Perfection

I still recall the game I went to, almost two years ago. Minnesota Twins pitcher Scott Baker took a perfect game against the Kansas City Royals into the ninth inning, before he walked John Buck and then the moment earned Mike Sweeney a new nickname* when he singled to center field. But for the first 8 innings, it was magical.

*"Stupid Mike Sweeney!". We like Mike Sweeney, but crushed our hopes of seeing a no-hitter. It's an endearing nickname.

As most people are aware, the Twins and Chicago White Sox are pretty bitter rivals. Thus, Victoria Times writer Steve hates the Twins, and I hate the White Sox. Fact of life.

Nevertheless on Tuesday night at the Metrodome, I watched Buehrle attempt to make history by being the first pitcher to pitch back-to-back perfect games. Alas, little Alexi Casilla thwarted those plans by walking. Since Buehrle had not had to pitch from the stretch for 45 consecutive batters, it seems to frazzle him a bit, and the Twins took advantage and went on to score 5 runs in the next 2/3 of an inning before Buehrle was removed from the game. To be fair, one of the hits in the seventh inning should’ve been a double play. As fans of baseball, we were stunned when the second baseman broke for the bag, rather than fielding the slow ground ball hit between first and second. In the sixth inning, Joe Mauer’s ground-rule double probably should’ve been caught. Incidentally, that’s the only misplay that the White Sox are allowed to blame on the Metrodome’s weirdness.

As an aside, I think the White Sox have a mental block in regards to the Metrodome (I understand. The Twins have one in Yankee Stadium, and kinda against the Yankees in general). Many of the problems the White Sox (mostly Ozzie Guillen) blame on the Metrodome happen anywhere. Buehrle complained about the bloop hits. Bloop hits happen anywhere. Balls fall in between fielders no matter what stadium you’re playing in. The Metrodome might have a slight advantage on ground balls moving faster through the infield, but that can work against them too (the Twins are pros at hitting into double-plays. Inning-ending, rally-killing double plays are a specialty). (Another aside: My friend and I wondered why the Twins didn’t try bunting earlier in the game. Sure, Buehrle is a good fielder, but they weren’t getting on base anyway.) The poor fielding Monday night were on throws and catches. There’s not much artificial turf can do about that, as far as I’m concerned. (In fact, I could argue that it would make it easier, because there are much fewer weird bounces on uniform surfaces.)

Back on topic, I was ecstatic when the perfect game was broken up, and even happier when the no-hitter was removed from the equation. There was relief when the shut-out was eliminated, too.

And when Buehrle was removed in the seventh inning, I stood to applaud him. I know there were plenty of people applauding in sarcasm—a “Thanks for the runs!” tribute—but mine was sincere. I never cheer when an opponent leaves, even if he’s given us ten runs. In fact, I’m disappointed, ‘cause I’d rather he stay in the game and give up more runs. Buehrle deserved praise; he put himself in the recordbooks. He retired 45 consecutive batters. He was masterful. As a fan of the sport, I have to honor that, sworn enemy or not. Players don’t often get standing ovations in their opponents stadiums, but sometimes, life calls for it.

I tip my cap to Mark Buehrle. It wasn’t easy what he did. It was magical.
He may play for an evil team, but that was impressive.



(I take great joy in the fact that Scott Baker, a long-time favorite of mine, had a better box score line than Buehrle—not to take anything away from Buehrle, though. )

Holy Crap! Is Buehrle Headed for the Hall?

My plan for my weekly post coming into Thursday was to do our next Position in the Spotlight city, St. Louis (look for it on Sunday). As a White Sox fan, the events of Thursday definitely changed my mind. In case you haven't heard, Mark Buehrle became only the 18th player in major league history to pitch a perfect game, as the Sox beat the Rays 5-0. Something that makes it even better is that the Sox are now in a virtual tie for first with the Tigers in the AL Central (silly percentage points).

Today's feat got me thinking though....is Mark Buehrle quietly building an extremely strong case to be a hall of famer some day? He's only 30 right now, so he is probably a little more than half way through his career barring injury or early retirement (which he has hinted at). But let's take a look at the resume he has put together so far in his first 9 years in the majors.

Buehrle has never been dominant in any statistical category, other than time elapsed between pitches, which doesn't mean a whole lot, but he has already accomplished a lot of things that even the most dominant statistical pitchers long for. He has now thrown 2 no-hitters, including the perfect game, he was the ace of a World Series winning team, and he has made the All-Star game 4 times so far in his 9 years, and started the game for the AL in 2005. Another amazing thing about his 2 no-hitters is that when he pitched his first one 2 years ago, he only walked 1 batter on the Rangers (Sammy Sosa) and then immediately picked him off of 1st base, which means he only faced 27 batters in that game as well. This is probably the closest anyone has ever gotten to pitching 2 perfect games in a career. He also faced the minimum 27 batters in a game in 2004, where he gave up 2 hits but another batter later grounded into a double play that inning, which makes him the only pitcher ever to face the minimum 27 batters in a game 3 times.

Statistically, he has a respectable career ERA of 3.78, which isn't bad for the steroid era, and 133 career wins, averaging 15 a season (he already has 11 in 2009). That's a pretty good amount of wins for a 30 year-old, and if he can keep up that pace for 8 more years, he'll have 250 wins. Ten more years puts him at 280 at 40 years old. Of course anything can happen, but has been a workhorse over the years, pitching over 200 innings every year so far in his career.

Back on the intangibles side, he still has some opportunities on the horizon. With the White Sox, he plays for a well paid team in a pretty weak division, so he has the potential to add to his 3 playoff appearances. This perfect game might also boost his popularity more among the sports writers and around the league, which could lead to some more love from the Cy Young voters (here's hoping Halladay gets traded to the NL next week) and more All-Star selections by the managers. I guess now that he has done it twice, there's always a chance he might throw a 3rd no-hitter down the line....

This can all be discussed again 15 years from now. For now, we'll see if Buehrle can carry his team back to the playoffs again, and I'll definitely be watching to see what happens next in his unpredictable career.