It’s not every day that perfection pays a visit to the sports world.
Before Thursday, only seventeen pitchers, in the history of Major League Baseball, retired all 27 batters faced in a game.
Mark Buehrle made it 18. In so doing, the southpaw rubs elbows with some elite company.
Buehrle held Tampa Bay without any baserunners while striking out six. The native of St. Charles, Missouri hurled 19 first-pitch strikes on the afternoon.
The lefty, who tossed a no-hitter on April 18, 2007, joins Sandy Koufax, Cy Young, Jim Bunning, Randy Johnson, and Addie Joss as the only hurlers to toss a Perfect Game and No-Hitter.
In the end, Buehrle took a little advice from Ringo Starr and ‘Got By With A Little Help From His Friends.’
Who gets your POTW?
Clearly, Buehrle is my #1 choice for POTW.
Honorable mentions go to the Yankees who won 6 of 7 games and then to the Cubs who finally managed to inch their way into first place in the NL Central by a 1/2 game.
I am going with Lance Armstrong. Yes, he finished in 3rd, but considering the layoff between his last Tour De France (3 or 4 years) and the fact that he is 37 years old. To me finishing 3rd, proves just how great he was during the years in which he dominated the Tour.
For me, he has nothing more to prove. The fact that he finished in 3rd should silence all of his critics and begin to remove some of the doping claims.
I’ll go with Dewayne Wise and I think Mark Buehrle would too. I can’t think of a more dramatic catch in a no-hitter / perfect game. 9th inning and he saves the shutout and perfect game. Amazing catch and he it did it so calmly and just nonchalantly tossed the ball back in. I would have lost it when I felt the ball smack my glove. They would have had to bring in another defensive sub for me.
Wise’s catch may be the “Play of the Week”, Rey, but when a MLB pitcher tosses a perfect game … this one was the 18th EVER … you gotta give him the “Performance of the Week”. All perfect games … or no-hitters for that matter … involve some luck and one or two awesome defensive plays to save it. Buehrle’s was no different. But to face 27 big league hitters and retire all of them in a row with nobody reaching base is absolutely INCREDIBLE.
I don’t want to downplay Wise’s catch though. It was a GREAT catch, esp under the circumstances. Rick Ankiel’s catch on Saturday was pretty good, too.
Thank you, Wally. I had no idea a PERFECT game was that big a deal. It’s not like the pitcher has to be perfect or anything. But you cleared that up for me. And 27 batters? Wow – thanks for letting me know because my math skills are subpar. I had no clue they had to actually retire all 27 on their own.
I picked Wise so as not to be redundant. Obviously Buehrle is the POTW. Just wanted to point out other honorable mentions like you did with the Yanks.
But anyway – now I know. If there is a perfect game and a, what’s the other one called? A no-hitter? I’ll just let Casey post the POTW and make sure that’s the end of the discussion.
Thanks as always for your infinite wisdom.
Smitty – great call on Armstrong. And way to add to the discussion. It can be easy to overlook some of the great accomplishments going on out there.
Rey – what a great example Wise sets for youngsters. Instead of moping on the bench, he comes off and saves perfection. There are no small roles – only small players of roles. Thanks for the contribution.