances. Surely, Jim Joyce got one in the Armando Galarraga story. Will Armando?