Like taking away your right arm...

From here:

Elbow shelves Twins' Liriano for season

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI
AP Sports Writer

AP Photo/ANDY KING MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Minnesota Twins will have to make thei

r playoff push without Francisco Liriano. A strong Rookie of the Year candidate, Liriano walked off the mound because of elbow trouble Wednesday in his highly anticipated return to the Minnesota rotation. After a 1-0 loss to Oakland, manager Ron Gardenhire said Liriano was done for the year.

"Obviously he won't be pitching again," Gardenhire said. "Something is in there bothering and continuing to stop him. ... Obviously when he gets in a game and puts a little extra torque in there, something is not right. We have to make sure we stop it and do what we have to do."

The Twins' lead in the AL wild-card race was cut to 1 1/2 games by Chicago, which beat Los Angeles 9-0.

Liriano slumped off the mound in the third inning. Trainers and Gardenhire immediately rushed out to attend to the All-Star lefty and a hush fell over the crowd that had been so excited to see him back in action.

"The last two pitches I threw, I felt a pop and it really hurts," Liriano said.

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I still think that the Twins will take the AL Central; but it would have been a heck of a lot easier with Liriano.