Perfection. That is, in short, what Mark Buehrle was today.
A perfect game is as simple as "27 batters up, 27 batters down". I use the term "simple" quite loosely because the rarity of a perfect game in Major League Baseball. Since the modern era of baseball(over 100+ years) there has only been 16 perfect games. Today, July 23, Mark Buehrle was added to this short list.
Mark Buehrle can now add this to his growing resume and hall of fame bid. He's also thrown a no hitter, won a world series ring, hit a home run as a pitcher, and at the age of 30 already has over 130 wins.
Though Buehrle was absolutely great today, a perfect game needs more than just pitching. A perfect game requires that the team, as a whole, makes no errors. Due to Tampa throwing a lefty, the defensive look was a bit different. Paul Konerko was not at first. Chris Getz not at second. Most importantly, AJ Pierzynski not behind the plate. Instead Ramon Castro caught the historical game. The defense came up huge. Beckham made great plays at 3b and everyone made all the routine ones. In the top of the ninth, though often considered bad "voodoo", Ozzie Guillen made a change. He moved Podsednik to Left and put Wise in Center. First batter that inning, Kapler, comes up and hits a bomb to deep center. Dwayne Wise probably made the best catch I have ever seen. He robbed a home run off of Kapler's bat. Buehrle then threw a strikeout to Hernandez and a groundout to Bartlett to complete the game.
This is the second Perfect game in White Sox history. Charlie Robertson was the last White sox player to do it in 1922. The only current franchise to have more than two is the New York Yankees.
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This couldn't have come at a better time too, seeing as how this win and a tiger's loss puts us tied for the Central Division lead. What a great day to be a White Sox fan!
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