In Year of Pitcher, Jimenez is proving to be the best yet

Imagine paying for a Broadway play, and watching the curtain drop after five minutes.

Imagine a movie (other than "Memento") that begins with the ending.

The same trait that makes sport compelling -- rabid unpredictability -- ruins as many dramas as it creates.

On a gorgeous Thursday afternoon at Target Field, we expected one of those games that promises to be more than just a game. Francisco Liriano started for the Twins. Ubaldo Jimenez started for the Colorado Rockies. Liriano has regained All-Star form. Jimenez has emerged as the best pitcher in baseball.

Liriano fired the first pitch at 12:10 p.m. By 12:20, the curtain had fallen.

The Rockies scored three off Liriano in the first. By the time Jimenez took the mound, there was little doubt he would turn the Twins into his latest victims in what could become one of the most dominant pitching seasons in history.

Jimenez is that good. Thursday, he gave up one run in eight innings in the Rockies' 5-1 victory. He's 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA. He's 10-0 when he starts following a Rockies loss. He's also the rare pitcher who can show off a 100 miles-per-hour fastball and breaking pitches that swoop like hawks and yet impress you as much with his savvy as his stuff.

Then Jim Thome hit a one-out, pinch-hit double, Drew Butera drove him home, and Denard Span drew a walk.

Joe Mauer pinch hit for Matt Tolbert, and suddenly we could enjoy one of those delicious moments when a great hitter takes the measure of a great pitcher.

Jimenez had thrown 104 pitches in heat. In the dugout, Rockies manager Jim Tracy didn't stir. "This is a guy with, what, a 1.09 ERA?" Tracy said. "He is the type of pitcher and has become the type of pitcher that if you still feel he has gas left in his tank, he needs to be out there to get those outs."

So Tracy stuck with his ace. With a 1-2 count, Jimenez threw a 96 mph fastball high, then missed with a breaking pitch inside.

Earlier, with two out and a runner on second in the sixth, Jimenez had faced Delmon Young, who, at that point, was 4-for-5 in his career against Jimenez.

"I mean, he has a lot of success against me," Jimenez said. "I wanted to throw everything I have. And then after I threw a couple of fastballs inside, just to move him off the plate. ... Then when I got him to two strikes, I said, 'I'm going to throw it down here, he hasn't seen that one.' "

Still hasn't.

With Mauer at the plate in the eighth, and the count full, and the game threatening to become more dramatic, Jimenez threw his split-fingered fastball toward the outside corner. Mauer flicked a line drive toward second, and when Denard Span got caught off first base the inning was over and Jimenez was done for the day.

"When you have a guy like Mauer coming up and a runner on base, I know my best pitch is the fastball, but he's a tough guy," Jimenez said. "You have to try to find a way to make him go out of balance. But he didn't. He hit the ball hard, still."

That's not quite true. The pitch selection, location and movement forced Mauer to hit the ball with only his hands, robbing him of the ability to drive the ball.

We didn't see Jimenez at his most dominant, just at his most intuitive. In what is becoming the Year of the Pitcher, Jimenez is proving to be the best of all.